Whether they are designing cutting-edge commercial buildings, mixed-use sites for 21st century living, or government facilities that must meet myriad and diverse needs, many architectural firms regularly engage structural engineering firms to collaborate on proper design and construction.
In light of this, Structural Engineer staff recently surveyed pure architecture firms from around the country. The result: Structural Engineer’s premiere A-List of pure architecture firms currently providing architecture services to clients with the help of structural engineers.
This list of 45 firms includes those with hundreds of millions in annual revenue and offices spanning the globe, as well as organizations with more modest revenue with one domestic office, but they have at least two things in common. To qualify, a firm must offer only architectural services and must routinely hire structural engineers as consultants on projects. In fact, 73 percent of firms on this list will be hiring structural engineering firms within the next 90 days.
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Economic drivers
This year, as to be expected, many architecture firms are finding that there is no typical way of doing business. In order to serve their clients, they are designing buildings that make sense from both a structural and fiscal standpoint. “Having a structural engineer that can design the most economical structure from the start is critical and in some cases can save many hours of value engineering,” pointed out Bettina Mehnert, AIA, LEED-AP, principal at Architects Hawaii, Ltd., in Honolulu.
Other architects, too, say pooled efforts can ensure project success when budget constraints are top of mind. “In general, I think we’re being really efficient in the way we design buildings [because] the structure itself is very efficient,” reported Vicki Piazza, an architect with the San Diego firm Carrier Johnson + Culture. Efficiency, pivotal in these challenging times, is a benefit for the future as well, according to Piazza.
That point is underscored by Bradford Perkins, FAIA, MRAIC, AICP, chairman and CEO of New York City-based firm Perkins Eastman. “While the world economy remains under stress, we believe most clients are looking for long-term value,” he observed, noting that he foresees fewer “trophy” projects.
By providing long-term value and efficiency, architects ultimately encourage sustainability and globalization, other hallmarks of today’s designs.
In fact, 22 percent of the A-List firms responded that they are pursuing emerging green markets. To that end, structural engineers can play an important role in the green, global wave of the future and contribute to many projects with efficiency and sustainability as major priorities.
click here to view "2009 Structural Engineer A-List"
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How to use the table Columns — The columns of data include the firms’ 2008 revenue from architectural services (in $ millions), percentage of total 2008 revenue from domestic services, and percentage of 2008 revenue for each market served. The column labeled BIM (%) indicates the percentage of current projects that employ BIM for collaborating with structural engineers. Seventy-one percent of the firms responded that they proactively seek opportunities to use BIM on projects; these firms are indicated with a † in this column. The column labeled Sustainable (%) indicates the percentage of current projects that are registered with a third-party rating organization (such as USGBC or other). The firms indicated with a ‡ in this column (47 percent) responded that they proactively seek projects that have goals of achieving third-party certification for sustainable design. The column labeled Emerging Markets indicates if a firm is pursuing work in emerging or non-traditional markets: G=Green energy such as wind, solar, or tidal; T=Transportation such as mass transit or port. Note — Data included in this table was collected from the firms during an open survey invitation during June 2009. |
Lynn Petrak is special projects editor for Stagnito Media. She can be reached at lpetrak@stagnitomedia.com.
