Muyiwa Oki, very young and not very experienced, how will he be ‘changing’ the RIBA? I worry about the lack of experience as an architect, who has been working for others so has not had to deal with the positives and negatives of being his own boss. What has his own experience been of using the RIBA?
I know from his candidate pitch last year he was looking at the underrepresented groups within the profession, smaller practices and not just the starchitects. Talking more about what architecture is and how the RIBA can improve this. He wants people to understand what architects do. He is also very much about architecture embracing the digital age and of course the aim to reach net zero in construction.
Not sure there is anything different to what most RIBA presidents have said in the past and two years is not a long time to achieve new goals within a long standing tradition.
The positives of Muyiwa Oki is that he is young, bringing a closer relationship with younger architects/students. He is thinking about smaller practices and maybe having a fresh outlook to RIBA might be a good thing.
This has the potential to become a very interesting presidency, I think, and I look forward to seeing Muyiwa Oki take the lead.
My own guess is that yes, overall, he is going to have a harder time than his predecessors: he is young, and his knowledge and experience are limited.
But RIBA certainly still comes across as “the Establishment” and an old, white boys’ club where “equality" and "equality of opportunity" are mutually exclusive. Muyiwa Oki is a good candidate to spur the change that the RIBA so desperately needs.
After 200 years in RIBA history a Black president finally . I am a believer
Watch this with interest
https://www.channel4.com/news/social-housing-crisis-get-architects-on-board-says-riba-president
if he can change the rules all power to him .
Thanks for that @et2020, not sure what to think about the short interview as like most ‘politicians’ he has said everything, used the right words but not explained how the RIBA will go about getting architects back on board in designing and implementing construction.
It would be good if he had a plan on how he would achieve all of this and shared that in his interviews. It would give him more credibility and the whole point of the D&B construction was to cut out the architect and for developers to save money on the whole project. Budgets are what drive any construction, if an architect was on board in the role of CA, the quality would be better but the budget would also be a problem for the client.
This is not going to be easy and with only two years to achieve his goals this is not looking promising.
It would be good if he had a plan on how he would achieve all of this and shared that in his interviews.
Hello,
A successful president to me seems about building confidence in the industry and then build a strategy around that. On my pin board I have a faded quote from the Chinese military general Sun Tzu "Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat". That ties in with this and I agree with NazArt in relation to sharing his plans for the industry.
On the other hand I guess it might be hard for anybody to say anything that might be in anyway constructive as Muyiwa's only just started. Without knowing anything about his plan it is hard to say anything other than "Congratulations, well done.".
After 200 years in RIBA history a Black president finally .
A question that comes to mind is why Muyiwa Oki is generally described as "the first black" RIBA President. To be fair to the RIBA Sunand Prasad was elected president 16 years ago. He was already an established architect and authored papers on climate change, sustainability and retrofit.
I tend to think in practical terms three things are important: what goals you want to achieve, how you are going to achieve them, and by when. I think that probably depends on what sort of timeframe you are bound to.
I would focus on those priorities, but instead people now seem to be more intent on categorising themselves and everybody else primarily based on their skin colour.
Regards,
J. White
Being an ethnic minority president has its advantages and disadvantages. The publicity is increased and getting an interview on C4 within a month of his taking office is a boost for not just RIBA but architecture as a whole. The downside of this is the scrutiny of his every move. He has a much more difficult task of proving himself and what he can achieve.
https://www.dezeen.com/2023/09/15/riba-president-muyiwa-oki-pledge-u-turn
The Section of Architectural Workers union complained to the press about the U-turn on mandatory paid overtime.
The employment rights of architects / assistants was the main reason why Muyiwa was supported as candidate by these grassroots groups. Pay has always been an issue and unpaid overtime is widespread in this industry.
I do wonder whether the pressure really came from within RIBA.
Regards
There are quite a few positions on this, and some have good points to them. I agree in part, for instance, with both the previous comments of @nazart and @ben0321, although they are very different.
For what it's worth, here is my take on it.
The role of RIBA president is tough for a number of reasons:
You are required to navigate the politics of it, as with any leadership role. Part of the appeal of getting appointed is that you can bring about significant change, on paper at least. You can clearly see the influence of past presidents has hardly made a dent. There are some really good, really accomplished long-time architects appointed as presidents who know what they are talking about. Yet they’ve been able to only do so much in their two years’ term.
I'm not aware of Muyiwa Oki's contributions to the industry, nor of his reputation. I do know from his LI page that his experience as architect is limited to about 4 years. That leaves a lot of room for theoretical knowledge.
Theoretical knowledge is great and I like it; everyone should have it. Don't mistake it for knowing how to actually do something. There is a great difference between "knowing" something in theory and knowing something from doing it. At some point, you may feel you have learned enough in the abstract, and that you need to actually have some real experience with it.
The Section of Architectural Workers union complained to the press about the U-turn on mandatory paid overtime.
I fully understand the outrage at presidents who don't deliver what they promise. But the reality that all leaders face is that there is a gap between what you want to do and what the market dynamics allow you to do.
I do wonder whether the pressure really came from within RIBA.
I don’t know whether @jwhite meant RIBA council members or simply RIBA members when this quote was posted.
In my view the pressure came from the practices, many of which would likely fold because they can’t cope with the extra financial burden. But I digress.
It is so very easy to get trapped in the totally false idea that when someone is in a position of authority (such as the RIBA president’s one) effecting change is a simple, straightforward process.
But you need the organisational agility to understand the institute’s way of doing things, and you need to balance the many needs of its members (which sometimes happen to be on opposite sides).
Clearly, Muyiwa is sincere in his enthusiasm for the opportunity and he has mentioned his intentions about it, but his appointment created high expectations about what he may be able to achieve and I think he is going to need all the support he can get if he is to make an impact.
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