tr.IBE, The Radical Institute of the Built Environment.
The Radical Institute of the Built Environment (tr.IBE) is a proposal for a new, alternative institution in order to give a form of accreditation to professionals across the built environment and construction industry. It would aim to encourage collaboration, radicalisation, and cross-industry education and would provide an inclusive, constantly evolving and subscription-based form of accreditation.
The requirement to join would be to take part in both research-based and real-world projects as cross-industry teams; which together would be gathered into an open-source, online knowledge platform to be shared by all other practices and companies. A platform such as this would embody some of the original aims of the RIBA Library, by containing historic as well as live information on building projects for other professionals and students to learn from.
To instil the tr.IBE methodology in professionals, it will need to be included in an educational setting. With many architecture schools focussing on beautifully illustrated dystopian futures with little to do with the current landscape of architecture, students are unprepared to engage with real-world issues when they begin to work in practice. If tr.IBE acted as the missing link between traditional professions such as architects, engineers, surveyors and builders at an educational level, perhaps a collaborative mentality that is missing can be instilled, breaching the barriers between pupillage, academia and apprenticeships. tr.IBE accreditation would not only be a way forward to improve collaboration at degree/ apprenticeship level education, but it would allow a route into ‘architectural’ education for professionals from other sectors and educational backgrounds. By being more inclusive at the educational level, the architectural profession will allow itself to adapt and outlive the changes to the role of the architect that we are seeing today. This more fluid accreditation system also aims to open up the role of the designer in the built environment to a wider audience, increasing diversity in the profession.
Individual Research Essay Links:
Oscar Murray — https://medium.com/@oscarmurray/how-do-i-become-an-architect-90b38e99705e
Luke Reveley — https://medium.com/@luke.reveley/an-architect-by-any-other-name-1de76708cdf5
