ASID Update
Building Trust: A Controversy Called "The Accord"
by Rosalyn Cama, FASID
Little is done in this world alone. My work as president of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) this year has been done with the understanding that every move our board of directors makes impacts 30,500 ASID members. The reality is that every action that touches an ASID member also touches a much greater community of allied professionals and clients. We are a profession that solves our client's problems in collaborative teams and it is with that mind set that we grow our marketplace.
How can we bring all of the professional design organizations to an agreement on how to grow the marketplace together as a team? The simple answer is to communicate with trust. There is an adversarial history that we need to overcome. On a day-to-day basis we all deal with clients and allied professionals using a clear scope of services to define, solve and communicate a design product. If we can be team players in our daily practices, then why not in our professional organizations?
But such accomplishments require dealing with tough, and sometimes festering, issues. At no time has this need become apparent than since early June of this year when it was announced that the ASID Board voted to no longer honor the 1989 Accord signed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the International Business Designers (IBD), the International Society of Interior Designers (ISID), and ASID. [Note that IBD and ISID joined to form the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) at a later date.]
ASID's leaders had every intention to meet with AIA prior to making this decision, but efforts to arrange such a meeting were not successful. The ASID board felt it necessary to no longer postpone this topic, but to finally deal with what had become a festering issue. The original intent of the accord had since been lost. This ASID board action states our need to move on. We have contacted national AIA leadership with the hopes that open communications for a positive approach to raising the bar for our interior design practitioners will be achieved.
"We all recognize that interior design
is not a subset of architecture.
Interior design is about improving
the behavior which takes place
in an interior environment."
This action by ASID is, in no way, intended to be adversarial toward AIA. Rather, it is ASID's intent to bridge communications to all allied professionals on how best to improve the market for favorable practices. In years past we have collectively spent millions of dollars on legislative related activities. If carefully and strategically planned, I'm sure we could agree on a place for all design professions to practice collaboratively. More importantly, with the same, if not less, effort we could develop marketing plans to inform the consumer on the value of working with a team of professional design consultants. Most of our practices include the collaborative effort of architects and interior designers. To develop a clear understanding of the benefits of that teamed effort will only increase a client's understanding of the value of professional design services.
The ASID board action was informed by a comprehensive review by ASID's Legislative Advisory Council (LAC), which reviewed the accord and compared its limitations to the current legislative needs of the profession. The LAC report found that the accord limited the profession's current needs, and therefore recommended to the board that the accord be discontinued.
The 1989 Accord called on AIA to support interior design title-act legislation. In return, the interior design organizations were to only advocate title-acts and to do the following:
• Not advocate interior design practice acts;
• Not pursue sealing privileges for building permitting;
• Provide that architects be permitted to register as interior designers without meeting any interior design training, education, testing or meet other minimum standards in interior design;
• Establish joint regulatory boards.
In many meetings this year, with leaders in and out of our profession, I realized that there exists strong support of the progression of the interior design profession to its next level. ASID met with IIDA as the press announcement of this action was released. IIDA, soon after our announcement, produced its own release congratulating ASID for its step forward.
I'm sure that in 1989 the accord made sense to those who signed it. But since then, all of the parties involved have struggled with adhering to the tenants of the accord, which is all the more reason to move on. We all recognize that interior design is not a subset of architecture. Interior design is about improving the behavior which takes place in an interior environment. The interior design challenge also may require an architectural solution and hence the need for the collaborative effort.
Let's build the trust, develop the fellowship and bring our allied professions together.
I invite you to send your comments on this subject by e-mail to: president@asid.org.
Rosalyn Cama, FASID, is president of ASID. Since 1983, Cama has been president and principal designer of Cama Inc. in New Haven, CT, a firm of eight designers who practice a broad range of interior design projects with a focus on health care and academic facilities for higher education. ASID can be reached at (202) 546-3480; fax: (202) 546-3240; www.asid.org.
