One Foot In, One Foot Out—The Balancing Act of Teaching and Practicing Architecture
Rethinking Architecture’s Parallel Career Path
Sponsored by ARCAT, Kingspan Insulated Panels, Think Wood, and Vitro Architectural Glass | Presented by Jaffer Kolb, Andrew Atwood, Ashley Bigham and Erik Hermann
Live Webinar Airing on April 22, 2026 at 02:00 PM ET
Students and young designers aspiring to an “avant-garde” career typically follow a particular path: a hybrid business model of teaching at a school of architecture while maintaining a small independent firm. The research and income from teaching enable practitioners to pursue work consisting of exhibitions, installations, and publications, but generally very few buildings. Because many up-and-comers do this, having a foot in academia and a foot in practice might seem like the norm, but does it depend on specific economic conditions? While this approach can lead to greater creative autonomy and name recognition, does it insulate against market uncertainties or create a double exposure to them? With the Architecture Billing Index in a prolonged decline, and with schools of architecture facing the “Demographic Cliff,” will this model of practice be viable for those entering the field now?
Join Architectural Record for a conversation with three leading firms as they examine the viability of the academic–practice hybrid model and consider what today’s economic and institutional pressures mean for the next generation of architects.
Image courtesy of Outpost Office. Photo by Leonid Furmansky
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Jaffer Kolb is cofounder and principal of New Affiliates Architecture and on faculty at MIT. Founded in 2017 alongside Ivi Diamantopoulou, New Affiliates is the recipient of multiple awards and honors including the League Prize in Architecture, the Design Excellence Award from New York's Public Design Commission, and a Bessie Award for Oustanding Visual Design. Previously he worked as an editor, critic, and curator, all of which he still pursues alongside practice. |
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Andrew Atwood is a licensed architect in California and principal of First Office, a Los Angeles–based practice he leads with Anna Neimark. He is also an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. His work spans small-scale residential and institutional projects, with a focus on clarity, economy, and construction. He is the author of Not Interesting: On the Limits of Criticism in Architecture, and his design and writing explore the relationship between practice, pedagogy, and the buildings. |
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Outpost Office is an architectural practice based in Columbus, Ohio where principals and co-founders Ashley Bigham and Erik Herrmann are associate professors at the Knowlton School at The Ohio State University. Outpost Office seeks new public audiences through experimental creative production ranging from the serious to the absurd, often simultaneously. Inventive applications of off-the-shelf tools and industrial-grade materials often characterize the practice's work. Their designs propose that architecture can be projective and impactful while at the same time inexpensive, temporal, and open-ended. Particular focuses of Outpost Office include experimental platforms for gathering and speculations in and about the American suburbs. Recent work includes houses that are too small and too big. The work of Outpost Office has been exhibited internationally, including at the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Art Omi, and the Wexner Center for the Arts. The practice has been in residency at MacDowell, Ragdale, Loghaven, and Headlands Center for the Arts. Ashley and Erik hold a Master of Architecture from Yale University School of Architecture and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design. |
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Originally published in Architectural Record
Originally published in March 2026
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Discuss the reciprocity between academic research and professional practice.
- Clarify the relationship of institutional funding—both from universities and private grants—and creative practices.
- Recognize the tradeoffs of different pathways chosen in a design career.
- Evaluate the tension between producing symbolic value and economic pressures.
