Small Firm Forum: Economic Impacts on the Office

Even before the Great Recession, the Architectural Office was evolving in numerous directions. In recent prosperous times we could see the impact of technology which reshaped job roles and the work process and product of the architectural office. We could see the influence of evolving societal attitudes toward workers, the workplace and the changing demographics of architectural profession.

But when things really hit the fan, other forces began to strongly shape the architectural office. Rent, insurance, a severe shortage of work, the need to preserve capital before all was lost, caused many architects to look at whether the manner in which the office was organized and run would aid survival or imperil it.

Please join us for an open, free-wheeling discussion of how our office concepts are matched to the times. Share your experiences and learn from those of others.

In addition to the hoped for unexpected insights, we also have the following learning objectives:

1. Learn what adjustments peers have been making in the size, cost and location of their office in response to a challenging economic environment.

2. Gain an understanding of what other architects have been willing to compromise in order to avoid changes in their vision of what their office should be, if they have.

3. Develop a perspective on the question as to whether changes in response to the cost of maintaining an office that is too large or too expensive have affective the product or our work or our standard of care.

4. Develop a perspective that helps us to understand what changes seem to transcend the current recession and which are due to it, in order to understand better where we are heading as prosperity or an improved economy arrives.

1/6/11

Small Firm Forum: Organizing Your Office to Adapt to Changes in the Economic Climate

Join us for a round table discussion on how office concepts change to match the times. Share your experiences and learn what measures others have been taking to keep their firms alive in today's challenging economic environment.

Time: Noon - 1:30pm

Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland

Contact: 510/464-3600 or Donald Wardlaw, AIA

Cost: None; this forum is open to all. Please RSVP.

For more information: 510/464-3600