Copyright Ian Pearson, BT Futurologist

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The future for architects

March 2003

Information technology will change all the professions. Some will be almost wiped out in the onslaught by smart machines and e-commerce, others will change dramatically. For architects, work will also change dramatically but the overall changes will be unusually favourable.

Many jobs will be made obsolete by new technology. Personnel workers can mostly be replaced by software; accountants and clerical people, many middle managers and many salespeople will also be forced to retrain. But specialists such as architects will thrive and will be much more valued in this information economy dominated world. Knowledge guilds will guarantee the quality of work, and opportunities will be abundant as development accelerates around the world as wealth increases.

Today, architects work in relatively small companies. They are accustomed already to working in what amount to virtual companies with builders, so they will be largely unaffected by that trend. The next phase of e-commerce will bring virtual co-operatives - companies that are built from the ground up, by software that automatically identifies market opportunities and builds appropriate teams to exploit them. As councils identify the need for new housing, or as land or buildings appear on the market, architects will be called up as appropriate to fill their role in the exploitation of these opportunities. Improving communications and display technology will allow more flexible working, of particular use to women balancing home life with their profession.

Of course, architects already make good use of information technology. Buildings are designed on the computer, making extensive use of expert systems to check structural, engineering and regulatory integrity. Before plans ever hit a printer, people can explore proposed structures in virtual reality to see how they would feel, allowing much closer client involvement and happier users. As we move towards greater internet penetration, community networks will spring up everywhere, and ordinary people can then participate more fully decisions affecting the design of their local environment. The interaction between the architect and actual users will be much closer than it has ever been. User's will be happier and architects will be more valued.

All of this will change the architect's lot quite a bit for the better, but that is only the beginning. Until now, architects have designed physical structures, built in the real world. A new universe has recently come into existence, called cyberspace. Cyberspace is the notional environment that we inhabit when we use any electronic service. Virtual reality shopping malls were tried as an interface a few years ago, but didn't work because of download speed, and other technology constraints that will largely vanish over the next few years. As ordinary people use the net more and more, so we need such intuitive interfaces. Few things are as intuitive as virtual worlds - people need no training in a virtual shop where you pick up virtual goods and put them in virtual shopping baskets.

With immersive technology at work and at home in the future, much of our future leisure time, socialising and even teleworking, will be in compelling imaginary virtual environments. Since cyberspace is free of physical laws or materials constraints, the wildest imaginations can run free, the most elaborate constructions realised. We also need inter-working between real buildings and cyberspace - the area in the local pub where you can also have some of your absent friends. Some of cyberspace will be designed by amateurs and games designers. The best will be designed by tomorrow's architects, who understand how people use space but also understand cyberspace. Good design will win out. The concept of lifelong learning will soon be understood well by this profession.

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