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Visit our website for more details about the a/e ProNet David W. Lakamp AIA scholarship for architecture students. Two prizes ($2,500 each) awarded each year. Applications and submission details can be found at the AIA website. You can also read our earlier announcement of the 2012 scholarship on this blog.
a/e ProNet client Peter Walker, founder of PWP Landscape Architects, will receive this year’s Urban Land Institute (ULI) J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. Walker will be honored at ULI’s annual fall meeting (October 16-19) in Denver.
Excerpt from the ULI Press Release:
Walker, whose career spans five decades, is widely recognized as one of the most accomplished landscape architectural designers of his time, forging the renaissance of landscape architecture as a discipline. The scope of his work is expansive, ranging from the design of small gardens to the planning of cities around the globe, with a particular emphasis on corporate headquarters, plazas, cultural gardens, academic campuses and urban regeneration projects. Exploring the relationships among art, culture and context, Walker challenges traditional concepts of landscape design.
“The thread that runs through all of my work is to make public space memorable, to make it the heart of the city,” Walker said. “You have to make people aware of the space so that it sticks in their memory, and it is important to the community. It’s not enough to just have open space. It has to have character and uniqueness.”
Walker was one of the chief designers of the National September 11 Memorial, “Reflecting Absence,” in New York City, which opened on September 12, 2011. His thoughtful approach to the memorial has been highly praised as reflecting both the collaborative aspiration of his practice and the public impact of his work. Other prominent projects include Jamison Square Park in Portland, Ore.; the Nasher Foundation Sculpture Garden in Dallas; Sony Center in Berlin; Millennium Park in Sydney; and Constitution Gardens on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
We congratulate Peter Walker on this well-deserved honor!
About the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development
The ULI J.C. Nichols Prize is funded by an endowment from the family of J.C. Nichols to the ULI Foundation. A management committee including ULI representatives and members of the Nichols family directs the prize program. More information on the prize program is available at www.nicholsprize.org.
About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute (www.uli.org) is a global nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has nearly 30,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.
Item contributed by Leslie Pancoast of a/e ProNet Member firm IOA Insurance Services in Pleasanton, California.
Congratulations to a/e ProNet client Dreyfuss & Blackford Architects for their 2013 Firm Award from the AIACC!
The last few years have been challenging for many design firms. Adding fuel to this fire, many firms are having difficulty obtaining payment for their services. In a recent and ongoing SmartRisk Survey: 81% indicated trouble with getting paid. Successful account receivable programs do not have to be time consuming or daunting. By implementing some straightforward practices, a firm can implement an effective program that gets invoices paid on time along with maintaining a positive relationship with clients.
Establishing Financial Expectations. In an initial meeting with clients, explain in a clear and concise manner exactly what your services will be and the value you bring to the project, along with clearly stating your compensation terms. Your communication should be clear in establishing the financial expectations with the client. At this face-to-face meeting, you will obtain a sense of the client’s financial capability and ability to pay for your services. If you don’t get that warm and fuzzy financial feeling, this is the time to walk away.
Contract Agreement. The boundaries discussed at the initial meeting should be outlined in the contract agreement. Include a specific scope of services for the project, associated fees, expenses and cost of additional services. In basic terms, the agreement should explicitly state your client owes you money for services you will be rendering. The agreement should also specify the terms of payment, including any payment in advance of services. Continue reading “Getting Paid For Design Services”
This week, 46 a/e ProNet members from 27 member agencies are expected to attend our annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Over the course of two and half days, twelve top-tier Professional Liability insurance companies will present to our membership. Each company will take this opportunity to announce policy form changes, new endorsements, and pricing expectations for the coming year; as well, they will alert us to industry trends surrounding claims and risk management.
Because a/e ProNet brokers are independent, that-is, not tied to any single insurance company, the insurance companies sending representatives to this event know that they are in competition for our business. It is in their best interest to make their programs as comprehensive and beneficial to our clients as possible. The companies attending this event include: RLI, Travelers, Victor O. Schinnerer, Liberty, Beazley, Catlin, HCC, Hanover, Navigators, Insight, All Risks, and AXIS.
Our Thursday night reception for members and insurance company representatives will be held at a new venue this year: The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Rotunda at the Chicago Cultural Center.
Our clients are architects and engineers, and we appreciate what they do today, as well as what they have created in the past. We chose the Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, because it is “one of the city’s most popular attractions and is considered one of the most comprehensive arts showcases in the United States.” In other words, it’s beautiful! A Chicago landmark, located in the Loop, across Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park, the GAR Memorial consists of a large hall and rotunda in the north wing of the building. The hall is “faced with deep green Vermont marble, broken by a series of arches for windows and mahogany doors. The rotunda features 30-foot walls of Knoxville pink marble, mosaic floor, and a fine, stained-glass dome in Renaissance pattern by the firm of Healy and Millet.”
