I've been told that Studio Daniel Libeskind let 10 people go like a couple of weeks ago.

Not to add some more fuel to the fire...specially since I am trying to remain optimistic...
Just had an email exchage with a good friend who has been doing very well in the Middle east and eastern Europe for the past 4 years. His answer to how are things?: "Things here are as bad as they are in US" All those who were hopeful of taping other markets (like in previous recessions, including my firm) are screwed. Just spent the weekend in NYC, and things are dismal...although tourism seemed to be just as strong as always.
The only bright spot is some increased activity in Colombia (just the past 2 weeks, and continued optimism from my client in Panama that he will continue to build)

Perkins + Will DC just laid off today across the board.

Perkins + Will any where else ?

J3, where in Colombia?

been through a few of these. not pretty. had my own firm twice. not out of choice but, by accident both times. long story.

one needs some guerrilla strategies to win in a downtown.

regarding your old firm, screw them. take whatever you can, copy whatever you can from their website. claim it all as yours.

look beyond being a primadonna designer. go after positions with a/E(no typo) firms. wastewater treatment plants are fun! do all the crap work. it will pay off in the long long run. alternates to pursue include interior design firms. a lot of firms needs reorganizing with all those empty desks. friend did that in the 80s. led to head planner with major fortune 500. do shop drawings for any body. will give you real world experience how things get built. do retail. all store layouts are planned by somebody. hope they are not in india.

best bets are construction management firms. almost every public project hires a pm/cm firm, preferably a mbe dbe wbe, etc.

learn how to suck up. it will do most architects good.

this is survival of the fittest. better than any tv show. you can win and thrive.

more tomorrow.

Uhh, this one could come back and bite you. I'd be careful with that one.

a lot of firms needs reorganizing with all those empty desks

Good point. I've been doing a lot of what is basically facilities management. That'll be big until the corporate world is needing expansion, which could be years.

do retail. all store layouts are planned by somebody

This is true, but retail is also getting hit hard in this downturn. Circuit City went Ch. 7 last week, just yesterday Target announced layoffs. Retailers already have people on staff for this and probably aren't looking to take on anyone right now.

I agree with Martini+1 comments

during the 90's recession at the firm I was working at all the Architects were doing interiors. a lot of corporate company's downsize during the recession and have to re-organize their floorplates.

Chevron was downsizing at the time and we ended up re-planning 23 office floors because they let go several hundred people and that free-ed up 3 or 4 empty floors to lease for future tenants.

several blame the current economic situation on the past presidential administration. maybe so. more likely, typical politicization of any problem. let's see in four years.

these things come in cycles. when times were good (how many projects did evil wall street finance? who was complaining during the last eight years?) architects were cranking out outrageous crap and prostrating themselves at the feet of the green goddess. reality checks hard. regulated economy is not the answer. the dustbin of history is filled with social experimentation.

do you really want government regulated jobs? is it the responsibility of government to guarantee employment? for detroit? for wall street? for architects? this is time for those serious of architecture to expand their knowledge base, become more versatile, challenge yourself. become more involved with community. lots to do.

layoffs will continue through the second quarter of 2009. don't pray for stimulus unless you do highways or manufacture condoms. architect-type work takes six-nine months to kick in after funding.

think. what can i do to make my firm grow. not, what can i do do keep my job. step up in responsibility.

predictions for 2009: several major firms will fold or merge or be bought out. AIA will become increasingly irrelevant and more expensive. licensing to be more difficult (bureaucrats need to keep their jobs). increased specialization and creation of niche practices.

Dr Architect Space Planner...now that has a nice ring to it.

Martini-

I hate to break your Fox News bubble but the tax breaks that Curious George doled out after Sept 11 and the invasion and Occupation of Iraq are two reasons why the country is bankrupt. The first was unnecessary as their was so already too much capital chasing projects and the second was completely unnecessary except that it did exactly what Bin Laden couldn't do by himself: bankrupt the USA.

Political choices do make a huge difference.

And this stuff about a regulated economy...

We have one and always have had one. That's why it was called Political Economy for a couple of hundred years. When it's unregulated, you have Bernie Madoff.

The layoffs really hurt and many firms will not survive. I think fees will get hit and many of us will migrate to another field.

It's interesting how a few of the posters were so cautious about naming the firms that laid people off. I am glad that people can be candid and not so uptight about telling the truth.

The profession will survive. We'll see how it changes...

I saw that Rocio Romero and some of the other really good prefab house folks are still busy. The prefab thing may really gain traction in this recession. She does very good work and it's nice to see the Architect control the process again.

make...she is only an Architect if she is registered...otherwise please call her a designer.

I can’t wait till we see WPA Vol 2 the government employing Architects to design for the sake of designing is awesome. Also don’t assume infrastructure will automatically exclude architects. Those of you who live in the New York area should take a drive down the Merritt Parkway 70 unique bridges designed by a team of architects. Also I 57 look at the Curtis Road exit Near Champaign Illinois 6 freestanding masonry pylons strictly decorative completed late 2008. Any pedestrian access paths stairs ramps or other pedestrian oriented structures should produce some work for Architects. If the US government decided to approach the stimulus as a Jobs creation program first and an infrastructure program second, everyone could benefit. Imagine if every new bridge had an architect attached to the project for the purpose of making a pleasurable roadside experience. It may be a new frontier designing for an audience zipping by at 70 mpr.

