It’s the Economy, Architect! These Project Management Webinars May Help
The Project Management Knowledge Community invites you to join them for two Webinars highlighting tips and tools for successful practice. Both Webinars offer 1.5 LUs and may prove particularly helpful during this economic downturn.

• December 4, 2:00–3:30 p.m. ET: Principal Directed Business Development: Using Tools and Data to Achieve Success. Today more than ever business development efforts must be targeted, effective, and cost-efficient. The financial investment in these efforts often leaves many wondering: “How do I effectively measure and manage our firm’s business development efforts?” Or, more importantly: “How do I lead our firm’s business efforts?” In this session, Karen Compton, principal of A3K Consulting—a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering, and construction industries—will introduce principals and partners to basic performance metrics that should be used in making go/no-go decisions, tracking and monitoring business development efforts, and accurately measuring their return on investments. For more information or to register, visit the Webinar site.
• December 16, 2:00–3:30 p.m. ET: Lessons from the Dog Whisperer, Avoiding the Project Red Zone. Nothing is more draining of your firm's time, energy, and financial resources than being embroiled in a full-blown dispute with a client, contractor, or consultant. Join Jay H. Izenberg, AIA, as he explains why it is critical that architects learn to recognize and react to the conditions of conflict escalation before they reach what Cesar Millan, TV's "The Dog Whisperer" calls the "red zone." For more information or to register, visit the Webinar site.

BuildingGreen Announces 2008 Top-10 Green Building Products
BuildingGreen, Inc., publisher of the GreenSpec® Directory and Environmental Building News™, announced the 2008 Top-10 Green Building Products on November 20. This seventh annual award, announced at the U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild Conference in Boston, recognizes the most exciting products drawn from additions to the GreenSpec Directory and coverage in Environmental Building News. BuildingGreen’s Top-10 product selections, as in previous years, are drawn from new additions to the company’s GreenSpec product directory.

Marine Corps Museum Announces Expansion Plans
On October 24, the National Museum of the Marine Corps and Marine Corps Heritage Foundation announced that it has chosen Fentress Architects, architect of the museum, to design an expansion that will include three additional galleries with exhibits interpreting the periods from 1775 through World War I. The two-year-old museum, which draws three quarters of its visitors from outside of the Commonwealth of Virginia, recently hosted its one millionth visitor. The galleries will feature immersive experiences for which the museum—located in Triangle, Va., on the Quantico Marine Corps Base—has become widely recognized. New components, funded by the foundation and supporters, will include more than 100,000 square feet of additional historical galleries, office space, a large-screen theater, a permanent art gallery and artist studios, a performance space, classrooms, and a display/storage gallery for the many artifacts currently not accessible to the public. In the two years it has been open, the museum, has won more than 18 design awards, including an American Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum/Metropolitan Arts Press, a merit award from AIA Northern Virginia, and an Honor Award from AIA Virginia. Construction on the new galleries will begin in January 2009, with the opening slated for 2010.

Bellagio Hotel Wins Big on “Shape of America” Web Site
On November 3, the AIA’s Shape of America project—a series of Web-based short films showcasing a selection of the 150 structures chosen by the public as America’s Favorite Architecture—elected the Atlandia Design’s 1998 Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas—replete with dancing fountains and 1,000 Dale Chihuly glass flowers on its lobby ceiling—as the newest member of the repertoire of buildings that are expanding public dialogue about architecture and how it affects our lives. The site features AIA architects sharing insight and personal anecdotes about architectural masterworks, in turn encouraging public discussion of the buildings using interactive features such as how to vote for the next buildings to be highlighted, architectural blogs, a system to rate the films, and an RSS feature alerting viewers when the site is updated with new material. The Bellagio joins with the latest additions: the Vietnam Memorial (inaugurated October 20), St. Louis Gateway Arch, Plaza Hotel, Disney Concert Hall, USAF Cadet Chapel, and Philips Exeter Library—with new arrivals anticipated every two weeks. Visit ShapeofAmerica.org to see these videos for yourself. And, after viewing, please consider continuing the conversation by forwarding to your friends, colleagues, and clients—or start blogging! (Photo from the Bellagio Hotel Web site.)

Enjoy Your Thanksgiving Break!
AIArchitect will not be published next week to allow us all time to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday and ponder our many blessings. We count among them doing a job we love, as well as the privilege of contributing to a profession that brings so much good to the world. Look for AIArchitect back in its regular slot on Friday, December 5, with news of the 2009 AIA Gold Medal.