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CANAL CROSSING T.Y. Lin International is the Panama Ministry of Public Works’ engineer and program manager for the Fourth Crossing over the Panama Canal.
COVID-19: Forcing Designers To Reimagine the Future
D
esign firms began this year with high hopes that 2020 would provide the tenth straight year of market growth. The emergence of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic in late February dashed those hopes. Now, design firms, like the rest of the U.S. economy, are scrambling to cope with the disaster and how it will impact them, their markets and the profession going forward. Taking a look back to last year, a rise in the markets can be seen in the data collected on revenue earned in 2019 from the participants on ENR’s Top 500 Design Firms list. Taken as a group, the firms had
IMAGE COURTESY OF T.Y. LIN INTERNATIONAL
How To Read the Tables KEY TO TYPE OF FIRM A architect, E engineer, EC engineer-contractor, AE architect-engineer, EA engineer-architect, ENV environmental, GE geotechnical engineer, L landscape architect, P planner and O other. Other combinations are possible. Firms classified themselves. Companies are ranked according to revenue for design services performed in 2019 in $ millions of dollars (*). Those with subsidiaries are indicated by (†). For information on subsidiaries and where each fir worked outside of the U.S., see ENR.com. **Firms not ranked last year. Some markets may not add up to 100% due to omission of “other” miscellaneous market
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a record total design revenue of $103.24 billion in 2019—up 2.1% from $101.16 billion in 2018. Market growth on the domestic side rose 8.9%, to $86.80 billion in 2019 from $80.55 billion in 2018. But revenue from projects outside the U.S. fell 20.2%, to $16.44 billion. But now, the focus is on COVID-19, which continues to rage with no end in sight. While most states and local jurisdictions have eased restrictions on “non essential” work, the lengthy shutdowns caused a major hit on the economy. This raises the question of what the business climate will be like for the design profescategories and rounding. NA=Not available. General Building as a category includes commercial buildings, offices, stores, educational facilities, government buildings, hospitals, medical facilities, hotels, apartments, housing, etc. Hazardous Waste includes chemical and nuclear waste treatment, asbestos and lead abatement, etc. Industrial Process comprises pulp and paper mills, steel mills, nonferrous metal refineries, pharmaceutical plants, chemical plants, food and other processing plants, etc. Manufacturing includes auto plants, electronic assembly, textile plants, etc. Petroleum includes refineries, petrochemical plants, offshore facilities, pipelines, etc.
sion once the crisis finally ends. As more clients are forced to allow their employees to work remotely, there may be some serious rethinking about how much office space is required to sustain operations. “There will be lots of people who have shifted to work, live and play more at home who love it. We will have to rethink what physical spaces are needed to facilitate life. The idea of essential work will quickly shift to questions about essential buildings,” says Curtis J. Moody, chairman of Moody Nolan. Thus, the demand for commercial office space may be reduced. The pandemic may also accelerate the trend toward healthy buildings. With the COVID-19 outbreak and the increasing concern among people about healthy residential environments, many designers believe there will be a change in attitudes in the residential markets, particularly in multiunit residential. Jim Harkin, senior vice president at NELSON Worldwide, expects a variety of new considerations to go into residential and commercial design going forward. For example, he believes “zero-touch” technologies, such as automated doors, voice-activated directories and motion sensor lighting, will become more in demand. Firm leaders say the COVID-19 pandemic will profoundly affect every market, how people interact and how firms integrate wellness at all scales. Designers are already contemplating the impact on future designs. “There’s an energy around reimagining the future workplace, future schools, future health care facilities, everything. We’ll see much more integration between physical environments and virtual environments,” says Shawn Basler, co-CEO of Perkins Eastman. n Power comprises thermal and hydroelectric power plants, waste-to-energy plants, transmission lines, substations, cogeneration plants, etc. Sewerage / Solid Waste includes sanitary and storm sewers, treatment plants, pumping plants, incinerators, industrial waste facilities, etc. Telecommunications comprises transmission lines and cabling, towers and antennae, data centers, etc. Transportation includes airports, bridges, roads, canals, locks, dredging, marine facilities, piers, railroads, tunnels, etc. Water Supply includes dams, reservoirs, transmission pipelines, distribution mains, irrigation canals, desalination and potability treatment plants, pumping stations, etc.
7/1/20 2:14 PM