The Web sites designed by Huge (hugeinc.com) for Hillier (hillier.com) and DeStefano + Partners (dplusp.com - below) open with pages that tell the viewer about how each firm looks at architecture and design. Hillier’s is very people-oriented; DeStefano’s speaks about the things that influence the firm’s work. Design principles One reason to hire an independent Web designer is to get an outside eye. As aesthetically oriented as architects are, they still make basic design errors when taking on the design of their sites. There are many, including unattractive background colors with unreadable type, use of pointless animations that can’t be

Succession plans should be more than schedules for transferring ownership— they should be integral to a firm’s strategic plan to recruit and develop talented staff The process of succession planning For a group of principals that’s just starting, the main task is to become fully informed in general about all elements of succession planning and how they specifically apply to their firm. The best way to do this is by talking to colleagues who have done it, and reading about the process for professional service firms. It will probably be necessary to hire a consultant. The most prudent use of

Succession plans should be more than schedules for transferring ownership— they should be integral to a firm’s strategic plan to recruit and develop talented staff inancial components of a transition plan The human-resources-related strategizing that one must do to put a transition plan together comes pretty naturally to most principals and their successors. The financial mechanics of the ownership transfer present the greatest potential for trouble. Firms really benefit from a specialist who is experienced in firm ownership transfers. Lowell Getz, an accountant from Houston and a financial consultant specializing in ownership transition planning, has succinctly explained the three elements,

Succession plans should be more than schedules for transferring ownership— they should be integral to a firm’s strategic plan to recruit and develop talented staff Financial strategies and ESOPs Mechanisms should be considered to promote the purchase by young associates who typically do not have a lot of cash. Usually firms use bonuses, apply salary increases, and sometimes bank loans to accomplish the transfer, so in effect, the firm funds the buyout through its profitability. Payroll deductions from the buyers’ salaries over a period of years can ease the burden as well. But to make the process “real,” prospective owners

Way back when Just when did this all begin to shift around? Was it when back in 1987 when Gehry, known then for his “chain-link architecture,” and David Childs, of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s New York office, went after the Madison Square Garden competition? The scheme didn’t go anywhere, but the architectural community took note of the new bedfellows. Photo John Lee Pictures Fong and Chan (collaborators with Herzog & de Meuron, not shown) Photo © 2006 Todd Eberle. For the newly expanded Morgan Library and Museum, in New York City, Renzo Piano Studio was designated the design architect, and

Embedding architects Electronic mail may help in overseas working relationships, but it isn’t everything: design architects and their collaborating architects often place their respective staffs in each other’s offices during the phases of schematic design, design development, construction documentation, and construction supervision. Gruzen Samton, which associated with Bernard Tschumi, AIA (then dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning), for Columbia’s Lerner Hall [record, November 1999, page 94], sent architects to Tschumi’s office at the beginning of the schematic-design phase. “We were all looking at various alternatives, with lots of sketches,” says Samton. “Bernard had a lot

Credit: a sticky wicket Credits can be a source of contention, and it is more than wise to clarify them from the beginning. But even then there are problems. When Margaret Helfand, FAIA , a New York–based architect with her own office took on the role as the design architect for the Unified Science Center at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, Einhorn Yaffee Prescott (EYP), a Boston-based a/e firm, had already been contracted to do the programming, and because of its expertise in lab design, had embarked on some early planning for the center. The college, for which Helfand had

Unless you have been living in the Truk Islands, you have noticed (or even been a part of) the varied range of collaborations occurring among architectural offices in recent years. We’re not talking about collaborations between architects and landscape architects, engineers, or artists—that’s another story. Just looking at collaborations between different architectural practices reveals not only certain trends but some particular problems that warrant attention, in order to help create better relationships––and architecture. Up until 15 or so years ago, it was common for many large architectural offices to promote themselves as “full-service” firms handling all phases of the project