Charlotte's architects go back to the drawing board - St. Louis Business Journal:

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There’s nothing subtle about the deep hole designj professionals findthemselves in. Wearingy the armbands “takes the giantt pink elephant out of the room and allowss people to jump right into the aboutjob prospects, says John president of the ' Charlotte chapter. AIA is sponsoring the evening networking sessions. “The architects who were therd certainly saw that they are not the only says Kincheloe, a principal at . That’s an understatement. The last eightr months have been a nuclear wintetrfor Charlotte’s architects.
About 40% of architectzs in Charlotte have lost their jobs in the saysKen Lambla, dean of the Collegew of Art & Architecture at and an architect. In the he says, 50% of architectds are out of work. Even firmx with the international cachet ofGehry Partners, designer of the Guggenheim museukm in Spain, have laid off staffers. Online messagee board Archinect buzzes with job cutsat high-profile firms acrosse the nation. In Charlotte, an autumn and winter of widespreax layoffs have led to a spring of more With business delaying construction projects and governmeng facing seriousbudget shortfalls, demand for desigh has crumpled.
Commercial building permit in Mecklenburg Countydropped 55% in Apri l from April 2008. The droughtf of opportunities is forcing design firmss to alter fundamentally the way they do Simply laying off workers with specific areas of expertise such as highly technical laboratorydesign — coul impair a firm’s chancews of winning a contract when the economy recovers. Firmsx are trying different strategies to keep theemployeews they’ve got before making more painfupl cuts. At South End design firm , a roundx of layoffs in the fall cost six jobs and took the firm to 40 employeesin Charlotte, Los Angeles and Chicago.
When it appeareds the business wasn’t getting better by March, the firm turnesd to a system ofrolling furloughs. Employees rotate in and out of workin four-weejk blocks. Those on furlough receive unemploymenyt benefits while the firm covers the shortfall from theitr salaries to maintain their Firm principal Terry Shook says the furloughs have allowed the firm to keeploya employees, but it’s not a permaneng arrangement. Employees reacted positively to furloughs, knowing they are betterd thanmore layoffs. And at least for now, their incomes don’ t suffer. “They understand it’s a fungible deal,” Shook says.
“There are no guarantees for the , which designs schools, churches and some commercia l projects, has released 17 employees since That took the firm to 41 employeea from a peakof 58. The remainin employees and four partners tooka 20% pay cut at the end of The staff now works a four-da y week. The long weekend allows them to get a seconde job if needed and save the cost of commutinf one daya week, says Tom a principal at ADW. “Our hope is that it’s for a few and things are goingv tobe alright,” he says.
The problemm is that even though ADW and other firms have won new design work for public education facilities is on hold becausde tight state and county budgets havestalled “The contracts we have look great on paper, but it mightt be a while before it translates to paying work,” Carlson-Reddig Rob Johnson of says school jobs used to mean the plannintg work automatically led to puttinb a project out for bid. The state’a population growth created steady “We’re having to forcew ourselves to project further out in time when thingwswill happen,” Johnson says. “Schools are doing advancde planning only.
” MBAJ has had layoffs and trimmed salaries, thougj Johnson declines to provide specifics. With local work some firms are pondering whether to pursusefederal work, which is one of the few bright spot left. ADW has teamed up with a smallerd firm that has experience working a large military installations.