Architects need to get with the times.

Recent conversations have left me with two major questions; Tech. innovation has never grown faster, why does architectural innovation seem to be continually stalling? Why do so few architects engage in meaningful design conversations with the community? I believe there is one feasible answer to these two questions: continual engagement through design phases. The tech industry innovates with a user-based approach, each design starts with a problem that needs to be solved. When starting a new architecture project we should ask ourselves what problems are we solving, and more importantly, we should ask whose problems are we trying to solve. Are we designing for a developer whose ‘problem’ is that they don't have enough money? Or are we designing for a community that has a low housing supply? By continually grounding ourselves in the initial problem we can start to notice who our designs are prioritizing. 

Another key to the tech industry's design strategies is its cyclical nature, question - design - evaluate - repeat. By continually evaluating what you have done you can touch base and see if you have solved the initial problem. While architects may participate in this on a smaller scale, the missing piece is engaging with the target user. While architects often engage with the paying client they need to bring in the unrepresented everyday users.