$1.5 Million Gift from RMJM Supports Integrated Design Program at the GSD
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Cambridge, MA (Monday, 17 March) – Despite the current building boom, many recent graduates from architecture and engineering schools are choosing to pursue more lucrative careers in high-tech and management consulting, according to The Society for Marketing Professional Services, a nonprofit trade association serving the architecture, engineering and construction industry.*
This dearth of talent will have major consequences for the construction industry, design professionals claimed today during the announcement of the $1.5 million gift to support “The RMJM Program for Research and Education in Integrated Design Practice” at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.
The program aims to encourage more architects to enter the profession by training them to integrate business management principles and a knowledge of advanced technologies with design skills to improve project delivery, client satisfaction, and their firm’s bottom line. This well-rounded skill set will enable architects to excel in business by incorporating an understanding of all aspects of the construction process, from commercial and economic drivers to environmental and financial considerations.
Dubai and China are most often cited as countries in the midst of a building frenzy, but forecasters predict a rapid building boom throughout the world over the next 25 years, from the United States to Kazakhstan. Large scale retail, commercial, and infrastructural projects are expected to be particularly buoyant.
“This program is about initiating the dawn of a new era for the architectural profession,” said RMJM Chief Executive Peter Morrison. “We passionately believe that tomorrow’s design leaders will be as equally adept and sophisticated commercially and economically as they are architecturally.”
GSD Dean Mohsen Mostafavi welcomed the gift: “One of our priorities is to facilitate transdisciplinary collaborations—both across departments within the GSD and throughout the University. The RMJM gift will help us promote such an effort through research and innovations in the area of integrated design.”
The program is being kicked off today with a three-day Design Firm Leadership Conference at the GSD. The event, which focuses on the theme of integrated design practice, is being attended by CEOs of major design firms from all over the world as well as faculty from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design School and the Harvard Business School.
RMJM’s gift will support advanced student and faculty research; the development of case studies and curricula for use at the masters, doctoral, and executive levels; and the dissemination of research findings through lectures, conferences, and publications.
RMJM is a UK-based, international firm of architects, employing 1200 people across its network of 16 offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, and the United States.
* “The Looming A/E/C Workforce Shortage,” by Kay C. Godwin and Karen W. Winters
images, courtesy of Jesse Mintz-Roth, MUP '08:
1. RMJM CEO Peter Morrison at the podium.
2. Dean Mohsen Mostafavi announces the gift from RMJM in support of the RMJM Program.
3. CEOs from major architectural firms and members of the GSD community attend the announcement of the RMJM gift.