Why learning new comms and leadership skills is NOTHING like architecture school

The supportive learning environment in the AM360 CPD course is a far cry from the negative vibe that many architects remember from architecture school.
Photography by Jan Vašek via Pixabay.

I wonder how many practicing architects - who are required to undertake Compulsory Professional Development as part of their annual registration process - carry scars from the way they experienced teaching and learning during their university studies?

And for those who do: how might their enduring memories - some of them easily recalled, some of them buried deep in an architect’s sub-conscious - have tainted their love of studying, or deterred them from embracing lifelong learning?

If you’re an architect who remembers being poorly treated in a studio crit, or who witnessed a fellow student having shreds torn off them by a visiting practitioner, or who lacked confidence to ask questions and admit you didn’t know something, is it possible that those experiences could have resulted in an educational “hangover”, one that persists into the present day?

How could your educational “hangover” be negatively impacting your career now?

Architects are being called upon to massively upskill around three key domains, in the 2020s. And the degree of difficult is ratcheted up by the fact that the curriculum - and learning frameworks - for much of this knowledge is being created on the fly.

I call these three key domains the three Ds:

• Decarbonisation, and climate emergency

• Designing for Country, and

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.

Architects are at the pointy end of this learning acquisition process because these new knowledge domains collide in the built environment - where they intersect with some of the most challenging social issues of our time, such as housing crisis and densification.

There is a fourth significant domain too, although it’s not as visible in the profession, because it’s not yet part of the National Standards of Competency for Architects. (Read more about that, here)

And that is Business Development and Marketing, which falls under the umbrella of communications.

Why should architects acquire new comms skills in 2025 and beyond?

The fact that architects are leading the charge into these new knowledge domains places a lot of responsibility on the profession to demonstrate leadership: to clients, wider communities, policy makers and regulators.

And good leadership is characterised by an ability to combine data and storytelling in a way that inspires others to take action.

This means that architects are being called upon to tell new and different stories to broader audiences - about the value of good design, and the services they provide - it’s important that they improve their communications skills as well.

Because you can be the most informed and skilful expert in your field, but if you lack the capacity to clearly articulate the value of that expertise to the people who want and need your services, your knowledge and experience are not worth much.

So although Business Development and Marketing isn’t part of the architect’s formal curriculum, yet, I believe it’s just as important as the 3 Ds.

And that’s why I created a CPD course to impart this knowledge and skills to architects quickly, and at scale.

And I want to make it clear that my CPD course - Architecture Marketing 360 - is NOTHING like the challenging environment that many architects witnessed or endured as they obtained two degrees, over five or more years of tertiary study.

What’s your lasting impression of teaching and learning from architecture school?

The author completed a Masters of Architecture History and Theory) at the University of New South Wales in 2022.
Photography by Dominic Kurniawan Suryaputra via Unsplash.

I went to architecture school - I completed a Masters of History & Theory at the University of NSW in 2001-2 - and, luckily for me, I was never exposed to any of the brutal treatment that seemed to be commonplace in some studio crits back in those days.

As a non-architect attending lectures and tutes with students who had already completed their BArch before commencing their final two years of study, I heard whispered stories about people copping really harsh critiques, or leaving studios in tears, or being subjected to personal attacks that seemed well outside the scope of the project under discussion.

(To be clear: I’m not suggesting that these types of crits took place at UNSW during my time there. Some of my fellow students had arrived at the FBE from other undergraduate schools. I never witnessed these behaviours in crits myself.)

On the contrary, our tutes revolved around seminal texts - such as Vitruvius’ Three principles, Gottfried Semper’s 4 elements of architecture, and Corb’s Towards a New Architecture - and they were very tame discussions, led by an introspective and thoughtful lecturer. He left a lasting impression on me - and inspired me to look at places and buildings I’d previously visited through fresh eyes - thanks to his quiet and considered approach.

There were expectations that we should stand up and present in front of the class, and I found that extremely daunting, but we were talking about our interpretation of the prescribed texts, not putting forth spatial ideas or concepts, so the expectations and requirements were very different to studio crits.

In my sustainable development electives, I was involved in several joint research projects - and these also required presentations to the entire class. These were much bigger classes with students from various disciplines, and I felt even more nervous before these presentations because of the scale and scope of the tasks.

I remember collaborating with a planner and a landscape architect to investigate waste-to-energy facilities in 2002; and again, these presentations were followed by robust questions which didn’t expose us to personal attacks, and no one in my group had burned the midnight oil the night before to finalise our joint presentation.

