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The word architect comes like so many words from the greek where arkhitekton describes a carpenter master craftsman. The first time it was used in any literature was in the works of Vitruvius. At that point and architecture was described as as a cross between utility (or function) and beauty. In the following time structural soundness was added and later partially subtracted when the profession of the engineer developed. Architects in history always had a tendency to see themselves as master of all trades, but in modern times their remit often got cut back to form and function.
When trying to define if an architect is an artist it is also important to look at the definition of art. When we first think of art we may associate it with painting, poetry, dancing, ceramics and sculptures. However this is usually a far to borrow view since art also covers literatures of all kinds, gastronomy, visual designs from cars to websites, music and many other ares. Usually art always insists on a degree of craftsmanship in much higher degree than most non artist think. The training of an artist is usually focused on 90 % on technique and in areas of structure, food and performance with a high degree of engineering and health. Once the artist master the craft he will develop his style.
As such an architect is usually considered to be an artist by the standards of most artists in terms of form and function. The problem however is often that most architects in our area of non building architecture come from a science or engineering background and were trained in a strict academic setting without experience of the craftsman journey and often develop a blind eye on training of artists. So as such I am pleading that architects are artists in the form defined by artists.