Is economic stimulus a success or failure?

White House officials this week defended the $814 billion economic stimulus package -- more formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 -- as a success, saying it's created jobs and put people who wouldn't otherwise have jobs on payrolls across the U.S. Others -- most notably Republicans hoping to gain even more traction by the 2012 presidential election -- point to the 10% unemployment rate as evidence of the Obama administration's failure.

So, what do you think? Has your firm benefited from the stimulus? Were you expecting more?

A gift for the architect who has everything

As frightening as it may seen, the holiday season is fast approaching, so here's an idea for those who are stumped on what to get that special someone: architecture rings featuring some of the most famous landscapes across the world. Among the selections available are New York (shown here), Paris, Moscow and Archipolis. The rings are made from a variety of materials, including gold, silver, amber, cognac, gemstones, platinum and diamonds, so we're not sure these would appeal to the bargain shopper.
What do you think? Do you know anyone who would wear one? Would you?

Attend the Hot Firm Conference free!

Have you been thinking about whether your firm can send anyone to The Zweig Letter 2010 Hot Firm Conference in Washington, D.C., but still unsure if you can afford it? If so, there's a way you can head to the nation's capital for free at the end of October and enjoy the best celebration of the industry's brightest stars.

Here's what you have to do: prove that your firm has the lowest office space cost per employee by sending your total employee count and firmwide office rent cost to our new headquarters: The Zweig Letter, 320 Rollston Ave., Suite 102, Fayetteville, AR, attention Mark Zweig. Time is running out to qualify for this opportunity, as entries are due Oct. 1.

Where's the next emerging market?

Fret not, firms without the wherewithal to take their operations overseas. There are still opportunities for work here in the good ol' U.S. of A., but the design and construction industry is becoming an increasingly international endeavor. There continue to be lots of ways to put your stamp on a project - public or private in China, and Libya looks like the next hotbed of activity, following in the footsteps of Dubai for a few years.

Where do you see the greatest chance of work in the next few years? Do you expect domestic activity to rebound or are you looking to foreign soil as the saving grace for your firm?

Will Gulf of Mexico ever recover?

Less than a week after the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and with the specter of the BP oil spill still looming despite the apparent end of the gushing of contaminants, the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Coast region was again at the center of the news this morning, when an offshore oil rig exploded there.

With hurricane season getting stirred up, this explosion couldn't come at a worse time for the downtrodden residents who are simply trying to rebound from two major disasters in less than five years. Will this region ever be the same?

Is there anything the environmental engineers in the crowd can suggest to stem the tide and rebuild the region?

This time, the Big Apple is the "second city"

AIA New York has launched its own architectural boat tour around Manhattan, following in the highly successful footsteps of its counterparts in Chicago, which datesback almost 30 years.

I took the Chicago tour a couple of years ago when our Hot Firm Conference was in the Windy City and was certainly impressed, as were many others on my cruise. Are there other cities where this could work?

ABI still struggling to crack 50

The American Institute of Architects' monthly gauge of design activity, the Architecture Billings Index, jumped almost two full points in July to 47.9, the second-highest score in almost two years, but remains well below 50, meaning there is still a dip in work across the industry.

“It didn’t move dramatically, but I think it is kind of back on track to the trend that we were seeing back in the first months of the year,” says AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker in an exclusive interview with The Zweig Letter.

Nevertheless, Baker says, a recovery isn’t looking as solidly in the cards as the pundits predicted earlier in the year. He expressed frustration with the up-and-down nature of the economic recovery, saying that none of his predictions of sustained recovery in the second half of 2010 have materialized.

When do you think the ABI will break 50 again? Were you predicting it would happen by now too?