Master in Architectural Management & Design

Here is a 38 minute documentary film of interviews that share the excitements & challenges of architects in Spain. Maria Ruiz Pardo, student of the master class of 2011, is one of the protagonists. The interviewees were the winners of the 7th AJAC (Agrupació Joves Arquitectes de Catalunya) awards. For those of you who are learning Spanish, it sure is a good motive to test the hearing skills.  The director of the documentary is also an architect, David Hernández Falagán. This might be one of those diverse set of roles needed to be played by architects. As Juan Lago-Novas posted earlier, things have changed.

Congratulations to Maria for the award and the performance on camera!

A few weeks ago I saw this job opportunity offered by Zaha Hadid Architects and managed by Ascent Talent Management. When I first saw it I thought it would be for a design architect, 3d specialist or some kind of design related job… My positive surprise was when I read that the offer was to be “General Manager”.

I think you will all agree that a job offer for a General Manager is fairly easy to see in other industries, but not so much in architecture, specially in an architecture practice and probably even less in a design oriented practice such as Zaha’s.

This means just one thing, things are not changing, they have already changed. This proves that being just a good designer is not good enough any more to be a “successful” practice; and by “successful” I mean a practice that through their design philosophy is able to adapt their business model to be feasible and continue having work maintaining the quality of their design.

But at the same time I feel that finding such profile is extremely difficult. Mainly because us, architects, never received any or vey little business education at all. Very few architects attend to MBA’s and professional experience is not always the best way of doing things. Ascent might need to look through our MAMD class…

Congratulations to ZHA for their understanding of the new environment and their good senior management team.

At IE School of Architecture & Design there is a motivation to challenge students, and potential students too. Last Friday we closed the Architect’s Challenge which asked to answer a question in a two minute video. The deliverable was a YouTube video link answering this question: What are the challenges for architectural practices in the 21st century? (also asked in the admissions process to the master program)

Multiple answers could fall into this question and be correct. The challenge was to make a point in a video format with whatever resources available. Pretty broad still. The winner of the challenge answered with another question focusing on the value of reaching a balance in architecture. Considering diverse factors of landscape, form, function, the present and future contexts: should there be a choice over the extremes or the centers of these factors to reach a balance in architecture? Congratulations to the winner: Reginald Verspreeùwen, a young architect from Uccle, Belgium, and to the ones that took up the challenge.

In early November, the World Architectural Festival was celebrated and gathered 1400+ attendees from over 404 practices and 66 countries in one place.

Javier Quintana, Dean of IE School of Architecture & Design, was part of the jury for the Future Projects category: Education and Future Projects. It was an outstanding event. Maria Ruiz, student of the 2011 master class, gives a review of the WAF:

“It was a great opportunity to take a look at the international architectural scene. Presentations of every single shortlisted team complemented the synthetic exhibition of all the participating projects. This was an almost unique chance to see a very dynamically structured set of mini-lectures done by the people who have the greater knowledge over the projects.

Some very interesting conferences covering topics related to architecture and urbanism happened simultaneously in the event.

I had the impression that the majority of the audience was participants, judges and sponsors included, who found themselves in the ideal spot for networking with colleagues from all around the world.

It could be understood as an international competition publicly judged in real time, that gives the participants a very interesting opportunity, not only to spread the news about the work they are doing, but also to learn a great deal from the experience.

Hope one day I can be there presenting a great project!”

Find here the takeaway video. Congratulations to the WAF orginizing team!

For those applying to the Master in Architectural Management & Design, there are 3 days left to participate in the Architect’s Challenge.

The entry requirements are:

1. Submit your full application for the admissions process of the master program. To access the admissions form click here

2. Create a video of two minutes answering: What are the challenges for architectural practices in the 21st century?

Upload your video to YouTube by Friday 16th of December, 2011 and send the link to: admissions.architecture@ie.edu

For more information on the participation rules click here

Enjoy the challenge!

