The Real Deal New York

From the February issue: During the building boom, designing residential projects became the bread and butter for many of the city’s architectural firms. Now, with residential construction slowing down, many firms are coping by embracing diversification. Large firms like Skidmore, Owings and Merrill have always had multiple design specialties. Yet these days, medium-size and smaller firms are seeking new opportunities by bolstering their practices in other areas like health care and education, looking for work abroad and sometimes even developing their own projects. Overall, the strategy seems to be working. A recent report by the American Institute of Architects forecasted that despite troubles in other fields related to real estate, job levels for architects in 2008 are expected to be similar to those from last year.