Architecture in the 2020s: Expert Predictions

Architects are going to have a stronger place in the design of the future. They will be key to the sea-change in attitudes on planning where at present it is a negative process: ‘how developers or owners are reigned in on proposals’.

In the future planning will become an encouraging and positive process as to how a property or land is best made use of. Owners will be encouraged to think holistically rather than ‘what can I get’ under the planning rules.

Roof gardens with all their sustainable credentials will become encouraged, extra floors and full-width extension will become policy.

Brown field site owners will be encouraged to think big. Like the Victorians, the country will prioritise good value and a longer term perspective on what is built.

This sea-change will be spearheaded by architects becoming developers and builders in their own right. They want to show how it can be done well but with less greed.

The long held belief that architects are ‘professionals’ and therefore don’t get their hands dirtied by the realities of speculation and risk will change.

Architects will return to the forefront of the construction team, but not in the same way that they used to be in the post-war years; more as leaders of a sustainable build revolution.

Developers, housebuilders and planning need architects at the highest level to see the way ahead in the future of construction.

Virtual reality (VR) is the next big thing in architecture for sure. In the next 10 years, offering VR as part of the design process will be standard practice throughout the industry, even for smaller firms.

We have already been using VR for some time and our clients have been blown away by it. Instead of trying to figure out complex architectural drawings, they can simply pop on a headset and walk around inside the designed space.

The virtual environment makes it easy to specify different materials to see exactly how a certain design choice will change the look and feel of a room, as well as simulating the effects of different lighting and weather conditions.

The VR approach to the design process places emphasis on the enjoyment and practicality of a space, rather than a purely aesthetic approach. It also allows clients to feel more involved and gives them something visual to get excited about before construction has begun.

In the coming years, more and more architectural practices will realise the benefits that VR has to offer, and by the end of the 2020s, 2D design concepts should be obsolete.

Architects are not going to be around in such numbers in the future, and they won’t be solely employed by large architectural firms.

Modern methods of construction (MMC) are creating a 'plug-and-play' element to design which has the potential to turn all of us into architects. This is already happening, with many modular specialists able to adapt their build systems to a variety of scales and designs.

Over time you are going to see more and more software solutions make the design process even easier and more accessible, bringing the end customer ever closer to the role of architect.

As a result, the architectural industry is one of those facing huge upheaval from MMC’s design disruptors and they will come under increasing pressure to adapt to the new normal offered by offsite construction, with all its cost and sustainability benefits, or increasingly risk becoming irrelevant.

We see a future where architects are employed in-house at offsite development companies like ours, and work alongside engineers as part of large multi-disciplinary teams to improve the aesthetics of buildings constructed using modular principles.

Architects have driven the green agenda for years, and I believe this will continue to become more dominant with zero-carbon buildings becoming the norm. Overall, this will be housing-led with commercial buildings behind the curve on this trend.

Alongside this the repositioning and regeneration of the high street will provide many opportunities. Leisure and experience will continue to underpin retail with greater relevance in the reinvention process and over time sports and activity will take on more emphasis in an emerging mix of new uses in town centres. Similarly, sport and leisure will become more important as measures to tackle poor health and inactivity become ever more culturally significant in tandem with mental health and wellbeing.

I believe architectural practices will either become large or small businesses. Medium size practices will reduce in number and will only be sustainable through a key specialism. A major threat facing our industry will be the continued trend of architects concentrating on concept design. In technology, the industry will continue to move towards Revit as a standard format for consultants and contractor teams; with improvements and development of technology and software and real time visualisation becoming the norm.