The Dubai International Financial Centre hosted a roundtable on architecture  in education  and its relationship with the professional world, an event organized by IE and the SOE (Society of Engineers). The event is the result of the agreement between the two institutions for the creation of scholarships for members of SOE for the Master in Architectural Management and Design of IE University, managed by the architect and professor Juan Lago-Novas. 

There were about 60 professionals, members of SOE, architects, engineers and designers in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain among others. The panel was formed by Maged Farouck Hanna, General Manager of SOE, Sonia Ashour, Principal of AD Design Consultants (a company from Bahrain), Ahmed Al-Ali, Chief of X-architects (a company from Dubai) and Juan Lago-Novas, Director of the Master in Architectural Management and Design, who was also the panel´s moderator.

To read the original post by Roberto Arribas, click here.

Last Tuesday 15th of November BD magazine celebrated the Architect of the Year Awards (AYA). IE School of Architecture & Design sponsored the “Class of 2011″ award which was aimed at the best recent graduates from UK. The award was given to Cara Shields from University of Strathclyde, by Juan Lago-Novas, Director of Master in Architectural Management & Design. The award consists of a scholarship applicable to the next edition of the master program starting February 2012. It was a though race, the “Class of 2011” gathered amazing candidates. Cara won the selection based on the personal interview and the social commitment of her project.

It was an outstanding event, gathering top architectural practices from UK. IE School of Architecture & Design was fortunate to be the only school present. Thanks once more to the team at BD & the participation of all candidates. We look forward to welcoming Cara to IE!

Click here to see the AYA finalists & here to see the Class of 2011 finalists.

Near 10 535 km away from home, IE School of Architecture & Design will address a group of local architects & designers in Hong Kong. Next Monday 14th of November, Prof. Juan Lago will give a workshop to local architects about “Marketing your design & not your ego” for near 4 hours. This topic is one of the essentials of the master program, covered from day 1, however more intensively seen over Module 2 of the master named: “The Architect as a Business Person”. The workshop will be given thank to our friends at the InnoCentre, a hub for design and innovation in Hong Kong. We think amazing things can happen in this cross-cultural interaction, with one thing in common among cultures: the drive for architectural excellence.

Here is a brief of the session:

This workshop will give students an understanding how branding, marketing and communications can assist  design offices to meet their design and commercial goals.  It looks at the tools that are available to professionals to communicate with their market place and how these should be used to respond to the very specific needs of the professional firm. It looks at the relationship between the market, the marketing process and the architectural strategies that particular firms may wish to pursue.

Last Wednesday, October 5th, IE School of Architecture & Desgin held a great debate about the gaps between what is needed for the success of an architecture practice and what is thought normally at school. IE intends to address these gaps, as more than design skills are essential to thrive. With the help of the Van Alen Institute, the debate included leading local architects, academics and media organizations in New York. IE was represented by Javier Quintana – Dean of IE School of Architecture, Martha Thorne – Associate Dean of IE – Executive Director of the Pritzker Price, Juan Lago – Academic Director of the Master in Architectural Management & Design, Jose María Churtichaga – Associate Dean of IE School of Architecture & Design.

It was a HUGE success! Thanks to our friends at the Van Alen Institute!

Photos from the event are at the below link – password is IE (note that it may give you an error the first time you try the password, so try a second time and you should get in).

http://brusophoto.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=19379836&AlbumKey=JVV4ZQ

Managing your personal agenda, (with colleagues located overseas), is one of the challenges students engage in within their master program.  Stef Claes, a current student of the master, shares how he takes up this test. Take a look at his “A day of a student” premier and his feedback of the program’s dynamic below.

“The one-of-a-kind program forms the perfect link between my training as a design-based architect and my future career ambition to become a leader in the architectural discipline. The international composition of the student body creates an inspiring educational energy in addition to having access to world-renowned academics. I found the combination of online sessions with on-site periods to be truly unique. The format of online interaction between professors and students makes the year at IE all the more enriching. The master program more than met my expectations.” – Stef Claes, Belgium

Special thanks to Stef!