A judge in Virginia has dismissed a defamation counterclaim in a case involving two architects. The case involves Swiss architect Valerio Olgiati versus Markus Breitschmid, an architect and architecture professor at Virginia Tech, and is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Western... View full entry
Southern California architecture studio ShubinDonaldson has been renamed Donaldson + Partners following the departure of Founding Partner Russell Shubin. The firm, based in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, was founded in 1991 by Shubin alongside Robin Donaldson, who remains as a Founding Partner... View full entry
Following last week’s look at an opening for a Project Manager at Fluidity Design Consultants, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Construction Contract Administrator at EskewDumezRipple. The role, based in New Orleans... View full entry
The AIA’s chief economist Kermit Baker has offered reflections on the economic context facing architecture firms throughout 2024. Baker, who previously shared reflections with Archinect on the industry’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, says that “while 2024 may indeed end up looking a... View full entry
A court in Hong Kong has ordered the winding up of Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted property developer, dealing another blow to investor confidence as China’s ailing real estate sector continues to weigh on its economy.
The liquidation order, made by the city’s High Court on Monday, comes after the embattled Chinese real estate giant and its overseas creditors failed to agree on how to restructure the company’s massive debt during talks that lasted for 19 months.
— CNN
Evergrande’s liquidation could also set the stage for an unprecedented political showdown between Hong Kong and the mainland, as Reuters speculated on Monday. The company had amassed over $300 billion in public and private debts since being ordered into negotiations in 2021. Overseas... View full entry
Following last week's visit to San Francisco-based Edmonds + Lee Architects, we are keeping our Meet Your Next Employer series in the Bay Area this week to explore the work of JENSEN Architects. From their studio in downtown San Francisco, the firm has built a portfolio specializing in cultural... View full entry
The San Francisco office of DLR Group has announced its acquisition of two smaller local specialty design practices in a move that will expand services to clients in the areas of civic and public safety design as well as high-end hospitality and residential interiors. Thirty-five-year-old... View full entry
Following last week’s look at an opening for a Studio Director at Doug Aitken Workshop, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Project Manager at Fluidity Design Consultants. The role, based in Los Angeles, calls for an... View full entry
The new December Architecture Billings Index from the American Institute of Architects has shown a continued decline in business conditions to end the year 2023. The new index score of 45.4 was essentially left flat from November’s totals (any score below 50 indicates a decline) though there... View full entry
Spending on nonresidential buildings will see a minor 4% increase in 2024 despite a 20% increase in 2023, according to the AIA’s latest Consensus Construction Forecast. In 2025, meanwhile, the pace is expected to slow to just over 1% growth. Across key sectors, manufacturing construction will... View full entry
Following our previous visit to New York City-based JG Neukomm Architecture, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to San Francisco this week to explore the work of Edmonds + Lee Architects. Founded by Robert Edmonds and Vivan Lee, the architecture and interior design firm has built an... View full entry
The latest data from Dodge Construction Network has shown an impressive 20% growth in new construction starts to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.2 trillion for the month of December, offering encouraging statistics for the industry in a turnaround from November’s ten-month low. For the... View full entry
Building permits and construction starts for residential projects in the United States declined by approximately 10% in 2023 versus 2022, according to new data by the U.S. Census Bureau. An estimated 1,469,800 housing units were authorized by building permits in 2023, which is 11.7% lower than in... View full entry
The notion that factory-built modular homes can serve as the salvation to America's vexing housing crisis has increasingly come under scrutiny, a report summarized recently in Business Insider. A crippling lack of widespread success for modular housing startups can be attributed to state and... View full entry
The latest Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) construction input price analysis for the month of December has registered a 0.6% decrease over November’s trend-reversing totals. Nonresidential construction input prices were down another 0.4%, with the commercial and multifamily sectors... View full entry