Exploring New Value of Design Practice

Graduate / Professional

An architectural education is a hard-won and expensive proposition, and architects have unique skills, work hard, and contribute widely to the built world. Is this contribution understood, acknowledged, or appreciated? Is the value of the architect’s contribution clear to clients, the public, or in the economy? If so, why isn’t architectural practice more profitable? How do we make the value of design explicit, increasing the efficacy of the profession and converting our value to a more remunerative profession? This course is a chance to reimagine and redesign the value proposition of architecture practice, explore strategies used by better compensated adjacent professions and markets, and investigate methods and models by which architects can deliver—and be paid for—the value they bring to the building industry. Using the platform of business plans—where value generation is defined through specific business parameters including profitability—we compare and contrast value generation strategies and tactics. Students form firms and propose new practice paradigms as a final project. 3 Course cr T 9:25am-11:20am