firms are starting to lay off folks.

and jobs under construction are starting to shut down.

jobs that have been permitted are on hold because developers re having difficulty obtaining financing.

but construction costs are coming down.

we all know that one

Can someone tell me about working in Seattle?

from the number of resumes are obscure firm receives, i don't think that's caught on yet. i don't know anyone that's hiring right now.

it's a pretty small and tight knit scene, everyone knows everyone.

if yer a d-bag employee or employer, word spreads fast.

the quality of work is pretty consistent.

the top firms are pretty insane, but it's nothing like working for an OMA spinoff.

i know few people that work 60 hrs+ a week.

UW grad students seem to have a pretty strong advantage at getting jobs.

our obscure firm. blech

I'm a Seattle native who is moving back after being gone for 7 years (left when the tech crash happened).

I'm wondering if I can piggyback on this thread and ask: which Seattle firms, in archinecter estimation, have good interior studios/depts.?

working in Seattle...I have wet feet all day long

working in Seattle...I drink coffee on the jobsite

interiors (not necc. top, just ones i can think of offhand)...

Callison
OSKA
GGLO
NBBJ
Mithun
Gensler
SKB
sienna

of those, i'd say oska might be one of the better, but it's definitely not an area of interest or expertise for me

For interiors, I think most seattle firms don't have dedicated "interiors departments" from what I've seen, work is usually studio based for larger offices, and interiors integrated w/ architecture based on market (eg. retail, workplace, residential, hospitality, healthcare, etc)... Not sure if that's true of all offices...

I'd recommend looking at which firms are winning the IIDA washington awards...

Holz.box and bRink, very helpful, thank you!

I like the idea of integration between disciplines, I think some of my frustration in LA has been the general segregation of interiors as the finish-pickers or floor-finish-plan-drafters when my skillset extends beyond that.

as a general rule, i'm not going to go out of my way to find carpet/furniture/drapes.

it's a fxn of architecture that i'd rather pass and usually relegate to an intern.

Even in a purely interiors firm those duties are passed on to interns.

I don't know jack about drapes, and I'm happy to keep it that way!

While there have been layoffs up here... Some firms are still hiring.. I think it depends on how diversified a firm's work is. State projects are still strong, while developer work has certainly stalled or been stopped all together.

As was mentioned on another thread related to layoffs, just because a firm has layoffs, doesn't mean it isn't hiring.... Sometimes they are just getting rid of people that don't fit.

I know Mahlum is hiring right now... They just got a big housing project at the University of Washington.