Be prepared to embrace new opportunities as they arrive. Talent isn’t enough; recognizing a good opportunity and embracing it moves talent to a higher level.

Be present. Offer a strong work ethic and be someone who solves problems. Communicate your thoughts as effectively as you can and collaborate generously. If challenged, be confident in your ability to figure things out.

Be engaged with the way things are. Recognize the reality of every situation; be humble as you address complexity. Seek a mentor who is truly great, who can teach, who builds confidence—someone who makes you feel as if you can also be great.

Be yourself.

 

Dong Gong, founder and design principal, Vector Architects: I have always been intrigued by the beauty of a tree. Its roots grasp the soil deep in the earth, striving hard for the strength to grow, while its canopy extends to the sky, swaying in the wind at ease. Such a state of tension is essential for an architect’s efforts nowadays. Despite our dazzlingly fast-changing society and no matter how interactive your design sensibility might be, never lose hold of the basics. Be passionate about light, air, scale, materiality, atmosphere—all the eternal values that make architecture relevant to our bodies and minds.

 

Iyad Alsaka, partner, Office for Metropolitan Architecture: Innovation happens at intersections—the places where disciplines converge. So try to become a polymath, a multipotential-ite. Develop expertise spanning different subject areas and draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve complex conditions. Remember: new ideas emerge where fields overlap and knowledge is exchanged.

 

Carol Ross Barney, founding design principal, Ross Barney Architects: Design always matters. Not just when it’s affordable or convenient. It matters all the time.

Design excellence—living in an environment that is truly uplifting—isn’t a privilege that only some people get to enjoy. Good design is a right in our democratic society.

Size and prestige don’t matter. A lot of the projects we work on can probably be classified as noble projects, meaning that they don’t have big budgets, and they certainly were not the most publicized or anticipated projects. But they are important in their communities.

We do our best work for projects where design may not be expected, projects that you find at the very edges or sometimes in the margins, but ones that affect the quality of daily life and need innovative solutions.

Design is problem-solving. If a solution is simple, constructible, and integrated, then it is beautiful. Originality is overrated, but innovation is essential to elegant and progressive design.

Design is a team sport. Don’t work alone and don’t take yourself too seriously. The best design leaders are able to see value in multiple ideas and approaches. They promote and weave those concepts into a better whole.

Architecture isn’t ever easy. If I am completely honest, architecture has never loved me as much I love architecture. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and the joy and fulfillment of making space has wiped out any disappointment or regret.

Every day, every drawing, every project is a new challenge.

 

Calvin Tsao, founding principal, Tsao & McKown Architects: As you enter the professional sphere, it is important to acknowledge that, as an architect, you not only answer to your career and ambitions but also bear the responsibility to defend, if not foster, civic good. This is more urgent today than ever, as human existence has been challenged by social and environmental vulnerabilities.

It is important to take this responsibility earnestly. Architecture is the principal actor on and protector of the built environment. Its health, resilience, and sustainability are in your hands.

As architects, we should draw on not only our craft but also its theoretical constructs. We must be alert to the world we live in—its needs, aspirations, and challenges.

We are gatekeepers to our physical world, not just for our own agenda but for the whole of our society.

That is the key to making lasting architecture.

 

Jeanne Gang, founding principal and partner, Studio Gang: Architecture is about being deeply curious. When you’re endlessly fascinated with the project at hand, many questions will arise. Identifying the uncertainties and struggling with them is, I think, far more satisfying than honing a groove or becoming excessively confident. Design is essentially about finding a way to put your questions into a given project. You may even self-initiate projects because of your own burning questions. Your best questions will be relevant to others, as well.

It also helps to be curious about yourself. Interrogate your own motivations for wanting to be in architecture: What drives you? After all your years of architectural education, what is the thing you have that no one else can teach you? Your authenticity comes from cultivating that unique thing.

 

Elizabeth Diller, partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Never settle on simply being a problem solver. Be a maker of problems worth solving. And don’t ever let the words “risk management” enter your vocabulary. Persevere to build your work and put yourself out there. Don’t wait for the opportunity—steal or borrow a site if you have to.

Don’t just throw bombs from afar—something I was certainly guilty of early on. Rather than staying at the periphery, place yourself in the center of it all, where you can actually get things done. To realize the High Line, my studio worked with the New York City government and the Bloomberg administration. It helps when there’s an alignment of open-minded administration with your goals. If you can, take a seat at the table with the grown-ups.

 

Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto, founders, Reiser+Umemoto Architecture: There are a thousand reasons not to pursue architecture as an art, as a speculative cultural practice focused on building. The chances of being successful in the cultural domain of architecture are equivalent to those of making a stable living in the fine or performing arts. Despite these and other challenges, there are always some people willing to take the plunge. Three attributes are essential: talent, smarts, and will. Indomitable will. The ability to absorb setbacks, delays, and failure is critical. But when achievements come, they are that much more rewarding, whether built or not. Good luck.

Clifford Pearson will lead a 60-minute seminar presentation based on Tips from the Top during the 2025 AIA Conference on Architecture & Design in Boston on Saturday, June 7, at 7:30 a.m., where he will be joined by Marlon Blackwell, Nader Tehrani, Kai-Uwe Bergmann, and Christian Wise.  Registration information for AIA25 can be found here. Pearson will also moderate an event on Thursday, June 26, at the Rimadesio showroom at 102 Madison Ave. in Manhattan at 5:30 p.m. He will be joined by architects who will talk about the tips they contributed to the book, including Hina Jamelle, Ali Rahim, and Kim Yao.