Martin Wood (he/him)

Amy Marks says she worked with a technology client earlier in her career, who wasn’t at all interested in having his project finish sooner.

Thinking back, I actually think one incredibly important benefit was learning that sometimes you need to step back from your work in order to take it forwards, not only physically by pinning up your work on the wall and watching it from a distance, but also through bouncing ideas off other people and understanding great design comes out of discussions and talking to others, whether they are your tutors, strangers, friends or family.It is easy, especially as a student only recently starting your journey in architecture, to get stuck by working hard on your own and only relying on yourself in improving your design work.

This is when the crits force you to step out of your own 'bubble' and explain your thought processes and ideas to others.As a result, you will understand its weaknesses and strengths and gain the insight of your critics from an outside view; things that might be obvious but as you have been too close to your own work, you have failed to see yourself.After having experienced a number of crits, you will become increasingly independent in seeing your work through other people's points of views.

This has definitely helped me develop into a better designer; allowing yourself to be critical and realising this critical mindset is what will make you a better designer.. BW: What's the worse thing about them?.M: Crits can definitely cause a lot of stress and nervosity, but as you go through your studies you start getting used to the format of presenting your work and understand what is expected of you, which makes the experience much more enjoyable and rewarding.

Students sometimes wrongly think of crits as an occasion for your tutors to tell you everything you've done wrong, but should instead be seen as an opportunity to discuss the project and its aims objectively.. BW: What one piece of advice would you give to an architecture student prepping for their crit?.

M: I would probably say it's incredibly important to have a plan on how you will be presenting your work.It’s up to the industry to decide what it looks like.

We should shape this now, proactively, rather than wait for external forces or commercial imperatives to impose something on us..Considering the examples above, here are the key aspects I believe a digital marketplace for construction Platforms should include:.

Create a direct link between customers and manufacturers, reducing transactional friction.Enable ease and transparency of procurement and payment.