The future of sustainability and wellness is achieving a restorative and regenerative economy as we are in the age of the Anthropocene- when human activities started to have a significant global impact on Earth's ecosystems. For the past century, we have been digging things out of the ground, turn them into products / materials that last from minutes to a few years at most, and then stick them back into the ground as landfill. We are NOT making the world sustainable through our linear approach to sustainability.
The AEC industry to stay relevant must come up an industrial system that is, by design and intention is restorative, using material/resources (either in a bio-cycle or in a techno-cycle) and applying materials /resources designed for multiple use cycles, at high quality. The AEC Industry must take a radical, restorative, regenerative approach to way we conduct business. We must move away from the way we do business which is deeply rooted in a linear approach to growth - make, use, dispose. We should design and build buildings that reuse components and structures that can be extracted without damage and at low cost?
This will require us an industry asking ourselves the question: Does this mean we must start from scratch and redesign everything we do today. Yes, this will require making changes that require new workflows, new training, and evangelism and commitment to from builders and owners the long-term benefits of transforming how buildings and communities are designed, constructed, maintained and operated across the globe.
Our ever increasing digital, global environment is shaping the world in which we work, but more than that, it is shaping the evolution of organisation through its influence on the workplace forcing business leaders have to rethink the future vision of teh workplACE.
Is your organisation evolving towards the untethered workplace? I would like to hear from you.
We talk more about success and are quick to celebrate success while avoid talking about failure. By avoiding nor considering the reason for the failure or learn from the failures of our concept, initiatives, ideas and strategy is a missed opportunity. We need our teams to experiment, facilitate failure within reason and cultivate the spirit of entrepreneurship and I turn learn from these experience and excel.
This unique and deeply embedded culture and practise of transferring risk downstream is of serious concern for Project Managers such as myself who are contracted to deliver projects on time; on budget and on scope. A few who I conferred with in my network in the AEC Industry clear understand the benefits of changing this process which results in transparency and accountability in the industry. I will be implementing these changes on my next project in the New Year and will report back on the benefits of the changed- Changed Thinking leading to a Changed Outcome.
It is obvious the AEC industry must disrupt- as mentioned in the a recent blog “Disrupting the AEC Industry” in this disruptive, digital global economy. The AEC industry will find its environment of operation will have to change quickly to survive. No one can predict the future of the industry but the industry can decide for itself to disrupt itself or be blindsighted by some other industry that will disrupt it. In order for the Business of Architecture to be in step with their clients they will have to transform the AEC Industry infrastructure & its ecosystem through a disruption of their practise
Very few business leaders nor education instructions and associations related to the AEC Industry have seen the writing on the wall but for the majority life goes on as they are caught up in the cycle of boom and bust, feast or famine not realizing this digital globalized economy will disrupt the all traditional industry. This is especially true for AEC industry that have not learned to adjust itself to the digital, globalised economy where society and technology are progressing at a faster rate than institutions and organisations. It is obvious the AEC industry must disrupt as in this disruptive, digital global economy, the AEC industry will find its environment of operation will have to change quickly to survive.
The traditional stick and build method to implement design and engineering solution used in our cities and towns are inheritably inefficient and consistently producing varying quality of work. The future lies: in design; engineering of building designed to evolve & built to last.
The key here is to design Build like Lego- build blocks from kit of parts which can be used in any required combination and can be conveniently assembled providing flexibility in manufacture; assembly; disassembly; relocation and reissue or recycle in its entirety.
The AEC industry needs to transform its traditional model of delivery to design, build and maintain facilities– workplaces – the crucible that assist our clients to complete the digital transformation in “flexible, fast and functional facilities that mutate and evolve to adapt the constantly changing business environment to bring to market new services or new products keep pace with a rapidly changing disruptive business environment.
Since my days as a Designer and now as a Management consultant at Optum+, wherein I project manage projects, I have heard the refrain from designers of both exterior and interior environments: “oh if these restrictions and problems were not there we would have come up with a great design.” I have to admit I too have made this remark in the past. However over the years I realised the hard way that all the sweat and brain crunching to get around restrictions and work around problems have produced some of my most interesting design and products.
The future thinkers are at work to map out the future of architecture and to answer the question “What next for Architecture” It is going to be an interesting journey for the profession, the jury is still out, what do you think? I will love to hear from you?
The AEC industry will be disrupted very shortly as the business environment which the industry is based is being disrupted. Our age old assumptions in business are no more relevant and the metrics of success are being redefined and where the clarity of words we use to discuss business, standbys like marketplace and competitive advantage, are redefined and rendered almost meaningless, makes it imperative that the industry will be disrupted. In the globalized knowledge economy where the goal is not efficiency but is adaptability or innovation or unleashing human potential where a whole new management system and tools is being reinvented, it is only a matter of time.
