Led by the commercial sector, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) has remained in positive territory four months in a row. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the February ABI score was 51.0, following a mark of 50.9 in January. This score reflects a slight increase in demand for design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 63.4, up from mark of 61.2 the previous month and its highest reading since July 2007.
“This is more good news for the design and construction industry that continues to see improving business conditions,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. “The factors that are preventing a more accelerated recovery are persistent caution from clients to move ahead with new projects, and a continued difficulty in accessing financing for projects that developers have decided to pursue.”
Key February ABI highlights:
Regional averages: Midwest (56.0), South (51.3), Northeast (51.0), West (45.6)
Sector index breakdown: commercial / industrial (55.1), multi-family residential (53.3),
institutional (50.3), mixed practice (46.3)
Project inquiries index: 63.4
The regional and sector categories are calculated as a 3-month moving average, whereas the index and inquiries are monthly numbers.
About the AIA Architecture Billings Index
The Architecture Billings Index (ABI), produced by the AIA Economics & Market Research Group, is a leading economic indicator that provides an approximately nine to twelve month glimpse into the future of nonresidential construction spending activity. The diffusion indexes contained in the full report are derived from a monthly “Work-on-the-Boards” survey that is sent to a panel of AIA member-owned firms. Participants are asked whether their billings increased, decreased, or stayed the same in the month that just ended as compared to the prior month, and the results are then compiled into the ABI. These monthly results are also seasonally adjusted to allow for comparison to prior months. The monthly ABI index scores are centered around 50, with scores above 50 indicating an aggregate increase in billings, and scores below 50 indicating a decline. The regional and sector data are formulated using a three-month moving average. More information on the ABI and the analysis of its relationship to construction activity can be found in the White Paper Architecture Billings as a Leading Indicator of Construction: Analysis of the Relationship Between a Billings Index and Construction Spending on the AIA web site.
AIA CEO Robert Ivy, FAIA, and Henry L. Green, Hon. AIA, President of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) are pleased to announce the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding underscoring the two organizations’ mutual interest in the design, construction, operations and maintenance of high-performance buildings and the desire to collaborate on issues surrounding these topics.
“Through cooperation and coordination on the issues impacting the entire building community and the pursuit of high-performance buildings, the Institute and AIA can work towards improving our nation’s buildings. We are very pleased to work with AIA on such an important effort,” said Green upon signing.
One of the first projects the two organizations will work on collaboratively is the joint development of an on-line portal for building industry research and knowledge. Intended to be accessible to the public, this initiative will include the participation and contribution of a variety of building science and performance disciplines. NIBS and AIA anticipate this partnership will culminate in providing a centralized location for the knowledge and research efforts underway that are relevant to the building industry.
About the new partnership and the outline of work planned, Ivy said, “The AIA has long recognized the power of knowledge to inform design. For many years, the AIA Knowledge Communities have provided ample testimony to the value of that orientation. The AIA-NIBS research portal will enable practitioners to use knowledge creatively in ways for which they have impatiently hoped. Now the wait is over.”
Later this year, NIBS and AIA will also collaborate on an industry summit bringing together leaders in the fields of architecture, construction and engineering. The summit will focus on elevating awareness and understanding of how design adds value to the building process, whether it’s expressed through increased property value or the health, safety and welfare of the building’s users.
Additionally, AIA and NIBS are working together on High Performance Buildings: Combining Field Experience with Innovation, the third Building Enclosure Science & Technology (BEST) Conference, April 2-4, 2012, in Atlanta. The Conference is part of the Building Enclosure Technology and Environment Council’s (BETEC) mission to explore the advancement of energy efficiency of buildings as well as the durability of buildings as affected by moisture and the indoor environment. The AIA and NIBS have been partners in the Building Enclosure Councils since 2004.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced on Feb. 10, 2012, that it will abandon plans to increase by 400 percent the size standard for architects eligible for SBA set-asides. The decision reflects the concerns expressed in the more than 1,200 comments received by the agency during the comment period on the original SBA proposal.
The AIA filed comments in June strenuously opposing the SBA’s original proposal to raise the size standard to $19 million from $4.5 million in gross annual receipts for architects to qualify as a small business. This regulation is crucial for firms which do federal work as $190 billion of the $700 billion in contracts goes to firms that qualify as small businesses. The new size standard will take effect on March 12, 2012.
