Discourse at Business Breakfast: Striking a Balance Between Creativity, Profit, and Strategic Edge in Operations
In an increasingly competitive industry, architectural practice leaders are adopting strategic approaches to build resilient, purposeful, and profitable businesses. These insights were shared at Architecture Today's Business Breakfast event held on July 3, 2025, in partnership with Total Synergy.
Kimberly Tryba, Managing Principal at LILA Studio, emphasized the importance of building lean, agile practices that invest strategically in their profile and partnerships. With a background in managing a global design brand, Tryba established LILA Studio with a focus on adaptability and collaboration, ensuring resilience and purposeful growth in a competitive market.
Successful firms are navigating the dual demands of creativity and commercial strategy by making strategic use of time and resources. This balance ensures they remain competitive while delivering innovative design solutions that meet market demands and client expectations, fostering profitability.
Architects are contributing beyond visionary design by focusing on delivering practical, grounded results. This includes simplifying complex challenges, planning with real-world constraints, and turning ideas into tangible actions. The capability to produce feasible, valuable solutions ensures projects meet operational and budgetary realities, enhancing business resilience.
Purpose is embedded by aligning creative vision with clients’ needs and societal goals, such as sustainability and inclusivity. For example, Wright & Wright’s refurbishment of Lambeth Palace demonstrates how architectural projects can be reimagined for future-readiness while remaining commercially sound and meaningful.
Daniel Cran, presenting findings from Total Synergy's latest global benchmarking report, highlighted that invoice collection is a concern for many firms, with fewer than a third collecting payment within 30 days, and nearly half still chasing invoices after 60 days. The report suggests a huge opportunity to modernize the way practices plan and grow, as 70% of firms still allocate project resources via spreadsheets, while only a third use CRM to track business development.
Cran also discussed the potential of AI and automation in architecture, suggesting that the firms that will thrive are those that can integrate AI tools intelligently, protect their IP, and stay focused on delivering value.
Alex Lifschutz, founder of Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, operates consistently at a mid-size scale, with a project base split evenly across residential, workplace, and mixed-use, and nearly half focused on retrofit or reuse. Lifschutz believes in architecture as a long-term pursuit, designing buildings to last 120 years, and focusing on flexibility, longevity, and adaptability.
In conclusion, architectural practice leaders combine strategic investment in agility, partnership building, a balanced approach to creativity and commercial demands, and a pragmatic focus on execution to create businesses that are not only profitable but also purposeful and resilient in a changing industry landscape. The event concluded with a lively discussion on remote working, client engagement, marketing, and mentoring, reinforcing the idea that great architectural practices are built, not born.
- Incorporating AI tools intelligent and strategic financial planning can lead to a thriving architecture business that prioritizes value creation, safeguards intellectual property, and remains competitive in an evolving market.
- To create streamlined and resilient businesses, architectural leaders should invest strategically in their cultural identity, client relationships, and financial resources, focusing on agility, collaboration, and purposeful growth.
- Addressing financial concerns such as timely invoice collection and streamlining project resource allocation can ensure operational efficiency, improving overall business resilience and profitability for architecture firms.
