Practice Simulation Lab: Real Insights from Hypothetical Firms

In an effort to reconnect early professionals and young architects across the state following Covid-19, the AIA Ohio EP and YAF leadership teams coalesced around an idea to rethink the Practice Innovation Lab. The Practice Simulation Lab (PSL) was created to not only explore the development of innovative business models for the architectural profession but also simulate the conditions of running a practice both now and looking forward to the future.

Simultaneously confronted with an urgency to connect across a growing generational knowledge gap, we focused our efforts to connect Fellows, young architects, emerging professionals, and students in an interactive and engaging manner. Instead of presenting the business of architectural practice as a lofty goal outside the reach and confidence of many early professionals, we wanted our participants to be immersed in the day-to-day decisions of their employers. Ultimately, PSL was structured to challenge participants with creating a hypothetical firm, confronting them with questions about how to create a diverse and equitable firm, how to create tangible change in our practices and built environments, and how to build a sustainable future for the profession.

The event took place over a day and a half in Columbus, Ohio, a relatively central location for members across the state. We began with an initial keynote from Evelyn Lee, FAIA. Evelyn emphasized the importance of understanding and establishing values that guide your practice and the basic building blocks of a successful business. She also dove into some of the operational trends currently affecting businesses such as the rise of hybrid work, the importance of equity, diversity, & inclusion, and the rise of artificial intelligence in everyday practice. She introduced several case studies of alternative practices, illustrating the potential breadth and feasibility of approaches future architectural practices may adopt.

Following the keynote, participants from across the state assembled in their pre-assigned teams, balanced based on the relative experience and geographic location. Fellows were contacted directly prior to the event in effort to carefully build a diverse group of mentors. Confronted with these new, unknown teammates, they were then asked to create their own practice - prompted by questions about their vision for their work, the expertise they have or wish to have, as well as practical questions about their business structure, size, and location of their practice.

After establishing the ins and outs of their practice, these firms were then presented with a variety of challenges based not only on the realities of the practice of architecture but also where the profession is headed. We asked firms to handle how to maintain operations when severe weather hits their office and/or project locations, how to recruit and retain talent with an emphasis on equity, diversity, and inclusion, handling the loss of a partner to another practice, as well as planning for a leadership succession strategy.

After running the firms through this gauntlet of challenges we provided a template for them to develop their presentations to share to the group as a whole. The evening wrapped up with dinner and drinks at a local venue for all of the groups to mingle and share their experiences before regrouping the next day to present.

Highlights from the event

In hindsight, we’ve been able to identify a number of critical concepts that have resulted from the collaborations. We found that teams emphasized community engagement and service beyond any individual project or building. Some teams sought to expand their services while others narrowed their expertise, but all agreed that a successful firm is a meaningful one. Spoken values were made tangible in the project pursuits, recruitment strategies, and daily operations of the firms. Below we’ve briefly summarized the six future firms so that you might see the range of their approaches:

• The Advocate Lab is organized around providing stellar owner’s representative services, “advocating” for their clients beyond any singular project or building.

• Studio, i.e. is looking beyond buildings to identify upstream opportunities and develop groundbreaking research that serves communities in need.

• THX is adopting an architect-developer strategy to manage high-profile adaptive reuse projects, such as downtown office to housing conversions.

• Community Collaboration (COCO) is a Women Business Enterprise, examining sustainable growth and redevelopment in communities and within their own business structure.

• Volent is exploring the ethics of architecture and business, attempting to turn a profit while balancing an aggressive build-nothing-new attitude.

• Design Futures is focused on pre-project services and visioning, delivering long-lasting, impactful designs to communities.

“A firm today isn’t just architects, [...]” said Angela Mazzi, FAIA, FACHA, EDAC, commenting on the structure of her team’s hypothetical practice. It’s no surprise that this statement summarizes nearly all of our activities over the course of the PSL, as we jumped from questions about measuring continued impact to mitigating financial risk. We at AIA Ohio feel that our future firm owners present an encouraging and interesting vision for the practice of architecture, and they’ll be uniquely positioned to lead as a result of our mentorship and investment. We’re grateful to facilitate their education.

Seth Duke social media handles: Instagram & Twitter: @DukeInMinor7th, https://www.linkedin. com/in/dukeseth/, https://www.facebook.com/sethduke194

Alex Oetzel social media handles: Instagram @oetzelpretzel https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-oetzel-a7732b125