During his seminar at Build Boston, Bruce Cousins claimed that the Master Builder Era has gone the way of the dinosaur--that H.H. Richardson, LeCorbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright are all icons of the past. We have entered the new Virtual Building Era.
There is this contemporary idea that “no one knows as much as everyone” which is true. The internet has proven that the more brains you have working on a problem, the faster you can come up with solutions, however, there must be someone managing the progress of the group.
Historically, architects began with the notion of partnering or simple collaboration, but each discipline still returned to its own silo to do the work. Partnering/teaming gave way to Design/Build where one entity became charged with the responsibility of the entire project. BIM and Lean Construction have become the new way of operating allowing project teams to implement Integrated Project Delivery. This allows risk and reward to be distributed among members of the project team. It also allows for more individuals to lend their expertise to the project.