I am considering moving from Boston to Birmingham, Alabama. My wife has been offered a chance at her "dream job" there and I don't want to stand in her way. However, I have never been there, nor do I know anything about the architecture community. Does anyone here know? I assume that Birmingham is a "smaller pond" of architecture talent than Boston, but the talent is still there. I am having trouble assessing it though. Ideally my wife and I could move there and I would find an office that does engaging, provocative work so both of us will be happy. Any advice?
Not sure on the architecture scene there. If you must move to Alabama, Birmingham is your best bet at finding something. I have a good friend who moved there from up north. After a couple years he's adapted quite well...although he still drives to Atlanta to find decent night life.
birmingham is a really amazing city...there is a lot going on there culturally (museums and exhibits, concerts, theater), the downtown is constantly going through a revitalization and is a very pleasant place to both work and live.
i think the architecture firms there (though, yes, the pond is smaller) are similar to other cities...there are one or two really great ones...then there are several "solid" firms, and then there are the rest.
i am from alabama and graduated from auburn and know numerous people who are in birmingham. some firms are hiring as well. i am not very educated as to what some of these firms are doing now...but have some friends who work in them. at least worth a look.
some firms (some have websites):
ArchitectureWorks
Giattina Fisher Aycock
Davis Architects
HKW
Gresham, Smith and Partners
RNL Architects
George Isreal Partners
Bill Ingram Architects
i know there are several other auburn grads on this thing...they might also have some insight too as to these firms or others...
...will keep thinking and if you have any other questions, ask away!
Marion is right on. I'd say Giattina Fisher (www.gfainc.com) is doing the best work right now (solidly modernist forms, rich materials) and getting some big commissions. Several firms have recently moved into spacious digs in the city center (Giattina, HKW, Williams Blackstock, ArchitectureWorks, to name a few). Depending on your skills and ambition, you might also be able to make a name at one of the big firms like KPS Group (www.kpsgroup.com), which gets regular large commissions.
For "engaging, provacative" work your choices will be fewer among established firms. There will be some opportunities, though. You might try Erdreich Architecture (www.erdreicharchitecture.com). Many of the small firms have made their bread and butter with disciplined use of historic styles and high-level client service. These firms can be very rewarding and pleasant places to work.
Culturally/socially the Birmingham Museum of Art has a membership group based on design professionals. The Sidewalk Film Festival has year-round events which include discourse on design. The art galleries are open to provacative works. Not very many lectures or esteemed visitors here. Compared to Boston, it's a "frontier" where you'll be better off staking your own claim.
Where you'll feel really lucky, coming from the northeast (besides the mild winters) is the housing market. The city center is booming with new loft/condo/and apartment developments. The historic neighborhoods near the center still have lots of beautiful bungalows and small houses which you can get for $120-200K, and there are several neighborhoods which are on the brink of (dare I say) gentrification where you could get a fixer upper for $50K or so.
Oh, and public transportation is in poor shape. If you can, find a place close enough to walk to work. Otherwise you'll become best friends with your cup-holder and car stereo.
I have a friend in Birmingham and she says its pretty easy for good designers to get jobs there since most young people are naturally drawn towards the more glamorous cities. Its a nicely situated city though, arguably with more character than Atlanta, although it lives in the "shadow" of that city. Coming from a place like Boston, though, you will feel like you are living in a backwater, with the ocean, good mountains, and culturally competitive cities a long way away.
But if you let your wife pursue her dream, you yourself won't be disappointed with Birmingham.
Fish, go for it, sounds like a thing that could definately be a positive life experience thingy.
But being someone thats left Boston for Western Massachusetts, I'm going to warn you about the difficult transition. No more T, no more gutter punks in the pit at Harvard Square, no more euro trash on Newbury Street, no more of the crazy guy on the bike that pretends to be an ambulance, the bike couriers hanging outside of JP Licks, and the cheap PBR at most bars... its the little things that break you after a while. God I miss Boston...
i think dystopos gave a good description of what is going on there. moving from any city that you like to one you do not know can be difficult...as it was for me to move from alabama to new york. there are things i love about both places.
but the south is a beautiful place and even though Birmingham is not ON the water...the beaches on the Panhandle are amazing (and the water is actually warm!), the Appalacians are a smaller...but equally nice mountain range...AND there is no snow (or very very little!). Birmingham is not New York or Boston...but neither is it trying to be.
and very few of my friends from school left the south...in fact, only a handful did...and some have returned. they range from the Carolina's to Georgia to Tennessee to Alabama...so the talent is not leaving...the reason for the jobs is that there is a serious boom going on down there and there is a lot of work.
