Archinect - News

MAD Architects' LA office seeks Head of PR to oversee growing international projects

2023-10-25T17:54:00-04:00

Following last week’s look at an opportunity for the next Howard E. LeFevre ‘29 Emerging Practitioner Fellowship, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Head of PR (International & US) at MAD Architects.

The role, based in Los Angeles with remote possible, calls for an individual to lead press, media, and editorial campaigns in order to increase MAD’s online presence and "represent the firm’s branding and voice." Among the requirements for the role are a Bachelor’s degree in architecture, communications, or a related field, as well as a "proven track record for delivering online growth and engagement" for media outlets and social media.

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art by MAD Architects. Image taken in August 2022. Image credit: Ron Raffety via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Why the role interests us

The open role at MAD offers us a chance to review some of the recent international projects outside of the firm’s native China...

Harvard GSD details its new visual identity

2023-08-25T13:01:00-04:00

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) this week announced a new visual identity created in order to help galvanize its institutional and pedagogical aims, claiming it needed an "updated language of forms to communicate the school’s mission and values."

The rebranding effort comes in response to Dean Sarah M. Whiting’s previous call for the GSD community to establish a dialogue with the general public in a way that can embody the "critical design thinking" at the core of its educational program.

The new logo offers a further demarcation from the standard university crest-based designs used by Harvard’s other schools and undergraduate residential houses, embracing the 'Flying H' design invented by alum Nigel Smith into the GSD's graphics system to mark the turn of the 21st century.

Image courtesy Harvard GSD

The expressionistic form of John Andrews’ distinct Gund Hall building is a further source of inspiration for the new GSD Gothic typeface, which was the brainchild of the sc...

Here are 13 jobs for marketing professionals at architecture firms in New York City

2022-10-21T10:00:00-04:00

Marketing professionals, communication specialists, and business development managers continue to be in high demand with architecture firms across the country as the number of available positions on Archinect Jobs shows. For this week's curated employment roundup, we have gathered a number of relevant career opportunities in the greater New York City area.

To look up specific job titles from the architectural profession, consult Archinect's Guide to Job Titles series, and learn more about the role of a Marketing Coordinator.

Also, follow our Archinect Tips series to improve your portfolio, resume, interview skills, and increase your overall chances of getting that next job.

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) seeks a Marketing/New Business Coordinator
"We are looking for someone to join our team, a multi-national group of talented and enthusiastic individuals, who bring their own personalities and perspectives to a collaborative environment in which, together, we reinforce the identit...

Architecture firms need marketing and communications specialists. See which firms are hiring on Archinect Jobs

2022-08-16T12:12:00-04:00

When it comes to communicating a firm's expertise and services, the role of an effective communications professional is essential. "The goal of the marketing personnel at a firm is always to tell the outside world a compelling story about the work happening inside the studio." If this excerpt from our ninth installment of Archinect's Guide to Job Titles: Marketing Coordinator resonates with you, our latest curated jobs rounded up feature eight architecture firms currently hiring marketing specialists to join their team.

Archinect Jobs, the industry's leading architecture job board, features career opportunities for architects and design professionals from various backgrounds and work experience levels. Explore these featured job opportunities below.

New York Hall of Science: Design Lab, 2014. Photo © John Muggenborg/Courtesy of SITU Studio.

SITU seeks a Marketing & Business Development Manager
Location: Brooklyn, NY

Details: "We are seeking a full-time Marketing and Business Developme...

13 jobs at architecture firms involving business development strategies and communications

2022-05-12T15:18:00-04:00

Besides having the design and technical knowledge of running an architecture firm, it's essential to have team members who understand business development, partnership strategies, and pr/marketing. For this week's curated jobs round-up, we focus on ten architecture firms seeking business development professionals, marketing managers, and communication specialists to join their team.

Thomas Commons Campus Center, Cornell College by KSS Architects.

KSS Architects seeks a Proposal Coordinator
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Details: "KSS has experienced an exciting level of growth over the last few years, and our marketing team has been no exception [...] The Proposal Coordinator will support a wide breadth of department responsibilities, in a dynamic and high-energy...

Evolving with Social: New Strategies for Marketing

2020-11-03T13:29:00-05:00

2020 has emerged as a year that will change all of our lives, whether it’s the current and ongoing health pandemic, social justice reform, economic unrest, and more. Against this backdrop, businesses are trying to find their voice and best manage how their brands are meant to respond to all this change. This panel will call on marketing and communications experts in the industry to talk about lessons learned and best practices for the future of storytelling for your business.

