7 must reads for the AEC industry today: September 23, 2020

1. Snøhetta wins design for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library (BD+C)
"The facility is conceived as a journey through a preserved landscape of diverse habitats, punctuated with small pavilions providing spaces for reflection and activity. Set at the northeast edge of a butte, the landscape is preserved for conservation research while offering a setting for educational walks, leisure, and recreation."

2. ‘Lifestyle’ is adding new color to the select-service hotel sector (BD+C)
"In a new 14-page white paper, WATG Strategy explores the intersection of select-service and lifestyle. “This breed of hotels, when differentiated by design and driven by efficiency, is at once style and lucrative,” the paper’s authors conclude."

3. AIA/HUD Secretary's Awards celebrate affordable, accessible, and well-designed housing (AIA)
"Each year, the AIA and HUD partner to celebrate projects that demonstrate affordable, accessible and well-designed housing, proving that good design is not exclusive."

4. Air cleaners, chemical and UV treatments among tools to safeguard indoor air amid pandemic (BD+C)
"Office buildings can slow the spread by spacing desks at least six feet apart and by implementing a few ventilation measures including increasing outdoor air flow."

5. Tally-whoa! Sizing up the risks of construction lending in the COVID-19 era (Construction Observer)
"Construction lending isn’t easy at the best of times and didn’t earn its market “niche” categorization without financiers suffering some battle scars over the years. Savvy souls sign up to finance a complex, multifaceted process that’s often plagued with delays and cost overruns, among other issues — for a decent return, of course."

6. Could North America's industrial property market be recession proof? (Globe St)
“Although it is too early to accurately predict the pace of recovery, the US industrial market is well positioned to weather the current disruption, Cushman & Wakefield states in a new report."

7. Manhattan’s newest skyscraper is opening up to a dead midtown (Bloomberg via National Real Estate Investor)
"The first tenants at One Vanderbilt, across from Grand Central Terminal, will start moving in by year’s end."

The Architectural Billings Index measures the general sentiment of U.S. architecture firms about the health of the construction market by measuring 1) design billings and 2) design contracts. Any score above 50 means that, among the architecture firms surveyed, more firms than not reported seeing increases in design work vs. the previous month.