The question was submitted by David Minnis — and it's one the industry has been sitting with. Especially after Keir Regan-Alexander explored it in episode 2 of the Bespoke Careers podcast.
We took it out to founders, directors, technologists and teachers. Thirteen perspectives on what architects and designers must become to stay indispensable.
Being a person who is calmly progressing, building up their abilities and not getting frazzled is still quite rare — and increasingly, a standout quality.
Focusing on building up your AI skills and knowledge is one of the best ways to stand out in the 2025 workplace. So much is happening every week in AI that it can be overwhelming. Being a person who is calmly progressing, building up their abilities and not getting frazzled is still quite rare — and increasingly, a standout quality.
If you want to go in this direction, hone your technical knowledge so that you know more on a fundamental level than your peers. Then you can learn to better understand the risks and to actually make AI useful in practice every day. People in this category can become new leaders by sharing their progress and methods with others for the benefit of everyone.
Avoid wild and ad-hoc experimentation — it won't be well received. Focus instead on steady and competent application of methods that can gradually build real value for your practice, and you will quickly become essential.
Neither fixed nor fluent — adaptive. Situated. Alive.
The architect today hovers between two registers: the operational and the philosophical. On one side, practice is reshaped by new protocols — designing with datasets, modulating material behaviour through algorithmic feedback, engaging workflows where human and nonhuman intelligences co-produce spatial conditions. On the other, these methods unsettle long-held assumptions: authorship, autonomy, even the locus of design intention itself.
To remain essential may mean inhabiting this tension — moving fluidly between scripting and sensing, between fabrication and reflection. Architecture becomes both artefact and argument: a mode of thinking enacted through form, and a form that reflects shifting modes of thought. Neither fixed nor fluent — adaptive. Situated. Alive.
The profession's romantic attachment to the "master builder" ideal is a dangerous liability.
The profession's romantic attachment to the "master builder" ideal is a dangerous liability. Architects' future value will no longer be in manual, intuition-based form-making and design, but anchored in emerging technology application — identifying the best design outcome from a rules and constraints-based approach.
Learning how to leverage AI, automation and computational design to generate performance-driven, sustainable designs will help architects address the climate crisis, shifting societal needs, and deliver holistic solutions that are resilient, responsive, and essential for navigating the complex challenges that lie ahead.
Architecture holds the power to transform environments, uplift moods, and influence neighbourhoods profoundly.
Architects and designers must adapt to remain indispensable. We need to be thought leaders and coordinators, guiding projects with a vision that balances technological advancements and human needs.
Our role is to specialise in understanding how our decisions and designs shape the future, impacting not only practical requirements but also the emotions and wellbeing of communities. Architecture holds the power to transform environments, uplift moods, and influence neighbourhoods profoundly.
As technology continues to progress, so do our humanistic needs and perspectives. Architects and designers are essential because we bring a humanistic viewpoint to our work, ensuring that advancements don't overshadow the fundamental need for spaces that nurture and inspire. By embracing these challenges and opportunities, we can create environments that resonate with the human spirit.
Those who design with AI won't be replaced. Those who ignore it might.
As AI and automation redefine workflows, architects must harness these tools to speed up production, enhance insight, improve outcomes, and create space for deeper, human-centric creativity.
Those who design with AI won't be replaced. Those who ignore it might.
AI is not a threat — it is a tool and must be seen as such.
We must maintain optimism and resilience. AI is not a threat — it is a tool and must be seen as such. It may bring efficiencies in some instances, but it can by no means solve all the complex socioeconomic problems that architects are called in to analyse and respond to through design. AI cannot replace the critical thinking that comes from years of practice, debate and analysis through human interaction with clients, colleagues, collaborators and the world.
Shifting societal needs were always a constant in the history of mankind. As they continue to evolve and shape our social norms and built environment, we will need to adapt and educate ourselves to respond — alongside the climate urgency. Wars and global population displacement are having an impact too. What shapes us and our profession always was, and will be, resilience and the ability to problem-solve, whilst keeping an optimistic outlook.
Building still fulfils a basic need of shelter, and design elevates it to art.
Designers and architects have always been critical thinkers, and these shifts will only demand more from those who can think, draw on lived experiences and knowledge, and decipher truth from fiction. The profession still requires craft and attention to detail. Ultimately, building still fulfils a basic need of shelter, and design elevates it to art.
We find ourselves in an environment where we must navigate a wide range of skills and considerations beyond formal architectural training.
Never stop learning and evaluating. More than ever, we find ourselves in an environment where we must navigate a wide range of skills and considerations that are beyond formal architectural training. Bouncing ideas off peers, whether within your practice or competing practices, helps enormously. We are part of one formal and a few informal peer groups and gain a lot from this kind of open sharing.
Architects and designers must learn new skills — and also throw away old skills.
According to PwC, "The AI Revolution — it's a people thing." It is NOT about replacing people. It IS about up-skilling your team. Architects and designers must embrace AI, learn new skills — and also throw away old skills. That's very hard to do after you've invested so much time and effort in learning them. But we need to get used to it, because this rate of change will only increase. Exciting times ahead.
Niche and specialist firms will thrive, as will the mega practices. Stay curious and learn at pace.
Common sense and curiosity. I see a world that is increasingly reliant on software, with AI moving in quickly. Having the common sense to see the wider issues and impact is something I see being missed time and time again. AI is a tool — we need to capitalise on how we use it.
Successful practices will learn to navigate this. Niche and specialist firms will thrive, as will the mega practices. I think the run-of-the-mill practices doing average work in residential and educational sectors will struggle. The niche practices will thrive because, in the high-end market, clients will value human experience — and maybe even imperfection. The behemoths will own the tech and be able to hoover up work and churn it out efficiently.
Who knows — we are all speculating. We'll see so much development over the next 5 to 10 years, and you need to stay curious and learn at pace.
Treat AI as a helpful apprentice while you double down on imagination, curiosity, and care.
Architects and designers must blend new tech with timeless human skills. Learn enough coding so AI can tackle the tedious work and data crunching. Use the time saved to do what only people can: dream, question, empathise.
Feed your creativity with real-life experiences — music, travel, food, conversations — and turn them into fresh ideas. Design for a carbon-positive, socially fair future. Treat AI as a helpful apprentice while you double down on imagination, curiosity, and care.
The role of an architect reflects a world that has greatly changed, is changing rapidly, and must address the challenges of that change.
The role of an architect today, as it always has been, is complex and multi-faceted. It reflects a world that has greatly changed, is changing rapidly in an uncertain way, and must address the challenges of that change to create peace and unity between people and their environment.
We are creating the urban environment of the future — we need to have a deep understanding by soaking up the social, economic and environmental issues around us.
You have to adopt a strong curiosity about the world. Our ultimate role in society is to help solve the problems that our people, communities and planet face. We are creating the urban environment of the future, so we need to have a deep understanding by soaking up the social, economic and environmental issues around us. Read, listen and look — beyond design and architecture. Be inspired.