Insights

Dave Gilmore, President and CEO of DesignIntelligence, shares insights, encouragements, and foresight perspectives as the built environment industry grapples with the effects of COVID-19. Today's theme is  "Pragmatism" ... Click for more

Dave Gilmore, President and CEO of DesignIntelligence, shares insights, encouragements, and foresight perspectives as the built environment industry grapples with the effects of COVID-19. Today's theme is  "Clarity" ... Click for more

Dave Gilmore, President and CEO of DesignIntelligence, shares insights, encouragements, and foresight perspectives as the built environment industry grapples with the effects of COVID-19. Today's theme is  "Leadership". ... Click for more

Dave Gilmore, President and CEO of DesignIntelligence, shares insights, encouragements, and foresight perspectives as the built environment industry grapples with the effects of COVID-19. Today's theme is  "Connectedness" ... Click for more

Dave Gilmore, President and CEO of DesignIntelligence, shares insights, encouragements, and foresight perspectives as the built environment industry grapples with the effects of COVID-19. Today's theme is "Resilience". ... Click for more

by Barbara Bryson, Associate Dean for Research, College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, University of Arizona

Barbara Bryson has spent years examining the importance of research in the built environment. She recently spearheaded a...

Dave Gilmore, President and CEO of DesignIntelligence, shares insights, encouragements, and foresight perspectives as the built environment industry grapples with the effects of COVID-19. Today's theme is on "Hope" ... Click for more

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...

TIDI003:  Dave sat down with Dr. Daniel Davis in La Jolla, CA and had a conversation about success metrics and how we ought to be thinking about data. Daniel is a career researcher with a love for architecture and design; he served as... Click for more

As we approach the end of the year, we want to pause for a moment to look back on 2019 and look forward into 2020. Looking back, what were the transformational forces at work, what were the big sweeping changes, and what are the implications for 2020 and beyond?

TIDI002:  Dave recently had a chance to sit down with systems designer and entrepreneur Alastair Parvin. Alastair is the CEO and co-founder of Open Systems Lab, a non-profit company based in London that is dedicated to digital innovation... Click for more

LaJolla, CA, January 15-16, 2020

The Design Futures Council is a meeting of the minds. We gather together to share our insights, challenge the status quo, and envision...

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.

Cambridge, MA, November 11-12, 2019

Minneapolis, MN, September 9-10, 2019

As we face many drastic environmental challenges, we hope this edition will serve as a catalyst to find the knowledge and understanding we need to connect surrounding these issues — unite together — and act.

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.

The industry is marked by myriad data points, some possibly relevant and others distinctly not so. We continue to watch A/E/C’s obsession with data: big data, AI data, modeling data, and more. 

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.

TIDI001: This Really Is DesignIntelligence
Meet Dave Gilmore and Lynn Barrett, co hosts of This Is DesignIntelligence. They discuss the major theme that Dave is watching closely in 2020 as he visits ... Click for more

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 DesignIntelligence
DesignIntelligence talked to Simon Carter, founder of corporate sustainability strategy practice Morphosis about sustainable digitalisation and his recent report, "Crossing the Threshold — A Primer for Sustainable Digitalisation in Real Estate and Cities."

The 1Q 2019 edition of DesignIntelligence Quarterly provides insights into authentic leadership to help you build a better business. 

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 DesignIntelligence
DesignIntelligence talked with Susan Heinking and Jake Pepper of Pepper Construction about new technologies, new ways of thinking, “coopetition” and how the construction industry can change the way it operates.

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 Jervy Zhu
GBBN’s Jervy Zhu talked with DesignIntelligence about the current architecture and construction market in China as well as the state of design education and talent there.

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

August 6, 2019 | Julian Anderson
Change does not come easy to the A/E/C industries, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t challenge our thinking about the best ways to do business. The needs of the present (and the future) are unlike any we have previously faced.

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 Bob Fisher
Irrelevance is the bête noire of professional service firms. In the past two decades, we have seen the rise of BIM, generative design, digital twins and other technologies that are fundamentally changing the design process and construction documentation.

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

by Dr. Nora Wang
In 2015, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research facility, conducted a study for DOE on buildings of the future and developed a vision framework.

by Mark Farmer and David Ronksley
David Ronksley—managing director of C2R Consulting (a DFC Australia member firm)— talked with Mark Farmer, founding director and CEO of Cast Consultancy, about the future of construction. This is part two in a two-part series

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...

by Troy Thompson and Dave Ferguson
A recurring question about any professional school is “What is the primary goal of the education process?” Are universities supposed to equip students with a foundational knowledge of a profession or are they supposed to prepare a student for practice and exploration?

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.

by Rives Taylor and Brenden Jackson
The design profession, in its many guises, is resolutely optimistic. For a designer, no challenge is so large that he or she can’t develop a solution that will both overcome it and enhance the human experience.

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.