Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.  By Wilkinson Eyre & Atelier Ten
Source: http://www.directorsnotes.com/2008/03/19/gardens-by-the-bay-squintopera/

Singapore’s nearly complete “Gardens by the Bay” —a 110-hectare botanical garden with indoor waterfalls and a photovoltaic tree canopy—makes an important point about the state of 21^st century architecture. Today, buildings have a new level of complexity, and the integration of technology continues to redefine the way we design and build. In stark contrast to the new ways and means of architecture, our current project delivery methods, as well as the relationships between owner, architect, and contractor remain largely the same as they have been for decades. Architects deliver the same sets of drawings, using the same Uniform Drawing System standards established in the mid-1990s after the rise of AutoCAD, as well as the graphic conventions that predate the use of computers.

Well, not everyone.

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“Frozen Skyline[i]” and “Layoffs Sweep Architecture Profession as Economy Worsens[ii]” were the headlines in 2008. Architects watched projects put on hold, hoping for a more favorable financial climate even as projects in the pipeline dissolved. In 2009, one article listing architecture as the Number One hardest hit profession, described the situation: “it was the worst of times, and it was the worst of times.”[iii]

Four years later, while other industries have seen some recovery, architecture and construction continue to languish. The number of employed architects has steadily declined from 2008, currently resting at 70% of the pre-recession peak numbers. This lingering atrophy begs the question: will we ever recover to pre-recession numbers or will the current situation be ossified, permanently restructuring architecture as a smaller industry?

Last week, Yale University hosted a panel discussion on job creation, featuring Rick Levin, the University’s president and an economist, as well as distinguished faculty members Robert Shiller, John Geanakoplos, Judith Chevalier, William Nordhaus, and Aleh Tsyvinski. President Levin spoke about the university’s obligation to address the current and growing unemployment protests around the country, and how a discussion between economic thinkers on an innovative, academic level, might offer generative ideas to the dialogue at the federal level.

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