Description: The architecture business is experiencing its most challenging period since the real estate recession of the 90’s, when architectural and design work virtually evaporated. “Unfortunately the architectural profession is the proverbial canary in the coal mine,” said James Wright, principal in the Arlington office of PageSoutherlandPage LLP. “We are the very first to be impacted by any uneasiness in the marketplace. And what we have right now is so beyond uneasiness, it verges on catastrophic for the architecture business.” Architects, already hit hard by the sluggish residential market, are now reeling from the credit crunch and the slowdown in commercial real estate. As the front line in the real estate industry, architects often are the first to feel recession pains that eventually hit the entire industry. According to the AIA it was in October that the index hit its lowest point ever. The drop in billings is bad news not just for architects but also for construction companies, which usually see work orders appear nine to 12 months after architects. The gloomy economy already is leading to layoffs, even at some of the area’s premiere firms. The D.C. office of SmithGroup confirmed nine layoffs locally, while RTKL Associates Inc. laid off about 10 people in the D.C. office, just months after signing a new lease to accommodate its rapid growth. WDG, and the D.C. office of Gensler also have had layoffs, though they declined to disclose the exact number.

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