In the three years leading up to the current recession, gross billings at U.S. architecture firms increased nearly $16 billion from 2005 and totaled $44.3 billion in 2008. That equates to 54 percent growth over three years with annual growth of about 16 percent. These findings come from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) “Business of Architecture: AIA Survey Report on Firm Characteristics,” which is conducted every three years to examine issues related to the business practices of AIA member-owned architecture firms. Top 10 sectors served by architects in 2008 Healthcare: 18.2% Office space: 11.3% Education (K-12): 9.0% Education (college/university):
“It’s just a part of an architect’s work, but I do turn down a lot of this stuff,” Frank Gehry, FAIA, says of product-design commissions. When the French shoemaker J.M. Weston approached the Los Angeles–based architect to collaborate on a limited-edition shoe in early 2008, it was Gehry’s family members who wouldn’t take no for an answer. His son, the artist Alejandro Gehry, admits to a long-held interest in shoe design.
Carl Galioto, FAIA Photo courtesy HOK In an eyebrow-raising move, a decades-long employee and partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has jumped ship from its New York office for a rival firm. In September, Carl Galioto, FAIA, joined HOK¹s New York office after 30 years with SOM, where he contributed to the design of One World Trade Center, 7 World Trade Center, and Terminal Four at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He also worked on the planned 5-million-square-foot mixed-use project called Manhattan West, on Ninth Avenue and 31st Street, which developer Brookfield Properties has postponed. While at SOM, Galioto
CityCenter, the highly publicized $8.5 billion mixed-use project now under construction on the Las Vegas Strip, has been saddled with problems: the death of six construction workers, a lawsuit between development partners over rising costs, and funding woes brought on by the global credit crisis.
Just days after the July 1 opening of Citygarden in St. Louis, landscape architect Warren Byrd observed people using the sculpture park in ways he hadn’t quite imagined. A father and daughter waded in an 18-inch-deep reflecting pool while other visitors, unencumbered by do-not-touch regulations, interacted with some of the 24 sculptures by artists such as Jim Dine and Martin Puryear. “There’s a real hunger,” Byrd says, “for these amenities in this context.”
Thom Mayne brought his L.A. road show to Dallas with the recent unveiling of the Perot Museum of Nature & Science. Named for billionaire businessman and former presidential candidate Ross Perot and his family, the $185 million building replaces a smaller Art Deco structure in Dallas’ historic Fair Park, two miles from downtown.
The first two sections of Santiago Calatrava’s Trinity River Bridge arrived in Dallas on August 20. Ordinarily this would have been cause for celebration, a sign that the project was on track and under control. But in this case it may be just one more round in a 10-year dog fight involving the city, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Federal Highway Administration over where or whether the vehicular bridge can be built.
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