We invite you to join us for a a panel discussion tomorrow, November 4th, from 1-2 pm EST / 10-11 am PST.

Panelists include Christine Abbate, President at Novità PR; Samantha Chastang, Marketing Director, Steinberg Hart; Daria Pahhota, Global Communications Leader at SOM; and John Stephens, VP Marketing at Shaw Contract. The panel will be moderated by Paul Petrunia, Founder/Director of Archinect.

To RSVP for this virtual panel, please click the "reserve" button at this link. Space is limited and registration is...

As the architecture industry faces a volatile business landscape, a refocus on marketing strategy is essential

2020-07-23T16:04:00-04:00

During the economic downturn the pandemic has forced upon many professionals, architecture firms seem to be focusing on improving their PR, marketing, and external communications. It's a coherent move. On the one hand, business owners do well to focus on communication strategies during this time to win new work during a time when new projects in some sectors may not be as abundant and to stay relevant. But, on the other hand, a refocus now positions firms for capitalization when things pick back up.

Evidentially, on Archinect's Job board, we see a clear push towards communications and marketing. SOM’s San Francisco office, for example, is hiring a senior-level Marketing Manager to lead efforts within the office to win new work. Some of the key responsibilities in this role include developing and implementing local marketing and business development strategies through collaboration with Firmwide Marketing and Business Development leadership. These areas directly address the organiz...

Have a knack for architectural marketing and admin? FR-EE/Fernando Romero Enterprise is offering powerhouse positions

2020-07-17T17:45:00-04:00

While it is assumed that many of the people who work in architecture firms are designers, there are, of course, a significant number of vital supporting and administrative roles that are crucial to the functioning and success of any architectural practice.

International architecture firm FR-EE Fernando Romero Enterprise, a practice that situates itself as an "active agent in the reconfiguration of site and public space" and is perhaps best known for the NURBS-heavy Museo Soumaya in Mexico City, is currently seeking to fill two such roles.

Previously on Archinect: "Fernando Romero Enterprise reveals concept for Burning Man temple." Image courtesy of FR-EE.

One, a role in Communications and Media, focuses on spreading the "culture of the office through the use of social networks" and entails achieving goal-oriented gains across platforms while also setting "effective communication through social networks between the office and the public."

The role requires at least three years’ exp...

4 tips to address digital miscommunication

2020-03-27T14:33:00-04:00

When interacting virtually, miscommunication can run rampant. So much of our interpersonal interactions as humans are non-verbal. Communicating via Slack or digital chat completely takes that out. Not only do these method take out body language, but also verbal and tonal aspects. Authors of the book No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work, Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy offer important insights in a recent essay on how to avoid digital miscommunications during this rise in virtual collaboration. Here are five of those strategies:

Add Emojis

"Emojis can help us express tone, meaning, and emotional cues," the pair write. A colleague can add a teasing smiley emoji when he says "get those drawings done asap!" in Slack, and the vibe is totally different than if the emoji was absent. However, Fosslien and Duffy recommended getting to know a person before introducing emojis, stating it's better to leave them out in early digital interactions.

Emotionally proof...

How to Set Boundaries With Your Clients: Part 2

2019-10-29T18:17:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by BQE Core

If you want your clients to respect and treat you like the expert you are, instead of as an employee or subordinate, then you need to set clear and consistent boundaries with them.

Far too often, we don’t take the time to think through the consequences of not having set boundaries until we’re overwhelmed and stressed out. In part 1 of this series, we covered the foundational concepts of successfully setting boundaries with clients, fending off scope creep, and gaining clients’ respect.

In this post, we’ll explain how to set billing standards, how to collect your money without ever being the “bad guy”, and how to clearly demonstrate the value you bring to your clients.

Plus, we'll show you the single most important factor to make your boundaries work for both you and your clients.

Establish standards & gain oversight

In our last post, we discussed the importance of creating a detailed project proposal that explicitly states the scope of your p...

How to Set Boundaries With Your Clients: Part 1

2019-10-15T09:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by BQE Core.

All too often architects find themselves dealing with clients and prospects who treat them as employees, rather than fellow business owners (Related: Clients from Hell… and Other Love Stories). Even if your clients aren’t difficult on purpose, they can still have overarching demands.