“We appreciate the SBA listening to the small business community’s opposition to its original proposal, which would have hurt many of the AIA’s small business members,” said AIA President Jeff Potter, FAIA. “With the SBA’s announcement today, we now have a size standard that better reflects the reality of the profession.”
The SBA received more than 1,200 comments on its original proposal. Over 90 percent of those comments rejected the $19 million cap for architects originally proposed by the agency.
“I’m so proud of our members for standing up and letting our collective voices be known on an issue of major importance to our profession,” added Potter. “And while the decision doesn’t solve the entire size standard issue, we look forward to working with the SBA and Capitol Hill in continuing to make our profession’s views known on other small business concerns.”
The SBA’s original proposal would have been devastating to many small firms and sole practitioners because it would have lumped architecture, engineering, interior design, landscape architecture and mapping into the same $19 million bucket. The SBA’s proposal would have let large architectural firms with a variety of disciplines qualify for small business benefits, at a time when such aggregated firms do not represent the current demographic for architecture firms, 80 percent of which have 10 or fewer employees.
On the heels of consecutive months of strengthening business conditions, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) has now reached positive territory three months in a row. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The AIA reported the January ABI score was 50.9, following a mark of 51.0* in December. This score reflects a slight increase in demand for design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 61.2, down just a notch from a reading of 61.5 the previous month.
“Even though we had a similar upturn in design billings in late 2010 and early 2011, this recent showing is encouraging because it is being reflected across most regions of the country and across the major construction sectors,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, Ph.D., Hon. AIA. “But because we still continue to hear about struggling firms and some continued uncertainty in the market, we expect overall economic improvements in the design and construction sector to be modest in the coming months.”
Key January ABI highlights:
Regional averages: Midwest (53.7), South (51.6), Northeast (50.7), West (45.6)
Sector index breakdown: multi-family residential (52.6), commercial / industrial (52.2), institutional (51.1), mixed practice (46.1)
Project inquiries index: 61.2
The regional and sector categories are calculated as a 3-month moving average, whereas the index and inquiries are monthly numbers.
About the AIA Architecture Billings Index
The Architecture Billings Index (ABI), produced by the AIA Economics & Market Research Group, is a leading economic indicator that provides an approximately nine to twelve month glimpse into the future of nonresidential construction spending activity. The diffusion indexes contained in the full report are derived from a monthly “Work-on-the-Boards” survey that is sent to a panel of AIA member-owned firms. Participants are asked whether their billings increased, decreased, or stayed the same in the month that just ended as compared to the prior month, and the results are then compiled into the ABI. These monthly results are also seasonally adjusted to allow for comparison to prior months. The monthly ABI index scores are centered around 50, with scores above 50 indicating an aggregate increase in billings, and scores below 50 indicating a decline. The regional and sector data are formulated using a three-month moving average. More information on the ABI and the analysis of its relationship to construction activity can be found in the White Paper Architecture Billings as a Leading Indicator of Construction: Analysis of the Relationship Between a Billings Index and Construction Spending on the AIA web site.
* Every January the AIA research department updates the seasonal factors used to calculate the ABI, resulting in a revision of recent ABI values.
Nominations are for a four year term, 2013-2016, and AIA representatives may be scheduled for up to one school visit per year. The AIA seeks members with a range of experience from various geographic locations to serve on visiting teams along with representatives of AIAS, ACSA, and NCARB. Spanish-speaking practitioners are needed and diversity among team members is desired.
School visits are over a 5-day period from Saturday–Wednesday and are generally planned during the months of February and March each year. NAAB is responsible for scheduling team visits. Team member expenses are reimbursed. In order to be eligible to be assigned to a visiting team, nominees must complete the online training and the face-to-face workshop. The NAAB provides workshops 3-4 times each year usually in conjunction with collateral annual meetings. The AIA encourages members who apply to plan to attend the AIA Convention in Washington DC to attend the face-to-face training which will take place on Wednesday, May 16, 2012. Travel expenses for attending the training workshop are the responsibility of the nominated member
If you would like to be considered, please submit a letter of interest and one-page resume no later than March 1 to Suzanna Wight Kelley, AIA at suzannakelley@aia.org.
The Society’s Immediate-Past President James P. Clark has been elevated by the AIA to its prestigious College of Fellows — an honor awarded to members who have made contributions of national significance to the profession.
