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LEARNING HOW TO BUILD

Andy Foster, Raise Architects

When I started work, I wanted to get close to people with real expertise. My aim was to work with anyone who was a master of their trade. I wanted to absorb what they knew and acquire the strategies that they used to do what they did.

Some people I worked with were good and generous teachers. Others were not that interested in bringing on the inexperienced. And some saw their expertise as a source of power and were consequently reluctant to share it. Sometimes the culture within which the work was done was conducive to personal development, sometimes it wasn’t. A large amount of luck was involved in obtaining the right project opportunities. And there was always an inevitable tension between the time available to learn and the time available to produce.

Becoming proficient in a professional environment can be a hit-and-miss affair. It takes effort on all sides to create a healthy culture of learning through doing, reflecting on experiences and writing things down so that they can be shared.

‘We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience’. John Dewey

Despite the years at university, when starting work for the first time it can be surprising how much new knowledge is required and how many new skills need to be developed. Learning in the early stages is hampered by the fact that those who know how to do things, don’t necessarily know how best to pass that knowledge on. And there is a further paradox, in that most skills can only be explained in terms understandable to those already versed in those skills.

For the beginner, there comes a point when you have to put any feelings of inadequacy to one side, and just have a go. You give your first attempt everything you’ve got only to find that, maybe, it’s not quite as good as you wanted. But you start to discover what you don’t know and what you need to work on. And you start to see things differently.

It takes time, patience and considerable resilience to develop new knowledge and new skills across a broad front. And it requires the right opportunities at the right time, with access to help and support when needed and the internal motivation to keep wanting more.

‘How do you know all that?…It’s obvious… Well then, why didn’t I see it?… You have to have some familiarity… Then it’s not obvious, is it?’ Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Getting to intermediate level in any subject is an achievement, but it is not without risk. Having some knowledge is a good thing, but it can also lead to complacency. You get so far, and then your abilities begin to plateau. Attitude is all important. Curiosity, openness to learning and humility are all key. Can those attributes be acquired or is it down to the story of the individual? What role does the business play in motivating people to do better? I think it’s a two-way street. A team effort.

In the early days, you’re happy to absorb whatever comes your way. But over time you need to develop a sense of where you’re heading. Without this, it becomes difficult to set goals, and you can’t draw the route map for getting there. The best practices I worked for were clear in where they were going, but they were also capable of asking the question: what do you want to do? And they had the flexibility to accommodate the objectives of individuals when things felt right.

Over time, personal ambitions increasingly need to be aligned with the ambitions of the practice within which the work is being done. The objectives of one should complement those of the other. Both need to learn how to learn. And, surprisingly quickly, there comes a point in time when those being coached, become the coaches.

‘You can’t learn if you think you already know. You will not find the answers if you’re too conceited and selfassured to ask the questions. You cannot get better if you’re convinced you are the best’. Ryan Holiday, Ego is the Enemy.

When I was a graduate, I thought I’d be joining a profession that had figured out what it was doing. I thought it would have fixed processes and strategies that could be relied upon and all I had to do was learn them. I soon became aware I was wrong and that I was boarding a moving train.

I realised that the company that I’d joined was changing because it was a developing business. And I understood that the profession was changing in response to political, societal and technological developments. There were clearly some enormous challenges to overcome and the role of the architect really seemed to matter.

Now, all of these years later, I am having to re-learn everything I know and do - as is the entire profession and the wider building industry. There are many drivers of change but chief among them are two: climate change and the repercussions of The Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Both require us to take responsibility for our actions; one with regard to safeguarding future generations, the other with regard to safeguarding current occupants.

As building users, you have a role to play too - by demanding that our built environment is safe and inclusive, fossil fuel-free, energy efficient, built from materials that are regenerative and local, blends the best digital technologies with traditional craft skills and contributes positively to community and place. Buildings account for 40% of CO2 emissions and we need to learn how to rectify this together. The future is scary and exciting and the rate of change is accelerating. It was ever thus, only now it is more so because the stakes are much higher.