Manifesto - The Archipreneur Movement by Jia Shun (Johnny) Xu

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FIG.1: KIT- OF- PARTS MODEL (JOHNNY XU, 2021)

ABPL90117 Twenty-first Century Architecture Sem 2, 2021

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ARCHIPRENEUR noun Is an Architect-Entrepreneur. Archipreneur is a 21st Century Architecture movement aimed at applying Entrepreneurial-thinking to propel Architecture into a new paradigm of design. ‘They were the archipreneurs of the 21st Century’

CO NTE NTS . (i) Preface Introducing Alternative Perspetives (ii) (iii)

The Archipreneur The Architect Entrepreneur Movement THE

New Archipreneur Business Model Denounce the Ostentatious Architect

(iv)

The Archipreneur Mindset Mindset is everything

(v)

Bespoke vs the Cookie-Cutter Spectrum of the Modular vs. One-Off

(vi) The IKEA Model Kit-Of-Parts (vii)

Why Now? Now and into the Future

(viii) References

FIG.1: KIT- OF-PARTS MODEL (JOHNNY XU, 2021)

P R E FAC E .

This manifesto aims to explore the intersection between architectural-theory and entrepreneurial-thinking. This dichotomy between Architecture and Entrepreneurship provides critical learnings for an alternative approach to 21st Century Architecture and establishing a business model of change in disrupting the profession for the better. This is an open-call to all: architects, entrepreneurs, designers, policy-makers and inhabitants of space who want agency in the design of your built-environment. A new product-based-model of design and construction - the kit-ofparts adaptable to inevitable change, open to opportunity and flexible to serve the ever-changing needs and masscustomisation towards the user experience. This manifesto is a new paradigm in the age of big data and a shift in the role of the traditional architect to the Archipreneur.

TH E A R C H I P R E N E U R . (ARCHITECT + ENTREPRENEUR).

The Archipreneur views problems holistically and aims to create value for the users, community and the builtenvironment. The Archipreneur is lean, agile, experimentative, open to opportunity and designs with specificity towards people. Like entrepreneurs, architects by nature solve problems in the world. But where along the chain did we lack the will or vision to do so. Conform to short-term gains and fighting the divide between our own profession? Corporate, Bespoke or Education. Think of Apple, the late Steve Jobs and the iPhone as a product with a trillion dollar valuation. Architecture can be positioned to do so the same, are you crazy enough to try? Yona Friedman, in ‘Toward a Scientific Architecture’ (1975), argues that the ‘Architect-Client’ relationship stems from an out-dated chain of operations. The architect translates the specific needs of the client into a language (plans, sections, details) to which skilled tradesmen (builders) execute. As long as ‘Builders-Clients’ have no common language, ‘Architects’ will always be

relevant (Friedman and Yang, 1975. p2). Like ‘Open Architecture’ by Ratti and Claudel, the traditional role of the architect is outdated, instead they should take a step back and be impartial, coordinating processes rather than objects. Self-regulating, anonymous and peer-reviewed. Refocus the lens on empowering the users to partake in the process. Suggesting a shift towards becoming consultants, second to the user as mediators - comparable to the ‘Architect to Engineer’ relationship today. Instead Archipreneur should be generating value where the users, not developers didn’t know they needed. The solution is a Product-Service-Based Model hybrid. This can be anything, not just buildings:

Identify a problem in the market

2. 3. 4.

Solve the problem and make it work

Scale for Impact

Value through ‘Product/ Market Fit’ Sell it to customers who need it

“ T h e m o s t p o w e r f u l t o o l i n e c o n o m i c s i s n o t m o n e y, n o r even algebra. It is a pencil. Because with a pencil you c a n r e d r a w t h e w o r d .”

- Kate Raworth in ‘Doughnut Economics’ (2018)

ARCHIPRENEUR

ARCHITECT

ENTREPRENEUR

fig2. Architect- Client Relationship - the role of the translator (Friedman, 1975. p 3)

The architect as consultant model provides inherent challenges of remaining impartial, whilst providing an outdated service-based model of time for profit, potentially further cheapening the profession over pure cost, rather than value add, as its financially incentivising with its exorbitant hourly billing rates for ‘professional consultation’ at the cost of the physical built environment, the future for short term gain. Do we take agency away from the architect and instead share it with the user? Can the habitants of space become the new ‘Architect-Bricoleur’ instead? (Scalbert, 2011). Or take it a step further, the user becomes the designer, the bricoleur, and the builder through ‘DIY’ (Scalbert, 2011. p71). This begs the question - Does this process potentially make the architect redundant?

