Itâs under every need and behind every want
Good architecture sellsâââthings, services and experiences.
Selling to the world
An enterprise is a box from which flows the fount of valuables it creates for its customers.
Businesses spew out every object produced in the world: phones, planes, pyjamas, pizzas, pumps, penicillin, paperâĤ They provide every service you need: couriers, catering, cabs, cleaning, caretaking, copywriting, consulting, conveyancingâĤ They also create all the experiences you want: malls, movies, music, marriages, museums, motoringâĤ
The most successful products, services and experiencesâââthink iPhone, Uber, the Notre Dame, the Taj, the Webb space telescope, and the internetâââhave exceptional architectures in common, which draws your money, mind, eyes, hands and feet.
The better a product fuses function and form, that is to sayâââthe finer its architectureâââthe more consumers want it, consciously or unconsciously.
Selling within the enterprise
From the other side, into the box of the enterprise, goes everything it needs for its output.
It needs an organisation, systems, and materials. Every one of these has an architecture. Just imagine each, and youâll see it.
Someone designs them in the enterprise and for suppliers and partners. They are essentially architects. They burnish the form and ingredients and sell them to the business by showing how more money will be made or saved using the materials they recommend. Think about organisation design, parts, logistics, transport, payment, and IT systems. Architects sell new systems and changes by making a case for them.
The more excellent the form and ingredients of the input materials, i.e. their architecture, the more producers will use them.
Round up
So there you have it. Architecture sells for the enterprise and to the enterprise.
Itâs not just a part of the solution. It comes into play just as much before the creation as after. And its ability to sell outcomes is its most powerful contribution to the world.
This is not to put down other professions. Project management, testing, HR, finance and more have their place in success. But they donât conceive new visions the way architecture does. Just think about the pyramids, Chartres Cathedral, Angkor Wat, the Great Wall of China, the Space Shuttle, the Space Station, etc.
The more you bring architecture up the field of play, the more often superior things will be sold and bought.
So letâs do it, my reader. Letâs see the architecture in everything. Letâs see it as essential. Ask for it to be superb. Demand architects, employ and use them for the smallest to the largest needs. The world will be a better place.
No wonder we see a high demand for a profession that enables so much business.
As Yoda would say, âItself, too, architecture sells.â