With airports an emerging market for NBBJ, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks "have left all sorts of unanswered questions," said CEO Scott Wyatt. "Security design requirements are going to need to be looked at.

"We had a number of projects immediately after 9-11 that got put on hold, for travel if nothing else," Wyatt said. "Like the president encouraged us to do, we’re carrying on with business as usual."

The slowing economy has taken a bite out of NBBJ’s retail and commercial work -- which has declined substantially, Wyatt said -- and corporate projects are down a bit too.

"Business has been different," Wyatt said, "and that’s the operative word." He said the 800-employee firm has been successfully relying on its diversity of projects, disciplines and geography to "unalign" itself from market cycles.

"We still have some strength in corporate and commercial in Europe," Wyatt said. "And there’s tremendous strength in China." NBBJ recently opened an office in Beijing, joining international outposts in London, Oslo, Tokyo and Taipei. The firm has six offices in the United States.

Other areas of NBBJ’s practice are holding up well, Wyatt said. Health projects are up slightly, institutional projects remain strong, biotechnology is strong in both the U.S. and Europe, and sports projects are holding steady.

Staffing levels over the past year have remained flat, Wyatt said, balanced by strategic hires and attrition.

When asked about the firm's largest current projects, Wyatt gave the impression there are too many to recall off the top of his head.

One of the biggest domestic projects is a high-end residential development called the Residences at Liberty National, on the New Jersey side of Upper New York Bay. The project includes a trio of 50-story condominiums with a commercial base, an 18-hole golf course and a marina. The firm is also designing a new football stadium for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Major local projects include the PATH headquarters in Seattle, Spieker Tower in Bellevue, and Schnitzer Northwest's Interurban Exchange development on South Lake Union.

Some of NBBJ's largest projects worldwide are in China, where "we're designing small cities," Wyatt said, including "huge" housing projects and a tower. "The work is enormous. There's amazing work going on over there."

NBBJ's San Francisco and London offices are collaborating on a $146 million biotechnology campus for Wellcome Trust outside Cambridge, England, that will include several buildings.

The firm is also continuing to do work in the Middle East, where NBBJ has been has been doing higher education work in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Eastern Europe and Russia also present growth opportunities, Wyatt said.