Design and architecture are overdue for a Performance Review
With design and architecture seemingly in crisis, our Performance Review editorial series will interrogate the multitude of issues plaguing the industry.
Though people don't say it very often, everyone knows it: design and architecture are broken.
In most countries with well-established creative industries, many working architects and people in related roles are exasperated by measly earnings, long hours and unreasonable expectations from clients and superiors.
They are frustrated by waning influence over projects, politicians and the public – while, paradoxically, the pressure on them seems to be intensifying all the time.
Meagre opportunities
Perhaps that would all be worth putting up with if you felt you were following your dream of designing interesting, socially and environmentally conscious buildings that help to make the world a better place.
But this is a privilege enjoyed by relatively few architects. Increasingly, the architecture profession is bound to the unscrupulous criteria of whoever has the money to pay, and the unimaginative criteria of the insurance industry.
Meanwhile, the design world is dominated by a remarkably tiny handful of big names, most of whom rose to success long ago and now seem content to satisfy themselves and their bank accounts with a series of unedifying corporate collaborations.
Everyone else often must put their hearts, souls and savings into one-off projects that might catch the fancy of some wealthy dilettante.
All the time, design and architecture schools – themselves often in dire financial straits – are pumping out hordes of fresh-faced young graduates to compete for increasingly meagre career opportunities. Too often, their expensive and lengthy educations have left them poorly equipped to do so.
It's no wonder that, even after years of discussing diversity and inclusivity, architecture and design still feel impenetrable to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
With growing competition from artificial intelligence, it's likely to become even harder to get a foot in the door.
A decidedly different approach
As a concept, design now often functions either as a marketing tool or as a form of art, its promise to make a positive difference to ordinary people's lives through problem-solving seemingly expired.
At the same time, the planetary polycrisis draws on apace, hastened by an incessant deluge of buildings and things that are bad for nature and bad for us. Designers and architects are either complicit, or powerless to stop it.
Just as it seems the world has never been in greater need of good design, design is in disarray.
How did it come to this? And, more importantly, how can we fix it? That's exactly what Dezeen will be exploring in depth over the next fortnight.
Our previous editorial series have typically sought to celebrate interesting movements and moments in design, from mass timber to mid-century modern. This one takes a decidedly different approach. It will see Dezeen examine the design and architecture world like never before. It's a full-on Performance Review.
The illustration is by Yifei Xiang.
Performance Review
This article is part of Dezeen's Performance Review series interrogating the problems plaguing architecture and design, from difficult working conditions to ethical dilemmas.
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