Maybe this sounds familiar: your client has approved the design development drawings and the project moves on to the next phase...but shortly after, your client asks you to modify the drawing. It’s nothing major, so you do it as a gesture of goodwill to your client. Then another small request comes in, and then another, and pretty soon you find yourself spending time on work that goes beyond the original project scope. And because you don't want to risk upsetting your client, you agree to the work without asking them for more money.

Scope creep, as this scenario is known, harms architects because it results in more than just lost time, money, and resources; it ...

Don't send that heated email

2019-10-14T17:45:00-04:00

Abraham Lincoln's Disappointment

In the summer of 1863 after three days of brutal warfare, the Battle of Gettysburg culminated with the retreat of Robert E. Lee's army, something, that at the time, President Lincoln was not happy about. While the battle was seen as a triumph for the Union Army, Lincoln saw an important missed opportunity. So much so, that he prepared a letter to General George Meade. In an excerpt from the letter, Lincoln writes:

"Again, my dear general, I do not believe you appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune involved in Lee's escape. He was within your easy grasp, and to have closed upon him would, in connection with our other late successes, have ended the war. As it is, the war will be prolonged indefinitely."

He goes on:

"Your golden opportunity is gone, and I am distressed immeasurably because of it."

Lincoln wasn't happy and he wanted to be sure his General knew about it.

The Snap Response in Architecture

We've all been in a situation where a coworker,...

Can filler words like "uh" and "um" be useful?

2019-08-26T19:30:00-04:00

One thing most of us can't avoid in architecture is having to verbally communicate our creative ideas to another person, that may be a client, a coworker, or even a contractor. Whoever it may be, communication is a powerful tool we must all hone in our careers. We've all heard since our youth that we should not say things like "um, uh, like, etc." too much when speak. We learn that it reduces our credibility and authority, and, according to research, this is true.

"Used sparingly, there's nothing wrong with filler words. When you use them excessively, however, they can detract from your confidence and credibility," writes Harvard University Communications Professor Allison Shapira. In a recent piece for the Harvard Business Review, Shapira illustrates some areas where she feels these common filler words can be useful and offers some alternatives to help strengthen the implementation of them.

"To be diplomatic." Sometimes we need to use less assertive language when speaking to those...

Are you an expert in architectural marketing? Here are 10 firms currently hiring on Archinect Jobs

2019-08-21T11:00:00-04:00

Creating a dynamic team involves collecting a group of individuals who are experts in helping an architectural firm thrive. With this in mind, the administrative and business aspects of architecture are key to the success of any firm. Trained to excel in strategic thinking and business growth, marketing professionals help firms accomplish big picture goals while focusing on the interpersonal relationships related to building a strong firm. This week, Archinect has selected ten firms currently searching for a marketing professional who can help take their firm to the next level.

Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects seeks a Marketing Manager
Location: San Francisco, CA
The ideal candidate will manage firm-wide marketing and communications through weekly updates to the leadership team and staff. They will support leadership team in the growth of specific market sector and individual goals, as tied to the strategic plan, annual marketing goals, and individual leadership plans. The candidate shou...

Original 176 emoji join MoMA's permanent collection

2016-10-26T20:28:00-04:00

Who would have thought that emoji would be revered within the same museum walls that display the paintings of Van Gogh and Picasso? [MoMA] recently added NTT DoCoMo's original set of 176 emoji to their permanent collection as a gift...In early December, MoMA will debut an installation detailing the evolution of emoji and “will present them in a new light (and no doubt inspire a few selfies)”, says Paul Galloway, MoMA Collection Specialist in the Department of Architecture and Design.

Thanks to a licensing agreement between MoMA and NTT DoCoMo, the museum's permanent collection now includes the original 176 emoji that altered digital communication as we know it today. Read more on Bustler.

"A blueprint can give you an idea, but this cements it for you.” – VR's promising future in architectural communications

2016-01-25T18:00:00-05:00

LHB has become one of the nation’s first design firms to incorporate virtual reality, or VR, across the sweep of its in-house teams [...] “With VR, you can inhabit the space in full scale...You get a far more physical sense of what that space is going to be.” [...] Virtual reality also has potential to be “the great equalizer,” LHB’s Fischer noted. A middle-school maintenance worker can put on a VR headset and notice design flaws that might go unnoticed by project managers.