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by Dave Gilmore, President and CEO, DesignIntelligence

How do leaders react in uncharted times? Have they planned for the future? What steps can they take to preserve business continuity? …


by Bob Fisher, Editor-at-Large, DesignIntelligence; Managing Principal, Strategic Identity Practice, DesignIntelligence Strategic Advisors

Research holds great promise to transform practice for firms of all sizes. While exemplars throughout AEC have been building research-driven practices for years, many firms are still grappling with how they must change. …


by Dave Gilmore, President and CEO, DesignIntelligence

Authentic, effective leaders are front and center when it comes to functional collaboration. They lead from a collaborative posture, inviting multiple voices into the decisioning process... …


by Sandy Mendler
During this time of extreme income inequality and a growing political divide in the country, support for sustainability is challenged by what Alex Schafran refers to as an “Incomplete Coalition” — we have been focusing on sustainability now for a long time, and if it was a complete idea, if it was sufficiently inclusive, we would have the widespread... …


by Adrian Parr
Dr. Adrian Parr is a philosopher and cultural critic that works at the intersection of environmental, social and political activism. She is a UNESCO Chair of Water and Human Settlements and Dean of the College of Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington. We spoke with Adrian about climate change, problems of... …


by Mitchell Joachim and Vivian Kuan
Terreform ONE was founded more than a decade ago to find solutions to cities’ environmental challenges by merging education, design, research, public outreach and science, with a concentration on socio-ecological design. Mitchell Joachim and Vivian Kuan spoke with DesignIntelligence about their organization’s focus and how we can... …


December 17, 2019 | Adrian Parr
Dr. Adrian Parr is a philosopher and cultural critic that works at the intersection of environmental, social and political activism. She is a UNESCO Chair of Water and Human Settlements and Dean of the College of Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington. We spoke with Adrian about climate change, problems of representation, cooperative design and the impact the A/E/C industry might have on sustainability. …


December 10, 2019 |  Mitchell Joachim and Vivian Kuan
Terreform ONE was founded more than a decade ago to find solutions to cities’ environmental challenges by merging education, design, research, public outreach and science, with a concentration on socio-ecological design. Mitchell Joachim and Vivian Kuan spoke with DesignIntelligence about their organization’s focus and how we can all make a difference in designing a future that protects our planet’s living species. …


November 26, 2019 | Joël Onorato
As people around the world increasingly question our impact on and relationship to the physical environment, so too should those who design how we live and work within it. With thoughtful planning, collective efforts and careful attention to the life cycle of materials, sustainability in the A/E/C industry could be closer than we think. …


November 19, 2019 | Dave Gilmore
A curiosity of sorts is in the natural behavior of people placed into leadership when neither their skillset nor experience warrants the placement. Over the past 5+ years I’ve been witness to multiple misplacements into senior leadership roles only to see their organizations swirl into a choreography of confusion and misaligned activities. …


November 12, 2019 | Dave Gilmore
Over the past twenty-nine years, I’ve been an intentional observer, writer and speaker regarding leadership. The journey has taken me to large and small places, large and small personalities, and large and small thinkers. …


by Heather L. Wishart-Smith
A recognized leader in design, engineering and technical services, Jacobs has transformed its portfolio to focus on technology-driven innovations, helping its business and government clients overcome disruptive challenges such as resource scarcity, security and resilience threats. …


October 22, 2019 | Dick Thomas
The need for great architecture has never been more urgent, the challenge to creating it never more complex. At SHP we believe our mission is informed by three things: design, research and advocacy. For most of us, the value of design is where we were born. Research underpins the way we solve problems. Advocacy is the new kid on the block... …


by Johannes Kresimon and Doug Wignall:  
In 2013, HDR acquired TMK Architekten · Ingenieure, a German healthcare architecture firm. We talked with Doug Wignall and Johannes Kresimon about what they’ve learned in the years since the merger, as well as the health of the market, the state of talent and the biggest risks to the German market. …


by Brooke Grammier
When I first entered this industry, technology took a backseat to everything else. People were using computers to assist them in doing their jobs, but technology was not driving their daily tasks. Technologists were largely support, acting in a reactive state handling upgrades and repairs. We as technologists were not part of the business... …


by Juli Cook
As a network of creative professionals, we have the privilege to see the design process and its outcomes generate powerful change in the lives of our clients — from inspiring the next evolution of health outcomes to encouraging a greater sense of well-being and productivity at work. …


NOW AVAILABLE 2019 – The Industry’s Most Powerful Compensation Guide Just Got Better!
Since 2005, the DesignIntelligence Professional Compensation Report has been the definitive resource in the A/E/C industry. DesignIntelligence gathers information from the HR and business leaders of numerous top firms in the United States, allowing you to see what the market... …


by Hans and Michele Herrmann
In today’s A/E/C industry, collaboration between designers, builders, engineers and constructors has become increasingly more important. Buildings are more complex. Clients demand better performance. Climate change is placing demands on how we build for the future in a sustainable way. Costs, efficiency, liability issues and more-all... …