Throughout his 25 years of membership in the AIA, Clark has worked tirelessly to create programs that empower collaborative connections between architects, students and institutions that inspire awareness, creativity, education and excellence.
Clark founded and chairs the National Ideas Competition for the Washington Monument Grounds on the National Mall, a competition that has attracted both national and international attention and has facilitated free discussion outside the highly sensitive political world of reviewing agencies. During his term as President of the Virginia Society AIA, he convinced the AIA, George Washington University, and architecture schools throughout the nation to sponsor the competition the results of which will be featured in an exhibition called Someday in the Park with George at the Virginia Center for Architecture opening April 12, 2012. Clark also founded and leads the Annual Interschool Design Competition at the National Building Museum and helped found AIA Northern Virginia’s School Connections Committee. As the Society’s Vice President for Professional Excellence, he was instrumental in establishing the Prize for Design Research and Scholarship and the Emerging Leaders in Architecture programs.
The 2012 Fellows will be honored at an investiture ceremony on Thursday, May 17 at the 2012 National AIA Convention.
The American Institute of Architects recently unveiled an ambitious 2012 legislative agenda that has creating jobs in the hard-hit design and construction industry as its top priority.
“Architects are by and large small businesspeople: ninety-five percent of architecture firms in the United States employ 50 or fewer people,” said AIA President Jeff Potter, FAIA, himself a small business owner. “Meeting the challenges our communities face — lost jobs, outdated and unsafe infrastructure, abandoned buildings and neighborhoods, rising energy costs, and distressed main streets — demands a strong design and construction industry that is ready and able to get back to work.
“If enacted, this agenda would go a long way towards putting our sector back on its feet to do just that,” Potter said.
The AIA’s “Plan for Economic Growth” concentrates its efforts on solving the four key economic challenges facing the profession:
Removing Barriers to Private Sector Lending Thousands of needed construction projects that would employ millions of Americans are on hold because credit is still frozen. Banks, especially smaller community banks, want to lend but new federal regulations make it difficult. The AIA is doing its part to help make financing available with its Stalled Projects website, launched in 2011, to match building projects to investors. But Congress needs to do its part by passing legislation such as the Capital Access for Main Street Act, which would help prevent large numbers of commercial foreclosures and free up credit to help small business get back to work.
Saving Energy, Creating Jobs Across the country, building owners, state and local governments and school districts want to lower energy bills by retrofitting their buildings. AIA member firms are answering the call by signing up for the AIA 2030 Commitment to develop plans to ensure their projects and practices meet far-reaching green goals. Congress can spur tens of thousands of more jobs by increasing the value of the Federal Energy Efficient Commercial Building Tax Deduction by increasing it from the current $1.80sf to $3.00sf and by making changes that make the deduction easier to use by more people
Helping Small Firms Grow Small architecture firms and sole practitioners work in every community in the country to help homeowners and businesses design better buildings. But high taxes and burdensome paperwork hold them back. As Congress looks to reform the tax code and reduce the budget deficit, it needs to ensure that tax rates on small entrepreneurs are cut while preventing efforts to penalize smaller design firms.
Revitalizing America’s Neighborhoods Crumbling infrastructure, high unemployment and rising traffic congestion have hurt our nation’s communities, reducing safety and increasing pollution. Outdated federal transportation laws and tax policies have slowed projects down, deprived the public of a voice in the planning process, and forced Americans to spend more time in their cars. Congress needs to pass transportation reform legislation this year that gives people the ability to create and sustain prosperous communities with real choices in transportation options. The AIA also urges the administration to ensure that lending standards account for the kinds of mixed-use developments that communities need in order to bring back economic vitality and jobs.
Virginia member David Jameson’s Record House Revisited in Owings Mill, Maryland, was selected as a 2012 recipient of the Institute Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for Interior Architecture. The award is the profession’s highest recognition of works that exemplify excellence in architecture, interior architecture and urban design. Selected from over 700 total submissions, 27 recipients located throughout the world will be honored at the AIA 2012 National Convention and Design Exposition in Washington, D.C.
