Speakers
Description
Architecture is often characterised as a highly individualised creative pursuit, yet the contemporary reality for those architects who do indeed primarily design buildings is somewhat different. The realisation of any kind of building is only possible through the orchestration of complex collaborations between different disciplines. Nevertheless, collaboration as a subject remains underrepresented in the learning and research activities of architecture schools. Meanwhile Agile Organisation strategies are becoming more and more popular in other branches, placing emphasis on the human complexity of teamwork and being characterised by flat hierarchy and increased autonomy for teams. Applications for agile organisation in architectural practice are as of yet not well documented, with most practices relying on traditional systems and hierarchical role structures suited to the discrete “waterfall” processes associated with a traditional construction project. Nevertheless, one could imagine a future in which these structures and models will become overrun and eventually obsolete. Agile theory has a great potential for understanding the co-production of space, where it is often necessary to initiate and facilitate complex collaborations with transdisciplinary networks of actors with often divergent aims. Designing and performing the decision-making processes and collaborations of this practice, allows us to better embody space with a sense of co-ownership and -authorship, while providing designers with a new field of potential agency to define a political, professional and civic identity in their spatial practice. The discussion would focus on the potential agency of design professionals in transdisciplinary collaborative spatial projects using examples from ongoing PhD dissertation research.
