Let’s say …

Let’s say the future is 15 years away.

Let’s say we are still an architecture practice

Let’s say I’m still here.

What will be different?

Physical stuff: People. The space. The technology. Paper.

The other stuff: Culture. Behaviour. Strategy.

PEOPLE:

Our people are our greatest and in some ways, our only asset. Without them, the archived projects, the photos, the models are all somewhat meaningless. In 15 years we will still have people. Our people ARE our business. I think people will still come to work. I think a studio environment that provides opportunities for conversations, review, discourse, a place for teams to bond and thrive will still be essential. It’s about being together, engaged and open to new ideas — spending time alone at home or remotely does not develop people necessarily, it develops work (which is important) but not everything. There are more of us, or less, but we are vibrant, confident, inquisitive and energised. We are determined, we are strong, we have ability. We are leaders, not followers. We embrace others and always seek to learn.

THE SPACE:

In 15 years we are somewhere else. We have less desks than people. We have more spaces for design oriented collaboration — pin up space, projection space, video and phone conference space. We have more spaces for retreat and individual work. We might stand up to work and only occasionally sit down. We might arrange ourselves in groups and teams, but we accept that some of us are mobile and our business is more done outside of our space than in it. We use our space as an incubator. We test installations. Ceiling types. Floor finishes. Wall claddings. Furniture. We see all sorts of people in the space — not just our own and those we are immediately working with. People come to see us not because we are an architecture practice, but because we are innovators. We inspire others from unrelated fields to see what our people and our space — our business — have achieved.

THE TECHNOLOGY:

Computers and their bits are smaller in 2030. I hope there is less screen space so we can see each other more and actually talk. There are no fixed desk phones. There are no CPUs. Large monitors for team discussions are common. Large format touch screen tables are everywhere — like an iPad but A1 format for sketching (is there any yellow trace anymore???) Wireless headsets. I have a Microsoft Surface with phone functionality — combining as many objects into one as possible. Booking a meeting room is easy (not like in 2015!). Email is much less prevalent but at the expense of other ways of connecting: IM / social media / Google hangouts increasing? Data is in the cloud and accessible from absolutely anywhere, making working remotely no different to being in the studio. We use new forms of software in experimental ways. We can even do our timesheets from home. We might have a digital person at reception — freeing Fiona to be our emotional salve and organisational champion from wherever it suits her.

PAPER:

In 2030 there is still paper. Some people can’t let go. Most of us scanned our crap years ago. Paper is not spread across the entirety of our working surfaces, if needed it is on walls, or in neat piles in cabinets. We might mark things up by hand still but we don’t keep hard copy when done — scan scan scan. We threw out our shop drawing stamp at least a decade ago when everyone finally learned how to stamp a PDF. What we do have though is books. Visual inspiration. Magazines and research papers. Newspapers are perused by shared tablet and AIO PCs that are around everywhere. Murdoch press abandoned gateway accounts 5 years ago — online access to papers is free.

CULTURE:

We have changed. REALLY. Compared to 2015 we have more emotional intelligence. Most people think about and are aware of how their behaviour affects others. Voice of judgement, voice of fear, voice of cynicism — they are still there, but under control. We love having our children and our pets around. We cultivate difference. Different ways of being engaged with US. Sometimes obvious, sometimes not. IT’s OK to work hours that suit you. It’s OK to work from somewhere else. It’s OK to be provocative and challenging, but it’s NOT ok to be disrespectful. Life happens at work. Work is not where you are, it’s what you do. It’s OK to get your dry-cleaning, take the kids to the park, see your mum. We TRUST you, or you wouldn’t be here. We are engaged and passionate, we love what we do.

BEHAVIOUR:

We are above all, professional. Our behaviour between ourselves and to our clients and industry peers is representative of our organisation. We are prepared, diligent, advanced. We under-promise and over-deliver. We understand that we are in the service industry and that our clients are the originators of, and the beneficiaries of our successes. They are NOT obstacles to be manoeuvred around, they are not the enemy. We dress for success — we look sharp. Impressions matter. We manage our time properly. In 2030 we turn up to meetings — even internal meetings — on time, because we are respectful of others.

STRATEGY:

It’s 2030 and our business model has changed. We moved away from being one off, single project ‘problem solvers’, to being more like an accountant (eeewwwwww) that is a trusted advisor who consults on a range of things. We have long term partnerships with our clients. We are involved in a range of areas — strategy, leasing, development, culture, engagement, health and wellbeing, research and development, productivity. We have expertise in all these areas. We work not only with the end users of the places that we create, but those who are instrumental in advising those end users. We work with developers, leasing agents, property owner and community groups. We work with governments at all levels. We don’t just solve one problem, we solve multiple problems. We are business partners not just architects.

2030 seems so far away. But it’s not. Before you know it we will be there. What I’ve written is what I am passionate about — our culture. But what it really boils down to is people and relationships. If we get better at managing those, our business will get better, too. Better enough to get us to 2015 in amazing shape.