We meaning the AIA should spook Congress into rebuilding every police and fire station that can’t survive a major disaster, in southern Illinois South Eastern Missouri there are still hundreds of hospitals, schools and fire stations that might not survive an earthquake emanating from the New Madrid Fault. Many schools, nursing homes and hospitals in tornado prone areas do not have “safe rooms” let us invoke Greens burg as an example.

How many trailers serve as class rooms near you, we as a community should press for funding for new or improved schools? Maybe if some firms put ego aside and just lobbied as a cohesive unit locally as well as nationally we can get something done. Every local AIA chapter should send someone out to document these things and then set up booths at local farmers markets, festivals, or other community events, and get people to lobby their representatives for Architecture. The AIA has not done a good job locally in promoting architecture to the public.

This is what our professional need to focus on, positioning our profession to be viewed as part of a solution to a myriad of social problems.

http://www.past-inc.org/historic-bridges/merrittpkwybridges.html

I'd rather we keep politics out of this thread and focus on layoffs and the general employment atmosphere out there.

Disregarding the political editorial, I agree with martini that this is a cycle that hasn't yet run it's course. Firms will fold and merge, etc. All that said, quite frankly, I'm getting tired of people comparing today to the late 70's or '90 or whatever. This is different, and looks to be much much worse. Still, on the other side things will get better for architects. I just hope that is sooner than later. Still think we need to cull a major % of architects from this field. I want to stay in architecture, but in the end we'll all do what is necessary to survive, even if that means leaving the profession.

All politics is local as with many construction jobs. It will be difficult to separate the two

yup no way to keep politics and social separate

they are intertwined always

snook,

She does more Architecture than anyone posting on these boards.

As for aguapura, there's no way to separate the political economy from our profession. We fucked because the of the credit bubble.

Let's see what's next!

make she is still a designer and not an Architect. There is difference.

Snook,

You cling to BS. She does Architecture with her name on the door. I am lucky to one of those projects a year.


And they are busy!!!

So she hasn't a license. Who cares? She does great work and has a viable business model.

And, again, she is busy!!!

i gotta agree with 'make' here....

make you and architect or a designer?

Renzo Piano is not a licensed Architect either.

Snook, I do both. What about you?

I am trying to concentrate on what interests me and that is Architecture. The license is secondary. Having a plan and business model is primary.

Anyway back to the thread...

What's the plan?

both

the plan is to produce more and efficiently at local levels.

"the plan is to produce more and efficiently at local levels."

Then outsource it or get some Polish dude right off the boat who lives in a basement to do it and stamp it.

I dunno. There needs to be value created in what you do.

Renzo Piano is an Architect. When he is doing work in this country he always aligns himself with someone who is registered. I don't have a problem with this. However he is certainly aclaimed as an Architect in both his home country of Italy and in France. I don't think he has to worry about being laid off....or getting laid for that matter.

you mean laid on ?

TVS laid off 70 in Atlanta... and 1/3 of the firm across the board from their chicago and dubai offices too

"get some Polish dude right off the boat who lives in a basement to do it and stamp it."

phone number for said polish dude?

Hang out at the ninth floor at 121 N Lasalle. Get there at 6:30 am, go into the lobby and roll a bowling ball down the hall and you'll hit one.

Renzo Piano is an Architect.

He is not a licensed Architect just as Romero isn't or Calatrava or Foster or Toyo Ito...

And I think Piano's wife is not even 40.

And I think Piano's wife is not even 40.

+i whatever happened with your staff meeting?

BTW, I can confirm layoffs at Shallom Barnes and Torti Gallas in DC a few weeks ago.

Not surprising about TVS. I figured that if both of their main competitors cut their staff by 1/3, they would too sooner or later.

staff meeting was just that- a staff meeting for the whole office about our upcoming move to a new office. funny- since most people looked ghost-white during it, out of fear of layoffs again. perhaps that means i can have just a small dose of relief that maybe our board knows what they're doing with the budget...
as for TVS... that was their first layoff... when everyone else was laying off back in november/december- they hadn't said a peep.

sadly, i knew someone who had just started at shalom back over the summer... i wonder if they're still there...

well you certainly don't have to be a licensed architect to stamp premanufactured buildings. an engineer can do it.

I think I would refer to Jump to let us know about licensing in Japan.

Rather than an individual who thinks there is insulation in alucobond..

+i it was funny because I experienced something similar about a month ago.

We were all called in to a monday meeting (which usually never happens) and the looks on everyone's face were just total fear. I myself was completely white -- as some of my coworkers told me. they laughed about it later.

It turmned out they gathered us all their to announce tragic news of one of the employees. Obviously someone life is far more precious than a job-- it made me kind of take a deep breath and think about it and try to put things into perspective.

BTW, I know the major firm you work at now that you mentioned the part about "moving to a new office." ;) I only know cuz' I have a bunch of friends who work there. Don't worry I'll keep it hush hush!

