{"id":761367,"date":"2024-10-25T07:02:35","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T06:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=761367"},"modified":"2024-10-25T08:26:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T07:26:43","slug":"in-an-age-of-dizzying-speed-architects-need-to-slow-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/in-an-age-of-dizzying-speed-architects-need-to-slow-down","title":{"rendered":"In an age of dizzying speed, architects need to slow down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Convenience is the new currency. It\u2019s one of the main drivers of 20th and 21st-century economics and has helped create some of the wealthiest companies and people in history. Steve Jobs understood the benefits of a closed system designed for ultimate consumer convenience. Amazon tries to remove as many as many barriers as possible in order to get the money out of your wallet as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

Similarly, architecture now seems to be following suit, with AI and other smart technologies trying to take on as much work as possible to make our professional lives a little bit more convenient. The question is what is the cost of ever more convenient practice? Who truly benefits?<\/p>\n

One of the biggest developments in technology for architects was CAD, and later BIM. Introduced slowly from the 1980s, CAD was meant to revolutionise architecture. The system allowed for greater precision, fewer errors, easier amendments and more efficient design through the ability to copy across standard details. The future was there. After generations of doing things the same way, at last, there was a way to make everyone\u2019s lives easier (and maybe a bit richer while we\u2019re at it).<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t live through the changeover but I\u2019ve spoken to those who did and, brace yourselves, CAD did not bring about the architectural utopia that was spoken about. It seemed that we architects managed to expand to fill the gap it created.<\/p>\n

If a tool improves the process then fantastic, but if it replaces the process then that\u2019s the start of something bad.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2018Slow thinking\u2019 is a term mentioned in Daniel Kahneman\u2019s book Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em><\/a>. Essentially, we all have two systems in our brain: one for quick reactionary responses, the other for slower, more reasoned methodical thinking. Convenience appeals to the first system but, as we have a high degree of mental load and responsibility, we need to lean more towards the latter system. Slow, deliberate architecture. I wonder if \u2018convenience\u2019 should even become a taboo word among architects.<\/p>\n

Making architecture slow and deliberate isn\u2019t about romanticising the past; glorifying Rotring pens above a Logitech mouse. It\u2019s about applying a level of self-control to shun the path of least resistance, advocating for thoughtfulness over speed.<\/p>\n

The process is what\u2019s important and also the reason we exist over others. This is something being discussed with our students this year, whose obsession is based solely on the final (sexy<\/a>) image and not on the process behind the creation. If a tool can help improve the process then fantastic, but if it replaces the process then that\u2019s the start of something bad.<\/p>\n

But even if you agree that we should protect \u2018inconvenient architecture\u2019, how does this help architects make a profit if some things take longer than they could to complete? Again, I would argue that it\u2019s precisely the process of architectural design that sets us apart from all other designers.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m as guilty as anyone when it comes to not showing my working out for a solution I put forward. It was only after talking to a landscape architect friend that I started showing my failed sketch designs to the client, after he said clients find this aspect of our work massively impressive. The failed sketches and WIP drawings can be shown as part of the process. Architecture is a service, so to add value to this, show what\u2019s going on behind the scenes and share the processes behind your work. Demonstrate that you\u2019re not taking the convenient route, but instead thinking about each and every aspect of design.<\/p>\n

Is convenience truly bad? No, but endlessly increasing efficiency won\u2019t necessarily make anyone\u2019s lives better architecturally speaking. I don\u2019t particularly want to go back to a world of hand drawing each detail, sending things by post and waiting weeks for a reply, but I do want to question the motives and reality of perpetually increasing convenience in a profession that needs you to slow down and take your time to do the job right.<\/p>\n

Toko Andrews is an associate at Tunbridge Wells-based Kaner Olette Architects and associate lecturer at the University for the Creative Arts<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Convenience is the new currency. It\u2019s one of the main drivers of 20th and 21st-century economics and has helped create some of the wealthiest companies and people in history. Steve Jobs understood the benefits of a closed system designed for ultimate consumer convenience. Amazon tries to remove as many as many barriers as possible in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10162,"featured_media":761374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[745],"tags":[100464,13805,1222,1343],"yoast_head":"\nIn an age of dizzying speed, architects need to slow down<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the modern age of convenience, architecture\u2019s value lies in slow, methodical work by expert humans, argues Toko Andrews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/in-an-age-of-dizzying-speed-architects-need-to-slow-down\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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