Architects face difficult times ahead. The pressures that confront us as architects and as citizens in society are connected, and will not be solved in the ways we have used in the past. In Sarah’s recent paper for the 2022 RIAS annual convention in Inverness, she reflected on the relationship between Value (the theme of the conference) and Values. She arrived at seven things that need to happen to make the value that architects are capable of bringing, into a reality.
Those seven action points are:
1. value your labour – stop giving away your skills for free, undercutting fees, pay your staff properly and do not take on unpaid interns
2. make procurement establish where true value lies – remove bureaucracy, ensure clients ask the right questions, encourage people with a design background to manage the process
3. value continuity of knowledge – architects must re-establish their role as the golden thread throughout the project
4. value collective endeavour to share risks – advocate for IPI
5. be sceptical of technical fixes – question so called progressive technology such as BIM and use technology appropriately
6. know your own worth – select your partners to align with your ethos
7. value the planet – we should be leading the way. Value care, regenerative design, nature.