Crunching the Numbers: Perkins + Will number 3 on Architectural Records's list of top 250 firms

It's that time again.  Architectural Record has released its 2012 edition of the Top 250 Architectural Firms in the U.S.  And, of course, quality doesn't always equate to quantity.  Studio/Gang, John Ronan, Tigerman/McCurry, Krueck and Sexton, and many more award-winning Chicago firms are nowhere to be found.

On the 2008 list, total architectural revenues for the top 250 totaled over $12 billion, 18% of it from overseas projects.  On the 2012 list, total revenues were under $9 billion, with almost a quarter coming from foreign projects.

Perkins+Will, at number 3, remains Chicago's largest architectural firm.  Its 2011  revenues of $365 million was down 10% from 2008, but was good for third place among U.S. firms.  San Francisco based Gensler, which has a large Chicago office, moved to number one by growing it's revenues by nearly 20%, to $764 million.  The former number one AECOM Technology of L.A., saw its revenue in free fall, at $445 million, less than half what it took in in 2008.  VOA, at 42, was the second biggest Chicago firm.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is new on the list this year at position 87, with revenues of $28.5 million, all but $1 million of which comes from foreign projects.  SOM, which has a large Chicago presence, continues to have a roughly 50/50 split between foreign and domestic, while over 70% of Goettsch Partners' (#111) revenue comes from overseas.  In contrast, the billings of Solomon Cordwell Buenz (#83) are entirely domestic.   Also making the list this year:  FGM Architects, Epstein, Wight and Company, Legat, Anderson Mikos, Chipman Design and DLA Architects.

All told, Chicago proper has eight firms on the list, with another five in the suburbs.  Gone from the 2008 list are DeStefano (disbanded), OWP/P (absorbed by Cannon Design) and Teng (derailed by their failed bid to become real estate developers).  Murphy/Jahn, which held down 72nd place in 2008, with over $50 million in reported revenues, has completely dropped off the 2012 list.  Of course, the firm is in good company.  Last year, AR acknowledged that firms such as Gehry Partners never respond to requests for information.  Pelli Clarke Pelli, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, and Richard Meier and Partners are also among the Bartleby contingent of heavyweights that never appear on the list.

Check out the full Architectural Record list here.

The Billion Dollar Mansion where No One Sleeps

photograph: Jhariani, Wikipedia

click images for larger view

Back in 2010, we wrote about how architects Perkins+Will and interior design firm Hirsch Bender Associates had become extremely shy when it came to talking about their new billion dollar, 550-foot-high mansion, named Antilla, they had just finished in Mumbai for the Ambani family.  168 parking spaces. Three helipads.  400,000 square feet.  A billion dollars.  You can appreciate their dilemma.

photograph: Shashi Bellamkonda, Wikipedia

From a PR standpoint, it was a no-win scenario, but as a challenge - and a commission - how could you pass it up?  Still, the situation couldn't be more delicate.  Or could it?

The Engineering News-Record is reporting that at the billion-dollar-mansion, it's Nessun Dorma, each night, every night. 

According to the principles of Vastu Shastra, a home's eastern side should have enough windows or other openings to let residents receive sufficient morning light. The Ambani home fails on that and other counts, reportedly leading the family to believe that moving in will bring them bad luck and misfortune.

And so, while in sunlight hours you will find Ambani's galore populating Antilla, the "21st-century Taj Mahal", at end of day, as sleep beckons, all the Ambani's slip away.  That's the story.  A family spokesperson demurs.

According to the just-published Forbes list of the world's richest people, Mukesh Ambani is now, at $22 billion, the 19th wealthiest person on the planet.  Just two years ago, in 2010, at $29 million, he was fourth.  He remains the richest man in India, where the per capita annual income is $1219.  In India, the Gini coefficient, where a larger number indicates greater income inequality, was 36.8 in 2004.  In the United States, in 2007, it was 45.0.

It's said that, as recently as the 1970's, the Ambani lived in a two-bedroom apartment.

Waiting for the Skin: 400 South Jefferson Stripped to the Bones

 click images for larger view

Above is the corner of Jefferson and Tilden in February.

This was the corner of Jefferson and Tilden this weekend.

400 South Jefferson was constructed in 1946 for the Newman-Rudolph Lithographing Company.  Architect Alfred S. Alschuler II's streamlined, Art Moderne structure slipped a bit of the Bauhaus into Chicago beneath the radar of controversy,  Set within a  near West Side commercial district full of turn-of-the-century loft buildings, it was an optimistic statement for a post-war Chicago that was actually about to enter a final peak flowering just before going into steep decline.  Now it's being skinned alive of its gracious, multi-toned masonry facade.  Late 20th century printing presses could thrive bricked up like Fortunato; 21st century office workers chafe.

Newman-Rudolph Lithographing moved out in 1966. Although the building would remain home to a number of other printing companies, its most famous occupant was the Selective Service, as seen in the 1967 photo below, courtesy of the Chuckman Archive.  During the Vietnam War, thousands of inductees were processed like cattle on their way to the slaughterhouses of Southeast Asia. 

In the last decade, the derelict near-West Side has again come alive as a primarily residential district, one loft building after another converted to condos or apartments, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel still has plans to reinvigorate it as a commercial district, as well.  Last December, he announced that 400 South Jefferson is to become the home to half of the Sara Lee Corporation, relocated from Downers Grove with the assistance of $5 to $6.5 million of taxpayer assistance through the Canal-Congress TIF.   Sara Lee is splitting itself into two companies, and we're getting what's currently operating under the placeholder name of MeatCo - Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, etc. The press release claimed a minimum of 500 jobs would be coming to Chicago, a number less than half the division's current employee head count.  Reports that a Mrs. Nellie Lovett of London has been contracted to manage outplacement of non-survivors remain unverified.

According to a recent Advertising Age report,  MeatCo is in the midst of a year-long process to come up with a permanent identity. Apparently Wild Onion Meats has already been ruled out.   Reportedly also falling away from the list of finalists are Dead Animal Flesh 'R We, and Beatrice.

Sterling Bay Companies acquired the 230,000 square-foot structure, on a two-acre site, in January of this year, and have entered into a long-term lease with MeatCo for 95% of the space.  "Sterling Bay began a complete renovation of the building, including: replacing the façade with a new glass curtain wall, installing new passenger elevators, updating all major building systems, and creating indoor parking for over 60 cars."  The city's Department of Community Development Report lists Gina Berndt of Perkins+Will as architect of the $30 million project, which should look pretty much like this when finished next year . . . 
[image removed]
(Note:  comments to this post from Proteus Group objected to not being credited in the rendering of the project.  It was presented at a public press conference, but we've still removed it.  Normally, we're more than happy to accept corrections, but the snarky, self-satisfied tone of their posts doesn't encourage humility.  Proteus Group is not mentioned in the official city document we cited, and Sterling Bay failed to respond to our request for the names of the architects for this project.  If you want to be properly credited, don't ignore our emails.  Or at least get your client's website to admit you exist.  The renderings there don't show your copyright either. And speaking of accuracy, you may want to fix your own website, which claims "Proteus Group focuses 100% on healthcare facilities."  And try not to be such pompous windbags.)