What is an architect and what is architecture

Some people, when thinking of an architect, tend to downplay his creative abilities, considering him an expensive and annoying bureaucrat, rather than a valid help to enhance their home and live better.
In my opinion, an architect is the mediator between beauty and practicality. He is the one who is able to transfer and reconcile technical and aesthetic solutions within the environments that he builds or restructures.
The profession of an architect is often, especially in Italy, underestimated or criticized. An architect is often perceived as a “bureaucrat” in charge of dealing almost exclusively with regulatory and security issues related to a project. This is because there is some confusion about skills and roles within the building world and often an architect is equated, by skills, with an engineer or surveyor.
In reality, the figure of an architect is creative, someone who generates ideas, but with professional skills on the applicable regulations. His role is essential to the harmonious development of the entire construction or restructuring process. His task is to configure the project from start to end, from the concept phase to the interior design. You can almost define him as a “conductor”, able to coordinate professional technical figures such as engineers, specialists, surveyors, consultants, arriving at the end of the project.
An architect, especially today, must keep up with the times. Houses are in strong evolution, as well as the materials used to build them, and the furnishing accessories have become more and more technological. Architecture is basically made of materials.
It is important, even in the simplicity of an environment, to ensure harmony, durability, together with a performance of the materials used; this may be obtained through a careful analysis and research phase, thereby understanding how to use them, according to the objectives one wants to obtain.