The great architect job chop of the last couple years has waylaid many a designer, but according to The Architect's Newspaper, the city of San Francisco doesn't really mind bogarting their jobs. The city's Bureau of Architecture has on its 65-person staff 27 architects— and of its 134 current projects, 70 percent are designed in-house. That's certainly nothing new, but small firms in the city are hardly thanking the city for handing its jobs to itself. Says an architect who works at SOM (perhaps not the best spokesperson for small firms): "...is it the right thing to have a public architecture firm, operating on taxpayer dollars, that has no competition? ... In any economy, you want to have architects that are competing based on architectural excellence and their ability to deliver projects on time and within budget." At least we can't blame all our job losses on the Brits anymore.
· Inside Job [Arch Paper]
· Foreigners Disinvited from UN Plaza [Curbed SF]
· No Stim for Architects [Curbed SF]
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