Build 'em up to knock 'em down

Most people are familiar with the feeling of their work going unappreciated - but not many of us work on a major project in painstaking detail for months if not years only for it to be unceremoniously destroyed soon after completion. Spare a thought, then, for architects, whose designs may often be intended to be permanent but are sometimes razed within a few months or years, having falling victim to the whims of others. And that's where the Rubble Club comes in - "a kind of AA support group for distressed architects", according to secretary John Glenday.

You do wonder how the experience might affect architects in the long term. The ones I've met haven't been short of self-belief, to put it slightly kindly - perhaps it's a prerequisite for the job, in that you spend much of your time trying to convince others of the merits of your designs and it helps if you look convinced yourself. But I imagine that having your work quite literally rubbished in front of you must deliver a hefty blow to even the most supremely confident person.