Strategy and Communication for Architects – Interview with Kasmir Jolma

I met with Kasmir Jolma, a newly graduated Finnish architect, in Helsinki. We discuss his master’s thesis on strategy and communication for architects and how clients see the architect’s role.  Here are snippets of the summary of Kasmir’s thesis, published in May 2016 at Tampere University of Technology: “Business development has not been a strength for architectural firms, even though it could help the firm to reach its other goals. Especially in Finland there has been little research about the value creation, strategic planning and communication of architectural firms. The goal for this thesis is to provide useful information for partners and employees of architectural firms, so that they could better support the objectives of the firm.” “One difference in opinion between clients and architects was the meaning of process in value creation: architects emphasized the importance of a final product more than clients, and some clients saw the process as even more important than the end result. Architects viewed that their profession is answering to many different stakeholders’ expectations, whereas clients expected the architect to be an expert in its own field and deliver solutions according to the clients wishes. Diversity in projects was an ideal for the architects, whereas clients saw architectural firms as segmented and expected specialization.” You can download the thesis in Finnish. Email Kasmir at [email protected] or call him at +358 50 443 2710. You can also find him on LinkedIn. Listen to the interview (also in iTunes)