“In 10 years we probably will not call ourselves an architecture practice; it will be something else entirely.”

This is the provocative pull quote on the cover of The Future for Architects, a recent publication from the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) think tank, Building Futures.

I joined the UPworld network almost three years ago. These three years have been the most confounding of my quarter-century long career. I had intentionally left a great but economically tenuous position to work for an established hospital design firm. I viewed that firm (and the healthcare market) as recession-proof. It was not. After half a year of unemployment, I moved to a new state for an architecturally related job with a government contractor. Based on federally funded projects, this position is as secure as it gets. Right? I’m glad to be working, but where do I go from here? Where do we go from here? The Building Futures report tells. The Future for Architects specifically addresses British trends and conditions, but it sheds light on our profession stateside as well.

Two projections that strike me as noteworthy are as follows:

1. the waning of mid-size firms (giving way to small local shops and large multi-national, multi-disciplinary firms)
2. the growth of consultancy firms that provide strategic planning, product design and media design (services beyond the traditional building design)

In spite of our recent economic distress, I agree with this conclusion for the report.

“While the future for the practice of architecture as a discrete business is uncertain, the opportunities for architects have never been greater.”