New publication by Architects’ Council of Europe: “Architecture – Passion or profession?”
In Europe around 90% of all architectural practices employ five people or less, and more than 90% of all practices have turnover close to/below the level required by the EU Public Procurement Directive.
“Passion is a significant driving force for starting and running an architectural practice. But being able to run a business is a prerequisite for its survival. You need to combine passion with business acumen. Besides being an architect, you need professional skills to run your business for it to survive.”
The ACE Internationalisation & New Business (IBM) taskforce states that: “Our aim with this publication “Architecture – passion or profession” is to create awareness about the business side. We think it is fair to state that “Your practice is the most important house you will ever design”.
Your practice is the most important house you will ever design
We also wanted to create awareness about business models, since almost all architectural practices have the same model. They bill by the hours they spend. Maybe it would be interesting to look at new ways – after all the work done by an architect creates value a long time after the project is completed. We hope that our fellow architectural practices around Europe will read this publication with interest and we think there is a never ending task for us to challenge ourselves in combining passion with profession.”
The Internationalisation & New Business Models (IBM) taskforce in ACE focuses on the impact of internationalisation on the profession and how architects might “upskill” in order to remain globally competitive and export their services. The publication was co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
Finnish Association of Architects is a member of the Architects’ Council of Europe, along with 42 other member organisations. Through its members, the Architects’ Council of Europe represents the interests of over 600,000 architects from 30 countries in Europe.