{"id":124790,"date":"2014-10-06T09:10:52","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T13:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=124790"},"modified":"2014-10-06T10:17:42","modified_gmt":"2014-10-06T14:17:42","slug":"commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/","title":{"rendered":"COMMENTARY: Reflection on state of architecture in Dominica"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_124791\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-124791\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-124791\" src=\"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/building1.jpg\" alt=\"Building of the Year winner from Vietnam at World Architect Festival\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-124791\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Building of the Year winner from Vietnam at World Architect Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As the international community celebrates World Architecture Day on Monday 6 October 2014, I reflect on the state of architecture in Dominica, the total disregard for a profession which has contributed towards the advancement of human development, the lack of appreciation of the role of the architect in national development and an apparent apathy on the part of Dominican architects.<\/p>\n<p>During a ten year period from 1992, Dominica had a total of twelve professionally trained architects who established the Dominica Society of Architects (DSA) which culminated in the historic Architects Registration Act of 2003. Dominica had leaped ahead of many other OECS countries in securing that Act in parliament.<\/p>\n<p>One would have thought that with the architectural profession legally protected by law the practice of architecture would advance and Dominican architects would have taken the quantum leap on the international stage, after all, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union and the Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries was intended to give professionals in the latter grouping an opportunity to compete on the international market.<\/p>\n<p>The first test for Dominica after the legislation of the Architects Registration Act was to implement the Dominica Building Code as a regulation to the Physical Planning Act of 2002. In responding to the implementation of the building code the minister responsible for Physical Planning stated that the votes of the draughtsmen who were practicing mediocre architecture were more significant than that of the few architects and this explains why in 2014, Dominica is yet to implement the<\/p>\n<p>Building Code which celebrates its 26th anniversary this year since the preparation process started.<\/p>\n<p>First established by the International Union of Architects (UIA) back in 2005, World Architecture Day is set to become an essential fixture on the architecture calendar. And this year will be no exception. Drawing from its internationally acclaimed awards programme, World Architecture News is bringing together some of the world&#8217;s most renowned architects, designers and developers from across the globe for a celebration of architectural excellence.<\/p>\n<p>A country&#8217;s pride is normally reflected in its architectural heritage, visitors to Dominica are usually fascinated with our historic architecture, which was obviously not the work of the natives but that of the British and French colonialists.<\/p>\n<p>Since Dominica&#8217;s independence in 1978, local architects have never had the opportunity to express their professional prowess of the design of buildings in Dominica. Most projects of significance such as the Financial Center have been designed by foreigners and it is even more disturbing that in 2014, while the world celebrates World Architecture Day on October 1st, the three most significant architectural projects being undertaken in the 21st century are all designed by foreigners, these are the State Palace, the State College and the Morroccan Hotel.<\/p>\n<p>Are Dominican architects incapable of designing projects of that magnitude? Will a Dominican architect ever be able to participate in the events of World Architecture Day?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the international community celebrates World Architecture Day on Monday 6 October 2014, I reflect on the state of architecture in Dominica, the total disregard for a profession which has contributed towards the advancement of human development, the lack of&#8230;","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":124791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>COMMENTARY: Reflection on state of architecture in Dominica - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COMMENTARY: Reflection on state of architecture in Dominica - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the international community celebrates World Architecture Day on Monday 6 October 2014, I reflect on the state of architecture in Dominica, the total disregard for a profession which has contributed towards the advancement of human development, the lack of...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-06T13:10:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-06T14:17:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/building1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51a62154b494e84510be75e846b1cf55\"},\"headline\":\"COMMENTARY: Reflection on state of architecture in Dominica\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-06T13:10:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-06T14:17:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":504,\"commentCount\":33,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/building1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Commentary\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/\",\"name\":\"COMMENTARY: Reflection on state of architecture in Dominica - Dominica News Online\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/building1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-06T13:10:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-06T14:17:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51a62154b494e84510be75e846b1cf55\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/building1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/building1.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"Building of the Year winner from Vietnam at World Architect Festival\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/commentary\\\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"COMMENTARY: Reflection on state of architecture in Dominica\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dominica News Online\",\"description\":\"The most popular news site in the Commonwealth of Dominica\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51a62154b494e84510be75e846b1cf55\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bd0b04180c51bc8e59c8d28d7acff1965c4b2afbb02839737980abb592734752?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bd0b04180c51bc8e59c8d28d7acff1965c4b2afbb02839737980abb592734752?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bd0b04180c51bc8e59c8d28d7acff1965c4b2afbb02839737980abb592734752?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/rsanford\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"COMMENTARY: Reflection on state of architecture in Dominica - Dominica News Online","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"COMMENTARY: Reflection on state of architecture in Dominica - Dominica News Online","og_description":"As the international community celebrates World Architecture Day on Monday 6 October 2014, I reflect on the state of architecture in Dominica, the total disregard for a profession which has contributed towards the advancement of human development, the lack of...","og_url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/","og_site_name":"Dominica News Online","article_published_time":"2014-10-06T13:10:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-06T14:17:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/building1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/"},"author":{"name":"Admin","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/51a62154b494e84510be75e846b1cf55"},"headline":"COMMENTARY: Reflection on state of architecture in Dominica","datePublished":"2014-10-06T13:10:52+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-06T14:17:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/"},"wordCount":504,"commentCount":33,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/building1.jpg","articleSection":["Commentary"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/","url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/","name":"COMMENTARY: Reflection on state of architecture in Dominica - Dominica News Online","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/building1.jpg","datePublished":"2014-10-06T13:10:52+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-06T14:17:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/51a62154b494e84510be75e846b1cf55"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/building1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/building1.jpg","width":300,"height":200,"caption":"Building of the Year winner from Vietnam at World Architect Festival"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-reflection-state-architecture-dominica\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"COMMENTARY: Reflection on state of architecture in Dominica"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/","name":"Dominica News Online","description":"The most popular news site in the Commonwealth of Dominica","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/51a62154b494e84510be75e846b1cf55","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bd0b04180c51bc8e59c8d28d7acff1965c4b2afbb02839737980abb592734752?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bd0b04180c51bc8e59c8d28d7acff1965c4b2afbb02839737980abb592734752?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bd0b04180c51bc8e59c8d28d7acff1965c4b2afbb02839737980abb592734752?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/author\/rsanford\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/building1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124790"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124797,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124790\/revisions\/124797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}