A Value Integrator Model in Sustainable Real Estate Management

This article describes a tension frequently encountered in practice and in the literature: architects in Eastern Europe come with expectations that tend to far exceed the execution of plans, yet their formal responsibilities remain strictly defined. Starting from this tension, the authors reexamine recent works on post-socialist housing, Building Information Modeling (BIM), and real estate governance. The ESG orientation proposes an Architecture–Management–Sustainability (AMS) model to reconnect fragmented debates. The AMS model conceptualizes the architect as a value integrator who remains responsible for the building’s performance throughout its entire life cycle, in close collaboration with managers and owners. The article introduces a complementary diagram that translates AMS into five phases clarifying how design decisions, management practices and sustainability outcomes should be linked in practice. An exploratory qualitative analysis of professional discourse from two online forums: Reddit and Archinect is used to confront the AMS framework with everyday perceptions of responsibility, risk and professional identity. The findings reveal symbolic erosion of the architect’s title and deep operational fragmentation around BIM and lifecycle accountability, supporting the need for an integrative role, connecting design authority, facility management and ESG reporting. The article argues that the AMS model offers such a role for architects in post-communist housing, and outlines implications for education, contractual practice and future empirical research on lifecycle-based real estate governance.