Essay

There are many architectural firms trying to enter new markets in effort to expand their project portfolio, client base, and create revenue growth. However, the difficulty arises when an architect's confidence is weakened because they do not yet have experience with completing any projects that fit into the new market category. The "catch 22" becomes:

How do you gain experience in a new market, when you do not have any experience to show you can do the job?

So, how do you gain the trust, confidence, and proof that you can design an extraordinary building that meets and exceeds client expectations? And how do you evoke this confidence in your prospective client as well as creating this confidence in yourself?

The following are two ideas to give your architectural firm a tremendous advantage when presenting architectural design proposals to win new clients and project commissions.

• Position Your “Newness” as an Advantage: It is critical that you do proper research into the architectural strengths and weakness of existing buildings within your new market. By understanding, and later showing through your own design proposal, how you can eliminate weaknesses and innovate to improve strengths, you are positioning your "newness" as an advantage --- because you are seeing this new market through "fresh eyes". This perspective puts you in a prime position to contribute greatly to the market, and to excite your prospective client with eye-opening opportunities that they will only get if they work with you.

• Design with an Occupant-Centered Approach: You want to prove the value of your proposed architectural design to your prospective client. After all, the design you propose needs to not only open your prospective client's eyes to new wonderful design solutions, it needs to also prove how these solutions will bring great value and return on investment (ROI) to their bottom line. With an occupant-centered design approach, you will be able to make smarter design decisions that get you to the heart of the design problem --- to create solutions that will bring short-term and long-term benefits for your client. This works because when your building nurtures its occupants properly, it increases and enhances occupant performance. For example, with a proper occupant-centered design approach, hospital designs will help patients heal better and faster, office buildings will help workers increase creativity and productivity, and schools will help children heighten curiosity and learning.

These two ideas will give you an edge that positions your design presentations as coming from an architecture firm that creates groundbreaking contributions in BOTH current and new markets.

Your solutions and the way you present your design proposals will peak client interest, as they show design thinking and practice that goes deep and expands beyond surface programmatic requirements. You will show that you are bringing architecture to another, higher level --- with confidence.

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