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Practice Matters

RECORD's Practice Matters section is a comprehensive source of information for architects seeking current news, reports, and the innovative thinking they need to run their businesses, and we now offer an archive of Practice Matters stories for your Kindle.

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Featured Articles

	America’s Best Architecture Schools By David Sokol RECORD looks at the 2010 survey and asks people in academia and the profession what it all means.
	In-house engineers make sustainable design work better By B.J. Novitski Architecture firms are hiring engineers and A/E firms are revamping the way they work. Why? Because collaborating sooner and more often makes their architecture better.
	Eco-design risks By Bruce Buckley As sustainable design and construction gain momentum, project teams are facing new risks and finding limited solutions. GreenSource magazine, RECORD’s sister publication, examines these emerging eco-design risks. Illustration © Christoph Nieman
	Understanding megatrends helps firms plan for the future By B.J. Novitski Which building types will be taking off in the coming years? What firm management challenges will confront nearly everyone? Studying demographic trends can help you see into the future.
	2008 Revenues of RECORD’s Top 250 Firms By Charles Linn, FAIA Although U.S. economy battered many architecture firms last year, strangely enough total 2008 revenue for the Top 250 firms was up 9 percent over 2007. Check to see where your firm placed on the list.
	Preparing for that make-or-break job interview By C.J. Hughes If you’re trying to get a job, and lucky enough to land an interview, these suggestions from recruiters and firm principals may help you make the most of the opportunity. Read more about finding work in a bad economy in our Architects’ Survival Guide. Illustration © A. Richard Allen
	Sustainability assessments: an opportunity for new work By B.J. Novitski Some architecture firms are finding work performing assessments for owners who want to make their existing buildings more sustainable. This kind of work might be a lifesaver in this bear market for conventional design services. Illustration © Scott Menchin
	It’s a very good time to develop your firm’s collaboration skills By Andrew Pressman, FAIA During a challenging period in which a paucity of work may leave key employees with increased amounts of downtime, there is an opportunity to examine, hone, and reflect on the art of multidisciplinary collaboration and teamwork. Illustration © Harry Campbell
	Greening your design culture to gain a competitive edge By B.J. Novitski The troubled economy may allow your firm the time it needs to rethink the philosophies that underlie its design work. It’s an especially good time to think about your firm’s green design culture, and to gain a competitive edge in the process. Illustration © Edel Rodriguez
	Client care: how to keep them coming back for more By B.J. Novitski “Client care” is more than a general notion of how to interact with clients. It’s understanding what clients truly want and making sure that everyone in the firm keeps that in mind as they do their jobs. Image © Robert Dale/Images.com/Corbis
	Managing the ever-more-distributed workforce By B.J. Novitski Despite fast communication speeds, modern companies face challenges of trust and control with off-site workers. Each case is different, but the balance can be adjusted with the use of technology and an understanding of the cultural barriers created by geographic separation. Photo © NASA TV/Epa/Corbis
	Professionalizing pro bono practice By Casius Pealer The notion that architecture firms have an ethical obligation to provide services [pro bono] is gaining wide-spread acceptance. Here’s how some firms are making the most of the experience. Photo courtesy McCall Design Group
	Mediation for Architects 101 By B.J. Novitski Resolving conflicts that arise in the construction process can be quite costly and time consuming. This month's Practice Matters column covers mediation, the first phase of dispute resolution that AIA contracts require before arbitration and litigation can commence. Illustration: © Corbis
	Making the Most of Your Firm’s Millennials By B.J. Novitski Working with ["Millennials"]— young people who were born after 1980— can be either frustrating or exhilarating. This month's Practice Matters discusses how Gensler and Perkins+Will are embracing the challenges and opportunities that come from developing the future leaders of our profession. Photo © Getty Images
	New AIA agreements support integrated project delivery By B.J. Novitski In May, the American Institute of Architects published a new set of legal documents that can restructure relationships among professionals and reformulate the processes of designing and building. Photo © Mashe \| Dreamstime.com
	2007 revenues of RECORD’s Top 150 Firms grew 25 percent By Charles Linn, FAIA Architectural Record's Top 150 list, which ranks U.S. firms according to their revenue, has just been released. It reveals that, despite the meltdown of the credit markets, 2007 was by far the profession's best year ever. This year's list includes 100 additional firms.
	Could taking on owner’s rep work be a good move for you? By Alec Applebaum You trained as an architect, so you work as an architect, right? Maybe not all the time. Some architects are hiring themselves out as owner’s representatives or going to work for salaried jobs at owner’s rep firms. Image © The Gallery Collection/Corbis
	Opportunity is the key to hiring and retaining talented staff By B.J. Novitski Unless your firm offers opportunities for advancement, educational growth, and creative work, your employees may begin to feel like uninspired worker bees. Photo © Geoff Brightling/Getty Images
	Creating a firm culture that supports innovative design By Andrew Pressman, FAIA Within the workplace, the swift and easy exchange of ideas is vital to the design process. What may not be so obvious is that there are strategies for cultivating this type of creative environment. Photo courtesy IDEO
	Just-updated AIA contracts resolve many issues By B.J. Novitski This month, we walk you through some of the many changes the AIA recently made to its standard contracts, which are updated every 10 years. In the recent publication round, 40 of more than 100 legal documents were revised, some of them substantially. Photo © SXC/Daniel Jaeger Vendruscolo
	Professional liability insurance: When to get serious By Casius Pealer If your firm has never had professional liability insurance, this article will help you understand its hidden benefits and the unusual circumstances that might lead to a claim against you. You might decide it's time to take the plunge. Insurance statistics: Courtesy Victor O. Schinnerer & Company
	Firms embrace the emerging role of the sustainability guru By Russell Fortmeyer The emergence of directors of sustainability at firms of all sizes has occurred more rapidly as the green design market takes off. But who are these sustainability gurus and what kinds of roles are they playing? Photo © Mark Mainz/Getty Images
	What’s fueling the firm mergers and acquisitions trend? Growth. By B.J. Novitski In the summer of 2007, two large American architecture firms made news when they announced they were being sold to larger European firms. Why are these firms selling? Does this represent a trend, and if so, what is its significance for the rest of the profession? llustration © Corbis
	Good leadership helps practice, the profession, and society By Andrew Pressman, AIA With just two brief quotes from this 1957 film classic, Henry Fonda’s character—an architect—begins to emerge as the leader of a group of men who are deciding a capital murder case. He is the lone dissenter initially but eventually is able to persuade the other 11 jurors to reexamine the evidence and acquit on the basis of reasonable doubt. Photo © Getty Images
	Nonprofit work experience: beneficial for all, but far too rare By Casius Pealer Public and nonprofit practices are playing an increasing role in the professional development of young architects and yield great benefits for all concerned. The entrepreneurialism, close client contact, and quality design work achieved by those fortunate enough to obtain these positions make them desirable for traditional firms who want experienced interns. Photo © Jamie Blosser

