by Brianna Crandall — November 3, 2014—As the U.S. construction industry continues to rebound from the downturn in the past economic cycle, a new report from the American Institute of Architects shows that design activity at architecture firms has recovered to pre-recession levels. Most firms have seen revenue levels at least stabilize, if not finally begin to grow, with gross billings at architecture firms increasing by 20% from 2011.
Key findings include:
- With losses during the economic downturn, architecture firms have become smaller and younger; 43% were founded since the year 2000, and one-third of those firms were founded just since 2010.
- Renovations of existing facilities account for a larger share of design activity than during the last construction boom.
- Nearly two-thirds of large firms worked on international projects in 2013.
- Over a third of architecture firms nationallyand virtually all larger firmswere using some form of building information modeling (BIM) for billable projects.
- 12% of firms are using energy modeling software for billable projects.
- 21% of firms have worked on one or more projects that incorporate resilient design strategies.
- Even with most of the institutional building category remaining in recession in 2013, this sector generated half of the billings at architecture firms.
- Within the institutional category, education facilities accounted for 21% of overall billings.
The full content of The Business of Architecture: 2014 AIA Firm Survey Report is available for purchase on the AIA Web site.