one more thing...like said earlier...the basically is NO public transportation...you will need a car because even if you can walk to and from work...you won't be able to get groceries or buy a card or deposit a check without driving.
the transition from boston to atlanta was and still is very difficult. i cannot imagine the transition from beantown to birmingham....good luck if you decide to make the move.....budget some of your income for therapy.
marion, the best reason for mountains to exist IS the snow. I spent some time last summer in the Alabama Alps, and though they are beautiful, temperatures are still extremely high. Summer in the South is not very fun, and don't expect to cool off in the bathtub warm waters of the Gulf.
But fall and spring are both amazing in the south, and the winter is short and mild, but don't expect good skiing without a lengthy airplane flight.
None of those things are reasons not to come down here, though. Like every place, there is good and bad. Maybe Birmingham will change both of your lives for the better, or maybe you'll go crawling back to Boston begging for a job scrubbing toilets.
Much about Birmingham appeals. I like the idea of a smaller community – I get the feeling it may be easier to make a difference there. In Boston many offices are still suffering and making periodic layoffs. Meanwhile, new graduates from the 4 arch. programs in town have no choice but to get exploited for their talent at low wages. I've got a family here!
I like the idea of living somewhere cheap. I could possibly buy some land and design my own house! Hell, I could sell my place and practically live mortgage-free down there!
I am sure Pixelwhore is right – I am bound to miss a lot. But it is all a learning experience. I'm a serious blue-state Yankee but I liked living in Texas (for a while).
Does anyone know of specific resources for the arch. community in Alabama (web-based or otherwise)? I don't think the Birmingham AIA even has a website.
I'm going to propose the other point of view and tell you to seriously reconsider. If you are a true dyed-in-the-wool Yankee blue stater, you will disagree politically and socially with about 90% of southerners. This may or may not be a big deal. You will be driving everywhere. I think it would be best to think of living in the south like living in the suburbs. Things will be different, you will go through culture shock. You will have to pretend you care about southern football, at least on a superficial level.
Spring and Fall are nice, but that 4 weeks of the year is not long enough. Summer is awful. Winter not bad, especially compared to Boston.
While that may sound like a fairly negative view of the South, there are plenty of nice things about it too, (mostly listed above.) If at all possible, you might try to visit for a few days, walk around, talk to people, (not a problem in the South) and see how you like it.
I understand that you are pointing out the cons of living in the South, but I have been to Birmingham a number of times (one of my classmates ended up going to medical school there), and it isn't as bleek.
Birmingham is not a small Southern city. It's population is about 800,000. Even if you are in the South, the size of the city and the fact that it has a large medical school and university lends itself to diversity.
It is true you will have to drive everywhere, because Southern cities aren't as dense, and get too hot to be plesant to walk in (i.e. Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, etc). I am sure the public transportation is not of the same caliber as the T.
Not everyone is conservative, but almost everyone is religious. Not necessarily Southern Baptists, but mostly Protestant Christians. The city has a high African American population, which means that it is probably more liberal than other places you could be in the South.
A majority of people are polite and helpful. It might take time to get used to their accent and slow pace in speaking and life.
Well, as someone who did almost the opposite 3 years ago, moved from alabama (mobile, not birmingham) to boston, I can certainly confirm what everyone is saying. It's different, but you already knew that.
But you're gonna love not shoveling snow. And your family will be happy because they have a warm place to visit during the winter. And you're going to enjoy your new lawnmower and all the open space that goes with it.
Just think about your tolerance for doing new things. If that's at a reasonable level, there's really no reason you couldn't find a place for yourself in Birmingham. It's full of opportunities for young, motivated people. Oh...and get used to the fact that all of your new friends are going to be married straight out of college.
Also, Auburn has an architecture studio in the city. They've moved since I went to school there, but it still exists.
A few bits: The Auburn center has moved into a "Regional Design Center" that includes the Regional Planning Commission and Region 2020 (www.region2020.org). It's a great new resource for discourse and education on planning issues.
To address pencrush, as long as you don't move to a McMansion community, you won't have trouble finding like-minded friends and colleagues. I have a good friend who moved to Greenville, SC after growing up in NYC and working for years in lower Manhattan. Now when he visits me in Birmingham he gets jealous.
Don't get me wrong, we're still way behind the curve in terms of streetlife and transit and government and education - but there have been some HUGE positive changes since the early 90's, even. I think you'll find plenty to complain about, but I hope you find just as many more opportunities to get involved and contribute and be rewarded.
