The shape of things to come
Building Futures is currently engaged in an exploration of the future of the practice of architecture. We have been asking questions such as: how will architects work in future? Who will they work for? Where will their work come from? Will their contribution to the design of the built environment be narrower or wider than now? Will architecture survive as a single profession consultancy? What is an appropriate ethics for architecture in the twenty first century? In short – What is an architect? or more significantly – What will an architect be in 2020?
Think pieces
Following an invited seminar held last summer, four of the participants have crystallised their ideas in the following short papers. Intended to be provocative, they are informed speculations about very different scenarios. We are publishing them in order to extend the debate to a wider audience. We hope we can reach both those conventionally working in architect’s offices, and those who have taken their architectural education into work in other fields, related to the built environment or not. If you have a view or vision of the future of practice, please summarise it in the same format as our four contributors and send it to us at buildingfutures@inst.riba.org- if we feel it is relevant to our research, we may include it on our website as part of the ongoing project.
Download the document here
Next steps…
Building Futures will shortly be moving on to the next stage of the project, with a programme of interviews with the managing partners of leading practices (large and small), and with the large multi disciplinary consultants and contractors who are becoming such a major source of architectural employment. We will be asking them for their answers to questions such as those above. We hope to publish the conclusions of this work later in 2010.
Background
Practice Futures is a continuing Building Futures project that follows on from our 2003 publication The Professionals’ Choice, and aims to update the publication with a new study into the current shape of architectural practice, and how it might changing over a 10 year horizon.
Contact
For more information on this project contact Claire Jamieson
at claire.jamieson@inst.riba.org
