Paving the Way to a Successful Architecture Career: Adam Haddow (Interview)

Paving the Way to a Successful Architecture Career is a short series by Chaim Lieder, a recent job-seeking Bachelor’s graduate based in Melbourne. Chaim launched this initiative to re-frame his own challenges into an opportunity to help others in the same position.

Interview 2: Adam Haddow

Adam Haddow is a Director of SJB. As a studio, SJB is acclaimed nationally and internationally for their work. SJB’s buildings gestate in the belief that architecture should provide an armature for community life; that the activities buildings facilitate are just as important as the physicality of the buildings themselves. Adam believes buildings should subtly embody ambitions of beauty, delight, joy and surprise.

What are the most important skills for students, graduates, and emerging architects to develop as they embark on their careers?

I think there are two critical skills for an architect:

Active listening

The most important skill is listening. Although architecture is an injective profession where you make things, what often goes overlooked is the ever so fundamental skill of listening. Whether it’s a client, council or a colleague, put yourself in their position and try to understand the underlying motivation behind the words they are saying. Our job as an architect is to create amazing spaces and a significant part of the process is demonstrating to your client that it’s indeed their idea and it is in their best interest.

Managing Complexity

The other skill is managing complexity. As architects, we have a vast and shallow knowledge base; we know a little about a lot of things and managing all of them to complete a project is challenging. Architects used to know ‘everything about everything’, but now there is a consultant for everything which adds another layer of complexity to a project. Construction itself is becoming much more complex. When I started my career, you could design a whole house and have it documented on 10 A1 pages. We're doing a house at the moment, and we might end up with 150 A1 pages.

What are some unconventional ways students, graduates, and emerging architects can elevate their careers?

Take acting classes

So much about architecture is about the presentation, taking people on a journey, creating a dialogue and a sense of drama. Acting classes put you in a situation comparable to what happens when you're a young architect: you have to do something you're not very good at in front of people who are.

When I first moved to Sydney, I took an acting class because it was an easy way to meet people. It also coincided with me having to take that kind of a role in the practice. It was a great way to develop presentation skills while learning how to position an argument.

What do you see as a challenge and opportunity facing the next generation of architects and how can they approach it?

I suppose the biggest challenge is the unknown, and that’s been the same in every generation of architecture. When I was a graduate, we didn't have mobile phones. The world changes very quickly and I think as society evolves, those changes are happening more rapidly. It’s important to become dexterous with the idea that things change and it’s important to keep your knowledge base up by actively educating yourself on whatever it is you are interested in, whether it's different buildings, practice topologies, materials or urban design etc.

The biggest opportunity is how we can better respond as a profession to the environment. We've gone through an incredible period of construction globally, particularly in Australia, but I believe we'll eventually reach a stage where we'll be reusing or adapting old buildings more than creating new ones. That's something that emerging architects could capitalize on if that’s where their interest lies.

What is a mistake one should avoid as they progress through their architecture career?

Moving around too much in their career. Your career is long, and you want to stretch it out as much as you can. Obviously take opportunities, but lots of people jump around so often in their career that they never see a building finished. I think when you're a young architect it's really important to see the consequences of what you draw. You can only be a junior in an office once in your life and that's such a great opportunity to take it all in. It doesn't matter which part of the project you're working on, whether you're detailing bathrooms, looking at tile setouts, or investigating material properties, whatever it is, there's meaningful design in that process.

One of my professors said that no architect will make a good building until they're in their 40s. It takes a long time to work out what's important, and where you should place your energy. People tend to think that things happen overnight, but it takes a long time to become good at anything, and it's the same with architecture.

What was a transformational moment in your career?

I never used to be able to draw very well until one day when I had to present, and we hadn’t prepared any drawings. I didn’t have time to draw something on the computer, so I had to sketch it. I think sometimes that adrenaline rush you get when you don't have a choice but to do it is really important. Honestly, I think that day I learnt how to draw.

What is the best piece of advice you have received?

For me, it's probably from my parents just instilling in me the idea that you’re capable of doing anything you set your mind to. Architecture is fairly subjective, so it's about finding what it is that you are genuinely interested in communicating through your work and investing time into that.

Did you catch the first article in this interview series? It’s with me - Sarah Lebner.

If you like hearing about the career paths of others, check out the 2020 Emerging Architects Forum Replay.