For this special issue of RECORD, we took a CT scan of practice today: the magazine’s reporters examined firms across the country of varied sizes, from Small to Extra Large. What we found among the architects we interviewed was deep devotion to their work, a strong idealism about design’s ability to make the world a better place, and a powerful belief that architectural thinking is essential and can never be replaced by machines. But those positive attitudes were tempered by real concerns.

Small practices (77 percent of U.S. firms are nine people or fewer, but we used 25 and fewer as our criterion) showed they are nimble, foster close client relationships, and know how to be inventive on tight budgets. They also struggle with finances and fear the next, inevitable economic downturn. Midsize firms (from 25 people to 100) tend to have more diverse project portfolios yet also develop bench strength in certain building types; they are sized to take on a lot but feel competitive pressure from both small and large practices. And both Medium firms and their Large cousins (100–600 people) are vulnerable to takeovers from Extra Large practices. Those XL firms (600 people and up) have multiple offices in the U.S. and abroad, but even as they expand globally, they stay focused on the various local contexts where they are based, and bring a wide range of services and adaptability to their practices. Of course, they—and many of their large-firm counterparts—have heard the drumbeats of change and are scrambling to adapt to evolving technologies and the growing needs of clients and communities, especially around issues like climate change. A number of practices have created branches that are engaged in research and in developing their own digital tools.

Architects have always innovated—in structures, materials, and design and construction processes. But the speed of change today is calling for not just innovation but a disruption of conventional practice. On the business end alone, offices are likely to fail if architects don’t figure out how to alter their value proposition, argues Phil Bernstein, associate dean at the Yale School of Architecture, who teaches professional practice. Meanwhile, a number of firms—including KieranTimberlake, Ennead, NBBJ, and SOM—are leading the way in redefining what an architectural practice can be, and, in this issue, we explore their strategies as disruptors of tradition.

While the profession must evolve along with technology, design thinking remains the unique tool that architects bring to everything they touch—not only to their own projects and the way they operate their practices but to the creative ideas they can bring to urgent problems. “The architectural voice can become instrumental in the many political and cultural conversations that are affecting the world today— climate change, health, education, food, and the state of the city, to name a few,” says Nader Tehrani, a founder of NADAAA and the dean of architecture at Cooper Union. Architectural practice may be at a deflection point, but architects have never been so critical to the future.