If you're planning a trip, let me know (dystopos at yahoo dot com) and I'll try to help out any way I can. I don't have a lot of contacts in the other offices, but I can show you around and talk about neighborhoods and history and how to plan for culture shock.
if it's her dream job then you shoud do it regardless of any other factors. architects can always find work either at a firm or by doing solo work. other professions are more difficult in this regard.
related -- the firm I worked for (Cannon Design) did 2 projects for UAB that were both pretty nice. Aparently, the rec.center got screwed a bit, but the 2 projects (the other was the med school tower) seemed to come out on the better side of bad than not at all. I don't remember who Cannon worked with on these, but that would be something worth checking out.
my wife just got dream job in birmingham, so we are moving once i finish graduate school next year. I too have been searching for arch firms in birmingham, so i gained much from your blog. are you still considering b-ham?
auburn has a urban arch lab in downtown b-ham that suggested some of the same 8-10 firms that surfaced in this blog.
We have decided to move to Birmingham. It was a difficult decision and it came down to moving either to Birmingham or Seattle. I think we made the right choice. We should be moving in early summer.
Did you get a chance to visit? I was very pleasantly surprised when I got there. I am just about to start the job search and will let you know how it goes. I haven't contacted the Auburn urban arch lab yet, but plan to. I will keep you posted.
P.S. A special thank you to Dystopos who was kind enough to meet with me on my visit to Birmingham. Your opinions helped a lot. Everyone there is so friendly it is hard not to feel welcome.
I will visit in the coming months, but my wife spends a few days each month there for work(with a Southern Progress magazine) and she has good impressions so far. I'd be interested to hear about your experiences with firms there. Where will your wife be working? If you don't mind my asking.
Fish, it was a pleasure to meet you, and I'm glad you and your wife felt welcomed here. Good luck with finding the right jobs. Looking forward to seeing you again later on.
Moretexture, feel free to get in touch with me (dystopos at yahoo dot com) if you want. As I said before, I don't have a lot of contacts in the profession, but I know my way around and can talk about things that are happening and things that aren't. I'm sure Southern Progress has lots of resources for making the right connections.
i lived in boston for a couple of years back in the day and encountered more ingorant redneck racist a-holes than i ever did while growing up in hicksville usa.
You also need to check out ArchitectureWorks - I don't think they have a website up yet.
It seems like there are a lot of jobs available in the market right now, so you might be able to be a little more choosy than you would have been a few years ago.
I can help you out with any questions you have about each of the firms, if needed.
thanks for the links. some are promising...some a little to new urbanist for me, but i'm beginning to feel that i have a reasonable cross-section of the architecture community in birmingham.
Have you seen the Southern Progress Headquater's. Designed by Jova Daniels Busby in the 80's. Nice materials and relationship to land. The original headquaters is up the road. Coreten steel cantilevered building in the trees. Very modern for a group like Southern Progress - publisher of Southern Living, Coastal Living, Souterhn Accents, etc. All those magazines that hurt the eyes of any sensible architect. They are now owned by Time, Inc and are the highest profitting unit within that orgainzation. Pretty impressive.
i haven't been there, but my wife visits every month and tells me of its quality. i will probably be visiting in a month or so. from what my wife tells me her Southern Progress co-workers are a pretty interesting, intelligent group of people - they just know what sells.
Birmingham, Alabama?
I am considering moving from Boston to Birmingham, Alabama. My wife has been offered a chance at her "dream job" there and I don't want to stand in her way. However, I have never been there, nor do I know anything about the architecture community. Does anyone here know? I assume that Birmingham is a "smaller pond" of architecture talent than Boston, but the talent is still there. I am having trouble assessing it though. Ideally my wife and I could move there and I would find an office that does engaging, provocative work so both of us will be happy. Any advice?
Not sure on the architecture scene there. If you must move to Alabama, Birmingham is your best bet at finding something. I have a good friend who moved there from up north. After a couple years he's adapted quite well...although he still drives to Atlanta to find decent night life.
Do it.
birmingham is a really amazing city...there is a lot going on there culturally (museums and exhibits, concerts, theater), the downtown is constantly going through a revitalization and is a very pleasant place to both work and live.
i think the architecture firms there (though, yes, the pond is smaller) are similar to other cities...there are one or two really great ones...then there are several "solid" firms, and then there are the rest.
i am from alabama and graduated from auburn and know numerous people who are in birmingham. some firms are hiring as well. i am not very educated as to what some of these firms are doing now...but have some friends who work in them. at least worth a look.
some firms (some have websites):
ArchitectureWorks
Giattina Fisher Aycock
Davis Architects
HKW
Gresham, Smith and Partners
RNL Architects
George Isreal Partners
Bill Ingram Architects
i know there are several other auburn grads on this thing...they might also have some insight too as to these firms or others...
