Like many of my fellow architects, I recently made the biennial pilgrimage to Venice to take in the extraordinary talent of our global contemporaries. The architecture biennale is an opportunity for architects from around the world to explore a given theme. This year it was curated by the brilliant Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, founders of Grafton Architects. Their title, Freespace, referred to the gifts that architects give for free, through good design.

Although most of those visiting the biennale have some connection to architecture, or at least an appreciation of it, I am amazed at how impenetrable many of the displays are. Often, unintelligible drawings combined with illegible texts made my brain fuddled, and I quickly moved on to look for something more understandable. It would seem that communicating complex ideas and concepts in a simple and engaging way is something architects struggle with. 

After all those years, I realised that communicating clearly and understandably is the responsibility of the giver, not the receiver

…