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How Architecture Firms Should Design Their Workplace: Harvard Online Course

2024-02-13T14:52:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education

While many fields have acclimatized to hybrid ways of working, architecture and design firms have encountered persistent challenges in making this transition.

Harvard GSD’s online course Designing the Creative & Collaborative Workplace: Space, Technology, and Culture looks at the unique spaces, technology, and culture shaping the creative workplace to help creative teams answer the question: “How will we redesign our workplace and the way we work?”

This discussion will be informed by research done by Jacob Reidel seeking to understand how architects have designed new ways of practicing in direct response to the upheaval of recent years.

Image courtesy Harvard GSD Executive Education.

Divided into three modules — Spaces, Technology, and Culture — the course will use a scaffolded approach to provide participants, regardless of background, with the resources to take actionable steps towards transformi...

Are you an architect or designer in search of remote work? Explore these opportunities on Archinect Jobs

2023-07-07T10:39:00-04:00

With hybrid work setups now becoming the norm for many architecture offices, some firms have embraced remote work for their teams. This week, we highlight 9 firms offering fully and partially remote job positions currently listed on the Archinect Job Board.

If you're curious about maintaining a virtual work-life balance or prepping for a virtual job interview, don't forget to check out our Archinect Tips section!

Center Street Parking Garage. Facade design by Neme Design Studio in collaboration with Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects (Design Architect). Image © Henrik Kam

Neme Design Studio, Inc seeks a Facade Designer/Project Architect

Details: "The candidate’s role is a Facade Designer working under a Senior Facade Designer to design, model, and document facade systems. As Facade Designer / Project Architect, an individual shall: Review projects with the senior facade designer to identify scope. Produce detailed 3D models of the facade system in RhinoProduce plans, elevations, secti...

Harvard students' survey finds most architectural tasks can be done remotely

2023-03-13T08:00:00-04:00

Students from the Harvard Graduate School of Design have published the results of their survey into the question of whether architecture can be practiced remotely. Launched in November 2022, the survey received 221 responses from across the profession and has led organizers to conclude that “architects believe that the vast majority of architectural tasks can be done ‘entirely or almost entirely remotely’”.

The survey, authored by students Su In Kim, Yun Ki Cheung, and Pedro Rodríguez-Parets as part of the “Frameworks of Practice” course, was designed to reflect NCARB's structure for the ARE, specifying 36 tasks across 6 project phases to create what the organizers considered a typical workflow from project inception to completion as well as practice management. For each of the 36 tasks, the survey asked respondents to respond ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question of whether the specific task could be done “almost entirely or entirely remotely.”

Graph via the "Can Architecture be practiced...

New Harvard online survey asks: Can architecture be practiced remotely?

2022-11-18T12:02:00-05:00

As the global COVID-19 pandemic approaches the end of its now third calendar year, the architecture industry is once again in a state of adjustment, seeking to find that sweet spot between various available remote, hybrid, and in-person working arrangements. Continuing shifts in technological, health, and cultural standards have forced architectural practice, as well as employment models, to adapt to the post-pandemic challenges at hand.

A new research project at the Harvard Graduate School of Design is looking to study these trends within architectural practice at a time when an increasing number of firms choose to return the office.

Led by instructor Jacob Reidel under the banner of "Frameworks of Practice," the initiative aims to "understand how architects have designed new ways of practicing in direct response to crises ranging from economic collapse to structural racism to natural disaster to global pandemic."

Through a brief online survey with simple rating questions, the st...

How does asynchronous work intersect with architectural practice?

2022-04-15T11:47:00-04:00

While speculation over what a long-term “post-pandemic workplace” may look like is often distilled into conversations about remote and hybrid working, the topic of asynchronous working garners relatively less attention. This comes despite the fact that many of the touted benefits of remote working, whether it be more accessible childcare options, fewer travel constraints, or personal appointments and commitments, would be more accurately described as benefits of an asynchronous workplace, rather than a remote or hybrid one.

As a BBC article on the subject from 2021 points out, remote working and asynchronous working are separate, standalone structures. While remote and hybrid working arrangements are simply a matter of location, asynchronous working is a matter of time, where each individual worker can structure their workday free of a typical 9–5 arrangement, rather than all employees of a company working the same synchronized hours.

Related on Archinect: An architect’s advice ...

An architect’s advice on boosting creativity in hybrid workplaces

2022-04-06T09:00:00-04:00

In a new thought piece, NBBJ architect Ryan Mullenix presents the findings of NBBJ and the University of Washington’s research into how hybrid workspaces impact creativity. Coincidentally launched at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the research sought to establish the key behavioral and spatial elements which can enable creative workers, including architects, to maintain a creative flair away from their traditional workplace.

The research’s findings may prove useful for creatives long after the pandemic, with evidence including Archinect’s own survey finding that hybrid work options have become a permanent fixture in architectural employment. For example, there are currently 41 open positions on Archinect’s job board offering purely remote working.

According to architect Mullenix, a key finding from research participants was that “control” remains an important part of workplace setting...

Survey finds AEC firms positive about growth in 2022, expect hybrid working to continue

2022-01-19T14:55:00-05:00

AEC firms are positive about industry growth in 2022 and expect to continue employing a hybrid workforce, according to a survey by Openasset. The AEC Industry Outlook Survey of 500 architecture, engineering, and construction professionals found that 78% believe their firm will experience positive growth in 2022.

46% of respondents said their firm would employ a hybrid workforce in 2022. Almost 25% expect their company to operate with a fully remote workforce, while 19% see a full return to the office for all staff. Maintaining a hybrid workforce was the largest challenge anticipated by respondents, with 54% identifying the shift as a challenge for 2022.

Other challenges highlighted by respondents included employee retention (mentioned by 42%), meeting tight deadlines (mentioned by 49%), and winning new business (mentioned by 42%).

The survey by Openasset is the latest insight into the AEC land...