You can never tell how a role will work out until you’ve filled it. I had an idea of what being President of the Institute might entail, and about the concerns I’d like to address, but looking back over the past two years I realise there hasn’t been a lot of time for discretionary activity. Much of the work of a President is a continuation of work started or progressed by predecessors in the office – new issues arrive to challenge Architects and the Institute, but the old issues never seem to completely go away. And then, of course, there’s the reactive aspect of the role. Circumstances can suddenly change. Christchurch has had a big impact on the Institute – mainly, of course, on our Canterbury members – over the last 18 months.

One discussion the Institute has promoted, including at the 2011 CPD Days, is that around the ‘Architect of the Future’. We’re not alone in having this discussion: the RIBA, for example, published a report on the subject last year. Perhaps the issue could be cast as, Does the architect have a future? I don’t think this question is prompted by pessimism, but by an awareness of how fast the world we work in is changing. In response, the Institute has adopted what could be seen as a future-proofing measure: changing its rules to open its ranks to “allied professional members”. This category includes people, such as urban designers or project managers, who have architectural qualifications but who do not work in architectural practice and who are unlikely ever to seek registration. There’s a lot to be gained, for everyone, in having pro

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