New AIA Integrated Project Delivery Agreements Introduced at Convention
The AIA introduced two sets of documents May 15 at the AIA 2008 National Convention and Design Exposition. The first, a set of three agreements, is a transitional approach to integrated project delivery and features an owner-architect agreement form, a separate owner-contractor agreement form, and a general conditions document that defines the responsibilities of each participant, with a guaranteed maximum price amendment. The second, more novel agreement is the C195™–2008, Standard Form Single Purpose Entity Agreement for Integrated Project Delivery, which creates a limited liability company among the owner, architect, construction manager, and possibly other parties, according to the specifics of a particular project.

Howard Goldberg, Esq., outside counsel to the AIA Documents Committee has prepared a detailed explanation of these new documents, available here.

Did You Miss the “Survive, Even Thrive in an Uncertain Economy” Webcast?
You can view the archived broadcast until June 5
If you weren’t one of the 875 AIA members who participated in the AIA’s live April 29 “Survive, Even Thrive in an Uncertain Economy” Webinar, take advantage of the free archived program until June 5. AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA, sets the pace for the program with an analysis of the latest data from the Architecture Billings Index (ABI), which has shown its steepest downturn in its 12-year history. Providing the large-firm perspective is Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects Managing Principal Robert G. Packard III, Assoc. AIA, the current chair of the AIA Large Firm Roundtable on Excellence in Design and Practice. And sharing her insights into small-firm practice excellence is Karen L.W. Harris, AIA, principal, Architecture Matters, and past chair of the AIA Small Project Practitioners Knowledge Community. Our own AIArchitect Executive Editor Douglas Gordon, Hon. AIA, moderated the Web seminar. Members can self-report CES credits after listening to the entire program. (As always, check with your own state about self-reported credits.) To listen to the program, visit the KRM Web site before June 5. The program also can be accessed through AIA Soloso.

kiplinger connection
Food Crisis • Energy Prices • Taxes
Food Crisis: What’s behind it and how long it will last.
Energy Prices: Credit loosening some, office vacancies up.
Taxes: IRS scrutinizing domestic production deductions.

Taking Care of Business
Letters to the Editor
This week, members sound off about Mario Botta’s distain of supermarkets as a building type, the AIA’s not backing just one sustainability rating system, and the lack of a definition of sustainability itself.