Project Architects as Key In-between Actors: Bridging between Design and Construction during the Making of Global Architecture

Abstract

The main aim of this cumulative dissertation is two-fold. For one, to unpack the figure of the so- called ‘global architect’, by moving the focus away from the brand-name architect. More specifically, the conceptual and empirical emphasis is set on the figure of ‘project architects’, namely those less visible and often unacknowledged architects, employed in global firms. The figure of the project architect refers to architects, who possess sufficient experience and professional expertise to assume demanding tasks in complex projects, contributing hereby significantly to the design and implementation of architectural ideas and the transnational circulation of knowledge connected to the making of the built and urban environment. For another, to unravel processes that have equally remained less explored and conceptualised. In particular, I am interested in the material ‘becoming’ of global architecture. To address these two lacunas in academic debates, the dissertation explores and conceptualises the on-the-ground practices project architects enact in the course of construction, on different sites of production and materialisation. Hereby, building on the work of architectural geographers, the dissertation moves beyond a focus on aesthetic features and symbolic meanings, to unravel the active and embodied practices through which the built environment is produced and shaped. Conceptually the work draws on practice theory, critical geography of architecture, as well as on the interdisciplinary field of urban studies, more specifically on geographical scholarship on the global architect and on knowledge mobilities. Building on this rich literature body, the dissertation conceptualises project architects as key in-between actors, who operate between different locations, disciplines, and formal jurisdictions. Hereby, they negotiate between differing tasks and responsibilities, to bridge between design and construction. Empirically, the dissertation adopts qualitative research methods. More specifically, qualitative interviews have been conducted with architects as well as with a range of built environment professionals, applying hereby a cross-sectorial perspective that often lacks in urban studies literature. The results of this work are synthesised in five publications and revolve around the intimate relation between design and construction. First, project architects’ practices are set at the interface between artistic and manual, creative knowledge and physical expertise. Project architects’ practices are thus defined by the tension between protecting (e.g., design-driven aspects, archetypical roles) and giving in (e.g., to project restrictions, local specificities, demands posed by the construction industry). Second, project architects’ on-the-ground practices facilitate the disciplinary rapprochement between built environment professionals, overcoming hereby a deep-rooted division between creative design expertise and technical or manual one. In this course, project architects overcome existing routines, negotiate formal boundaries, and (re-)construct their professional roles and agency. Third, connected to previous, project architects’ active and embodied practices facilitate the transgression of jurisdictional boundaries and rigid allocation, bidding, and commissioning processes that impede collaboration and interactions between built environment professionals. Last but not least, the lens of project architects’ practices allows us to perceive construction as a complex, non-linear process that is anything but mundane. Rather, construction is inherently connected to design and opens up space for inventiveness and creative action. Conceptually, the dissertation contributes to a rich scholarship on architectural practice, by enabling a more differentiated understanding of the figure of the architect, beyond often unproductive dialectics, including design vs. construction, autonomy vs. heteronomy. In particular, following the work of architectural geographers, the dissertations re-positions the architect within a wider professional field, not as a superior but as an equal project partner, who needs to share both risks and rewards. Furthermore, by unpacking the figure of the global architect, the dissertation adds more in-depth to the understanding how global architecture is produced on-the-ground. By moving beyond a focus on symbolic and aesthetic features, this work explores the supposably less glamorous side of global architecture. Yet, an understanding of what happens on global construction sites is invaluable for the understanding of how processes (e.g., knowledge mobility) that are at the heart of urban development take place. As a result, the dissertation also delivers a more holistic understanding of construction processes, contributing to the dissolving of a disembodied Cartesian view of architecture. On a more professional practice oriented level, this dissertation provides impetus to critically re-think current practices of academic socialisation of architects as well as the existing forms of adversarial contractual arrangements and procurement processes.