...will keep thinking and if you have any other questions, ask away!
Marion is right on. I'd say Giattina Fisher (www.gfainc.com) is doing the best work right now (solidly modernist forms, rich materials) and getting some big commissions. Several firms have recently moved into spacious digs in the city center (Giattina, HKW, Williams Blackstock, ArchitectureWorks, to name a few). Depending on your skills and ambition, you might also be able to make a name at one of the big firms like KPS Group (www.kpsgroup.com), which gets regular large commissions.
For "engaging, provacative" work your choices will be fewer among established firms. There will be some opportunities, though. You might try Erdreich Architecture (www.erdreicharchitecture.com). Many of the small firms have made their bread and butter with disciplined use of historic styles and high-level client service. These firms can be very rewarding and pleasant places to work.
Culturally/socially the Birmingham Museum of Art has a membership group based on design professionals. The Sidewalk Film Festival has year-round events which include discourse on design. The art galleries are open to provacative works. Not very many lectures or esteemed visitors here. Compared to Boston, it's a "frontier" where you'll be better off staking your own claim.
Where you'll feel really lucky, coming from the northeast (besides the mild winters) is the housing market. The city center is booming with new loft/condo/and apartment developments. The historic neighborhoods near the center still have lots of beautiful bungalows and small houses which you can get for $120-200K, and there are several neighborhoods which are on the brink of (dare I say) gentrification where you could get a fixer upper for $50K or so.
Oh, and public transportation is in poor shape. If you can, find a place close enough to walk to work. Otherwise you'll become best friends with your cup-holder and car stereo.
I have a friend in Birmingham and she says its pretty easy for good designers to get jobs there since most young people are naturally drawn towards the more glamorous cities. Its a nicely situated city though, arguably with more character than Atlanta, although it lives in the "shadow" of that city. Coming from a place like Boston, though, you will feel like you are living in a backwater, with the ocean, good mountains, and culturally competitive cities a long way away.
But if you let your wife pursue her dream, you yourself won't be disappointed with Birmingham.
Fish, go for it, sounds like a thing that could definately be a positive life experience thingy.
But being someone thats left Boston for Western Massachusetts, I'm going to warn you about the difficult transition. No more T, no more gutter punks in the pit at Harvard Square, no more euro trash on Newbury Street, no more of the crazy guy on the bike that pretends to be an ambulance, the bike couriers hanging outside of JP Licks, and the cheap PBR at most bars... its the little things that break you after a while. God I miss Boston...
i think dystopos gave a good description of what is going on there. moving from any city that you like to one you do not know can be difficult...as it was for me to move from alabama to new york. there are things i love about both places.
but the south is a beautiful place and even though Birmingham is not ON the water...the beaches on the Panhandle are amazing (and the water is actually warm!), the Appalacians are a smaller...but equally nice mountain range...AND there is no snow (or very very little!). Birmingham is not New York or Boston...but neither is it trying to be.
and very few of my friends from school left the south...in fact, only a handful did...and some have returned. they range from the Carolina's to Georgia to Tennessee to Alabama...so the talent is not leaving...the reason for the jobs is that there is a serious boom going on down there and there is a lot of work.
one more thing...like said earlier...the basically is NO public transportation...you will need a car because even if you can walk to and from work...you won't be able to get groceries or buy a card or deposit a check without driving.
the transition from boston to atlanta was and still is very difficult. i cannot imagine the transition from beantown to birmingham....good luck if you decide to make the move.....budget some of your income for therapy.
marion, the best reason for mountains to exist IS the snow. I spent some time last summer in the Alabama Alps, and though they are beautiful, temperatures are still extremely high. Summer in the South is not very fun, and don't expect to cool off in the bathtub warm waters of the Gulf.
But fall and spring are both amazing in the south, and the winter is short and mild, but don't expect good skiing without a lengthy airplane flight.
None of those things are reasons not to come down here, though. Like every place, there is good and bad. Maybe Birmingham will change both of your lives for the better, or maybe you'll go crawling back to Boston begging for a job scrubbing toilets.
Aw, shucks. Thanks for all the help everyone.
