WORK ON THE BOARDS (members only)
Firms Report a Recovery in Billings
Backlogs at below-average levels, but
increasing overall
After stabilizing in February, billings at U.S. architecture firms increased in March for the first time since last June. Over this period, the decline in billings was very shallow but unusually long, given the overall growth in the economy. Inquiries for new projects also continued to grow in March, although at a somewhat slower pace than the first two months of the year.

Historic Preservation Advocates Fight Funding Cuts
Preservation advocates are urging lawmakers to fund adequately the initiatives they say bring economic development and tourism dollars, housing options, and collaborative partnerships to communities nationwide. These initiatives, one state historian said, serve in many ways as a “teaching laboratory” for architects.

School Building Day Highlights Safe, Healthy Facilities
D.C. public school students pitched their energy-efficient school building plans to a professional architecture jury last week, incorporating with abandon technologically advanced designs, as well as elements of whimsy and convenience, such as a skateboard park and escalators. Guided by architecture students from Howard University and the University of Maryland, the middle schoolers designed their own ideal learning environments as a part of School Building Day, a program sponsored by the Council of Educational Facilities Planners International (CEFPI), the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Rebuild America program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and more than 40 organizations, including the AIA.

Poll: What Do You Think About Communication and the AIA?
Please share your views on these eight questions
Grassroots Leadership Conference participants expressed their opinions on six topics—architecture education, financial realignment, the profession, communications, knowledge, and membership—during the annual Issues Forum, March 10, in Washington, D.C. Now it’s your turn. Please respond to these eight questions about the fourth topic: communications. AIArchitect will run polls of the other topics, tally the results, and share them in our convention issue, May 9. See also comments from past polls.

2003 AIA/HUD Secretary’s Awards Program Honors Three Facets of Good Design
The 2003 AIA/HUD Secretary's Housing and Design Awards program chose three projects as this year’s exemplary models of residential, community, and accessible-housing design. The joint program, created by the AIA Center for Livable Communities and the AIA Housing Professional Interest Area in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, honored a mixed-use space supporting 322 rental units, an outdoor classroom on a freshwater pond, and an accessible independent-living complex for people with spinal injuries. The program reflects the collaboration between the Institute and federal government agencies to highlight the best in residential design and call attention to the importance of architecture in cities and communities across America. The winners will be honored at the AIA convention in San Diego.

Your Kiplinger Connection (members only)
AIArchitect links members to three stories a week from the pages of the renowned Kiplinger Letter. (Nonmembers may subscribe to The Kiplinger Letter.)
The Home Front: Attention is returning with a vengeance to domestic issues, look for some tax cuts, a boost to the economy through highway funds, and airport improvements. Security: Terror insurance market stabilizing, clients are looking for business-continuity planning. U.S. Economy: Interest-rate cut possible in May, then increases likely later in the year; housing market should remain strong, though down from 2002.

PROJECT WATCH
Millennium Pharmaceuticals Named Lab of the Year
R&D Magazine recently awarded the 2003 Laboratory of the Year Award to Elkus/Manfredi for their design of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a new laboratory and office facility in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s University Park, Cambridge, Mass. The seven-story, 220,000-square-foot building actually was two projects in one for the architects. Its center core and shell function as a build-to-suit office facility and was built for the Forest City Commercial Group, the developers of University Park. The architects designed the interior fit-out for the building with Millennium as a client. Its spaces include program-specific laboratories and offices for the company. The awards program, now in its 37th year, judges laboratories on such criteria as ergonomics, ability to foster research, safety, productivity, and aesthetics. R&D Magazine will feature Millennium Pharmaceuticals as its May cover story. (Photo ©Justin Maconochie, 2002)

Need to catch up on recent editions of AIArchitect This Week?
March 24 | March 31 | April 7 | April 14