Wednesday, March 4, 2009

A recession, Architectural Record? You don't say!

The latest issue of Architectural Record, the main publication of the American Institute of Architects, was titled, "Surviving the Recession: The Strategy Issue."  Usually, Record's covers are some high-quality beautiful photos or some amazing building or another, usually not in America, or if it is in America, in some huge super-edgy-design city like New York or San Francisco.  This month's cover is a bright safety orange with white, yellow, and black letters.

Oh, no!  Is there a recession going on, Record?  Did it just happen?  But...but your covers and pages have been plastered with amazing and glorious paeans to Pilkington Glass connectors and $400/sf projects for the entirety of 2008!  How can this be?  I rolled my eyes so hard at this that I nearly looked at my brain.  What of it that I hadn't wasted away listening to Ricky Gervais podcasts and watching "Ax Men" and "Ghost Hunters" was left behind screaming, "WOW, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS, I LIKE YOUR CAPE!!"

As usual, though, I'm of two minds.  I'm also glad that they finally pulled it together at McGraw-Hill and figured out that most architects and interns were dropping their glossy architectural-money-shot-parading piece of quasijournalistic solipsism straight into the recycle bin without a moment's glance.  Kinda difficult to skim the archiporn if you're worried about having a job or making sure your employees do.  I'm impressed that the question "Will young architect flee the profession?" made the cover, but not impressed that I can't really find any answer for it inside.  There's a 2/3 page dedicated to describing what some young architects, interns, and architectural college grads are doing right now per their self-reports on an AIA website, but I'm not seeing much else.  Granted, I'm sorta skimming the issue in my lap as I type.  (If any of you out there find a real answer regarding what they're referring to on the cover, holla.)  I'm also encouraged to see a good article on surviving and staying active as possible in the profession.  The first and I think best suggestion is to get ready.  Make sure you have references, write your resume and gather copies of your email contacts now.  Many firms aren't allowing people enough time to do a thorough clean-up/out when the defecation hits the oscillation.  

What strikes me most about this whole issue is that, even though it's the issue I'm most likely to read of Record, I'm not terribly interested in reading it.  Partly it's because I'm tired of being reminded of how shitty everything is in my profession right now.  I can look at my office full of empty desks and my 10% smaller paycheck and know that.  But more than that, Guy and I have already discussed what we'll do if I get laid off.  My resume is 95% ready and my image sheet is about 50% ready.  I'll complete them (maybe in the next week or more?), get the unemployment office to allow me to send out only three resumes a week (down from the typical five; many of my former colleagues have done this) and collect unemployment while I write one of two books I'm working on.  We've saved up a cushion that will fill the gap in my unemployment for about 4-5 months, without including the unemployment benefits.  We'll have to figure out COBRA and healthcare, but other than that , there's no point in losing my/our mind(s) over it.

6 comments:

Small Town said...

So current, aren't they? I especially liked the idea that we should all look to Shanghai and Abu Dhabi for work (Dubai is out now, even they're hurting).
The AIA is even better:
http://info.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek09/0220/0220n_navecon.cfm

mfrech said...

i couldn't agree more with your assessment of this issue and the mag in general.

did you happen to notice how wafer-thin the 03/2009 issue is, compared to the typically bloated monthly offering? it's 148 pages...and while i don't have any old copies hanging around, i have to guess they're typically pushing 300. i'm guessing AR isn't doing any hotter than the profession they're covering...at least they have plenty of too-little too-late economic advice. thank goodness.

Mile High Pixie said...

Small Town: Here's what's funny about the "Architecture 5 cents" guy--he's not even licensed, and usually the AIA gets their knickers in a twist about non-licensed folks giving advice, but here they are celebrating him. Hypocritical much, AIA?

MFrech: My colleagues and I noticed the thinness of this month's table leveler--um, I mean issue. Did you see the page covered in charts and graphs? Would it have killed them to use one more leaf of paper to give those graphics some breathing room? They were nearly indecipherable. Lawd.

xtine said...

You all don't pay for this, right?

Anonymous said...

clearly you don't live in ny where it is a bloodbath and impossible to live here for more than a month because most of us live paycheck to paycheck.....

Mile High Pixie said...

Xtine: my office pays for one professional association a year, and most of us have them pay for AIA memberships. As an intern, your AIA membership is around $150/yr, but as a licensed person it's more like $600+/yr. If the office didn't pay for it, I'd be hard pressed to be a member. Record is part of the AIA dues.

Anon: No kidding about NYC. I've heard that the cost of living there is a nightmare. I'm in Denver, which is high in comparison to most of the US but much better than most decent-size cities in the country. We planned well for this moment, but we also know that luck played a factor in our situation.