Resilient, adaptive, and innovative: The next generation of architects

Resilient, adaptive, and innovative:

The next generation of architects

Throughout the world, the past 15 years have brought a global recession and pandemic, wars in places like Iraq and Ukraine, racial injustices and school shootings in numerous U.S. cities, and a political divide deepened through righteous indignation. For many professions, these events caused upheaval and turmoil. Some practitioners left professions for others, some went to pursue additional education, some started families never to return to work, some started their own businesses, and some melded the options into a role that suited their needs. Throughout these misfortunes and adjustments, many faced tough choices and conversations because of events outside the industry. To prepare the next generation of architects and leaders, we need to mentor for resiliency and adaptability. Coming out of a global pandemic, this is relevant more than ever to understand what is needed now to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.

When Wall Street crashed in 2008, architectural billings soon followed, which in turn impacted the architectural profession. The outcome of the recession of 2008 can be seen through NCARB’s annual report, NCARB by the Numbers, and their annual Survey of Registered Architects. NCARB provides relevant, statistical information in the report, which has expanded throughout the years to show how the profession can improve through gender and race as well as provides an educated projection of future amounts.

The number of registered architects reported by NCARB between 2007 and 2009 declined by almost 11,000 . It would take 10 years, until 2017, for the numbers to get back to where they were in 2007, but then three years later, in 2020, the pandemic would hit many fields, including architecture. While it is too soon to conclusively understand the fallout from the pandemic, it is understood that the industry has too many pressing needs, such as equitable space, resilient waterfronts, and safe schools, to take 10 years to bounce back and not dedicate the time necessary to address where it must adaptively innovate.

The numbers within the next few years will better show the trends of the next generation of architects and the work that will need to be done to shorten the possible 10-year building period, but what can be observationally interpolated from the fallout are minimally two things:

Above Data in the chart sourced from the annual NCARB’s Survey of Registered Architects for the years 2007-2012 and NCARB by the Numbers for the years 2012-2021.

1. People were laid off and testing centers closed

Testing centers were closed for a period during the pandemic because of safety measures and this meant aspiring architects faced an additional obstacle toward completing their licensure requirements. Individuals were required to test online or to pause their studying regimen , making it challenging for testing later. This skewed newly licensed architect numbers in an unfavorable way compared with past years, as months compounded without in-person testing and some architectural professionals lost their jobs, along with firm-reimbursed tests or testing income. Numbers may be further skewed in the coming years before stabilizing, as the numbers hopefully incorporate individuals who would have become licensed during the pandemic, if it were not for testing location closures and income loss.

2. Qualified candidates are needed to fill two types of positions.

Due to an influx and abundance of work, Firms are still competitively looking for qualified candidates to fill positions. At the same time, one of the largest generations of architects is reaching a retirement age. The combination of firms growing and people retiring means firms will be proactively looking for two types of candidates: individuals to grow the firm and individuals to fill or backfill senior roles held by retirees.

Currently, those in the baby boomer generation are between 57 and 75 years old. Many are recently retired or creating succession plans to start retirement in the next 10 years. Like generations before them, firms are preparing for new leadership and will continue to promote from within and hire from outside. In either case, firms are looking for the next generation of leaders. These succession plans are going to include architectural leaders who have proved to be resilient and adaptive because of their experiences with the recession and pandemic. In the succession plan for those getting ready to retire, they are required to start the process of doing one of the hardest things — letting younger generations try and sometimes fail in their growth.

Comparatively, younger generations generally have a greater emphasis on environment, justice, and diversity . This difference in an architectural mission can cause tension, but both parties need to use the next 10 years to learn from each other so that knowledge is not lost, but instead grown and adapted to relevant technologies and situations. Plus, if younger generations fail while they have the safety net of older generations to show them the way and provide teaching opportunities, then they are more likely to find successes and be adaptive if they are to fail when no one is there to fall back on. Now is the time to get the one last push of knowledge, guidance, and mentorship from the baby boomers. Like all generations, their experiences, opinions, and points of view are valued.

The architects of the past 15 years can be summed up in a few words: resilient, adaptive, and innovative. Now with one of America’s largest generations preparing to retire, the next generation of architects also needs to be intuitive, mission-focused, and impatient. Intuitive to understand what clients need but to also anticipate the continued highs and lows of the state of our nation. Mission-focused to create and control the narrative of change via the built environment with respect to sustainability, wellness, and past injustices. Impatient to empower

Above Data in the chart sourced from NCARB by the Numbers reports. The line indicating the trajectory removing COVID outliers eliminates the data from the years 2020 and 2021.

FOOTNOTES: 1 NCARB’s 2007 Survey of Registered Architect; NCARB’s 2009 Survey of Registered Architects

2 NCARB by the Numbers, 2018; 2021 NBTN COVID

3 Parker, Kim, and Ruth Igielnik. 2020. “What We Know about Gen Z so Far.” Pew Research Center. May 14, 2020.

4 NCARB by the Numbers, 2018; NCARB’s 2007 Survey of Registered Architect; NCARB’s 2008 Survey of Registered Architects; NCARB’s 2009 Survey of Registered Architects; NCARB’s 2010 Survey of Registered Architects; NCARB’s 2011 Survey of Registered Architects; NCARB’s 2012 Survey of Registered Architects;

5 NCARB by the Numbers, 2018

Kelsey Jordan, Assoc. AIA, WELL AP

Jordan is an associate and educational planner at Legat Architects in Oak Brook, Illinois. Her visions for the future of architecture involves designing for equity in the built environment. She serves on the AIA Public Outreach Committee, which spearheads Blueprint for the Better.