SPOTLIGHT
RESILIENCE IN ARCHITECTURE A WORTHWHILE FUTURE
BY Architect Channa Weerasinghe
There is no doubt that architecture has created resilience within us all but the question remains: was it really worth it? As personal as this story tends to be, the facts dictate that we have spent our entire 20s and a majority of finances – in most cases – to achieve a professional goal in today’s world to provide services and reap benefits. In return, it is only fair to attempt to respond to this question with an honest and progressive outlook.
To speak of resilience after a pandemic, an economic crisis and a political meltdown were doled out to us within a short three year period seems perfectly appropriate. The International Union of Architects (UIA) reported that a vast majority were seeking professional employment while 40 percent of local firms favoured online operations and remote office work.
Every professional and student who was impacted by the aftermath of this catastrophe struggled to discover a form of escape with many opting for migration, creating a brain drain within the industry.
Few are aware of what their worth is outside of the system and the ‘yes, I know what I can do’ attitude works well within the bubble but pops like a party balloon under a global spotlight. While the system encourages a faux fragile envelope in the pretence of resilience, it is consequentially derogative to individuals and industry, and hinders long-term progression.
To truly understand resilience in architecture today, we must realistically accept the ways of grooming an architect in developing a unique personal touch using the mechanisms of artistry that result in the timelessness of style.
A unique personal touch
It must be acknowledged that the rigorous learning within any local architectural university exposes the unseen potential of students, allowing them to become diligent professionals. Adding to this mix the common South Asian cultural trait of the need for external validation in pleasing parents and lecturers, the pressure in performing well all over the world is unparalleled.
Unfortunately, the ignorance of this situation is coupled with the lack of any form of structured psychological and career counselling in these educational institutions so far. This results in student dropouts and prolonged trauma that eventually shape generations of adults hovering under thin, insecure veils attempting to deal with larger than life, real world problems.
Care driven guidance will nurture sensitivity over self-protection and self-interest, leading to more grounded, self-aligned professionals with the emotional intelligence and competence required to grow in any diverse environment. Negative motivation should no longer be the mode of inspiration within education systems.
A greatly misconstrued entity is the confusion between volunteering and co-ops. While volunteering is free time and effort offered by students and professionals to further a cause, co-ops are structured programmes developed for the benefit of an individual gaining experience and the firm obtaining service simultaneously.
It is deeply saddening to be made aware that it’s still the general practice that students, graduates and professionals are exploited into volunteering for a firm or individual under the pretence that it’s honourable and beneficial.
This disrespects and undermines the confidence of individuals at early stages. It also inhibits the crucial impact of volunteering within the industry where it must be associated as a role for networking with leaders, building connections, discussing and practising innovation.
It is a dream come true for any student or professional to meet his or her icons and connect with them on a personal level. However, these opportunities are missed with the lack of local architectural volunteer organisations and the power they hold in maintaining a platform of communication, and furthering its cause within the community and the general public.
Mechanisms of artistry
The interesting aspect of exhibitions that showcase architectural contributions is that it provides cheeky insights into what the professional community holds invaluable. The ones that surpass the threshold of ‘deemed worthy’ is a realistic measurement of skill development over the years and exhibitions do viciously unfold these progress narratives as median products as of late.
They have been typically low to mid-rise developments with similar aesthetics, materials and motives. It is not a surprise that this commonality stems from the generalised teachings and practice of becoming a jack of all trades.
While it is greatly valuable to be able to know and manage projects from beginning to end, the lack of exit points within this one-way highway is a killer of experimentation and innovation.
For a small nation that overproduces architects, there is a dire necessity for multiple avenues of career growth where an individual can pursue strengths to develop in specialised areas that are true to their goals and talents, thus avoiding mediocrity.
Such a diverse system would destabilise dictatorial authority, enhance specific focus and make way for equality and liability within teams, establishing that the proverbial wisdom of ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ knows no bounds.
More importantly, this sets the conscious foundations for any student or professional to create immediate links to workplaces around the globe, eliminating a chunk of intermediary steps in transitioning. The point of education and training must be to ensure that one does not need to start from zero at different points within a global system, but to continuously merge and upgrade.
Architecture is a location-based industry and the further away from the tropics one settles, it is not only the building code that differs but also climate-based design, technology, materiality and the general living conditions of users of the designs.
Ideally, absorbing this knowledge should be the only adaptational challenge that a well-qualified professional should encounter. Unfortunately, with all the crippling stress the educational system puts students through, they still turn out lacking the basic practical skills that the world demands simply due to this ‘bubble’ we have created, which has halted growth.
Prowess in software such as Revit, Rhinoceros, the BIM umbrella and 3ds Max trump planning and visualising software such as AutoCAD and SketchUp due to the applicational restrictions, and a lack of sophistication in developing complex forms, specifically in any forms of parametric architecture.