1140 Formosa Ave. Lorcan O’ Herlihy Architects. Photo by Lawrence Anderson.
It is often said that beauty is only skin deep, and yet striking — sometimes astonishing — façades are quickly becoming a device to charm developers, funders, and the public alike. Clients are beginning to understand what architects have long known: innovative building skins can be used to woo investors and buyers for commercial projects as well as funders for museums and universities. Because apparently impossible structures jar us out of our everyday pursuits and force us to contemplate the built-environment, unusual façades generate a tremendous amount public interest in contemporary architecture as well. But more than just a potential selling point, building skins are evolving as new computer technologies, new materials and new societal behaviors are changing the perception of architecture. As architecture is functioning more as a synthetic organism working within its surrounding ecosystem, more literal comparisons are being made between biological skins and built skins, and thus the topic for the tenth bi-annual Virginia Design Forum was born.
The Virginia Society AIA has assembled some of the world’s most acknowledged experts on building skins to speak at the upcoming tenth Virginia Design Forum: SKINS in Charlottesville on March 16 and 17, 2012. Registration is open.
About the speakers:
Keynote Speaker
3XN’s Bella Sky Hotel. Image courtesy of 3XN.
Kim Herforth Nielsen, MAA, RIBA of 3XN, Copenhagen
Kim Herforth Nielsen is founder and principal of 3XN. He graduated from the Aarhus School of Architecture in 1981 and was one of three founders of 3XN in 1986 (all with the surname Nielsen). He has been involved in all the practice’s major projects, including The Blue Planet, Kubus in Berlin, Museum of Liverpool, Ørestad College, Muziekgebouw Concert Hall in Amsterdam, the Danish Embassy in Berlin, and the Architects’ House in Copenhagen. Often called upon as a jury member in international architectural competitions, and as lecturer at art academies and universities around the world, Nielsen is also a Knight of Dannebrog and has received Denmark’s highest architectural honor, the C.F. Hansen Medaille.
LOHA’s Habitat 825. Photo by Lawrence Anderson.
Lorcan O’Herlihy, FAIA, of Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects, Los Angeles
Since LOHA’s inception in 1990, founder and principal Lorcan O’Herlihy has sought opportunities to engage the operative layers of the urban landscape with respect to spatial, sensory, and experiential information. In 2004, the Architectural League of New York selected O’Herlihy as one of eight Emerging Voices. His firm has garnered 42 national and international awards including 17 AIA Design Awards. He has taught and lectured extensively over the last decade, including the Architectural Association in London, Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan, Columbia University, New York, and the National Building Museum, Washington, D.C., among others. Previously, Lorcan worked at Kevin Roche/John Dinkeloo & Assoc. on the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at I.M. Pei and Partners on the celebrated Grande Louvre Museum in Paris, and as an associate at Steven Holl Architects, where he was responsible for several project, including the award-winning Hybrid Building in Seaside, Fla., which received a National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects.
Marc Simmons, Front Inc., New York City
Marc Simmons, a founder of the New York-based façade-engineering and-design consultancy firm Front Inc., is a faculty member at the Princeton University School of Architecture and holds both a bachelor of environmental studies and professional BArch degrees from the University of Waterloo, Canada. His specialist façade knowledge and experience in custom curtainwall and hybrid cladding system design is built upon previous work at Foster and Partners, Meinhardt Façade Technology, and the structural glass and façade consulting group at Dewhurst Macfarlane & Partners in New York.
Voussoir Cloud by IwamotoScott with Buro Happold. Image courtesy IwamotoScott.
Lisa Iwamoto of IwamotoScott Architecture, San Francisco
Lisa Iwamoto received her MArch from Harvard University, and a BS in Structural Engineering from the University of Colorado. She has worked as a Structural Engineer at Bechtel Corporation, and Architectural Designer at Schwartz Silver Architects, Thompson and Rose, and Architectural Intern at Morphosis. She previously taught at the University of Michigan where she was a Muschenheim Fellow, and Harvard University. Currently she is an Assistant Professor at University of California Berkeley where her design research concentrates on the perceptual performance of material and digital fabrication techniques.
The 16th annual AIA/COTE Top Ten Awards is one of the best known sustainable design recognition programs in the nation. The program recognizes projects that address environmental challenges through design that seamlessly integrates architecture, technology, and natural systems. The deadline is Jan. 23. For more details, check out the COTE Top Ten Website.
Several other AIA Knowledge Communities have award deadlines coming up as well.
Jan. 17, 2012: Building Information Modeling Awards
Jan. 20, 2012: Educational Facility Design Awards
Jan. 23, 2012: Top Ten Green Projects
Feb. 3, 2012: Small Project Awards
March 12, 2012: Justice Facilities Review