So while I was aware of some of the more negative expectations and practices that happened elsewhere, I didn’t see or experience these first-hand during my Masters.

Consequently, every time an architect later told me about a shocking memory they had of a class where they or one of their peers was “brought down to size” or callously criticised by a person in a position of power an authority, I experienced a negative visceral reaction.

I think we can all empathise with the wash of shame and humiliation that accompanies those experiences in the classroom, because we’ve all experienced this to a lesser or stronger degree throughout our own educational journeys.

(And today, as the parent of a neurodivergent teenager, and a volunteer moderator of a parent-advocacy group for students who struggle in the education system, I’m confronted by examples of poor behaviour from teachers, principals and school systems, that should have been eradicated years ago. Anyway, I digress).

Have architecture schools moved on from the brutal, bad old days?

If you spent three or five years at university learning your craft, you probably don’t need any reminders of how miserable parts of that education were, but the awful stories about “unnacceptable behaviour” at the Bartlett in London - which emerged in mid 2022 - provide a stark reminder that these negative practices have not been relegated to the trashcans of history.

The Howlett Brown Environmental Investigation report into the culture at the Bartlett School reported an anonymous respondent who said:

“[t]he abuse is widespread at the Bartlett and it has caused permanent irreparable damage to my life and health”

and it also outlined other examples that threatened a student’s sense of belonging, such as:

a participant relayed that “the minute a student is struggling they ask, ‘why are you on this course?’; it was a mistake to accept you’”, describing this as “being psychologically thrown out of the school.”

Around the same time as the Bartlett story broke in 2022, the SciArc Basecamp talk “How to be in an office” provided plenty of evidence that these attitudes persist long after students graduate from formal studies; in fact that they can insidiously permeate through all levels of practice.

If you haven’t watched the Basecamp talk, or seen the commentary that followed, you can access both via this link, and I share both of these with a trigger warning that this content may cause distress and stir up memories you may rather relegate to the distant past.

How do negative experiences at uni negatively impact architects in practice?

You may think that these negative memories and experiences should be dismissed or forgotten once you enter the workforce, but I was surprised to discover that’s not the case, when I conducted my Market Research survey in mid-2024.

When I asked architects to share their thoughts about marketing and business development - and what they’d learned about these topics in their formal studies - I was shocked to learn that some of these negative experiences have long-lasting effects, and that they continue to impact the way architects show up in the world and present their services once they enter the workforce.

Why is this?

I think it comes down to the fact that when senior jurists - teachers or invited practitioners - “tear shreds off” students, these experiences can imprint the psyche of the subject and others in the room.

The lasting message is that it’s not safe to present and showcase your work, or to make yourself visible or a target, and this manifests later as a reluctance or hesitation to overtly present your services to the people who would benefit most from using them.

(Our brains are hard-wired to warn us away from harm; so when this happens, our bodies are functioning in the way they were designed to, to protect us!)

By extension, the culture of fear and intimidation that is present at some classes and some universities is often present in workplaces and architecture practices too.

Listening to Sharni Howe describe her experiences of working in two high-profile London architects’ offices at the Parlour Autumn Salon recently, I was struck by the difference that top-down leadership and culture can have on the experiences of young and impressionable graduates, who have their whole lives and careers ahead of them. (I’ll add a link to this podcast recording, once it is published in case you’d like to listen to it, too.)

I think this is one of the key reasons that architects have unwittingly ceded market share to other disciplines and professions over recent decades, even though architects are often the most-qualified and best-placed professionals to provide services and solutions to future clients (especially now, as society attempts to respond to numerous and increasingly complex and intersectional problems).

I only became aware of how prominent these long-standing affects can be when I conducted the market research survey in 2024.

Respondents spoke of the fact that these negative experiences can have long-standing negative consequences: both for the people who were subjected to harsh treatment, and for others who witnessed their fellow students being humiliated and belittled in crits.

And I concluded from the responses and findings that actually I have to make it very clear that my CPD course on business development and marketing is NOTHING like the bad old days of architecture school!

How is Architecture Marketing 360 different from the worst architecture school tropes?

I came up with 8 reasons why AM360 is very different from the worst possible experiences you may have been exposed to - or witnessed - during your formal architecture eduction at university. They include:

• You can do all of your course work on-demand at a time and pace that suits you. There are no all nighters required, so there is no need for you to subsist on strong coffee and No-Doz.