In New England it is the kind of day you go out and shovel your 90 year old neighbors sidewalk, even if your not unemployeed. There is something that makes you feel good about helping people out. It has always been my best marketing tool.

you can attach rigid insulation to the back of alucabond to make insulated metal panels if needed - but the alucabond itself isnt insulated

evil...yes I'm aware of that technique...but the product is not a component with insulation inclusive.

Archmed- i think probably everyone knows what firm i work at now that they know there's an office "move". no big deal :-)

just like there was a "housing" bubble, there was also an employment bubble- but instead of one big POP, it's more like a slow squeal like a deflating balloon. the thing is, the firms know that if they let go of 50+ people, they have to give you a month notice. so TVS let off 49. (not 70 like what i was originally told) and for all of these huge firms- that is what they will continue to do... except they can spread it out over multiple offices. and sadly, monday it can be 49 and then next thursday it can be another 49... no one ever knows. i guess the only thing you can do is ask for any kind of severance, a letter of recommendation- and move on.
the sad thing is... most architects don't have the first clue about business negotiations, contracts, benefits, entitlements, when to ask for a raise and how, etc. so time and time again we find ourselves not having gotten a raise for two years because of our "hire" date, taking less pay to work at XYZ firm because you think the projects will be "cooler", working at a firm for 5 years and never even seeing a project contract or being in the room when one is negotiated, and just getting by with cost of living salary increases. maybe if those of us who are so obsessed with the design aspect of the profession became a little more involved in the business side as well, things would turn around.
just my two pennies.

TVS waited longer to layoff people in 2001 than the rest of metro Atlanta. The first layoff wasn't until after Sept 11. The competition had already had one or two rounds of letting people loose at that point.

Shalom Baranes and Torti Gallas had major layoffs recently. I can confirm that as well. Anyone know how many Perkins + Will left go of?

Disappointed in the stimulus bill thus far because I don't think it goes far enough. Especially on the construction and transit side.

perkins+will is ok in San Francisco ... no layoffs

I am an architect by education and training. I now work on RE Development after getting an MBA earlier this decade. Today I lost my job and I have never seen people on my side of the business this pervasively negative. The architecture firm we primarily use has laid off over 300 people in one year! There are only a few people left in our national development group. We primarily do multifamily and mixed-use projects.

Unfortunately, I see things getting much worse before they improve. There is hardly any front-end development work moving forward that would eventually lead to work for architects or other consultants. And unlike past recessions, it seems almost no area of the country is going to make it through this unscathed.

One note of optimism though... supply and demand is not the primary reason for this RE/Construction depression (though it's certainly becoming significant). It is primarily access to capital due to the horrific mess created by our financial institutions.

When at some point capital flows again, there should be pent up demand in many product types which will (hopefully) lead to a strong upturn. When that will be is anyone's guess. Most people I am talking to don't see any improvement until mid-2010 or 2011.

background: work for major firm for number of years. am reasonably secure for almost entire year. then...? seems unlikely there will be need for me. no bonus last year and no raise this. am happy in my position and will be sorry to leave. being proactive. had resumes out to CMs, E/a firms, and recruiters. avoiding architects as their inboxes have runneth over. need to start looking early, just in case. better to get resume out there now, than later. might be too late. never know when head will be on the block. several bites. hopeful!

my mistake regarding regulation. should be managed economy.

why do we think so much 'stimulus' money is to be spent on infrastructure? 1% of the current package goes for prevention of STDs. they could go for a new aircraft carrier = 100,000 jobs for 10 years! on many public sector construction jobs up to 25-40% gets eaten up in soft costs, largely bureaucracy in Washington and locally on all levels. wonder what gets stimulated preventing STDs.

pre-fab housing. nice idea. not a chance. unions generally opposed. who wants to live in an oversize used shipping container.

ideas.

write about architecture. letters to publications, architects. get anything published. don't matter. anywhere. it's the point that counts.

several years ago a colleague developed a master plan for the major shopping street in his community. talked to all the stores, owners, city officials. got it published in local rag. city felt compelled to recognize his effort. he got publicity. he got work. no need for chicago tribune competition but, that's another good idea. if you have the free time, enter them. go hog wild.

send resumes to design/build contractors. its the wave of the future.

apprentice yourself to specialty consultants in acoustics, waterproofing, curtainwalls, transportation planning, LEED, etc. some will have work regardless of the economy. friend went into asbestos mitigation. said he must have abated every smokestack in the midwest.

more tomorrow.

i'm waiting with bated breath.

the fallback barista plan has even gone up in smoke. starbucks aint even hiring these days.

I was laid off back on december 10 after a few weeks of very slow work weeks... I was with a landscape firm in Boston, but with the middle east market slowing down, I got laid off and another project admin (for middle east work) had been let go of...

and I heard the firm had cashflow issues and clients from ME were requesting a fee reduction...

anyways, a week after my layoff, I heard my friend in EDAW NY got laid off, as well another friend in SOM NY got laid off...

all three of us were H-1 visa holders... meaning our visas got disvalidated once the layoff was in effect....

I wonder why the visa holders are the first to go?