“If I had asked people what they wanted they would have said faster horses.”

The short answer: No, never. The Archipreneur should refocus the lens back on a product to market fit, what the users didn’t know they needed, rather than what we think users need (Frederiksen, 2017). Architects will need to be mediators for addressing what exactly the users need through a holistic approach to the built environment (e.g. solving social housing, urban density and passivhaus systems through experimentation). In this New Normal, we’re at crossroads for meaningful change in the profession, potential to shake up the business models of old, reframe and reposition Archiprenuers as agents for meaningful change in the world (Reinholdt, 2015. p27). A shift towards products as a service model, rather than time as a service. A product-service model provides passive-income, which is an approach that is scalable and allows us to influence a wider audience. The consulting archetype doesn’t address most of the users and wider community needs, nor does it serve the architects (Reinholdt, 2015. p16).

- Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company

NEW ARCHIPRENEUR BUSINESS MODEL The Business Model Canvas may be defined as the rationale behind how a business generates, delivers and captures value add to a network of stakeholders and clients. The shifting role the Archipreneur plays in this changing paradigm of architecture whereby interdisciplinary cross-pollination becomes the norm, with the user as the bricoleur and Architecture as products and Architects as mediators open up a world of potential models to arise.

VALUE DELIVERY

VALUE CREATION

VALUE CAPTURE

BUSINESS MODEL fig3. value proposition business model diagram (Johnny Xu, 2021)

AUAR B-T-R NIG H TING A LE

fig4. business models for architecture practices (anon blogspot, 2021)

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DESIG N - BU I LD D E V E LO P E R

SHoP Architects + SHoP Construction collectively known as ‘SHoP’, a hybrid business model that functions as a combination of an architecture practice, real estate development firm and think-tank for innovation and products. A true One-Stop-Shop for clients, that allows for a reduction in the fragmentation that occurs within large scale projects. Each of the co-founders in 1996 had different individual backgrounds ranging from design, construction, business, marketing and development. SHoP operates as Design-Build Developer, allowing them to work on their own projects with integration of partnerships at all levels of the supply chain, effectively broadening the services they provide. The main recipe for success with SHoP’s model is attributed to its innovation, integration and efficiency in fabricated techniques and systems that help reduce cost and time of construction. Systems that have emerged organically as a result of SHoP trying to provide a solution to pain-points in their own workflows and products - finding a product-market fit without the expense of wages and quality of construction.

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P R O D U CT M O D E L BTR - NIGHTINGALE

Various new models in the market that share this product as a service mindset are the ‘Build-to-Rent’ (BTR), and ‘Nightingale Model’. The Nightingale Model is a not-for-profit productbased model, a brand and a system that can be replicated, adapted and scaled. It is a step closer to democratising design for the masses and providing apartment homes for people that are affordable, well-designed and not at the expense of quality and the environment. It evolves the current discipline and puts users, the environment at the forefront of design decisions within the built environment. The success lies in the product as a replicable model and brand that any community of professionals can collaborate under one umbrella in the interest of the residents. The marketing strategy is equitable as the limiting supply and scarcity is solved through balloting. As a result it begins to remove the obsession surrounding privacy and instead celebrates opensourcing and sharing of intellectual property (IP), strategies and programs to scale for impact and further the discipline to new heights.

fig5. Nightingale Housing Business Model Diagram (Breathe Architecture, Nightingale, 2019)

ARCHIPRENEUR

MINDSET Architects historically subject themselves to egocentric design, often considering themselves ‘heroes’ of space, thus shifting the public perception of architecture towards the field of pure-aesthetics and eye-candy. As the democratisation of design shifts the discipline, naturally the ‘fantasy of control’ and this notion of the ‘know-all complex’ as the pen holder in pushing their own agendas into permanent built outcomes will begin to fade (Fiedman, 1975. p10). The Archipreneur will embrace change,be dynamic and respond effectively to the changing needs of the contemporary market. This includes being harmless to the environment, bringing agency back to the user and weaving value-add back into the urban fabric to ‘close the loop’. In order to achieve that, we need to reframe and reposition our archaic service-based model of trading time for profit and move towards a hybrid that includes the ‘Products/ SystemsBased’ Model. For the purposes of the manifesto, passive income is revenue generated through means of little ‘active ongoing’ input from the architect.

