THE PROFESSION 2: ARCHITECTURE REDEFINED
Dec SYSTEM BUILDING BLOCKS 1103-RTC at English Wikipedia
As long as I can remember I always wanted to become an Architect. It turns out I already am one of sorts, just not in the traditional sense.
I appreciate I’ve never trained as an Architect, also maths has never been my strongest academic subject. I know where the RIBA building is in London, however, I’ve never physically built something that could get my name placed anywhere near to the walls of the institution. Indeed, the closest I’ve been to working at RIBA was a university job as a Silver Service waiter. Hard work, however, I enjoyed it immensely.
Anyhow, I digress. What I do have is a love of design, buildings, urban planning and a lifelong love affair with skateboarding and photography. We’ll come back to the last couple of points in due course.
For the past 10 years, I’ve worked as a UX (user experience) Designer and more recently as a Design Manager in the Telecommunications industry and I’ve seen the redefinition of architecture play itself out in all kinds of ways—informationally and digitally, across IT and more recently within the area of Customer Experience.
For the architectural purists amongst you perhaps this is all window dressing. However, looking in through that window from a design and information perspective has renewed my passion for both traditional architecture and digital architecture. AI is becoming a passion also; again we’ll come back to this.
For those who’ve made it this far, the traditional definition of an architect is: “a professional who is trained and licensed to plan, design, and oversee the construction of buildings. Architects combine artistic and technical skills to create functional, safe, and aesthetically pleasing structures and environments.”
Some architects further define their practice according to their specialized area of practice. So there are:
Residential Architects
Commercial Architects:
Industrial Architects
Interior Architects
Planners and Urban Designers
“Green” Architects
Restoration Architects
Educational Facilities Architects
Healthcare Architects
Cultural and Institutional Architects
Architects who focus on other important aspects of the profession: teachers, writers, communicators, advisors, expert witnesses, forensic specialists, etc., etc.
The list is not complete, and these specializations are by no means exclusive. They only indicate special areas of expertise, allowing architects to focus on specific aspects of the built environment, catering to different needs and requirements.
Regular Architects structure their work by following a process that typically includes the following stages:
Planning Proposal: where does the scheme fit in with what surrounds it?
Programme: Design brief, what’s needed?
Design outline: How does it all fit together?
Design development: Working out the kinks, adding panache
Documents: Instructions for implementation
Coordination: Working with other consultants, who’s doing what?
Construction: Reviews, is it all going as planned? Are adjustments needed?
Maintenance: Manuals, e.g.—how do you keep the scheme current and healthy?
These stages—give or take, and possibly with different names—are the very same ones that the other kinds of architects also use.
My experience, or let’s say how I’ve come to experience other forms of architecture over the years in the digital realm, includes a focus on both system and informational architecture.
A System Architect is a professional who designs and oversees the architecture of complex systems within an organization. They focus on the overall structure and behavior of these systems, ensuring they meet business requirements and are scalable, reliable, and secure. A System Architect plays a crucial role in ensuring that an organization’s IT infrastructure supports its objectives and can adapt to future challenges.
Here are some key responsibilities and aspects of a system architect’s role:
System Design (overall planning): Developing the high-level structure of a system, including software, hardware, networks, and other components.
Requirements Analysis (programming): Working with stakeholders to understand business needs and translating them into technical requirements.
Scalability and Performance (design outline): Designing systems that can handle growth and high performance under load.
Integration (design development): Ensuring various system components work together seamlessly and efficiently.
Security (design development): Incorporating robust security measures to protect against threats and vulnerabilities.
Technical Leadership (coordination): Guiding development teams in implementing the architectural vision and maintaining best practices.
Technology Evaluation (final review and maintenance): Assessing and recommending new technologies and tools that align with the system’s goals.
Documentation (and maintenance): Creating detailed documentation of the system architecture for reference and maintenance.
An Information Architect is a professional who focuses on the organization, structure, and presentation of information within digital and physical spaces. Their primary goal is to make information easily accessible, understandable, and usable. Information Architects play a critical role in ensuring that users can easily navigate and utilize complex information environments, leading to better overall user experiences.
An information architect uses the same architectural stages, but they tend to flow together. For example, planning and structure may be considered at the same time. Here are some key aspects of an information architect's role:
Content Organization: Structuring information in a logical, intuitive manner to enhance user experience.
Navigation Design: Creating effective navigation systems to help users find information quickly and efficiently.
User Research: Conducting research to understand user behaviors, needs, and preferences.
Taxonomy Development: Developing classification systems and metadata frameworks to categorize and label information.
Wireframing and Prototyping: Designing wireframes and prototypes to visualize the layout and functionality of digital interfaces.
Usability Testing: Testing designs with users to identify issues and gather feedback for improvement.
Content Strategy: Collaborating with content creators to ensure information is relevant, up-to-date, and aligned with user needs.
Optimization: Enhancing search functionality to improve information retrieval and relevance.
A discarded building in S. Martin, FWI.
Illustration: Gordon Grice.
How we define “architecture,” and the reason that this article is named “Architecture Redefined” comes down to how we experience architecture, and how we use it to navigate and structure the fabric of our lives. As a skateboarder and photographer, I’ve always been fascinated with the urban landscape. To me and many others, architecture isn’t a thing, it’s an experience. The built environment, including shopping malls, parking lots, rails, steps, ledges and corporate buildings takes on a whole new light in terms of use and navigation when you’re interacting with it, photographing and exploring it in new and imaginative ways. Unstructured play, graffiti, social gatherings, parkour, base jumping, BMX are all various ways of interacting with the built environment.
But there are also architectural ways of looking at “unbuilt” environments, including virtual environments, digital environments and many other kinds of spaces that require the expert design and execution of other kinds of architects. These other architects understand what architecture is, even when no buildings are involved. It's about different kinds of design: Systems and Information, and in the digital age, increasingly more and more about AI, as these various types of architecture work together and redefine how we understand and experience architecture.
I’ll continue to investigate these areas digitally as a non-architect, at least in the traditional sense that is. As a UX designer focused on crafting digital experiences for the end user, perhaps one day I’ll get that invitation to join RIBA. In the meantime, I will continue to immerse myself in, enjoy and navigate the world of architecture from all angles, definitions and disciplines.