If you have questions about this meeting, or a question about a/e ProNet, don’t hesitate to contact us. You can also find your local a/e ProNet broker through our website.
I love when the latest update from World-Architects arrives in my email. Covering projects and trends from around the globe, this e-magazine makes architecture available and interesting to the public. There’s always something cool to see. This week, it’s a game of shadows and light: the colorful disappearing act of Sydney’s Opera House, brought to the masses by URBANSCREEN.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/45835867]
Is your mind sufficiently blown? Thought so.
URBANSCREEN is based in Bremen, Germany. Established in 2005, their team currently consists of eight contributors, artists brought together from different disciplines representing architecture, music, stage design and media-art.
As URBANSCREEN notes in the World-Architects interview, “The majority of our works are homages to the concept of the architect, emphasizing a building’s features and extending the perception of its construction.”
Art feeding art feeding art. Check out the URBANSCREEN blog for more incredible videos like this one, and read the World-Architects article for an in-depth look at the artistic process.
Attention, Architecture students! We know how hard you’re working toward your dream career, and we also know the cost of your education is high. Have you applied for the David W. Lakamp AIA Scholarship?
The David W. Lakamp AIA Scholarship was established in 1990 by a/e ProNet, a group of insurance professionals providing risk management services to architects and engineers. It was renamed in 1999 for David W. Lakamp, one of our founding members, and a widely-trusted advisor to the design industry. Mr. Lakamp left behind a legacy of professionalism and integrity that set new standards in the field of insurance services.
Today, the scholarship provides two $2,500 awards each year, and these are bestowed upon the two students who best demonstrate strong interest in practice management.
The scholarship is open to fourth-year undergraduates and graduate students of architecture enrolled in an NAAB-accredited professional degree program. Submissions are reviewed by a jury panel consisting of members of the AIA Practice Management Knowledge Community (PMKC) and the a/e ProNet organization. Candidates must submit a copy of their transcripts, two letters of recommendation, and an essay on how they would resolve a project management dilemma.
The current application deadline is November 19, 2012.
Visit the education section of the AIA website for more information, as well as to download a PDF of the 2012 a/e ProNet David W. Lakamp AIA Scholarship application.
In 2011, two recipients were awarded the a/e ProNet David W. Lakamp Scholarship. To read their case study topic responses, please click here.
Questions? Please send inquiries to: scholarships@aia.org
On September 7, AIA Colorado North presented the 2012 Design and Honor Awards to several architecture firms at the Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder. We’re proud to announce that a/e ProNet client Arch11 came away from the night with quite an impressive haul, winning 5 total awards.
Honor Award for Residential: Large (Project: 2290)
Honor Award for Residential: Large (Project: Dihedral House)
Citation Award for Interiors (Project: Ignite!)
Citation Award for Residential: Large (Project: Lake House)
Citation Award for Single Architectural Detail (Project: Syncline House Sink)
Founded in 1993 by James Trewitt and E.J. Meade, Arch11 gained regional recognition for projects ranging from exceptional residences to institutional planning, mixed use development and product design. They are skilled at developing projects with ‘impossible’ sites, budgets and structural parameters, while meeting the goals of diverse clients. The firm works on projects around the country from offices in Boulder and Denver, Colorado. Read more at the firm’s website.
Congratulations, Arch11!
Lovers of architecture (and the city by the bay) will have a special treat this weekend during the 2012 SF AIA Tour. This is the 10th annual San Francisco Living: Home Tours weekend, offered by the AIA “to promote a wide variety of architectural styles, neighborhoods, and residences—all from the architect’s point of view.” Tour participants will visit “some of the city’s latest residential projects from the inside out, meet design teams, explore housing trends, and discover design solutions that inspire unique San Francisco living.”
And we’re excited to announce that a/e ProNet client John Lum Architecture has a house featured on the tour for the second year in a row!
The St. Germain Residence, originally constructed in 1959, is a standout on Saturday’s list. John Lum Architecture kept the “original spirit of the Bay Area modernist aesthetic, while updating and reworking the interior to create an elegant but warm space.”
San Francisco-based John Lum Architecture, founded in 1994, has completed over 500 projects. Recent projects include a vegan shoe store in Berkeley. We love how creative our clients are!
Visit the AIA website for complete tour info and ticket information.
Photo by Sharon Risedorph Photography.