ostentatious architect

- larger than life complex

social housing

the mediator consultant

net-zero passivhaus

+ adaptive approach fig6. The Archipreneur approach to adaptive, responsive over the ostentatious (Johnny, 2021)

An Entrepreneur, by definition, seeks profitable cash flow and scalable systems around those revenue streams. Using the Business Model Canvas and Lean Start-up Model to find problems and solutions that are both profitable and scalable at the same time. Architects in contrast carry out service-based models that trade time for money. A fixed fee or percentage or an hourly rate to which services are carried out based on a set list of deliverables listed out on the signed contract.

PRO B L E M 01 Any service that trades time as a service for money will eventually cap and plateau. The only way to grow the business model is through speed, efficiency and cost. Which all inherently have a maximum threshold and are hard to manage. Which results in cuts in overall quality, wages and cheapens the discipline just to stay competitive.

PROBLEM 02 Always requiring a designer, graduate or professional on the job to clock the hours, otherwise the drafting, presentations and RFI’s aren’t being resolved. Wages are cut, or unpaid to stay competitive, plagued with overtime and ridiculous deadlines to stay competitive. Clients see the profession as a cost, rather than a value-add.

“If a system is highly efficient, odds are that efficient p l a y e r s w i l l g a m e i t .” - The High Price of Efficiency - Havard Business Review

VA LU E P R O P O S I T I O N

E LU R E VA T U P

O P E R AT I N G M O D E L

PRODUCT/ SERVICE INNOVATION - KIT-OFPARTS

C R VA E A LU TI E O N

MARKET INNOVATION BRAND IMAGE ADVERTISING

CUSTOMER

VALUE DELIVERY

REVENUE MDOEL ORGANISATIONAL INNOVATION EG. AI AUTOMATION

SOLUTION Products and Systems-Based Models. The passive-income mindset, with products at the core, using automated processes and systems to efficiently scale and generate revenue is the answer. It is far more scalable, more marketable and over-time profitable. Whilst, the ultimate goal of the Archipreneur isn’t to chase profits, it is instead to stay in the green, shining the light on more pressing problems in the world without sacrificing quality and values just to make ends meet. The discipline needs to adapt and evolve to new modes of delivering architecture to the masses, that allows us to make decisions that are scalable and provide the masses with products they need, rather than what we think they need.

fig7. The Archipreneur Business Model Innovation Diagram (Johnny, 2021)

B E S P O K E VS TH E COO K I E - C UT TE R

Raworth outlines in ‘Doughnut Economics’ (2018) the ‘doughnut’ that represents our key social foundations of wellbeing on a micro and macro scale, combined with an ecological ‘ceiling’ (the outer crust) of planetary pressure that we should not overshoot (Raworth, 2018. p227). Designing within this sweet spot will be our key unique value proposition to tackle worldly problems. Architects today often find themselves at two extremes of this spectrum, either producing mass-housing, with standardised modular units or highly bespoke customised architecture. Productising the service-based model will eliminate the bespoke one-offs into highly repeatable but scalable outcomes. It provides transparency to clients in knowing exactly what they’re purchasing and how much. Whilst also providing a platform to provide a level of service to customise these repeated outcomes to suit client needs. By diversifying through offering both services and products, it allows architects to capture more of the market and think-bigger with ambition. On one-hand preserving a level of high-value service in the bespoke. On the other building products, apps, programs, plan sets, specifications, books, worksheets and tools to build the systems in place for the environment and users at heart, thus pushing the profession towards democratic design.

fig8. The “Doughnut” (Kate Raworth & Christian Guthier, Lancet Planetary Health, 2017)

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TH E M E TA B O L I ST S M OV E M E NT Architecture has historically always been subjected to experimentation through ideas of theory and change. This specific notion of adaptability and flexibility can be traced back to the early 1960’s Japanese Metabolists movement - a vision of architecture as a tool for speculating buildings that can continuously evolve, change and adapt to the ever-changing urban city. The Nagakin Capsule Tower in Tokyo by Kisho Kurokawa, is one of the only built schemes that closest exemplifies the Metabolists values. Built in 1972, it was constructed through prefabricated self-contained modular units that were interchangeable. The vision for the tower was to be adaptive based on the changing-needs of its occupants. However, whilst on paper the vision was great, the built capsules could not deliver due to the limited technical innovation at the time. With the rise of technology, digital fabrication is now on-par to address the issues of customisation (prefabrication & the kit-of-parts). We can now draw from big data and user-behaviour analytics in order to suit the ever-changing needs of the user, community, and context. Building upon the Metabolists movement, if we combine the Archipreneur mindset with technology innovations of today, we may indeed see the new IKEA of Furniture in Architecture - kit-of-parts scaled for impact.

fig9. Nakagin Capsule Tower Under Construction (Moreno. L.‘Promised Tokyo’. Sabukaru.)

