Business Is Down, But Quality Is Up
ing a recession, architects are like lawns during a drought--they are the first to feel the heat.
In the current building slowdown, in no small part caused by the national savings and loans crisis, many local architecture firms, both large and small, report business down anywhere from 10% to 40%.
Besides the S&L; shakeout, which has put many lenders out of business and made survivors extremely conservative with loans, other forces are at work, including a new-home market hit by slow sales, dropping prices and a push for slower growth.
Big redevelopment projects planned for downtown, such as Tyson Plaza, Roger Morris Plaza, The Courtyard, and One Pacific Plaza--all high-rises--are on hold, and some may die unless financing becomes available.
New home sales are down by about a third, according to industry analysts. Architects who relied heavily on tract work are looking elsewhere.
But the conservative climate for development offers at least a few causes for optimism.
For one thing, with the banks being picky, developers can’t get financing for just any speculative project. Lenders are looking for solid investments. Some of the flimsy, whimsical designs that were passable during the 1980s building boom won’t fly now.
“The flaky projects just aren’t going anywhere,” said architect Ralph Roesling, a partner in RNP Architecture & Planning. “Banks are being very careful about who they loan to, which tends to make for better-quality development.”
With tract housing slower than at any point during the last 10 years, city planners will have time to assess their handiwork.
They will find, with few exceptions, that the new San Diego neighborhoods are packed with row upon row of bland houses, laid in master plans that offer little in open space, well-designed parks, energy conservation or pedestrian friendliness.
With building limits and weak markets reducing suburban tract action, developers are either leaving town or turning to the city’s core.
Home builders such as Davidson Communities and Shea Homes, which made their mark in suburbia during the past decade, now have big residential development plans downtown.
The increased competition should enhance the quality of in-fill projects, and the idea of in-filling instead of building in suburbia is just in time.
Building housing in urban areas, which already have the infrastructure to support new development is a logical antidote to the crowded freeways and fouled air produced by suburbia.
As a result of the economy, many local architects are taking on projects they haven’t tackled in years; even the best architects can benefit from trying something different.
“We’ve been going more towards institutional and university work,” said Bob Davis, director of design at BSHA, which has diversified from a workload once heavy on speculative office buildings. Among BSHA’s projects are planning work on the San Diego State University and UC San Diego campuses.
Hope Architects & Engineers is trying to develop a new market in entertainment, such as the 7-acre amusement park the company has designed for the center of a giant shopping mall in downtown Minneapolis.
As more firms diversify, they can’t help but learn skills they can apply to assorted other projects. Creating an entertaining environment in a large amusement park might teach an architect how to add life and color to a shopping mall or housing tract.
Other top local firms are finding that certain less-glamorous buildings offer a chance to make a big difference in society.
“We’ve been doing more schools,” said Roesling, whose company recently designed a new science lab for La Jolla High School. “When you think of all the kids who use a building like that during its life, it’s a pretty important building type.”
Custom homes and remodels are back as mainstays for architects who wouldn’t touch them when larger projects were easy to land. This could mean better designs in many San Diego neighborhoods.
“A couple of years ago, we didn’t have time for custom homes,” Naegle said.
With a little more time on their hands, some architects believe they are turning out better work.
“I’m almost enjoying it more now,” said Jim Galvin, a partner in Galvin Cristilli Architects. “We’re working more closely with clients on smaller projects.”
Conservative bankers can have a beneficial impact, according to Galvin.
“Six years ago, a client would come in and say, ‘What’s the most I can fit on this property,’ and we’d try for that. Now our approach--and this is what I most enjoy--is we can look at things from a quality of life standpoint: How can we create the best quality of life for four people buying houses in a small condominium project?
“Cramming too much onto the property destroys the neighborhood, and the construction cost is too high for the value the developer gets out of it. Smaller units are simpler to build, and they leave more open space on site.”
Competition is fierce among architects for available work.
“It reminds me a lot of what happened in Denver in 1982 or 1983, when the oil business took a dive,” Davis said. “The minute it gets more competitive, developers want more free work.” Knowing that architects are hungry, some clients expect to see sketches up front, before they pay a dime.
This may be bad for architects’ self-esteem and cash flows, but the competition is bound to press them toward greater creativity.
“The challenge of the ‘90s is going to be working with very limited budgets and making the meat of the architecture, the spatial qualities, great, as opposed to just covering a building with expensive materials like sandstone and granite,” Roesling said.
DESIGN NOTES: Ten students received bachelor of architecture degrees in ceremonies June 16 at the Salk Institute. Dr. Jonas Salk, the featured speaker, received an honorary degree. . . .
Lyman Shepard, a native of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park, Ill., neighborhood, gives his dramatic impression of the master today at 8 p.m. and Saturday at noon in the John M. and Sally B. Thornton Rotunda at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park.