Much about Birmingham appeals. I like the idea of a smaller community – I get the feeling it may be easier to make a difference there. In Boston many offices are still suffering and making periodic layoffs. Meanwhile, new graduates from the 4 arch. programs in town have no choice but to get exploited for their talent at low wages. I've got a family here!
I like the idea of living somewhere cheap. I could possibly buy some land and design my own house! Hell, I could sell my place and practically live mortgage-free down there!
I am sure Pixelwhore is right – I am bound to miss a lot. But it is all a learning experience. I'm a serious blue-state Yankee but I liked living in Texas (for a while).
Does anyone know of specific resources for the arch. community in Alabama (web-based or otherwise)? I don't think the Birmingham AIA even has a website.
i guess its just all what you are used to...me...no snow and warm gulf water!
fish...
www.aiaalabama.com
www.aiabham.org
I'm going to propose the other point of view and tell you to seriously reconsider. If you are a true dyed-in-the-wool Yankee blue stater, you will disagree politically and socially with about 90% of southerners. This may or may not be a big deal. You will be driving everywhere. I think it would be best to think of living in the south like living in the suburbs. Things will be different, you will go through culture shock. You will have to pretend you care about southern football, at least on a superficial level.
Spring and Fall are nice, but that 4 weeks of the year is not long enough. Summer is awful. Winter not bad, especially compared to Boston.
While that may sound like a fairly negative view of the South, there are plenty of nice things about it too, (mostly listed above.) If at all possible, you might try to visit for a few days, walk around, talk to people, (not a problem in the South) and see how you like it.
pencrush,
I understand that you are pointing out the cons of living in the South, but I have been to Birmingham a number of times (one of my classmates ended up going to medical school there), and it isn't as bleek.
Birmingham is not a small Southern city. It's population is about 800,000. Even if you are in the South, the size of the city and the fact that it has a large medical school and university lends itself to diversity.
It is true you will have to drive everywhere, because Southern cities aren't as dense, and get too hot to be plesant to walk in (i.e. Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, etc). I am sure the public transportation is not of the same caliber as the T.
Not everyone is conservative, but almost everyone is religious. Not necessarily Southern Baptists, but mostly Protestant Christians. The city has a high African American population, which means that it is probably more liberal than other places you could be in the South.
A majority of people are polite and helpful. It might take time to get used to their accent and slow pace in speaking and life.
Well, as someone who did almost the opposite 3 years ago, moved from alabama (mobile, not birmingham) to boston, I can certainly confirm what everyone is saying. It's different, but you already knew that.
But you're gonna love not shoveling snow. And your family will be happy because they have a warm place to visit during the winter. And you're going to enjoy your new lawnmower and all the open space that goes with it.
Just think about your tolerance for doing new things. If that's at a reasonable level, there's really no reason you couldn't find a place for yourself in Birmingham. It's full of opportunities for young, motivated people. Oh...and get used to the fact that all of your new friends are going to be married straight out of college.
Also, Auburn has an architecture studio in the city. They've moved since I went to school there, but it still exists.
sahar,
As you stated, I was pointing the negatives of living in the south.
The population of Jefferson County (where Birmingham is located) according to the US census is approx 650,000.
Birmingham is a fine city. I'm sure you'll find plenty of nice people and things to do there.
You might want to check out a City comparison guide for some numbers comparison. That's just one link.. there are others.
Thanks, everyone.
I hope to pay Birmingham a visit in the next month. I suppose everywhere has its pros & cons. I just hope I find more pros.
I'm actually off to Richmond, VA tomorrow. It is another possibility for my wife's dream (and hopefully mine).
A few bits: The Auburn center has moved into a "Regional Design Center" that includes the Regional Planning Commission and Region 2020 (www.region2020.org). It's a great new resource for discourse and education on planning issues.
To address pencrush, as long as you don't move to a McMansion community, you won't have trouble finding like-minded friends and colleagues. I have a good friend who moved to Greenville, SC after growing up in NYC and working for years in lower Manhattan. Now when he visits me in Birmingham he gets jealous.
Don't get me wrong, we're still way behind the curve in terms of streetlife and transit and government and education - but there have been some HUGE positive changes since the early 90's, even. I think you'll find plenty to complain about, but I hope you find just as many more opportunities to get involved and contribute and be rewarded.
If you're planning a trip, let me know (dystopos at yahoo dot com) and I'll try to help out any way I can. I don't have a lot of contacts in the other offices, but I can show you around and talk about neighborhoods and history and how to plan for culture shock.