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fig10. Block House Detailing (Giles Retsin et al. 2020)

AUAR’s ‘House Block’ Pavilion explores this intersection of digital fabricated systems in assembling discrete kit-of-parts that are adaptable over time. It optimises prefabrication techniques - CNC cut single-sheets of timberplywood - ready for assembly on-site with layman tools for the non-builder. Offering the opportunity of assembly, dismantling and reassembling like Lego blocks. To further this model, residents can begin to weigh-in on the specification of program variables such as: room size, shape, utilities, location, and orientation. This opens up limitless opportunities and viable options surrounding the micro-scale detailing of infill led by the user. The role of the architect should shift toward facilitating these individualised design decisions by constructing a repertoire of possibilities and designing the ‘framework’ or infrastructure where personal preferences can be translated into reality (Friedman, 1975. p10).

fig11. Block House in Hackney (Feher, I & NAARO, 2020)

fig11. Block House West End Pavilion Prototype (Feher, I & NAARO, 2020)

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fig12. Walter Segal’s ‘Walter’s Way’ (ArchDaily, 2016)

A homage to Walter Segal’s ‘Open Architecture’, Segal developed the system of self-build housing. The ‘Segal Self-Build Movement’ of the 1970s - a similar time to the Metabolists - was a model that enabled ordinary people to construct their homes from scratch, originally designed for disassembly and provided an inexpensive temporary housing solution while his family’s home was under renovation. This later “evolved” to become a simple method for people to build their homes without

the traditional Architect - Builder. This approach ensured the house could be dismantled easily and material be salvaged for resale or reuse elsewhere. The limitations of this model being the standardised construction materials and tools available at local hardware stores. This kit-of-parts self-build approach from standardised selection of modules is similar to how IKEA revolutionised how we consume and build furniture today.

Structural Grid

Modular Grid

fig13. Plan of ‘Walter’s Way’ Scale 1.50 (ArchDaily, 2016)

TH E I K E A M O D E L CONTINUED. .

“Every moment in business happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system…. If you’re c o p y i n g t h e s e g u y s , y o u a r e n’ t l e a r n i n g f r o m t h e m .” - ‘Zero to Hero’, Peter Thiel- Founder of PayPal

This new type of product based model framework is one of many potential solutions that are imperative in the success of the Archipreneur Movement. Drawing on models that architects today are beginning to explore these new models of sustainable, economically and sociallyconscious architecture. Alejandro Aravena’s Elemental is championing the field of adaptive social housing for crisis relief. The notion of the user as the bricoleur through providing a half built skeleton to which the user will infill and modify based on social and financial needs. What if we combined this model with the AUAR digital prefabrication thinking? The result may be a product-based-model of highly-customisable kitof-parts of quality and affordability, where major savings are the result of labour costs and mass-production through DIY, like IKEA. The unique value proposition here is the potential to disrupt the industry for the better. Architects can rethink supply chains and operation chains or as the ‘Choral Architect’ refers to them as ‘processes’ and ‘systems’. How automation, and an ‘universal’ language can begin to be massproduced, implemented and routinely upgraded based on your exact needs and adapted over-time to the ever-changing-needs in these ‘kitbashed’ homes. A cross-pollination of practices and disciplines to provide expertise and work together for the same cause under the same brand.

fig14.Villa Verde, Chile expansion under construction (via 99 Percent Invisible. 2016)

