The response so far...

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Just a brief update - there has been a great response so far. Many thanks to all who took the time to partake. There has been a diverse range of people commenting, and interestingly only half of respondents are members of the RIAI. A good few have expressed frustration with their apparent inaction, but according to a colleague, they have been more active than I or anyone else is aware of. If anyone has more info on the RIAI initiatives, leave a comment or email me. John Graby was on the RTE Today Show yesterday, discussing the current climate for architects link (and archipocalypse got a mention by Myles Dungan!) but I was again struck by the lack of numbers about how many architects are affected.

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Some responses below:

The loss of trained and experienced architects overseas and to other careers will be a huge loss to the country as it tries to recover from this economic meltdown. The "braindrain" of architects is one which may be felt for the next 20+ years, and far more starkly than in any other profession I can think of. Architects are a versatile bunch of people and while I struggle with reduced pay, work and hours and watch many of my colleagues and friends in similar situations, none are sitting around doing nothing about their own personal circumstances. Be it further education, upskilling, retraining, second jobs, or travel, few architects are just drawing unemployment benefit for protracted periods. Architects can be seen doing a vast spectrum of jobs now - but they are out there and doing other things. I would suggest that the training architects have received gives them strength to diversify and move on, the built landscape of now and the future is what will suffer the most.

"I was absolutely furious when I read Sean O'Laoire's address to members in last June or July's Irish architect - he seemed to think the impending recession was a time for amusement & his attitude summed up perfectly the RIAI".

"While it has been very demotivating to finish college and not walk straight into an architecture job - as all of my friends did in previous years - it has also had some positive effects. I think if the economy hadn't collapsed I would have started in an architecture job and never really considered any other options".

"I would suggest that the training architects have received gives them strength to diversify and move on, the built landscape of now and the future is what will suffer the most".

"The traditional order of the profession will be changed to a much more fluid and transient operation. We really don't know what shape or form it will take but it will be dramatically different. Being adaptable and quick to respond is essential to survival".

How bad is it?

There is no disputing that Ireland has had an unprecedented building boom in the last 10 years or more. When I began college in 1996, Professor J Owen Lewis gave an introductory lecture in which he began by saying that architecture is a cyclical business, which follows the vagaries of the economy of a country as a whole. He said that the good news was that we were in a boom time, and the bad was that it would be over by the time we graduated. He was only half right.

This is not a blog about economics, but an attempt to discover how badly the architectural profession has been affected in the last 15 months. The RIAI published figures last January about job losses, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the situation has far exceeded their nightmare situation.

Frank McDonald had an article in the Weekend section of the Irish Times a couple of weeks ago about this, but it was sorely lacking in any figures.

So, how bad is it? If time is short, please vote in the polls on the left hand side or leave a comment in anonymity. Don't forget to click on the "vote" button for each poll!

Or, better still, click to take part in a more indepth (but still brief) survey.