To be a young person in the profession is a blessing.
But also in equal measure a curse.
When we are young, we are told that we have the
energy,
creativity and
ambition to do it all, that the possibilities are boundless. Until suddenly, they aren’t. Until we encounter people within the profession who tell us we are ‘too young’. Who smile sympathetically at our ideas, as though they are admirable ambitions rather than possibilities that could actually happen.
But this year, it all changed for me.
I had the privilege of delivering the inaugural Young Voices keynote lecture, Lost in Translation: Who Architecture Leaves Behind, as part of this year’s London Festival of Architecture, fittingly centred around the theme of Belonging. The lecture explored the complicated language and jargon that architecture uses so often, and how this can prevent young people from not only entering the profession, but feeling as though they truly belong within it. Because when we hide architecture behind flowery and inaccessible language, we risk diluting its real purpose: to serve people. People sit at the very heart of what architecture is.
But this wasn’t simply a motivational talk for young people. It was really a call to action.
I wanted everyone in the room to leave with practical ways they could contribute towards a more equitable and accessible profession, whether that was creating an anti-glossary, answering the handwritten questions left on their seats, or simply finding their own niche and recognising where they could make a difference. There is always a way to slowly improve the profession. And often, change begins with the smallest things: the side conversations we have, the questions we choose to ask, and the initiatives we start late at night simply because we care enough to try.
Understanding our positionality as young people entering the profession is incredibly important. We don’t simply inherit the architectural profession; we have the privilege of helping to shape what it becomes. And your greatest qualification is your age:
© Illustration by Sam Elbahja
And it is precisely because we are young that expressing our ideas and making our voicesheard matters so much. One day, we will be the architects others look towards.
And that is what belonging has come to mean for me.
To belong to a profession so deeply that you feel empowered to question it. To care about it enough to challenge the parts that no longer serve the people it exists for. And to be young is, I think, one of the greatest blessings in this process. It gives you a unique perspective from which to reshape the profession.
And I have been so motivated by the Young Voices Lecture that I have since started developing my own lecture series, Architecture Translated, travelling to different universities to continue this conversation of breaking down the language of architecture.
Because before architecture can truly belong to everyone, we must be able to understand it first. And that is my mission.
