Architecture Studio Strategy: Projects, Fees, Hiring and Their Consequences

One decision leads to another

Which projects should your architecture studio accept? What fee should you charge? When should you hire? How much workload is too much? Where should the practice specialise?

These are the questions behind today's work on Architect High Level. There are plenty of problems to solve in the game mechanics and in the business itself. That overlap is a useful reminder of why I am building a business simulation for architects: decisions rarely exist in isolation.

A new project changes the work ahead. A hiring decision changes the team. A choice about specialisation influences which opportunities seem relevant. Studio strategy takes shape through these connected decisions.

Turning business questions into playing rounds

In Architect High Level, these choices are compressed into playing rounds. Make a decision, see the consequence, then move into the next round with a changed situation to consider.

The purpose of that structure is to make the relationship between action and outcome easier to examine. Business strategy can sound distant from everyday practice. A round makes it immediate: here is the situation, here are the choices, and here is what follows.

That is the experience I am working towards as development continues. Each round moves things forward.

Project selection and the work ahead

Imagine a fictional practice considering another commission while the team is already busy. The project might be attractive, but accepting it also creates questions about time, priorities and delivery.

Project selection for architects involves more than deciding whether a design opportunity looks interesting. It also means considering how the work fits the studio's current capacity and intended direction.

In a simulation, that tension becomes material for exploration. What did the decision change? Which constraint became more visible? What would you reconsider before the next round?

Fees, hiring and capacity planning

Fee decisions introduce another set of questions. What effort does the project require? What assumptions sit behind the proposed fee? How does that commitment fit alongside the studio's other work?

Hiring adds a related challenge. More people may create room for additional work, but building a team also involves responsibilities and coordination. Capacity planning is therefore a useful way to connect project choices with staffing choices.

These examples explain the business questions behind the game. The development task is to represent them clearly enough that players can follow the consequences without losing the wider picture.

Specialisation gives growth a direction

Choosing where to specialise adds a longer perspective. An architecture business does not have to pursue every possible opportunity. Defining a direction gives the owner a basis for comparing projects and deciding what deserves attention.

Architect High Level brings these themes into a shared learning experience: project selection, fees, hiring, workload and specialisation. The next round creates another opportunity to think through the relationship between them.

Visit Architect High Level and register for early access to follow development.

Built for architects running an architecture studio, interior design practice or landscape architecture studio, where the design business has to work too.