unbound the wild ride...

sebuah tulisan yang diberikan oleh teman saya, tentang review sebuah buku. belum pernah baca juga sih tapi dari review dan beberapa penjelasan dari teman saya yang juga seorang lulusan arsitek, cukup menginspirasi,,,semoga bermanfaat,,^^

Bagaimana tipe arsitek masa depan? Tentunya ini perlu diteropong masak2 terutama dengan melihat kecenderungan2 global. Dari beberapa fenomena yang mungkin bisa jadi dasar untuk memprediksi kebutuhan tipe arsitek masa depan, masalah lingkungan, keberlanjutan, penggunaan teknologi sebagai piranti bantu profesional, manajemen handal, serta pentingnya bahu-membahu dalam sebuah tim menjadi isu2 yang paling menonjol. Inovasi menjadi kata2 jitu untuk tak berhenti mengikuti perubahan yang begitu cepat, sekaligus memecahkan masalah dan menemukan hal2 baru. Proses inovasi ini didefinisikan sebagai sebuah laku kerja yang membuat semua menjadi berbeda.

Hal di atas juga menjadi inti buku “The Next Architect: A New Twist on the Future of Design” yang ditulis oleh James P. Cramer dan Scott Simpson. Keduanya aktif di Design Intelligence. Seperti resensi dari Jill Harmon dalam Forum Arsitek Muda-nya Amerika (mirip AMI?), Young Architect Forum yang ditulis hampir setahun lalu. Di situ Cramer dan Simpson menekankan perubahan2 dasar yang terjadi. Singkatnya, seperti yang dikemukakan mereka (yang keduanya bekas pengurus AIA), ada 14 kerangka dasar kecenderungan global yang akan menyetir perubahan profesi arsitek. Ke-14 “framework” itu, seperti yang dikutip sesuai aslinya, adalah:

(1) Integrated, collaborative design: “Owners, architects, engineers, consultants, and contractors will operate using a single technology platform that will enable and require all disciplines to work simultaneously and interactively,” the authors predict. (2) Design-build dominates: As the process of designing and building becomes more streamlined, owners are looking for a single entity to provide integrated services. (3) Globalization comes home: Traditional international borders are factoring less and less into the design process as all firms potentially now can practice globally and global firms now can practice locally. (4) Talent shortage: With fewer younger staffers following the baby boomers and other professional careers offering higher salaries, firms are looking to innovative ways to get and keep talented employees. (5) BIM technology sets a new standard: BIM is transforming design product from paper to an integrated database.

(6) Demographics is destiny: Baby boomers, the last generation born before the Digital Revolution, are having a huge effect on demographic trends as they approach retirement age and move from suburb to city, look to continuing-care retirement communities, and spend more money on travel and entertainment. (7) Productivity and performance: The digital revolution?3D and 4D CAD?are allowing architects to spend more time thinking and less time drawing. (8) The power of branding: You have a brand (your culture made manifest), whether you like it or not: “Strategic branding is the best antidote to the commoditization in the design professions,” the authors tell us. (9) Fast architecture: Using new technologies and management techniques, architects are discovering that speed is “not necessarily the enemy of quality”; and clients are demanding speed. (10) Designing the “design experience”: Clients are increasingly aware that the experience of using a building or space is increasingly important to their clients and users.

(11) Going green: Architects are uniquely positioned to work with politicians, business leaders, and the academy to advance the role of sustainable design. (12) Life-cycle design: New services and income streams for architects will evolve as clients recognize that there is no one better to help care for a building than the people who designed it in the first place. (13) High definition value: Architects are creating design value, not selling lines on paper, and therefore need to work on an expanded vocabulary to explain what they deliver. (14) Strategic optimism: Clients respond to that “can do” attitude, especially in a profession that always “has more answers than questions.”

Itu semua sangat mirip seperti yang diungkapkan Luebkeman dalam “Drivers of Change“nya yang ditulis di Design Intelligence, Agustus 2006 lalu. Dalam beberapa kesempatan Cramer dan Simpson (utamanya Cramer) menuliskan perubahan ini akan membawa arsitek dari tipe lama/saat ini (centralized control, solo artist, solving discrete problems, stable professions, monolithic infrastructure, anecdotal design star, linear processes, mixed media tech, dan design for average clients) kepada sebuah model baru/masa depan (hybrid networks, design teams, managing ongoing dilemmas, dynamic entrepreneurial profession, agile ad hoc infrastructure, integrated delivery team, simultaneous processes, BIM dynamic sharing, dan sesign with expert clients). Dari sini kira2 bisa diukur sejauh mana pendidikan yang disediakan untuk membekali calon arsitek itu perlu disesuaikan. Institusi pendidikan harus berjuang mencetak insan2 perubahan ini, yang disebut sebagai “the next architect: the person (or firm) truly energized by what`s ahead and willing to provide the energy, focus, commitment, and inspiration to make the frameworks happen.