Architects coping with continuous fragmentation

‘Fragmentation’ is a word often used to characterize the construction industry. Fragmentation can adversely impact project outcomes, hinder the adoption of innovative technologies, and obstruct the transition toward sustainable practices. It has also been viewed as a cause of significant changes in the architect’s profession. Yet no research has studied fragmentation from a profession-perspective, specifically a profession with early participation in building projects. With interpretative methods and drawing from sociological concepts, we aim to understand how architects perceive their professional role, and analyze this alongside fragmentation to answer the question: how are architects coping with the effects of fragmentation? The study consists of 23 focus group sessions, where architects constituted the core and other actors participated occasionally, and five deep interviews with architects. Our first contribution shows how architects are coping with fragmentation through a dynamic social process, making small adjustments in role adaptation to maintain their professional identity, and how this way of coping with fragmentation can actually contribute to continuous fragmentation. Secondly, our study challenges earlier suggested solutions for handling fragmentation by showing how they simply cause fragmentation earlier in the design phase. The implications of ‘design fragmentation’ for the professional architect and the outcome of a building project are discussed.