Wow. Thanks, Dystopos. I will let you know.
could someone post a picture of birmingham? i've heard its actually a rather nice city.
Try This site for several pages of photos around Birmingham. You'll notice a shortage of people in the photos. This is typical of weekends downtown.
The Wikipedia Article might also be a good starting place for general information.
And then there's my favorite. The Birminghamster - The Onion's poor red-headed step child.
first things first: OBEY THE WIFE
if it's her dream job then you shoud do it regardless of any other factors. architects can always find work either at a firm or by doing solo work. other professions are more difficult in this regard.
related -- the firm I worked for (Cannon Design) did 2 projects for UAB that were both pretty nice. Aparently, the rec.center got screwed a bit, but the 2 projects (the other was the med school tower) seemed to come out on the better side of bad than not at all. I don't remember who Cannon worked with on these, but that would be something worth checking out.
gook luck.
fish:
my wife just got dream job in birmingham, so we are moving once i finish graduate school next year. I too have been searching for arch firms in birmingham, so i gained much from your blog. are you still considering b-ham?
auburn has a urban arch lab in downtown b-ham that suggested some of the same 8-10 firms that surfaced in this blog.
thanks everyone. good luck.
moretexture:
We have decided to move to Birmingham. It was a difficult decision and it came down to moving either to Birmingham or Seattle. I think we made the right choice. We should be moving in early summer.
Did you get a chance to visit? I was very pleasantly surprised when I got there. I am just about to start the job search and will let you know how it goes. I haven't contacted the Auburn urban arch lab yet, but plan to. I will keep you posted.
P.S. A special thank you to Dystopos who was kind enough to meet with me on my visit to Birmingham. Your opinions helped a lot. Everyone there is so friendly it is hard not to feel welcome.
I will visit in the coming months, but my wife spends a few days each month there for work(with a Southern Progress magazine) and she has good impressions so far. I'd be interested to hear about your experiences with firms there. Where will your wife be working? If you don't mind my asking.
Fish, it was a pleasure to meet you, and I'm glad you and your wife felt welcomed here. Good luck with finding the right jobs. Looking forward to seeing you again later on.
Moretexture, feel free to get in touch with me (dystopos at yahoo dot com) if you want. As I said before, I don't have a lot of contacts in the profession, but I know my way around and can talk about things that are happening and things that aren't. I'm sure Southern Progress has lots of resources for making the right connections.
moretexture:
My wife got a faculty position at Samford University. She will be teaching law in the fall.
I will let you know how the job search goes.
Great to hear from you again, Dystopos.
may i suggest that you purchase a copy of "Southern Rock Opera" by the drive by truckers. great double disc about the duality of the southern thang.
i lived in boston for a couple of years back in the day and encountered more ingorant redneck racist a-holes than i ever did while growing up in hicksville usa.
I came into this discussion a little late, but just in case you are still looking for a job, here are some links of some firms you should check out:
Giattina Fisher Aycock
KPS
Davis Architects
Garrison Barrett
CMH
HKW
Krumdieck
TRO - The Ritchie Organization
Williams Blackstock
CLA
Dungan Nequtte
Erdreich Architecture
Gresham, Smith & Partners
hendon + huckestein
Garikes Wilson Karlsberger
Bill Ingram
Cohen & Company
You also need to check out ArchitectureWorks - I don't think they have a website up yet.
It seems like there are a lot of jobs available in the market right now, so you might be able to be a little more choosy than you would have been a few years ago.
I can help you out with any questions you have about each of the firms, if needed.
CrimsonARC:
thanks for the links. some are promising...some a little to new urbanist for me, but i'm beginning to feel that i have a reasonable cross-section of the architecture community in birmingham.
moretexture,
Have you seen the Southern Progress Headquater's. Designed by Jova Daniels Busby in the 80's. Nice materials and relationship to land. The original headquaters is up the road. Coreten steel cantilevered building in the trees. Very modern for a group like Southern Progress - publisher of Southern Living, Coastal Living, Souterhn Accents, etc. All those magazines that hurt the eyes of any sensible architect. They are now owned by Time, Inc and are the highest profitting unit within that orgainzation. Pretty impressive.
modo
i haven't been there, but my wife visits every month and tells me of its quality. i will probably be visiting in a month or so. from what my wife tells me her Southern Progress co-workers are a pretty interesting, intelligent group of people - they just know what sells.
I started up a flickr group for photos of Birmingham - partially because it was hard to find any useful photos online to share with this forum.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/magic_city/
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