Show Notes
This summer, RIBA members elect the institute's next president. The RIBA president chairs the institute's council, sits on its board, and speaks for the profession to government, media and the public. Whoever wins takes office as president-elect on 1 September 2026 and serves as president from 2027 to 2029. Those two years run straight through housing policy, climate targets, architectural education, and what the job looks like for the people coming into it. There are four candidates standing. We sat down with each of them, asked them the same questions, to help you decide who to vote for. We'll be releasing one episode per day for the next four days in the lead up to voting opening on Monday 15 June. The candidates:Duncan Baker-Brown, founder of BakerBrown StudioChithra Marsh, director at Buttress ArchitectsJay Morton, director at Bell Phillips ArchitectsAustin Williams, architect, academic and writerAbout Austin Williams:Austin is an architect, academic and writer, and course leader for the Part 3 Professional Practice programme at Kingston School of Art. His career spans practice, education, journalism and research, with experience as a sole practitioner, lead architect, expert witness and author. Having studied and worked across the UK and internationally, including six years in China, he brings a broad and critical perspective on the profession.Austin is known for his plain‑spoken approach to issues such as regulation, education, fees and professional support, and advocates for open debate, clearer guidance and stronger engagement with the everyday realities facing architects. Voting opens 9am Monday 15 June and closes 4pm Friday 26 June. Results announced Thursday 2 July.Head here for more information: https://www.riba.org/about-us/governance/elections/
More from Bespoke Careers Podcast
We’ve wrapped season one of the Bespoke Careers Podcast. 42 episodes, from architecture students right up to institute presidents.Here's some of the best advice that stuck with us. Seven ideas worth hearing, from 196 years of combined experience.
James Zagari is the co-founder of EST Lighting, an Australian lighting company he established in 2016 after a career that began almost by accident with a sales role at Philips Lighting.
Download the 2026 Global Salary Guide: https://www.bespokecareers.com/salary-guide/Muyiwa Oki is an architect at Mace and was President of RIBA from 2023 to 2025, the institute's youngest and first Black president, elected after a grassroots campaign that started in a WhatsApp group.He studied at Sheffield, did his Part 3 with RIBA North West, and worked at Glenn Howells Architects in Birmingham and Grimshaw in London before moving to Mace, where he works the front end of projects with public and private clients. During his term he set up the workplace and wellbeing task force and the RIBA's AI advisory group, and pushed the institution on pay, access to the profession and level 7 funding.
Illya Azaroff calls architecture his side gig. He's also the 2026 president of the American Institute of Architects and has spent 30 years responding to disasters around the world.His father arrived in the US as a displaced war refugee from Ukraine, and Illya grew up at a dinner table where hunger was a firsthand memory. That upbringing led to a degree in geography, then a career in disaster mitigation, and now the presidency of a 100,000-member institution.We get into what the presidency is like from the inside, why his kids are the reason he ran, the ethos he borrowed from the Kalinago people in the Caribbean, why nearly half of small businesses never reopen after a disaster, and the message he wants every architect to hear: you are more powerful to your community than you realize.
Shajay Bhooshan is an Associate Director at ZHA Architects and co-founder of ZHA CODE, the practice's computation and design research group, now 28 people inside a studio of around 500. He studied at the AA's Design Research Laboratory, where he still teaches, and completed his PhD with the Block Research Group at ETH Zurich. His work spans high performance geometry, robotic fabrication, game engines and participatory design, including the 3D printed concrete bridge Striatus.