A good friend from Disney Imagineering sent a list of trends in the architectural and building market. The list was developed by The Greenway Consulting Group.
During the same week another friend and president for a national design firm copied me on the following note:
Jim, In the cab en route to join you today. Looking forward to it. Meanwhile, it occurs to me what a potential serendipity between the Design Futures Council and mindshift might have. Rex, please hit Jim’s at www.greenway.us. You’ll be impressed with how Jim’s organization is dealing with the same issues we discussed yesterday.
Here are some of those trends:
Design-Build service delivery will grow at 2.1 - 2.8 percent annual rate in the US but with significant variations depending on geography and building type. This will substantially affect issues of risk management, since so many formerly competitive entities will be linked by contractual bonds. Essentially this is a “master builder” trend.
Integrated and more overtly collaborative professional practices can be expected in planning, architecture, interior design, engineering, landscape architecture, construction, and facility management. Project management will be enhanced through round the clock web sites with new procedures, protocols, and processes.
Talent shortages will intensify in architecture, design, engineering, construction, and landscape architecture. Supply-demand economics raises base pay by an average of 6.7 percent in 2007 and 6.1 percent in 2008.
The continued, rapid, adoption of BIM Technology will proceed with significant new training programs and expansions implemented in late 2007 and 2008.
Demographics and generational changes will alter the context for professional service delivery, creating a need for new communication plans, new marketing programs, and new design experiences. The generational divide requires new design solutions: 0-10 Digital from Birth; 11-30 Generation Now; 31-40 Generation X; 41-60 Zoomers; 61+ Prime Timers.
Significant process differentiation in project and design management will lead to trademark and branding campaigns. Design firms will use copyright and trademark differentiation as part of their new value proposition’s high definition.
Fast architecture models will be adopted by traditional firms. Speed is a strategic value proposition and firms will invent ways to deliver, proving that speed is not the enemy of quality.
Knowledge worker migration favors coastal, southern, and western geographies in the United States. Expect merger and acquisition activity to aggressively include firms in these locations where a workforce is motivated to locate.
Green and sustainable design is sought after by clients who are increasing the expectations for expertise and advisement in the design professions. Firms without green repute will become anti-strategic in the marketplace.
Strategic partitioning, modular structures, and factory built units will see increasing investments and are expected to play a far larger role in housing, retail, residential, manufacturing, and K-12 facilities construction. One of the legacies of hurricane Katrina is the accelerated growth and popularity of increasingly well designed modular building.
Professional workers from other external knowledge professions will enter the design professions serving in expert roles, especially in healthcare design, and education design. In addition, watch for anthropologists, real estate developers, and college presidents to join the boards of top design and construction firms.
Lifecycle design will become a dynamic new service offering for professional practices that will take contractual responsibility for structures over their useful life. Clients understand that taking care of their buildings is a smart investment and who better than the original designers to take responsibility for the buildings stewardship.
Generalist practitioners will fade from the professions. Interviews with 250 leading North American clients indicate that specializations will grow because clients seek:
During the same week another friend and president for a national design firm copied me on the following note:
Jim, In the cab en route to join you today. Looking forward to it. Meanwhile, it occurs to me what a potential serendipity between the Design Futures Council and mindshift might have. Rex, please hit Jim’s at www.greenway.us. You’ll be impressed with how Jim’s organization is dealing with the same issues we discussed yesterday.
Here are some of those trends:
Design-Build service delivery will grow at 2.1 - 2.8 percent annual rate in the US but with significant variations depending on geography and building type. This will substantially affect issues of risk management, since so many formerly competitive entities will be linked by contractual bonds. Essentially this is a “master builder” trend.
Integrated and more overtly collaborative professional practices can be expected in planning, architecture, interior design, engineering, landscape architecture, construction, and facility management. Project management will be enhanced through round the clock web sites with new procedures, protocols, and processes.
Talent shortages will intensify in architecture, design, engineering, construction, and landscape architecture. Supply-demand economics raises base pay by an average of 6.7 percent in 2007 and 6.1 percent in 2008.
The continued, rapid, adoption of BIM Technology will proceed with significant new training programs and expansions implemented in late 2007 and 2008.
Demographics and generational changes will alter the context for professional service delivery, creating a need for new communication plans, new marketing programs, and new design experiences. The generational divide requires new design solutions: 0-10 Digital from Birth; 11-30 Generation Now; 31-40 Generation X; 41-60 Zoomers; 61+ Prime Timers.
Significant process differentiation in project and design management will lead to trademark and branding campaigns. Design firms will use copyright and trademark differentiation as part of their new value proposition’s high definition.
Fast architecture models will be adopted by traditional firms. Speed is a strategic value proposition and firms will invent ways to deliver, proving that speed is not the enemy of quality.
Knowledge worker migration favors coastal, southern, and western geographies in the United States. Expect merger and acquisition activity to aggressively include firms in these locations where a workforce is motivated to locate.
Green and sustainable design is sought after by clients who are increasing the expectations for expertise and advisement in the design professions. Firms without green repute will become anti-strategic in the marketplace.
Strategic partitioning, modular structures, and factory built units will see increasing investments and are expected to play a far larger role in housing, retail, residential, manufacturing, and K-12 facilities construction. One of the legacies of hurricane Katrina is the accelerated growth and popularity of increasingly well designed modular building.
Professional workers from other external knowledge professions will enter the design professions serving in expert roles, especially in healthcare design, and education design. In addition, watch for anthropologists, real estate developers, and college presidents to join the boards of top design and construction firms.
Lifecycle design will become a dynamic new service offering for professional practices that will take contractual responsibility for structures over their useful life. Clients understand that taking care of their buildings is a smart investment and who better than the original designers to take responsibility for the buildings stewardship.
Generalist practitioners will fade from the professions. Interviews with 250 leading North American clients indicate that specializations will grow because clients seek:
- Deep expertise and competence
- Repute by building type
- Trust and confidence in a specialized zone
- Familiarity and comfort
Outsourcing will increasingly become prevalent and prescient, particularly in India where language and training match with quality expectations. India is second only to Canada in their application of LEED building standards.
Intelligent buildings will become the norm. They will anticipate, have “smart” walls and floors, and be constructed with computerized components that will utilize artificial intelligence in every aspect of the building.
Zero energy buildings will be created that produce more energy than they consume. Watch for corporate offices and high-density residences that serve as neighborhood power plants using latest in sustainable technology. Pearl River Tower, at 77 stories, is both office and power plant – giving back energy to the grid.
Thanks largely to BIM, there will be radical tort reform in construction liability. Expect lower E and O insurance premiums.
Intelligence, talent, wisdom, maturity of judgment, and vision – not licensure or technology, become the primary differentiators for design professionals seeking best practice performance. But licensure is critical to HSW in increasingly uncertain times.
Intelligent buildings will become the norm. They will anticipate, have “smart” walls and floors, and be constructed with computerized components that will utilize artificial intelligence in every aspect of the building.
Zero energy buildings will be created that produce more energy than they consume. Watch for corporate offices and high-density residences that serve as neighborhood power plants using latest in sustainable technology. Pearl River Tower, at 77 stories, is both office and power plant – giving back energy to the grid.
Thanks largely to BIM, there will be radical tort reform in construction liability. Expect lower E and O insurance premiums.
Intelligence, talent, wisdom, maturity of judgment, and vision – not licensure or technology, become the primary differentiators for design professionals seeking best practice performance. But licensure is critical to HSW in increasingly uncertain times.
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