A Bridge to What’s Next

A few updates from last week. Using a metaphor stolen from Eric’s book, I am looking backward but rowing forward. I had two different occasions to share my experiences and to learn more from other professionals in the construction and housing industry, and colleagues. A common trend is that we live in an increasingly extreme world: Whether we are talking about firms, staff, or housing, the “middle” is missing.

Trends in Architecture 

Jeff Burd invited me to be one of the architects that shared their thoughts on the future of architecture, for the MBA of WPA “Breaking Ground” magazine. The March/April issue has been released in paper and I could read what other architects are saying. The comments that stuck with me the most, out of this thoughtful report, are the followings:

• A substantial number of architects left the industry after 2008. The pandemic did not help in retaining talent either, and there is a general concern for lower-than-in-the-past enrollment in universities. It will be harder to find staff, and ‘training mid-career employees up’ will become an imperative for Architecture Firms - if that is not already a priority.
• Cost escalation and not being able to predict costs are commonly shared challenges, often leading to rush the design phase and then pausing. This is both annoying and challenging.
• Flexibility in relating yourself to people and space recurred often in the article. I pair this with the observations that: Younger staff are not accepting to work after hours, and that it is still an employee’s market. A workplace has to be inviting and old boring offices are not attractive.
• Priority is given to projects that can generate revenue - something that we should keep in mind also in how we manage our firms.
• To remain relevant and to combat the perception that they are not held in high esteem, architects need to promote the fact that we do more than drawings. Our training is in thinking, managing, advising, solving problems.
• Technology is always moving fast. I shared that we are seeing much more technology in the jobsite, also in smaller companies and without the aid of software like 'Procore' et al. I can give detailed instructions remotely, and I can rely on faster communication from the field. The increased speed is a blessing and a curse, but I prefer when a contractor sends me a photo from the field BEFORE building something, rather than finding it built on my next site visit, and hoping it will be okay. It is giving the Contractors the confidence to ask the Architect and get a quick, detailed answer.
• The discourse around AI is more like: ‘OK, let’s understand this better’ rather than a slime of general fears and concerns. Reconnecting with the comment about shortage of architects in the pipeline, AI hopefully will cover tasks that nobody is around to do anymore.

ULI Pittsburgh Attainable Housing Summit

I attended the ULI Pittsburgh Summit on Attainable Housing inside the PNC 1 tower, co-organized with 1000 Friends of PA. Per ULI’s definition, attainable housing indicates housing that is affordable to moderate-income home buyers – including first-time buyers. The issue is: there isn’t enough attainable housing, creating the ‘missing middle’ problem. 

The room was divided into tables dedicated to discuss a particular aspect of the issue. I ended up in a table focused on permitting and its structure in our region. While troubling, it was good to see that we all had similar challenges, and that there is a serious interest in making things better - both in the design community and in the Planning Department.  While bigger Cities have definitely more intricate permitting processes that are hard to untangle, there is a general consensus that permitting in Pittsburgh could:

• Use clearer and consistent communication, coordinated among entities (local, County, and State)
• Use more resources, both human and financial. Permitting should be a priority for the City, because it has the potential to generate revenue and attract more investments.

I also wanted to share a few notes I took from an ice break exercise:

• Clients need to make informed decisions when it comes to buying properties or building something new. At Fisher ARCHitecture, we prioritize making the big picture clear, so that our Clients know what to expect. Reducing variables is an important service architects can provide.
• Attainable housing also depends on understanding processes and funding mechanisms. At a government level, Attainable housing depends on a ‘housing first’ mentality. Officials have to recognize the value of affordable and attainable housing - and the risks of not having enough of it.

Other topics that were discussed during the event:

• Zoning, and the need for a more realistic and helpful set of regulations promoting multi-family housing (even by right). This includes educating the public on the fact that 'density' is not a bad thing!
• It is very easy to tangle up properties in taxation delinquency and liening, but then it is hard to untangle them, leading to increased blight.
• Improve public transit and promote 'complete streets' projects. It is important to provide alternatives to cars in places that offer attainable housing to places that offer work.

In four hours or so of meeting, the attendees shared challenges and possible solutions to problems in getting more attainable housing built. There recommendations and ideas will be presented to local goverment officials.

Overall, this event left me optimistic that more and more people are getting active in defining problems and searching for solutions too.