Regional and Urban Design Committee

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The future of the architecture firm: Big or Small?

  • 1.  The future of the architecture firm: Big or Small?

    Posted 09-26-2014 05:18 PM
    This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Project Delivery and Regional and Urban Design Committee .
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    Friday, September 26, 2014

    Firms: Is Small Beautiful but Big Better?

    "Those professions that do not change will render themselves obsolete,"  "Those that are able to transform themselves - and I mean 'transform' - will thrive and prosper." Dr Frank Shaw, foresight director at the Centre for Future Studies.
    Last week at the American Institute's "Knowledge Leadership Assembly" (KLA), the Small Firm Roundtable group told their story of feeling neglected by AIA, of taking matters into their own hands and have stunning success in gathering both members and financial support for their group. The vast majority of AIA member firms are small, especially under the Roundtable's definition: "if you wear more than one hat in your firm, then you are small." (21% of architects are self employed, three times the national average for all professions, 25% of all architecture firms are sole practitioners and 75% have less than 50 employees). I can't even count the hats I wear, and never was it questioned that my firm was small, but is this prevailing smallness of architecture firms a plus or a sign of times gone by?
    US Merger Mania picking up again
    The week when KLA gathered in Minneapolis the latest acquisition by architecture/engineering..... 
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    Klaus Philipsen FAIA
    Archplan Inc. Philipsen Architects
    Baltimore MD
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    Friday, September 26, 2014

    Firms: Is Small Beautiful but Big Better?

    "Those professions that do not change will render themselves obsolete,"  "Those that are able to transform themselves - and I mean 'transform' - will thrive and prosper." Dr Frank Shaw, foresight director at the Centre for Future Studies.
    Last week at the American Institute's "Knowledge Leadership Assembly" (KLA), the Small Firm Roundtable group told their story of feeling neglected by AIA, of taking matters into their own hands and have stunning success in gathering both members and financial support for their group. The vast majority of AIA member firms are small, especially under the Roundtable's definition: "if you wear more than one hat in your firm, then you are small." (21% of architects are self employed, three times the national average for all professions, 25% of all architecture firms are sole practitioners and 75% have less than 50 employees). I can't even count the hats I wear, and never was it questioned that my firm was small, but is this prevailing smallness of architecture firms a plus or a sign of times gone by?
    US Merger Mania picking up again
    The week when KLA gathered in Minneapolis the latest acquisition by architecture/engineering 

    Friday, September 26, 2014

    Firms: Is Small Beautiful but Big Better?

    "Those professions that do not change will render themselves obsolete,"  "Those that are able to transform themselves - and I mean 'transform' - will thrive and prosper." Dr Frank Shaw, foresight director at the Centre for Future Studies.
    Last week at the American Institute's "Knowledge Leadership Assembly" (KLA), the Small Firm Roundtable group told their story of feeling neglected by AIA, of taking matters into their own hands and have stunning success in gathering both members and financial support for their group. The vast majority of AIA member firms are small, especially under the Roundtable's definition: "if you wear more than one hat in your firm, then you are small." (21% of architects are self employed, three times the national average for all professions, 25% of all architecture firms are sole practitioners and 75% have less than 50 employees). I can't even count the hats I wear, and never was it questioned that my firm was small, but is this prevailing smallness of architecture firms a plus or a sign of times gone by?
    US Merger Mania picking up again
    The week when KLA gathered in Minneapolis the latest acquisition by architecture/engineering 


  • 2.  RE: The future of the architecture firm: Big or Small?

    Posted 09-29-2014 10:44 PM
    This is a wonderful exploration of the of the unusual economies of a profession that supports very small and very large professional venues in the still same profession.. The crossovers suggested demonstrate to me that the profession regardless of size practices on the same lines. Driving a truck is akin to driving a compact car. My point of view may be oversimplified, but in recent decades building projects have progressively grown larger. Not all projects, but the scale and complexity of urban developments today is trending upward and outward. The firms needed for the mega projects are growing in concert. Low and behold, there are still smaller projects for smaller organizations and sole practitioners as we'll. In the midst, strengthening connections and sharing knowledge amongst all is the healthiest trend in the profession. Allen E Neyman Rockville, MD -------------------------------------------