Futures Forum in the Works
The ACA – NSW/ACT branch is planning a three-week online Sustainable Archi Futures Forum with the mission to reconsider the culture of the architectural profession and the culture of building more widely, reports Michael Lewarne.
Australian architectural practice, and the profession at large, is facing an ever-increasing number of challenges: fee cutting, procurement practices, poor public profile and voice, gender equity, mental health, poor work conditions, a dearth of leadership – to name the most prominent. The profession, however, has difficulty identifying the wider perspective necessary to deliver solutions that are sustainable and embed this wider perspective within the culture of building. We believe we need to initiate a broader conversation.
The Sustainable Archi Futures Forum will include voices outside the profession as well as within, to prompt a conversation with people who bring this necessary wider perspective, who are able to see and identify what the profession may not. We need people with new or different ideas, who can challenge the conventional strategies adopted by the profession.
Participants will come from the profession, but also from government, media, universities, institutions and politics. We will invite discussion from clients, consultants, lawyers and councillors. Our first initiative will take place as a private invitation-only online forum run by the ACA, but it is hoped that this will be the first of many forums and conversations with a view towards delivering change and a more sustainable future for the architectural profession.
The Sustainable Archi Futures Forum has the mission of delivering clear objectives and actionable outcomes. After a three-week period of discussion and group consultation, the ACA will deliver a report on the forum’s findings. Watch this space for more information.
Michael Lewarne is the Vice President of the ACA – NSW/ACT branch and a Director of Redshift Architecture & Art.