Bob Fisher of DesignIntelligence interviews Steve McConnell, managing partner of NBBJ, about how architecture and design firms can grow their relevance. Bob Fisher (BF): What are the best future opportunities for reinvention and growth for architecture and design firms? Steve McConnell (SM): We have to continuously reinvent ourselves to stay relevant. The challenge is to demystify what … Continued
With more than 40 years of industry experience, Tom Vandeveer—principal with HDR—has lived around the world, giving him both a U.S. and a global perspective in his work. DesignIntelligence asked him about the future of professional practice, how he helps clients to better understand the changes they need to make in their markets, methods of … Continued
An interview with Diana Davis, co-founder of Perkins + Will’s Innovation Incubator In 2015, Fast Company ranked Perkins + Will #4 among the world’s top 10 most innovative companies in architecture “For recognizing that designing for better health isn’t just about hospitals. Perkins+Will is one of the nation’s leading firms in health care design, but … Continued
DesignIntelligence caught up with Bob Hughes, Senior Research Fellow with the American Institute for Economic Research and DesignIntelligence Economics Fellow, to talk about the state of the global and the U.S. economies. Bob talked about what to watch for in 2018, the characteristics of an economic bubble, and potential disruptions, threats and opportunities for the … Continued
Examining the matter of retrofits within the larger scope of sustainability and buildings People who love buildings are all too aware of the intractable sustainability issues we confront with our existing building stock. They also know that the most sustainable buildings are the treasured ones we work to maintain or reinvent over generations. Beauty, innovation, … Continued
The term infrastructure means different things to different people, but for the purposes of this article I will use the simple definition cited in the Oxford English Dictionary: “The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.” Do note that this definition … Continued
Transcending Boundaries, Literally and Figuratively Architects like to think big, and they should. The designer’s job is to create solutions that reach beyond the conventional; to imagine things that have not been done before and then coax them into being. Indeed, the notion of thinking “outside the box” is so common that it has become … Continued
A Leadership Opportunity. A Call for Courage. There is a problem in the design and construction industry today: our teams aren’t working together as well as they should. Based on client and partner feedback and metrics, as well as my own anecdotal surveys and experience, inefficient teams are still too common. Recurring stereotypes plague us, … Continued
We all know that the pace of change is exponentially faster than it has ever been. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Yet it can confuse and cause all sorts of misunderstandings. Sometimes the speed of change ironically leads to management paralysis. This paralysis develops in some people an intellectual or behavioral hesitation to … Continued
DesignIntelligence
Bob Hughes
Leslie Billhymer and David Riz
Julian Anderson
Scott Simpson
Michael LeFevre
Jim Cramer