LMN

Specialty: Architecture, urban design and interior design

Management: General partnership; George Shaw, managing partner

Founded: 1979

Headquarters: Seattle

2009 revenues: $25 million

Projected 2010 revenues: $21 million-$24 million

Current projects: Bexar County Performing Arts Center, San Antonio; Foster School of Business, phases two and three at the University of Washington; Calgary-Telus Convention Center expansion, Canada; Kirkland Parkplace mixed-use development; Sound Transit North Link light-rail station

Image by studio/216 courtesy of LMN LMN is designing the second and third phases of Paccar Hall for the Foster School Business at the University of Washington.

Some architecture firms have responded to the recession by narrowing the markets they work in. LMN has gone the opposite direction in that it is looking at how its expertise could benefit markets on the edge of what it already serves.

LMN partner Rob Widmeyer said the company has a lot of experience in convention centers, performing arts and higher education. It is looking for projects that combine elements of that work.

“We’re seeing what connections we can make with other similar markets or clients,” he said. “We’re broadening our perspective rather than narrowly focusing.”

Networking

LMN is honing the relationships it already has and networking with clients, contractors and peers to see what projects are out there.

“It’s all about taking what we’re doing and who we know and just paying attention to it,” Widmeyer said.

“Working with existing projects and clients and seeing what’s related and spending time on relationships.” LMN has been working with gc/cm and design-build contracts since the early 1990s, so it is also focusing on its experience there. Widmeyer sees these contracts growing, especially in the aftermath of the recession because clients consider them more predictable in scheduling and cost.

“In uncertain times, some clients are changing how they’re procuring projects so we’re looking for those opportunities,” he said. “I think we will be doing more, just because more is going to be out there.”

Widmeyer said LMN is nurturing and continuing to develop relationships with contractors. Design-build or gc/cm contracts can be really fun, he said, because contractor and architect are truly on the same team and under the same contract.

For LMN, revenues for 2009 were lower but not dramatically different from 2008.

In early 2008, LMN realized the economy was slowing. To prepare, it cut expenses early on and looked at reducing credit and increasing reserves. LMN also bought everything it would need for the near future, such as equipment and software.

“We kind of started early in making sure we wouldn’t be caught without the resources to work,” Widmeyer said. Nevertheless, the company did lay off about 15 people in the beginning of the year.

Difficult to plan

A few projects have been put on hold, but LMN has also won some big projects to make up for the gap. It won the Bexar County Performing Arts Center in San Antonio and the Calgary-Telus Convention Center expansion in Canada. The convention center was an example where relationships came into play, Widmeyer said, because LMN had already gotten to know the Calgary convention staff through work on a previous project in Vancouver, B.C. Today, he said LMN is trying to talk to people early in the game. “I find that we’re doing that even earlier than we had been.”

The company is also tracking stimulus projects and government work.

This recession is unlike any previous downturn, Widmeyer said, which makes it difficult to plan for.

“It’s very challenging to see where things are going and what you should do in that,” he said. “It seems like it’s going to be a slow recovery.”