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Despite running an established practice with a strong senior team, Saunders MD Martin Williams explains what’s needed from new talent in the market
I
began my career as a hungry young architect, willing to take on a variety of tasks and, at the time, often failing to manage them all, yet always learning from my directors and peers. I was very, very fortunate to have had good, patient, experienced people around me when I started out. Architecture is a reflection of humanity and the world we live in, which is, of course, ever evolving. There have been immense shifts in the profession, and none more so than in the last decade, and this is why we need to stay ahead of the curve. American writer Mark Twain said: “Genius has no youth; it starts with the ripeness of age and experience.” Although we all know that the journey to architecture is a very long, studious, and experience- based path, we cannot underestimate the journey of those young architects and the need to give them the chance to gain the practical experience and opportunities that we were afforded.
I was given the opportunity to flourish 35 years ago, with my very first practice, where I was mentored, encouraged, and supported, with regular site visits and early supervised responsibility of projects. Yet this is not always the case. All too often, we see employees move to Saunders having not been given opportunities at their former practices, where they may have been used as draftspeople only, rather than future project leads.
Architectural practices are sometimes guilty of not letting go and making way for the next generation of enthusiastic designers and bright young minds. Founders are often so busy building their practices, watching the finances, and ensuring that their clients are happy that they forget that without bringing forward the next generation, they
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All too often we see employees who move to us having not been given opportunities at their former practices
will always be too busy to grow, adapt, and progress. They will also miss the constant change that is happening and potentially become out of touch. Architecture is a constantly growing, changing, and developing profession that needs calm professionalism, intelligence, and flair, but because of this, it requires fresh new ideas and thinking. Good practices recognise the need to nurture new talent, not only because it is the right thing to do but also because without this, your company will not adapt, develop, and flourish in the ever-changing architectural world. You’ll
also have more time to review and ensure projects are on track. It can only ever be a ‘win-win’ situation.
Developing architects of the future At Saunders we do our best to help nurture future architects in a number of ways. These include taking up to five work experience students each year from local schools for a week’s structured, supervised work experience. They are assisted to come up with a design for a dream house in freehand sketch form first, as we feel that it is important that all architects can draw! We then show them how to draw this in AutoCAD; then once they are comfortable we help them to draw their house in 3D using SketchUp. We provide a portfolio so they can take copies of their work away with them and pay them a nominal fee, so it really feels like work. We also give them advice on the routes into architecture, the qualifications required
ADF MARCH 2023
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