Can project alliancing agreements change the way we build?
By Chris Noble
Errors, omissions, inefficiencies, delays, coordination problems, cost overruns, productivity losses—the list of complaints against (and often by) architects and contractors is a long one. The Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) has characterized the difficulties experienced in typical projects as “artifacts of a construction process fraught by lack of cooperation and poor information integration.”

Top 150 Architecture Firms' 2006 revenues total $8 billion
By Charles Linn, FAIA
Each year RECORD publishes the Top 150 Architecture Firms list, based on information collected by its sister publication, Engineering News-Record, for its Top 500 Design Firms Sourcebook. According to the latest survey, 2006 was a good year for architects, who reported a combined $8 billion in revenues.

Integrated practice in perspective: A new model for the architectural profession
By Andrew Pressman, FAIA
The inefficiencies inherent in the process of design and construction are necessitating a shift to greater multidisciplinary collaboration and information sharing among project team members.

Where independent contractors are concerned, know the rules
By Alec Appelbaum
Architecture firms may need to lure extra hands for all sorts of reasons. One might be to staff up for a sweet opportunity that’s too good to pass up, but is just a bit beyond the capacity of the office. Another might be to get the benefits of a specialist whose skills are perfect for a current project but might or might not be needed in the future. Those sorts of situations always present principals with a dilemma: do you hire new staff permanently or expand temporarily using hired guns?

Forum: Are you an independent contractor or a person who hires them? Share your experiences

Blindsided
Five H.R. mistakes you can't afford to make
By Liz Ryan
To those of us who haven't made it our profession, "human resources" has the ring of something that can be ignored, handed off to a chief financial officer or, worse, another employee who's already wearing five different hats. After all, drafting policies to handle allegations of harassment, keeping on top of health insurance regulations, and writing noncompetes aren't the sorts of things that get the entrepreneurial juices flowing. They are, however, exactly the sorts of things that can turn into big expensive headaches if not handled properly.

New AIA firm survey indicates that while business is good, the profession itself changes slowly
By Andrew Pressman, FAIA
The just-released AIA firm survey, The Business of Architecture, is essential reading for the profession’s observers because it is the most complete benchmarking of trends such as firm size, economy, project delivery methods, and many other practice concerns.

Forum: Doubts? Surprises? To share your thoughts about the latest AIA Firm Survey. Click here

Putting yourself out there:
What to consider when designing your firm Web site
By Ingrid Spencer
Within the last 10 years Web sites have become a firm’s most important means of making an impression on clients, potential employees, and the public. This article examines the ways in which this potent form of communication can benefit those seeking information about your firm—or baffle them.

Forum: Does your firm Web site work well? Tell us why it does, and let others see for themselves. Show us here.

Pictured: John Friedman Alice Kimm’s website jfak.net