Journal

On 5th November I was delighted to give the keynote speech at RIBA’s Guerilla Tactics conference.

Building on my recent observations of the profession my broad thrust was this;

• The world is in a period of flux however more than ever there is a need for spatial/social thinkers and problem solvers.
• Our profession is under pressure and architects are being stretched in multiple directions.
• But there is more we can do - individually and collectively - to help ourselves. It’s up to us to demonstrate our relevance.
• Specifically we need to be more commercially aware. We need to embrace business.
• We should strive to understand and be responsive to our clients’ pain points. There needs to be more empathy and communication between architects and clients. As a profession we need to be more outward looking.
• Low fees and working for free devalues the profession. We have to push against it but this goes hand-in-hand with effectively articulating our value.
  

It was a really inspiring and energising day with great talks from Nicola Rutt, Wongani Mwanza, Al Scott, Dr Kat Martindale, Jane Middlehurst, Darren Bray, Saina Abdollahzadeh, Juliette Mitchell, Benjamin Powell and Katie Fisher  

The talks were wide-ranging and multi-faceted but for me the common thread that bound them together was the clear set of values and identity that each speaker had.

Photos by Karla Gowlett photography