THE ARCHITECT'S RESPONSIBILITY The practice takes the responsibilities of an architect extremely seriously. We believe, as our opening statement makes clear, that the architect is the person responsible for the quality of the finished building, understood in the most complete sense. Many standard practices and current trends within the construction industry tend to weaken the position of the architect, and architects have to some extent gone along with this, leaving more and more to other members of the team. We travel in the opposite direction. If we are to be trusted by clients, respected by contractors, listened to when our advice is perhaps unwelcome, then we must earn that trust and respect by our commitment and engagement. The traditional understanding of a professional was that of a person with a responsibility to society as a whole, beyond the immediate responsibility to the client, and we take this seriously too, seeing our work in terms of its impact on the wider environment.