W H Y N OW? Architecture is no exception to the rules of supply and demand of the macro-economy (Raworth, 2018). With the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting global economies, our livelihoods are in a constant state of flux. Tenant volatility and foot traffic are some of the many factors contributing to the up-down cycle of space utilisation - many public and private spaces abandoned or under-utilised. A similar juxtaposition to space-occupancy is the real-estate industry, further exonerated by the inflexibility of tenure leases resulting in under-performing, underwhelming spaces slowly depleting in value. As the CBD continues to densify, we continue to erect poorly constructed, cookie-cutter tall towers and homes in our suburbs, solely aimed at maximising profits per square-metre to our developers. The solution to addressing these inefficiencies is the Archipreneur needs to: embrace change while being harmless to the environment, focusing on user’s needs, and weave value back into the urban fabric. Keeping the ambition to create products that solve problems, widen the discipline and create products. The advent of the era of Big Data and technological automation in personalising our daily lives is here and buildings are on the cusp of being tailored to each individual’s needs. The rise of parametric design and smart technology in our homes is a sure sign that the technology is moving towards this notion of adaptability in architecture. Technology will not replace us, but only extend and empower the discipline.

R E FE R E N C E S Aravena, A. (2011). “Elemental A Do Tank”, Architectural Design, vol 81. John Wiley & Sons, pp. 32-37. AUAR. (2021). Block House. Automated Architecture - Hackney. Accessed at: https://automatedarchitecture.io/hackney Conrads, U. (1971). 1920 Le Corbusier: Towards a new architecture: guiding principles. Programs and manifestoes on 20thcentury architecture. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. pp 59-62. Felin, T., Gambardella, A., Stern, S., & Zenger, T. (2019). Lean startup and the business model: Experimentation revisited. Long Range Planning, 53(4), 1-6. Accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2019.06.002 Frederiksen, D. L., Brem, A. (2017). How do entrepreneurs think they create value? A scientific reflection of Eric Ries’ Lean Startup approach. Int Entrep Manag J, 13, 169-189. Accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-016-0411-x Friedman, Y., & Lang, C. (1975). Toward scientific architecture. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Hyde, R., Marcaccio, R. (2020). ‘It’s where different forms of knowledge collide’. Architects After Architecture: Alternative Pathways for Practice. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. pp. 235-245. Neufert, E., Neufert, P., Baiche, B., & Walliman, N. (2000). Neufert Architects’ Data. (5th Ed, pp. i-xi). Oxford: Blackwell Science. Ratti, C. Claudel, M. (2015). OSArc (Open Source Architecture), Thames & Hudson, p122-126 Raworth, K. (2018). Doughnut Economics. UK: Random House. Reinholdt, E. (2015). Architect and Entrepreneur: A How-to Guide for Innovating Practice: Tactics, Strategies, and Case Studies in Passive Income. 30X40 Design Workshop Press. p1-42. Ries, E. (2011). The lean startup: How today’s entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses. New York: Crown Business. Scalbert, I. (2011). “Architect as Bricoleur”, Candide: Journal of Architectural Knowledge, no.4. SHoP Architect. (2012). SHoP Architects: Out of Practice. UK: Thames & Hudson.

I MAG E S Fig1.3.6.7 Author’s Personal Image/ Diagram(Johnny Xu, 2021) Fig2. Friedman, Y., & Lang, C. (1975). Toward scientific architecture. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. P3. Fig4. Business Models for Architects (2009). 1.7 One Stop Shop (IPD) Model. Blogspot. Accessed at: http:// businessmodels4architects.blogspot.com/p/model-7.html Fig5. Architecture Architecture. (2019). Nightingale Housing. 1555.5. Accessed at: https://architecturearchitecture.com.au/ projects/nightingale-housing Fig8. Raworth, K., & Guthier, C. (2017). The Lancet Planetary Health. World Economic Forum. Accessed at: https://www. weforum.org/agenda/2017/04/the-new-economic-model-that-could-end-inequality-doughnut/ Fig9. Moreno. L. ‘Promised Tokyo’. Sabukaru. https://sabukaru.online/articles/the-promised-tokyo Fig10.11. Feher, I. & NAARO (2020). Block West Pavilion. ArchDaily. https://www.archdaily.com/953712/block-west-pavilionautomated-architecture-auar-labs?ad_medium=office-landing&ad_name=featured-image Fig12.13. ‘Walter’s Way’ (2016). ArchDaily. https://www.archdaily.com/780083/walters-way-the-self-build-revolution Fig14. Zilliacus, A. (2016). Villa Verde. ArchDaily. Image via 99 Percent Invisible. Accessed at: https://www.archdaily. com/797779/half-a-house-builds-a-whole-community-elementals-controversial-social-housing

JOHNNY JIA SHUN XU 76 2 1 2 2 ABPL90117 Twenty-first Century Architecture Sem 2, 2021

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