Publication

  • Architectural Strategies
    Eduard Sancho Pou
    Author
    Ediciones Peninsula Publisher, 2012
  • GRANTEE
    Eduard Sancho Pou
    GRANT YEAR
    2011

The Theme Building, Los Angeles International Airport, 1962. © Getty Images.

This project studies the strategies used by architects to secure commissions, sell projects, and erect buildings. Although their modus operandi might seem to be mere marketing techniques, the economic conditions in each stage of a project that determine the final result cannot be overlooked. Selling strategies are not taught in school, since it has traditionally been considered that architects cannot market themselves. Nor are they discussed among practicing professionals, since no one is willing to reveal recipes for success. Therefore, there is no specific bibliography in this area, although architects have always been excellent salesmen for ideas. Today, there is no work for architects who build, but instead there are many opportunities for architects who can develop business. Architects must redefine their objectives and design strategies instead of buildings.

Born in Barcelona in 1974, Eduard Sancho Pou was awarded graduate degrees in architecture and construction engineering, and earned his PhD (cum laude) from the Polytechnic University of Barcelona in 2010. He has written a thesis on the different marketing and sales strategies architects use, comparing the evolution they have undergone since their inception in the 1950s until now. Sancho Pou is currently the head of an architecture studio where he combines his work as an architect with his strategic consultancy activities. In the past, he was the director of Galería BCA (Barcelona Centre Arquitectura), where he organized architecture exhibitions, colloquia, and conferences attended by international architects, institutions, and individuals in the field of culture, in general. He has also been an architectural consultant with the Swiss multinational Holcim, for the announcement of the Holcim Architectural Awards.