BEN VAN BERKEL: Architecture and Its Future

The profession of architecture has expanded and now finds itself in a position to engage with a broader series of cultural references. The architect can now refer to film, fashion, literature, philosophy, music, art etc, and as such greatly enrich the cultural side of the profession. However, with such an exclusive focus, the functionality of architecture – the rational and scientific side of the profession – is sometimes forgotten. The architect today however has to increasingly optimise his or her buildings in order to make them both more affordable and more responsible. As there is still much to discover in these more pragmatic areas of the practice, I believe that in the future the profession will become increasingly oriented towards knowledge and expertise – not simply through transforming knowledge into new design techniques, but through the cross-combination of information and knowledge so that architecture and design will be replaced by what I refer to as ‘trained judgement’.

– Ben Van Berkel