Page 27 - BusinessWest August 19, 2024

ARCHITECTURE >>
Drawing on Experience
Architects Say Project Diversity Is Key to Weathering Challenges
BY JOSEPH BEDNAR
[email protected]
When it comes to thriving in the world of architecture, diversity goes a long way.
“During the pandemic, we were working on a lot of large single-family homes,” said Aelan Tierney, presi-
dent of Kuhn Riddle Architects in Amherst. “That market seems to have slowed down, but higher education is still probably about 50% of our work.”
At the same time, she said, commercial work has declined a bit in the last couple of years. “I’m not quite sure what it is between the economy or construction costs or interest rates, because they all feed into each other,” she noted. But at the same time, the firm has recently tackled numer- ous multi-family housing developments, both mar- ket-rate and affordable, as communities across Massachusetts continue to face an acute need for more of them.
In short, Kuhn Riddle, like many firms, adapts to what the market is offering, she added. “That has always been our strategy, to do a little bit of everything so that we can shift when the econo- my shifts.”
“I’m not quite sure what it is between the economy or construction costs or interest rates, because they all feed into each other.”
The situation is similar at Caolo & Bieniek Architects in Chicopee, where educational and municipal projects — schools, public safety, senior centers, libraries, and the like — continue to provide a healthy pipeline of projects, though Curtis Edgin, the firm’s president, doesn’t expect the flow to remain unchanged forever.
“That’s why we’re diversified, working in dif- ferent sectors. Some of that government money, as a result of the pandemic, has begun to taper off a little bit. But they’re still spending it,” he noted. “We’ve also got some commercial projects — healthcare projects, offices, that type of thing — going on. But probably 70% to 75% of our work is public-sector work, whether it’s housing author- ities or other projects.”
Kevin Rothschild-Shea, president of Architec- tureEL in East Longmeadow, said his firm con- tinues to stay busy post-COVID, with a number of multi-family residential projects and a growing niche in municipal work, notably a series of proj- ects in Holyoke.
Specifically, AEL has provided services for the city and its public schools as their on-call archi-
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Aelan Tierney says Kuhn Riddle Architects has long been involved in numerous sectors so it can nimbly shift when the economy does.