More Than Just a Title

Welcome to my newsletter, where you'll find my latest takes on the architecture industry.

Today's read is ~ 6 minutes

Architecture is a funny profession.

Like, seeeeeeeeeriously funny.

Okay, jokes aside, here's what I mean...

The hours spent in studio, the long nights, not eating enough and skipping meals or eating too much and not finding time to just be you. Not that funny if you ask me. But what I hope to show you in this month's edition is the beauty in not pursuing what you first thought was the ultimate goal. As I too am in this position right now where my beliefs in the profession don't align with the work 95% of practices are doing. Now, they say it's best to put your head down and do the couple of years in practice before sitting the final exam to get your license as a qualified and registered 'Architect'. However, I've come to think that there really is no time restraint one should put on themselves. Afterall, did we not learn from our experiences in architecture school? The current situation I'm in right now is this... a recent Master of Architecture graduate who is looking to find a job as a Part II in a firm. Now, what are the hurdles?

1). Getting rejected from firms... and I mean a lot of rejections

2). As mentioned above, my vision for the profession not aligning with the current industry setting

3). Truly wanting to pursue a career in academia to become a design tutor in architecture and lead my own studios

But what I've come to realize is this:

I'm not the only one who is receiving rejection letters. This is also not something specific to the architecture industry. Every year, thousands of students graduate and send out their applications to the firms they hope to work at. However, I'm certain that all of us have received those emails where as soon as we see the word 'unfortunately' at the beginning of the e-mail we just close the tab.

Now, onto my vision for the profession. I will dive deeper into this topic at a later stage because although I have my own thoughts on what I believe should be happening, or at least changing within the industry, I understand that this mass-production manufacturing cycle isn't stopping anytime soon. So this brings me into a new realm of design curation and a notion that I've been thinking about for a very long time. My standpoint, my work and the greater resolution of making a change on a scale that I can control with work that ultimately comes from me and others I work with. Just to say, when we think about current global crises, I can honestly say that I don't think the industry is doing anything to work to provide solutions. And that doesn't sit right with me. And I know that it doesn't sit right with many students, academics and professionals within practice. But we can all say we don't agree with it, yet many turn a blind eye for their own personal fortune and partake in schemes that truly don't need to be built. As my tutors told me a couple months ago, the hardest thing but the most important thing that an architect can say is 'No'. And that's where I find myself at this stage of my career as a young designer. Yet I feel that I will soon have to get involved.

And the pursuit of wanting to become a design tutor. The first teacher that had any influence on me was my graphic design teacher back in secondary school. The way he taught, his approach to both the creative and critical aspect of the work impacted me in a way that truly set the mark for me wanting to pursue architecture. I've found that most people can stand up in front of a classroom or a studio and ask the students to complete whatever work is requested. However, to teach and to develop the ways in which students and young designers think and work is truly an art and even in my five years of architecture school through both undergrad and masters, I have found that the tutors who put the time to develop themselves as academics and designers are the ones who have greater influence on the students.

And in this search to become a design tutor, I have opened up my own ways of thinking and exploring my views of both the architecture and design world. High quality research was something I wasn't very good at doing in school. But I'd like to think in the past couple years during the time I spent studying architecture, I have become much better. In this year alone, it took me a long time to actually stop the research phase of my project because I was too interested in what more I could extract to use. And this made me question what other possible routes I could take. You see, it's not always about working towards a certain point to obtain a title. It's about the work you want to do and what impact you believe this will have within the industry and other aspects you wish to work towards. I think some people call this their 'purpose'.

Last month I introduced you to Mac Collins and the incredible journey he is on as an exceptional furniture designer. This week, I want to introduce you to someone who also continues to influence me and my design methodologies. This creative has produced some of the most outstanding pieces of art and architecture and what excites me the most is that he has so much time ahead of him and he is an instrumental figure that you should all be aware of.

From being selected for the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism to being an awardee of The Samuel Ross Black British Artist Grant, Isaac 'Issi' Nanabeyin Simpson is an artist that is reshaping the potentials of what an architect and designer is able to accomplish and produce in a postmodern world. His work now includes being a Design Tutor and Design Associate at The Bartlett, a researcher for the African Futures Institute and of course, his own design practice as an architect and artist working to build diasporic identities into (digital) forms, visuals, text and spatial interventions. Setting a foundation and a standard for design and architectural education moving forward, Issi is undoubtedly one of the most underrated designers in the UK.

                  Process(es) Installation - Animation        

The boundaries we place on ourselves through our lives and careers as designers and architects will be the only reason why we don't achieve what we want.

Nanabeyin has set out a guideline without even acknowledging the influence he has on the current cohort of designers. Thank you, Issi.