• You can fit the course around your other work, family and personal commitments. No-one will say: “You can’t have a paid job, because you have to devote every waking minute to architecture” and there are zero expectations that you’ll devote all of your time, energy and attention to the singular pursuit of one thing.

• We aim for “progress over perfection. There is no: “It’s not finished until it’s perfect” here. Unlike buildings which are literally set in stone, business development and marketing are ongoing and ephemeral, so there is no need for them to be perfect. We’re all learning and iterating all the time, even me.

• You’ll be surrounded by our supportive community of cheerleaders and flag-wavers. There are no “crits” or opportunities for teachers, practitioners and fellow students to tear shreds off your work (and you), or to destroy your self esteem. You’re already worthy, just as you are, and we want you and your practice to succeed, so any feedback will be encouraging, constructive and applicable to your own circumstances.

• We’re big on teams and the power of the collective to bring about change. There are no solo genius myths here,

• We believe in clearly articulating the value of good design - and your services - in terms that laypeople can easily comprehend. There is no dictum that “The work should speak for itself” here.

• We know that “the market” - aka your future clients - is embracing new habits and preferences. They want connection and engagement with the brands and services they buy from, so we eschew the sense that “if you have to actively promote your projects, they are somehow not worthy of attention”…

• We focus on process as much (maybe more) than outcomes. Processes are where the gold is buried for your future clients, not the finished “thing” at the end of the journey. When they can see the path laid out for them - with clear milestones, expectations, indicative costs and potential trip hazards - you provide confidence and clarity about your ability to deliver their desired outcome.

How and where can you access support and new skills to thrive in practice?

I’ve experienced a lot of therapy and counselling in my life to overcome all sorts of trauma and negatives experiences from my childhood.

As a result, I am a firm believer in the value of professional support and guidance to help people overcome long-standing issues that might be negatively impacting mental health and wellbeing.

If you think that your uni experiences might be negatively impacting your professional capacity now, I encourage you to seek support. Your employer may offer an Employee Assistance Plan, or if your practice is a member of the ACA, you can find out more about access to their EAP for members here.

The Parlour Guides to Wellbeing in Architecture Practice also provide many resources, suggestions and tools that are customised to address architecture culture, and I encourage you to download those here.

Then, if you’re thinking about taking our Architecture Marketing 360 CPD course, and you still have some doubts or fears around accessing teaching and learning on a topic that may feel foreign and a bit intimidating, please be assured that:

• Architecture Marketing 360 is a safe place for you learn, experiment, and test out new ways of promoting your practice and services using trial and error,

• We encourage you to ask all kinds of questions; nothing is off-limits,

• We approach these topics with “beginners’ mind”, and we are all learning, all the time - even me (ie, course founder Rachael Bernstone) - because the marketing landscape is continually changing and evolving with the introduction of new technologies that prompt shifts in consumer behaviour,

• So we provide a framework that you can learn, follow and customise in a way that’s comfortable and achievable for you and your practice, with the ability to chunk tasks down, so they’re manageable instead of all-consuming,

• We promote a “done is better than perfect” and “progress over perfection” ethos - no perfection here!,

• We provide access to data and metrics so that you can actually SEE what’s delivering positive results, rather than judging outcomes on subjective assessments,

• You can draw on these insights and analytics to inform your next best moves, giving you clarity and confidence to keep moving forward,

• And there is always a gentle and steady guide available to help you get unstuck or wade through complexity…

It’s not just me saying that these are the possible outcomes or aspirations of the course, either.

You can see from the case studies of architects and others who have completed the course that it’s a brave, welcoming and non-judgemental environment for people to learn, extend themselves, and ultimately enhance their careers, practices and lives.

(You can access our growing library of case studies here.)

I’d like to think that AM360 is the ideal learning environment to put any haunting ghosts of architecture school to rest; that it’s a place to get access to essential skills and knowledge which can help you unlock all of the potential and opportunity in your architecture knowledge and practice.

If you’d like to talk to me to see if it’s a good fit for you right now, Take our Quiz and we’ll send you a booking link to set up a free 30-minute Zoom call. In this free Zoom call, we’ll discuss where you’re at now, where you’d like to be, and whether the AM360 course - or any of our other services - can help you get there.

And if you think a friend or colleague might like to read this article too, please send them a link to this page.