Succession planning is crucial for architecture firms aiming to preserve their legacy while embracing growth opportunities in the decades to come. This involves strategic leadership development, building business models tailored to new ambitions, and crafting effective communications to stay visible as a practice and promote thought leadership.

Successful architecture firms position themselves around a core idea – a design approach, theme, or solution – that clearly reflects their ethos and philosophy. This core idea forms part of the firm’s broader narrative that builds public perception, either explicitly, or by interpretative association. 

Increasingly, firms are proactively building their brand, visibility, and client base through alternate business development and marketing tactics – ones that can attract like-minded collaborators and clients interested in their distinct perspective.

Closely reading an RFP means understanding underlying motivations that may not be stated outright. Identifying these can help guide deeper research and more focused messaging that speak to the client’s priorities and vision for the project.

An RFP isn’t just a list of requirements. It holds clues about what the client’s priorities are and what institutional pressures they may be responding to.