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Faceted reception desk and seating area, Photo © Boris Feldblyum
featuring NCARB’s brand colors.

Mission-Driven
Mission-Driven

Design
Design

NCARB Offices Reflect Organization’s

Purpose and Structure

by G. Martin Moeller, Jr., Assoc. AIA

The idea that architects should be licensed emerged out of Education, Experience, and Examination—as the key stages
tragedy. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a series in an individual’s path toward architectural practice.
of well-publicized fatal building failures drew attention to A few years ago, NCARB’s lease in a building on
disparities in training and skill among those who designed K Street in downtown DC was nearing its end, and the
the ill-fated structures. In 1897, Illinois became the first organization’s leaders sensed that better deals were
U.S. state to require that architects be licensed in order to available elsewhere in the city. They saw an opportunity
practice there. Other states soon followed suit, but perhaps both to reduce overhead costs and to create a workplace
inevitably, the requisites for licensure—also known as that more effectively accommodated the organization’s
registration—varied considerably among jurisdictions, operational structure, which relies heavily on hundreds
creating confusion and roadblocks to interstate practice. of volunteers serving on various committees. The search
A special meeting held during the American Institute landed on a space in a building at 1401 H Street, NW, where
of Architects convention of 1919 led to the establishment the landlord offered not only a lower rental rate, but also
of the National Council of Architectural Registration incentives in the form of a partial allowance for build-out of
Boards (NCARB). The new organization was charged the new offices.
with developing universally accepted standards for Following a limited competition, NCARB hired OTJ
licensure and facilitating reciprocal registration among U.S. Architects to design the space. NCARB’s CEO, Michael J.
jurisdictions. More than a century later, NCARB’s activities Armstrong, was well aware that designing for an association
have coalesced around what it calls “the three E’s”— whose board consists mostly of architects could be challenging

60 MISSION-DRIVEN DESIGN