Happy Earth Day
AIA COTE Selects Top Ten Green Buildings for 2006
In celebration of Earth Day 2006, April 22, the AIA and its Committee on the Environment announce their selection of the top 10 examples of green design that protects and enhances the environment. These projects address significant environmental challenges with designs that integrate architecture, technology, and natural systems. This year’s Top Ten range in scope from a single-family home for the architects themselves to a large corporate headquarters. Interestingly, two are tied to nature preserves and two offer shelter to animals, while the human clientele served by these projects include fledgling nurses, aging Sisters, and elementary school kids.

Work-on-the-boards
Economy Healthy, but Architecture Firm Billings Stall in March
Perceived shortage in architects makes attracting new staff a concern
AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA, reports that billings at U.S. architecture firms leveled off in March, with the AIA Architectural Billings Index registering just 50.5 for the month. Any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings from the previous month, so March billings after seasonal adjustment were just slightly in excess of February levels. While inquiries for new projects continued to grow, pointing to increasing project activity in the months ahead, the inquiries index is the lowest since May of 2004, meaning incoming work should be monitored to see if it is beginning to slow. And can firms attract staff to do the work? Some firms are indicating difficulties in the employment arena.

National Building Museum to Host Yearlong “Green House” Exhibition
AIA provides sponsorship to foster sustainability in residential design
The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., hopes to convince the American public that green is not only a socially conscious choice, but a beautiful and relatively affordable one as well. The museum for the first time is exploring the growing mandate for residential green design through “The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design.” The milestone exhibition will remain on view for a year—May 20, 2006–June 3, 2007—and feature a full-sized house plus exhibits of 20 green houses from around the globe.

Spotlight
Hydrogen Fuels Architects’ Plans
Station prototype reinvents corner gas station
Alan Eliot Goldberg, FAIA, knows about fueling up. A design consultant for Mobil Oil Corporation for about 25 years, he created a number of gas station prototypes that affected tens of thousands of stations worldwide. Now, after parting with the client on good terms, and with five grandchildren in Los Angeles breathing California’s polluted air, the New Canaan, Conn., architect is promoting hydrogen as a clean, safe, renewable energy source. To that end, Goldberg assembled a partnership to design and build a prototype Hydrogen Fueling Station/Information Center. “It’s not a futuristic station. They can be built today,” Goldberg says. The ARRC/H2 alliance, which launched in March at the Center for Architecture in New York City, includes Goldberg’s firm AG/ENA along with Shell Hydrogen, Hydrogenics, and other companies. The Information Center will display a hydrogen car and exhibits to foster the public’s understanding and acceptance of hydrogen fuels.

President Nominates New GSA Chief
President George W. Bush nominated Lurita Alexis Doan, of Virginia, to be Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA). Doan most recently served as president and chief executive officer of New Technology Management Inc., a surveillance technology company and federal contractor she founded in 1990. Her numerous awards include the GSA’s Circle of Excellence Award as well as the Commerce Department’s Award for Entrepreneurial Innovation. The New Orleans native received her bachelor’s degree from Vassar College and her master's degree in Renaissance literature from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. The Washington Post notes her comments in a 2003 article in the Profiles in Diversity Journal. “Doan wrote that she started her company with $25,000 and no business experiences, ‘except from the lessons passed down from three generations of women and men in my family working in their own businesses. We have been a family of entrepreneurs from the time of my great grandmother, a free black, who sold pralines in New Orleans in the 1860s.’” (Photo © Cameron Davidson.)

ENVIRONMENT watch
Nature Is the Model for Design
“Form should follow flow,” says Sim Van der Ryn, AIA, leader in sustainable architecture for more than 35 years. “I think architecture needs to reconnect in shaping people’s consciousness with their natural environments.” In his new book, Design for Life–part memoir, part design treatise–Van der Ryn explores how architecture can better connect buildings to nature and culture.

Your Kiplinger Connection (members only, AIA.org login required)
The economy: Industrial metal prices, including steel, set to peak again this summer.
Human capital: No deficit in U.S.-educated engineers . . . yet.
Retail: Steelcase among manufacturers now affixing environmental-friendliness labels.
AIArchitect offers AIA members exclusive access to three stories a week to help them manage their practices and plan for the coming year. Nonmembers may subscribe to The Kiplinger Letter.

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Bone Up on Health-Care Buildings: Building Basics for Healthcare Facilities, by Richard L. Kobus, AIA; Ronald L. Skaggs, FAIA; Michael Bobrow, FAIA; Julia Thomas, and Thomas M. Payette, FAIA, part of the series on specialized design projects, provides the essential information needed to initiate designs for acute care hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities, and specialty centers. The book lists for $69.95; AIA members may purchase for $62.95. Order online or phone 800-242-3837, option #4.

Get Smart: “Marketing and Business Development for Dummies (or the not so dumb),” taught by George Calys, AIA, explains how the strategic marketing and business development plan, consistently executed, is the only way to grow your practice. This two-hour course is available through April 28 at a 10-percent-off discounted price, $59.35 AIA members/$80.95 nonmembers (regular price: $65.95 AIA members/$89.95 nonmembers) and offers 1 HSW LU-hours.

Free Summer Job Postings: Are you looking for extra help in your office this summer? The AIA Career Center again allows firms to post limited-time summer job offers for free on its popular job board. Click “Post Jobs” on the Employers page; log in if you are a regular user, or register if you are new to the service; then enter all relevant information. When you get to “Type” option, be sure to check “Summer Job.” You will not be charged for the listing. Offer runs through July 31. The AIA is working with the American Institute of Architecture Students to get the word out to candidates.

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Integrated Practice: Technological change is one catalyst accelerating radical improvement through the entire construction industry, from owner to architect to contractor to facility manager, through the full length of the project and building lifecycle. Learn more about how this change will transform architectural practice into Integrated Practice at www.aia.org/ip.

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