WORK ON THE BOARDS (members only)
Firms Report a Recovery in Billings
Backlogs at below-average levels, but
increasing overall
After stabilizing in February, billings at U.S. architecture firms increased in March for the first time since last June. Over this period, the decline in billings was very shallow but unusually long, given the overall growth in the economy. Inquiries for new projects also continued to grow in March, although at a somewhat slower pace than the first two months of the year.

Historic Preservation Advocates Fight Funding Cuts
Preservation advocates are urging lawmakers to fund adequately the initiatives they say bring economic development and tourism dollars, housing options, and collaborative partnerships to communities nationwide. These initiatives, one state historian said, serve in many ways as a “teaching laboratory” for architects.

School Building Day Highlights Safe, Healthy Facilities
D.C. public school students pitched their energy-efficient school building plans to a professional architecture jury last week, incorporating with abandon technologically advanced designs, as well as elements of whimsy and convenience, such as a skateboard park and escalators. Guided by architecture students from Howard University and the University of Maryland, the middle schoolers designed their own ideal learning environments as a part of School Building Day, a program sponsored by the Council of Educational Facilities Planners International (CEFPI), the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Rebuild America program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and more than 40 organizations, including the AIA.

Poll: What Do You Think About Communication and the AIA?
Please share your views on these eight questions
Grassroots Leadership Conference participants expressed their opinions on six topics—architecture education, financial realignment, the profession, communications, knowledge, and membership—during the annual Issues Forum, March 10, in Washington, D.C. Now it’s your turn. Please respond to these eight questions about the fourth topic: communications. AIArchitect will run polls of the other topics, tally the results, and share them in our convention issue, May 9. See also comments from past polls.

2003 AIA/HUD Secretary’s Awards Program Honors Three Facets of Good Design
The 2003 AIA/HUD Secretary's Housing and Design Awards program chose three projects as this year’s exemplary models of residential, community, and accessible-housing design. The joint program, created by the AIA Center for Livable Communities and the AIA Housing Professional Interest Area in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, honored a mixed-use space supporting 322 rental units, an outdoor classroom on a freshwater pond, and an accessible independent-living complex for people with spinal injuries. The program reflects the collaboration between the Institute and federal government agencies to highlight the best in residential design and call attention to the importance of architecture in cities and communities across America. The winners will be honored at the AIA convention in San Diego.

Your Kiplinger Connection (members only)
AIArchitect links members to three stories a week from the pages of the renowned Kiplinger Letter. (Nonmembers may subscribe to The Kiplinger Letter.)
The Home Front: Attention is returning with a vengeance to domestic issues, look for some tax cuts, a boost to the economy through highway funds, and airport improvements. Security: Terror insurance market stabilizing, clients are looking for business-continuity planning. U.S. Economy: Interest-rate cut possible in May, then increases likely later in the year; housing market should remain strong, though down from 2002.

PROJECT WATCH
Millennium Pharmaceuticals Named Lab of the Year
R&D Magazine recently awarded the 2003 Laboratory of the Year Award to Elkus/Manfredi for their design of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a new laboratory and office facility in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s University Park, Cambridge, Mass. The seven-story, 220,000-square-foot building actually was two projects in one for the architects. Its center core and shell function as a build-to-suit office facility and was built for the Forest City Commercial Group, the developers of University Park. The architects designed the interior fit-out for the building with Millennium as a client. Its spaces include program-specific laboratories and offices for the company. The awards program, now in its 37th year, judges laboratories on such criteria as ergonomics, ability to foster research, safety, productivity, and aesthetics. R&D Magazine will feature Millennium Pharmaceuticals as its May cover story. (Photo ©Justin Maconochie, 2002)

Need to catch up on recent editions of AIArchitect This Week?
March 24 | March 31 | April 7 | April 14

BEST PRACTICES (members only)
New Firms Grow With a Marketing Plan
Firms that succeed often start with a single project, be it from a friend, relative, well-satisfied client from a previous job, or a benevolent former employer. To keep going, though, firm principals need to know where they want to go and how they intend to get there. In their new Architect’s Essentials of Starting a Design Firm, Peter Piven, FAIA, and Bradford Perkins, FAIA, discuss building a business development program.

Convention Programs Help Hone Your Skills for Building Livable Communities
Resolve to learn more about creating livable communities while you attend the AIA convention, which takes place May 8–10 in San Diego this year. Among the learning activities you can choose are “Embracing the Future: Community Visioning Training for Architects” (a half-day pre-convention workshop on May 7) and two convention seminars: “Taking a Stand for Better Design: Architects as Advocates” and “The Legal Limits on Design: Land Use Law for Architects.”

The McGraw-Hill Companies Sponsor Homeland Security Summit Exposition
Four-tracked May 14–16 event to take place in Arlington, Va.
The McGraw-Hill Companies’ Homeland Security Summit and Exposition will provide architects and engineers a forum through which to discover steps they must take to secure the built environment and understand how to address interdependent factors such as insurance costs, building codes, and calculating risk. Conference programs will run in four concurrent tracks: aviation, transportation, and national defense; business and economic security; architecture and construction; energy, utilities, and natural resources. Among the many distinguished speakers are: former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and RTKL Chairman Harold L. Adams, FAIA, RIBA, JIA. Click here for roster of speakers. Get more information or register today.

Reminder: Health-Care Facility Awards Entries Due
Entries are due May 30 for the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health and Modern Healthcare magazine’s 18th annual Design Awards program, recognizing excellence in the design and planning of new and remodeled health-care facilities. The program invites all registered architects to participate and accepts submissions of all types and sizes of patient-care-related facilities. Winners will be recognized in the October 6 issue of Modern Healthcare and at an awards ceremony in Denver on November 20. For more information, contact Brenda Stewart, 312-649-5499 or bstewart@crain.com. For entry and submission forms, visit modernhealthcare.com.

AIA Career Center
Here are this week’s featured opportunities: Architect, Alpha One, South Portland, Me. | Architect, ATI Architects and Engineers, Roseville, CA | Development Manager/NY-NJ, Big Wave Recruiting | Healthcare Architect, HLM Design, Denver, CO | Healthcare Architect/Project Manager, Thomas, Miller & Partners, LLC, Brentwood, TN | Intermediate Project Architects/Designers, Perkins & Will, Inc., Los Angeles | Job Captain, OJMR-Architects, Inc., Los Angeles | Manager, Specifications, URS Corporation, Columbus, OH | Northeast Territory Sales Manager, Interstate Brick | Project Architect, Brown Design Associates, Holdrege, NE | Project Architect/Manager, Retail/Shopping Center, architectfinders, inc., Texas | Project Architect, Popham Walter Architects, Lagos, Nigeria | Project Architect/Production Manager, Blankenship McMillen Architects, Longwood, FL | Project Architect, Topsider Building Systems, Inc., Clemmons, NC | Project Manager/Architect, Oliver-Glidden-Spina & Partners, West Palm Beach, FL | Project Manager/Intern, Thomas, Miller & Partners, LLC, Brentwood, TN | Urban Designer, City of Santa Monica, Santa Monica, Calif. Visit the AIA Career Center for a full list openings.

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