By Bob Fisher
Nothing could be simpler, more commonsensical: spend less than you earn and save for when you need it. Few would argue against such sound practices. Yet according to the U.S. Federal Reserve, in 2018 American consumer debt rose to just over $4 trillion, up from $3.3 trillion in 2014. And according to the 2018 North-western Mutual Planning & Progress... …


August 27, 2019 | Roberta Kowalishin
Our clients hire us for creativity and ideas that improve the way people work, live, and interact. Design decisions affect every component of the environments we invent through the creative process, whether it’s the massing of a building, the façade, the landscape, the interior, the overall structure the mechanical or electrical energy... …


by James Frankel, Partner, Venable LLP
Jamie Frankel’s career within the built environment continues to serve owner, architect, engineering and construction clients. We talked with Jamie about the sides of doing business …


by Nirva Fereshetian
Technology plays a critical role in what a firm can accomplish today It is now the framework to distinguish firms and their value propositions of enhancing processes to deliver more insightful services in shorter time frames. It has an impact across the board, including on how we do business development and recruiting... …


by Alexia Lidas
Foreword: In November 2018, one of Australia’s leading offsite manufacturers in the residential market, Strongbuild, went into voluntary administration. In response, DFC Australia …


by Janet Simpson
When I stepped into the role of president of tvsdesign in January 2017, I was only the third person to hold that position since we opened for business in 1968. Having been a leader at tvsdesign as a studio principal …


June 18, 2019 | Jesse Devitte

As a venture capitalist, I believe creating a more sustainable environment is an investment opportunity that is not only profitable, but necessary for our future. Our physical world is under increasing pressure, and not living sustainably now will perpetuate future problems. …


by Joel Pennington
Up until now, we in A/E/C have spent our careers working through a layer of abstraction—a two-dimensional screen. We design and build something that is three dimensional, but the 2D screen acts as the interface between us and what we’re designing. Removing the 2D layer of abstraction... …


May 28, 2019 | Ray Daddazio
Thornton Tomasetti is a 1,500-person E/A firm with the audacious goal to be the global driver of change and innovation in our industry. To accomplish this, we need to be ambidextrous. What that means is we need to focus on our current business and results while at the same time, make relevant bets to insure our future. …


May 16, 2019 | Jim Cramer
2019 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Design Futures Council! Over the years, the DFC has grown a very strong legacy of leadership and transformational change. DFC’s leadership in key trends includes sustainable design, technology, process innovation, management and design, and international practice... …


by Thom McKay
This is the first of a two-part exploration of how today’s architecture practices must transform to survive. Part Two focuses on issues related to people and culture. …


May 9, 2019 | Dave Gilmore
2019 is the 25th Anniversary of DesignIntelligence/Design Futures Council. To celebrate this milestone, we wanted to honor Jim Cramer, the organization’s founder, and Dave Gilmore, the organization’s president and CEO. In this piece, we’re talking with Dave about what drew him to DesignIntelligence, how he got involved, his vision for the... …


by Jim Cramer
Jonas Salk, creator of the polio vaccine and also my friend and collaborator, once said, “I feel that the greatest reward for a job well done is the opportunity to do more.” We have taken this to heart with Design Futures Council, and I believe this mindset has been the reason for its success over the past 25 years. …


September 27, 2017 | James Patten
The rapid development of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies is propelling us toward a world where an ever-increasing amount of our experiences are mediated by digital interactivity. As this trend continues, the task of designing our built environment will be as much about designing the interactive experiences that happen in that space as it will be about form, program, materiality and so on. The fields of interaction design and architecture will become one and the same, and we’ll need to work across disciplines and cultivate new skill sets to design new buildings. …


September 19, 2017 | Patrick Thibaudeau
Think about this for a moment. When the kindergarten students of 2017 are college freshmen in 2030, what will the world be like? Will they have a bright, clean energy well and a health-focused world? Will we have done anything substantially different so that they have a better future? …


September 5, 2017 | Scott Simpson
Every design firm suffers from the illusion that it is unique. While each one certainly has distinguishing characteristics, there are far more similarities than differences. …


August 29, 2017 | Carl Roehling and Troy Thompson
Editor’s note: Leadership transition/succession is one of the most important issues facing firms today. This article is the first of a two-part series on succession planning.

SmithGroupJJR recently completed a successful transition of the firm’s senior leadership. Two key participants in that process tell the story of how they executed the smoothest transition in the firm’s storied history. …

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