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What I Learned at AIA
I recently returned from the annual American Institute of Architects Convention in Miami. Here is what I observed: Attendance was light but respectable. I noticed a lot of architect attendees from Florida and New York. There were 12 sessions about traditional building topics, including seminars on the adaptive use of historic buildings, historic community revitalization and energy retrofitting historic buildings, including the Empire State Building case study. The convention theme was "Designing for the Next Decade." Everybody wants to know what's next. The keynotes, seminars and tours were all aimed at answering this question. The exhibit floor was very quiet in the morning, while seminars were in session, but traffic picked up at lunchtime. Most exhibitors I spoke to were disappointed with the number of leads they generated but a few said the leads they did get were good. One exhibitor wondered aloud if architects were his best customers. Lately, he is getting better traction selling to general contractors and building owners. Another exhibitor stressed the importance of selling to the "team" of buying influencers (owner, architect, contractor) and getting in on bids much earlier in the process so that "the decision isn't just about price, but rather about the unique solutions I can provide." The overall mood at the convention was one of resignation and determination, not the usual trade show hyperbole. Even the euphoria about being "green" seemed less shrill. Clearly we are all battle weary and not afraid to admit it. Our challenges are real, both short and long-term. We are back to blocking and tackling. Everyone is working harder, doing more with less. Most of the seminars covered these topics: sustainability; the city of Miami; community revitalization; professional, multi-discipline collaboration and "what's next for our practice and business?"
SUSTAINABILITY Schools, governments and increasingly private developer clients see the green in being green. Not only is sustainabilty the right thing to do, it is also more marketable and even more profitable. Schools see green as a way to attract more students, cities more residents and developers more tenants at higher rents. The architect's approach to sustainability is more holistic than product-centric; it emphasizes good land planning, density, public transit, walkability and increasingly, adaptive use of historic buildings whose embodied energy is significant. Green building products are important but they are a piece of the puzzle, not the total solution. Architects are wise to green washing.
MIAMI Just prior to the Convention the AIA Center for Communities by Design held a charrette to produce proposals for preserving the Miami River waterfront, a "unique jumble of marinas, commercial fishing docks, freight terminals, historic homes, greenways and restaurants." This five-mile-long river bisects the city and was its historic birthplace. "What better legacy could there be for the convention than thoughtful plans that can be implemented afterwards?" asked Andres Viglucci. There is much more history in Miami than you would think. This point was well communicated in a presentation by historian Ava Moore Parks titled "Miami: Special Places Tell the Story" during the AIA Historic Resources Committee networking luncheon.
COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION This is good news for traditional building professionals. Two sessions produced by the AIA Historic Resources Committee covered this topic particularly well: "Preservation - A Sense of Place in City Design: Re Using Historic Buildings to Rejuvenate the Image of the City," and "Sustainable Suburbs: Preserving Planned communities in Queens-Douglass Manor and Sunnyside Gardens." There is a demographic confluence of both empty nesters and their offspring moving downtown. Increased population, rising fuel costs, improved public transportation and a lust for city amenities makes community revitalization, including the adaptive use of historic buildings, brownfield development, contextual infill and neighborhood redevelopment, a big market opportunity.
COLLABORATION There is no place for adversarial relationships on a project team when making great places. This includes building owners who disguise lowest price with "value engineering." Low price priority devalues product and service providers whose solutions save money over the long term and whose experience mitigates risk. Most important, collaboration spurs innovation, in every field, especially design/planning/construction, because it synthesizes creative thought into one forward motion capable of breakthrough results. Think of geese flying in formation, 3,000 miles in a headwind, without stopping. Their formation is aerodynamically superior.
WHAT'S NEXT? Education buildings, so many of which are historic restoration/renovation jobs, advanced 31% in May. Church construction was up 11% and office construction surged 44%. Meantime, according to a separate report by NAHB, housing dropped 17% in May. But NAHB economists remain optimistic about housing's turnaround in the second half of this year. A credible source at AIA told me that 18,000 architect members are delinquent on earning their Continuing Education Credits. Are they too busy or out of business? This number is commensurate with design/construction industry unemployment figures which are now beginning to improve. Architects! If you need CEUs come to our Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference in Chicago, Oct 20-23, 2010, where you can earn over 20 CEUs!* Doing more with what we have and getting along with less will be the important lessons of this recession, lessons we will not forget even as business improves. This is good news for traditional building professionals in our new "restoration economy." Recycling old buildings is what we do. Building new, inherently sustainable buildings the way we used to is what we do. Putting quality first, quality that lasts, is what we do. Working in downtowns and close in suburbs, where the historic buildings are close to public transportation, is what we do. No matter what's next, we play an important role.
Best, Peter H. Miller, Hon. AIA *shameless plug
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