Especially during a recession, architects need to build strategies to reach new and existing clients and provide them cost-effective design and construction
options.
Three university projects, two of which contain green-building elements, dominated the most recent design awards presented
by the American Institute of Architects Indiana chapter. Of the four award winners, three involved college buildings: the
Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University, the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering at Purdue University, and
the Straw Bale Eco Center at Ball State University.
The most heavily utilized family of standard form contracts is published by the American Institute of Architects. However,
contractors routinely criticize the AIA forms because
of a perceived bias in favor of the architect.
Stock markets are falling, jobs are disappearing, and the outlook for the economy seems grim. Banks, real estate developers,
retailers and manufacturers are taking the worst hits, but all types of businesses in central Indiana are hurting. From health
care to technology, education to philanthropy, every industry is trying to take the setbacks in stride.
The owners of a downtown skyscraper badly damaged in a 2006 storm are suing their insurance company after it halted payments
on a facade-replacement project. The suit, filed April 1, accuses the insurance company of a “bad faith” attempt to avoid
paying for repairs to the 36-story One Indiana Square building at the northeast corner of Pennsylvania and Ohio streets.
Expensive suits and luxury cars are standard issue for most developers, but not for the owners of locally based Casa Verde
LLC. Three of four owners sport beards. They build only Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certified
projects. But don’t let the hippie image mask the company’s mission: Make green by building green.
With demand for welders outstripping supply, manufacturers, road and bridge builders, and other construction company owners
are all hurting. Despite a willingness to increase hourly wages and even offer signing bonuses, the search for welders is
getting more desperate.
