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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
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BEST
PRACTICES (members only)
New Firms Grow With a Marketing Plan
Firms that succeed often start with a single project, be it from
a friend, relative, well-satisfied client from a previous job, or
a benevolent former employer. To keep going, though, firm principals
need to know where they want to go and how they intend to get there.
In their new Architect’s Essentials
of Starting a Design Firm, Peter Piven, FAIA, and Bradford
Perkins, FAIA, discuss building a business development program.
Convention Programs Help
Hone Your Skills for Building Livable Communities
Resolve to learn more about creating livable communities while you
attend the AIA convention, which takes place May 8–10 in San
Diego this year. Among the learning activities you can choose are
“Embracing the Future: Community Visioning Training for Architects”
(a half-day pre-convention workshop on May 7) and two convention
seminars: “Taking a Stand for Better Design: Architects as
Advocates” and “The Legal Limits on Design: Land Use
Law for Architects.”
The McGraw-Hill Companies
Sponsor Homeland Security Summit Exposition
Four-tracked May 14–16 event to
take place in Arlington, Va.
The McGraw-Hill Companies’ Homeland Security Summit and Exposition
will provide architects and engineers a forum through which to discover
steps they must take to secure the built environment and understand
how to address interdependent factors such as insurance costs, building
codes, and calculating risk. Conference programs will run in four
concurrent tracks: aviation, transportation, and national defense;
business and economic security; architecture and construction; energy,
utilities, and natural resources. Among the many distinguished speakers
are: former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and RTKL Chairman
Harold L. Adams, FAIA, RIBA, JIA. Click
here for roster of speakers. Get more information or register
today.
Reminder:
Health-Care Facility Awards Entries Due
Entries are due May 30 for the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health
and Modern Healthcare magazine’s
18th annual Design Awards program, recognizing excellence in the
design and planning of new and remodeled health-care facilities.
The program invites all registered architects to participate and
accepts submissions of all types and sizes of patient-care-related
facilities. Winners will be recognized in the October 6 issue of
Modern Healthcare and at an awards
ceremony in Denver on November 20. For more information, contact
Brenda Stewart, 312-649-5499 or bstewart@crain.com.
For entry and submission forms, visit modernhealthcare.com.
AIA Career Center
Here are this week’s featured opportunities:
Architect,
ATI Architects and Engineers, Roseville, CA |
Architectural
AutoCAD Operator, Personnel One Inc., Washington, DC
| Architectural
Project Manager, DLZ Ohio Inc., Columbus, OH |
Chief Architect, Kling, Washington, DC |
Healthcare
Architect, HLM Design, Denver, CO
| Intermediate
Project Architects/Designers, Perkins & Will, Inc.,
Los Angeles |
Northeast
Territory Sales Manager, Interstate Brick |
Project
Architect/Production Manager, Blankenship McMillen Architects,
Longwood, FL| Project
Architects, Dorwin Thomas Architect, Grand Cayman Islands,
BWI |
Project
Architects, Kling, Washington, DC |
Project
Manager, BJAC, Raleigh, NC |
Project
Manager/Architect, Oliver-Glidden-Spina & Partners,
West Palm Beach, FL | Projects
Managers, Kling, Philadelphia
| Specifications
Professionals, ARCOM, Alexandria, VA. Visit the AIA Career
Center for a full list of openings.
Copyright 2003 The American Institute of
Architects. All rights reserved. Home Page |
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