As we're constantly reminded in the media, the developed world markets are entering uncharted territory. The economic and credit crises are becoming painfully evident to those in the architecture industry. Commissions are getting canceled, talented architects are getting laid off, and the unemployed are finding it next to impossible to get work. The last few years have seen unprecedented growth in the architecture and construction markets, while architecture schools are about to graduate five times more students than in 1990 *. What will the future hold for an industry that relies on a relatively stable economy, and how will our industry support so many new eager professionals?
Some of our best architecture occurred during the Great Depression
Empire State Building, '31
Rockefeller Center, '31-'40
Fallingwater, '36-'39.
“Architects at some level are kind of the canaries in the mine. When development dries up, architects are probably the first people to know."
- Diane Georgopulos, president of the Boston Society of Architects *
"6 in 10 Americans think a new Great Depression is likely — but half of those people say they look forward to homeless people wearing fedoras again."
- Seth Meyers, SNL
The Surveys
In order to assess the current situation, directly from active members of the architecture industry, we're asking our readers to fill out the following survey that most accurately represents your current employment position...
→ Principals/Owners/Hiring Agents
→ Senior Level Position
→ Intermediate Level Position
→ Junior Level Position
→ Intern
→ Unemployed Architect
→ Architecture Student
→ Marketing/Business Development
The surveys are powered by SurveyMonkey, and are completely anonymous. They are not tied to your Archinect account, in any way, nor do the surveys ask for any personal information.
Once we receive sufficient response to each survey, we will present results and analysis.
If you would like to be notified when the results are posted, please make sure you are signed up to our weekly newsletter (check under the menu on the left of this page)
Thank you for participating!
Paul Petrunia is the founder and director of Archinect, a (mostly) online publication/resource founded in 1997 to establish a more connected community of architects, students, designers and fans of the designed environment. Outside of managing his growing team of writers, editors, designers and ...
16 Comments
I'm curious why you don't include Marketing/Business Development as one category? I'd love to answer this but would be skewing your data...I don't fit into the listed categories. We're always doing market research, talking to people....so...just an idea.
Good question siggy, we've just added "Marketing/Business Development" to our list of surveys. It's similar to the "Owner/Principal/Hiring Agent" survey with some added attention to assess changing patterns in marketing efforts.
I'm assuming the question regarding "how long have you worked as an architect" actually means "how long have you worked in the profession" versus "how long have you worked as a registered architect." Is that correct?
Also a good question mataray. The question is meant to ask how long you have worked in the architecture industry, as a registered architect or non-registered "architect" (designer).
when will we see the results of this? i am so curious...
Soon. We've had incredible response to this so we won't need to be collecting answers for much longer, but it will take some time to thoughtfully analyze the data beyond the statistical information that will be presented.
سام علیک
ما که نفهمیدیم بالا چی نوشته
هرکی فهمید بما هم بگه
what IS happening out there ..??!!
i was laid off last week, on halloween .. a quarter of our firm in LA .. i started e mailing friends/networking + within a week i've heard RIOS let 30 % go that thursday .. Johnson Fain laid off 50 % .. Jerde let 11 people go .. Gehry let ? go - just heard my friend lost his position there 3 wks ago ..
.. this is BEYOND scary ..
is severence manditory -? we got 2 wks + most my friends have gotten a moths salary ..
our firm only has one female left. they let ALOT of single females go .. (*i just thought this seemed to tilt to one side a bit) ??
Once concern people should be aware of is your right to Unemployment benefits. The unemployment laws vary from state to state but you should file immediately once you are given notice.
One problem I found is that some less than scrupulous employers had laid people off after 4 weeks and I found out they had gone through 4 people in one year, some less than scrupulous employers may claim your personality, or level of expertise as justification to deny unemployment insurance, this is BS you can probably challenge them and win your benefits back only deliberate and malicious actions taken by you to do the firm or others harm is justification to deny benefits.
Make sure you are documenting everything you do so that you can get your unemployment benefits, always keep you emails on file at home and make sure you keep track of your employee performance reviews, now is a good time to ask to have a copy of them. These things can make the difference between getting 5-6k in benefits over 21 weeks or nothing. Unemployment is based on a percentage of the average of the last 5-6 quarters of earnings even if you were working part time.
Also in Illinois and many other states you can still receive benefits even if you are working part time, as long as earnings plus benefits don’t exceed your last quarter’s earnings before you got laid off or the total amount of benefits.
Remember employers have to pay a portion of your unemployment if you are not fired for insubordination or other serious infractions, Unemployment benefits can help keep you in your apartment this winter, but be aware that in some states if you receive benefits like food stamps that amount is deducted from your unemployment
The real danger I see in the next few months are employers who start shuffling through employees now that plenty of qualified people are on the job market. Many employers do not know the unemployment laws and will automatically challenge your benefits once they start receiving a bill. Remember that it is wrong for your employer to lay you off just so they can go after someone else who is more qualified and willing to work for significantly less than you are making if you have done nothing wrong.
Also if you do work for a reputable employer they should give you copies of the drawings you worked on this is part of the AIA code of conduct. ALA also has similar provisions, so don’t hesitate to ask for copies of project CDs you worked on from firms you worked for recently, and don’t wait to take care of this.
This survey is missing some key markets that make up a great deal of work in our industry...
The survey needs to separate out Retail/Commercial into:
Retail
Commercial
Also, I would add:
Corporate
Hospitality
Transportation
There's quite a difference in how these markets react to economic downturns.
Retail typically I think gets hit hardest, and is the first to get hit in an economic downturn because of immediate shifts in consumer spending. If you are rolling out Gaps or Costcos or Starbucks stores, I'd imagine it's easy for clients to reduce expansion with shifts in consumer spending, and send branches to the chopping block to cut costs.
Commercial, which is leasable space in commercial office buildings, has clients that are developers, who are typically hit by financial markets, and shifts in demand for office leasable office space. Developers get hit by the shifts in the credit market.
Corporate work is quite different from Commercial work, since corporate work is office space for the end user, companies or organizations, etc. which might fare better in an economic downturn depending on the client. Larger companies with lots of cash like say Microsoft or Google might have the muscle to be able to span years of economic shifts, would they choose to build and invest long term? Would larger companies take advantage of depressed real estate prices to buy propeties? Also, even companies that are downsizing, or smaller companies that are trying to insulate themselves against economic shifts may be looking to relocate and will need tenant improvements to restructure.
Hospitality is another type of work I'd be interested to see how things are faring... How do hotels, restaurants, etc. fare in economic downturns?
Transportation is another key market that it would be useful to see, how that is faring in the economic downturn... With a new politics and a national mood for investing in infrastructure, how would mass transit benefit over the next few years, bridges, large urban projects? Also transportation projects usually involve international type projects, or work that moves whereever there is a project rather than being tied to a single city. How are firms that design airports for example affected by the economic situation?
bRink,
Our transportation planning team is still hiring as far as I can tell.. as is the sustainability group (building systems, LEED strategies, etc). They haven't categorically stated that we won't hire more designers, but it's kind of understood that expansion plans are on hold. Current projects and pipeline seem to be alright for primed projects but subcon situations seem to have been hit pretty hard and clients and account receivables cycles are a lot longer than before.
it may be a bit late now, but i think a good question to ask "unemployed architects" is how long they've been without a job and how many firms they have applied to.
tumbles can i get a refill here and some more breadsticks!
hmmmmm At the moment I'm thinking to start a project against illegal building which use PAVMENT and make that own place
results soon?!
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