Second Major post: While times are tough, people come up with great ideas

from:http://architecture5cents.com/welcome/

In December 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research announced that the United States has been in recession since December 2007. Certainly the financial crisis has affected the architecture and construction field. The Architectural Billings Index, a key indicator of design activity, took a negative turn one year ago and has continued its descent. In January, it hit the all time low in its 13-year history. Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry’s first major project in Britain was discarded, making it the first big loss in the architecture field, of the financial crisis. When firms lose work, people lose jobs. World famous Foster + Partners, which have 15 offices worldwide, announced it was laying off about 25 percent of its staff, which was about 300 employees. Considering all these big names were affected quite seriously, we could imagine that the whole industry was undergoing a hard time. It was stated in Architectural Record issue 03 of 2009, architecture firms have cut 17,000 positions in the past five months.

While times are tough, people come up with great ideas. At the farmers’ market in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, there is something other than organic apples or homemade jam. A plywood booth which is built to mimic Lucy’s psychiatry stand from the Peanuts comic strip, titled “ARCHITECTURE 5¢”, was standing there. As you might expect, people walking by see the 27-year-old John Morefield behind his booth, will probably stopped by out of curiosity and ask what he is selling. Then Morefield will talk about his idea: “We’re selling architecture!” he answers. “Have questions about your house? Kitchen too small? Bathroom not working? Drop a nickel into the cup.”

John Morefield was laid off twice last year. There were no jobs available therefore he decided to go at it on his own. He worked at a farmers’ market selling fruits and vegetables when he was in architecture school and he loved the idea of farmers’ markets. And with limited money and resources, starting his firm in the form of a booth at the farmers’ market might be a good way to go. Architectural advice is obviously not a usual service to be found at a farmers’ market. And a nickel is also a relatively low fee for advice on such a professional field. However, during such an unusual time, Architecture 5¢ might be a good way to fight against the economic crisis. Charging 5 cents for architecture is only an impression. John is not issuing legal drawings from his booth. Paying 5¢ is just his way of starting conversations with strangers, or we should call potential clients. That nickel will hopefully turn a thought into a real project at the end of the day. Setting up a booth at the farmers’ market is just a way to publicize the idea and he can sit there and talk to people. They leave their e-mail address and he follows up with them.

He had this idea for years and there are two goals he wants to achieve, which is stated in his website: “Bring architecture to the people, get architects off unemployment and out on their streets engaging their communities.”

Generally people think that employing architects is something only rich people would do. This leads to the result that only 2 percent of the homes in the United States are designed by architects, according to Morefield. Most of the homes are done by developers and contractors and they mostly aimed at being economical and pay less attention to design. Many people find architects hard to approach, or they think that the scale of their houses or projects are too small and do not need an architect. But Morefield thinks that a lot of architects like him are approachable, especially at this time, while some of them are unemployed. A lot of the people he talked to have small projects that could be done a lot better with just need a little bit of advice. John is trying to change that and so that architects are designing homes for the more people, so there will be better designs everywhere.

There are many other jobs that associate with architects. Contractors, construction workers, electricians are all jobs that highly depend on architectural projects. Under the recession, they all need a job as desperate as an architect. When John talks to people in his neighborhood about architecture he probably starts a ripple effect that can impact his local economy. With his booth, 5¢ leads to a discussion. The discussion might result in a design job which requires a contractor and an electrician. Every decision made will lead to a series of job opportunities. Morefield said, ”If I can start as many ripples as possible in Seattle and assist others, like me, in starting other ripples in other cities in the U.S., we can start a wave of opportunity to carry us through this. The ripple effect is real and it will be a driving force in what fixes this economy. The construction industry especially—the more money that goes to construction, the more money that goes to designers, to municipalities, to suppliers, to contractors, to painters, to delivery truck drivers, to concrete pourers. The list goes on and on, and all those people take their money and buy groceries and pay their gas bill and buy new trucks.”

His goal is achieved by starting with projects that are all small but are relatively fast. For example, he had project that was budgeted for under $200. He gave advice to a couple for their condo, finalized some of their drafts and let them finished the rest. Later on, some people found him through some local media and finally went to his website with a design job of an entire 3,000 square foot addition for a house. They told John that wanted an architect, but they didn’t know where to look until they heard about him. John definitely provides a way for people to approach an architect and ultimately bring architecture to people.

Morefield’s idea has brought him attention across the nation. After achieving the basics, he wants to go further. His further goal is to take the booth to a national level and have “Architecture 5¢” in other cities. So far, according to the website, there are 3 other architects respond to John’s idea and started the “ARCHITECTURE 5¢” in other neighborhood.

What made John Morefield’s idea successful is his enthusiastic approach to the community. By putting himself out there talking to people might not be the most efficient way, but definitely is the most direct way of communication. From that people see his passion and ideas. Setting up a booth at the farmers’ market sounds easy but the hard part is to start doing something no one did it before while you are probably not sure if the idea is going to work. The recession has made John Morefield got laid off two times but also allowed him to transform a clever gimmick into an entrepreneurship.