It may be true that the experience of many architects over the past half-century was limited to smaller scale buildings. However, this generation should be equipped to race alongside competitors in order to prevent larger projects from being shamefully handed over to foreign teams due to any lack of capability within.
Leaving aside absolute personal choices, it has been the experience of many who have left the country that after years of hard work, they find themselves in construction and project management roles, and far away from their original intentions.
Furthermore, on basic essential skills, two other critical components that are absent in the current educational channels are marketing/branding and financing. Portfolios are the bread and butter of designers, and while they are mistaken for being egotistic Instagram handles, they are in fact curated case studies exhibiting both success and failure, very much similar to the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects Part III exercise.
Hand drawings and sketchbooks are a gateway to expressing oneself as a designer but along with the grounded awareness that any one skill should not disadvantageously overpower the basics.
Good communication skills to maintain a top tier LinkedIn account, face interviews, compile cold emails and manage social media handles for individuals or firms are now mandatory.
The same extends to the understanding of general economics, and the capability of calculating and speaking using percentage budgeting in order to quantify what we design. Today, it is simply expected, as any of us would speak to a vendor about how much their product costs, the possibility of discounts and understanding what really contributes to it being expensive.
It is paramount that these essential skills be provided and developed to function at the minimum expected level of a businessman, upon which the intricate layers of an architect are added.
Every individual is truly unique and this is inevitably brought out within a creative programme. Yet, the lack of niche career opportunities is a suicidal no man’s land, suffocating growth and paralysing the industry at every unstable political turn.
Not everyone is destined to become a ‘Star Architect’ but all are capable of achieving their own niche stardom. It is this out of bubble fuel that essentially drives progress and innovation.
Similar to any other career arc, working while studying has proven beneficial even to architects in completing 10,000 hours to achieve expertise, and also being capable of balancing life, work and education.
Considering the tumultuous changes that the industry has moved through over the past three decades, we can easily conclude that we will neither be able to stop learning nor working in order to make a living in the near future.
Any previous notions of architecture being associated with ‘recreation more than occupation’ or any form of colonial club mentality are no longer positively serving. In fact, this was established during the pandemic and economic crisis when professionals sought out entirely different methods of income outside of the industry than transitioning within, eventually contributing to the current brain drain.
The benefit of affiliation and international programmes is to enable a swap of education and employment to occur without resulting in an exodus. It is now an exposé of the limitations, and the inadequacy of local and foreign relations is quite apparent.
Timelessness of style
A positive aspect engraved into the system is the availability of indigenous knowledge and practice. Tourism and travel have exposed many beautiful hotels, villas and other fantastic visits along with their copyright dreamers. The late Geoffrey Bawa notably is one such celebrity, in passing known as the ‘Le Corbusier of the East.’
It is evident that the country is in no shortage of talent. Diving into the ‘how and why’ of this glorious past would guarantee a unique entry into the world stage, both in practice and academia. Yet unfortunately, there is no platform for recognised architectural research and innovation pertaining to this topic.
There is merit in the dialogue that architects are leaders in the team, and their visionary minds can change the course of societies and nations. The training required to meet this great expectation is in him/her in fact, and the tremendous life skill needed to create change can arise from working in any role within the team.
Being leaders for the sake of holding authority is not where the merit lies. It is in the capacity to work together, inspire and influence that leaders are born, despite the ranking.
Innovative and visionary projects require different forms of leaders and under progressive guidance, designing for mass production facilitates economical creativity for the majority middle income population.
In fact, tsunami housing projects – much like IKEA – follow similar thinking patterns and are equally proven to be capable of supporting dire social issues. Design does not always have to be a luxury one cannot afford. Architects can facilitate and grow this thinking to cap the unwarranted industrialisation and gentrification that is rampant in every town across the nation.
Skilled migration or any other form of international transition is becoming increasingly strained as the training to fill the vacancies in the international platform are blatantly lacking in many nations including Sri Lanka.
From a programme that demands the energy and consistency of a decade of a human’s life, it is only fair to expect that in the end, one would be able to function smoothly both locally and globally.
It is quite clear that a stretch of rectifications is due, which would enhance the efficacy of the system and create much awaited resilience. Countries such as India and Spain have turned over new leaves in this approach, so there is hope that we may move away from the ‘do as you’re told’ frame of thinking to consciously restructure a future that is true and worthwhile to us.
RESOURCES
Sources from Australia, the UK, the US and Canada.International Union of Architects. (2023). Sri Lanka – Study of Effects of the Economic Crisis on Architectural Firms.
REFERENCE
International Union of Architects. (2023). Sri Lanka – Study of Effects of the Economic Crisis on Architectural Firms.
PHOTOGRAPHY
www.freepik.com (free resource)
