Speaking of bleak -
A year ago, 20+ year old Boston architecture firm Cubellis had 400 employees. Now they are shutting down. (via pale_chartreuse)
I get various newsletters from the AIA; one of them provides updates on the Architecture Billings Index, which is a way to sorta measure how well the industry is doing. Here's an excerpt from the last such email, received about a week ago:
Most firms see 2010 as another challenging year
by Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA
AIA Chief Economist
Summary: U.S. architecture firms reported progress toward an eventual recovery in October, as the AIA's Architecture Billings Index moved up three points to 46.1. This reading is the strongest since the serious problems in the financial sector emerged in late summer 2008 and points to further improvement in our index in the months ahead. Inquiries for new project activity remained strong. Firms report that business conditions in all regions of the country are roughly comparable, while those that specialize in the institutional sector have reported the sharpest gains of the sector-specific billing indexes in recent months.
The ABI has remained remarkably stable for the past seven months, reflecting continued slow deterioration in business conditions at architecture firms. However, the 3 point gain in October coming on top of a 1.4 point gain in September does provide hope that the profession may begin to see an occasional month or two of growing revenue (index scores above 50 indicate growth) over the next three to six months. Growing levels of inquiries for new projects provide more optimism that new project activity is beginning to materialize. The project inquiry index has pointed to gains for the past 8 months, and the past two months have shown inquiries growth generally associated with a healthy design profession. The fact that growing inquiries have not yet translated into increased revenue probably reflects that a larger number of firms are reporting inquiries from the same project.
Here's the whole thing, if you really want to be depressed.
And it sounds like my time at the current temp place may be ending at the end of this month, but I don't have a strong confirmation one way or the other (temp contact says "ending this month, maybe," but non-temp boss recently extended my badge access to April). Fortunately, it has paid well enough that I have been able to save up and can pay my bills - including the loans for that OH SO USEFUL DEGREE - for, well, a month or two, even if I don't have work immediately following this position.
ETA: Boss passed me in stairwell and said they're extending my contract as long as I want to stay here. As long as they've got work, I'm happy to stay.
I get various newsletters from the AIA; one of them provides updates on the Architecture Billings Index, which is a way to sorta measure how well the industry is doing. Here's an excerpt from the last such email, received about a week ago:
Most firms see 2010 as another challenging year
by Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA
AIA Chief Economist
Summary: U.S. architecture firms reported progress toward an eventual recovery in October, as the AIA's Architecture Billings Index moved up three points to 46.1. This reading is the strongest since the serious problems in the financial sector emerged in late summer 2008 and points to further improvement in our index in the months ahead. Inquiries for new project activity remained strong. Firms report that business conditions in all regions of the country are roughly comparable, while those that specialize in the institutional sector have reported the sharpest gains of the sector-specific billing indexes in recent months.
The ABI has remained remarkably stable for the past seven months, reflecting continued slow deterioration in business conditions at architecture firms. However, the 3 point gain in October coming on top of a 1.4 point gain in September does provide hope that the profession may begin to see an occasional month or two of growing revenue (index scores above 50 indicate growth) over the next three to six months. Growing levels of inquiries for new projects provide more optimism that new project activity is beginning to materialize. The project inquiry index has pointed to gains for the past 8 months, and the past two months have shown inquiries growth generally associated with a healthy design profession. The fact that growing inquiries have not yet translated into increased revenue probably reflects that a larger number of firms are reporting inquiries from the same project.
Here's the whole thing, if you really want to be depressed.
And it sounds like my time at the current temp place may be ending at the end of this month, but I don't have a strong confirmation one way or the other (temp contact says "ending this month, maybe," but non-temp boss recently extended my badge access to April). Fortunately, it has paid well enough that I have been able to save up and can pay my bills - including the loans for that OH SO USEFUL DEGREE - for, well, a month or two, even if I don't have work immediately following this position.
ETA: Boss passed me in stairwell and said they're extending my contract as long as I want to stay here. As long as they've got work, I'm happy to stay.