The deflating tire that is architecture firm billings of late reminds me of how many recessions I lived through over my long career in the field. The first, the oil crisis of the early 1970s, led me to stay in graduate school and pursue a Ph.D., abandoned once things recovered. Then came the Reagan recession of the early 1980s, the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s, the early 1990s commercial property recession, the 2000 dot-com crash, and the 2008 housing-and-financial crisis. So, six recessions across almost four decades, each with its own wave of layoffs. What did I learn from them?

1: Firms tend to use recessions to clean house and regroup. 

After the 2008 recession, one of the larger offices of the big global player that employed me asked itself, “Who will lead us into the future?” That led to principals being let go, not just the rank and file. But the question itself is perennially relevant, and not just for the firms. Across their careers, architects should regularly ask themselves if their employers actually have a future and how robust it is in relation to other firms. They should also take stock of their own situations—a hard look in the mirror before the layoff. 

2: Easier said than done. People can be undone by layoffs. 

Work, fulfilling or not, can be addictive. We identify with our jobs and our firms, so a layoff, especially if it blindsides us, can be traumatic. It’s like a breakup, wrenching the ego. Although it is brutal, it’s one of the main occasions for growth that come with our human territory. As the child psychologist Dennis Winnicott pointed out, we construct egos in childhood to deal with the knocks we get that undermine our toddler sense of omnipotence. As adults, egos cease to serve us, but getting past them is like having our skin torn off. 

3: Don’t panic; it doesn’t help. “What’s next” might likely be better. 

You have to “start where you are,” as Zen puts it. I always suggest that people set up on their own to restore a sense of identity and self-confidence. It’s likely to be temporary, but it helps one calm down and take stock. In my experience, layoffs often lead to something new that may have been seen, but not acted on. 

4: Recessions are part of life, especially in architecture, so learn to navigate them.

My career has had four chapters: portfolio work for 14 years, trying different things out, including academia; full-time work in AEC marketing with a large global firm; a shift to communications with an even larger (and much better managed) one, which gave me a two-decade run; and my current one, giving my own work as a writer/researcher much more attention. These four chapters span 50 years. Turning 50 was a big transition, but so was turning 70. There’s always more to life than you imagine.

5: Architects aren’t alone in this, as the tech world has recently revealed.

Lately, tech has seen massive layoffs as its core businesses shift and once-secure activities succumb to automation or obsolescence. Being a plumber may be the next “sure thing,” as young people question if a university education is worth the mounting debt. Architecture is a hybrid field: design plus engineering plus science plus humanities. It’s better than most at teaching one how to roll with the punches. I learned from my peers that it opens many more doors than it closes—for those prepared to step through them. 

6: Architecture is not an exact science, but rather a human endeavor.

Architecture is an unusually broad field. As Art Gensler, founder of the global design firm that bears his name, noted, it’s really whatever our clients think it is, and we’re free to push that definition on our own as well. A career is also a succession of creative acts in which we’re our own project, benefiting from colleagues, coaches, and mentors, but in the end it reflects our perseverance and imagination. Gensler, a buoyant character, always believed that “the best is still ahead.”

An attitude of optimism is helpful, especially when the ego takes an unexpected blow. Humanity evolved in the face of predators, pandemics, tyrants, idiots—the lot. Despite them, we made it here and managed collectively to make our mark despite the noise and mess. Life is imperfect, and architects understand this better than most. Out of necessity, we’re the queens and kings of reinvention. 

Featured image: Illustration by Rocky Hanish.