6 must reads for the AEC industry today: May 4, 2020

1. To reopen successfully, hotels need to demonstrate safety (BD+C)
"Leaving aside the question of why it took a pandemic for Marriott to realize its cleanliness standards needed improving, the plan illustrates how all hoteliers will need to regain guests’ confidence that their properties are safe enough to stay in again without fear of viral infection."

2. How working from home is influencing design (CsllisonRTKL Blog)
"The lessons learned in the next few months can help shape how we work and design in the future. For now, remote work is different – and our new normal."

3. New York expands prevailing wage law (BD+C)
"New York State has expanded it prevailing wage law to include private projects worth $5 million or more and that have received public subsidies of at least 30% of total construction costs."

4. The Future Of DFW Office Is Touchless Entry And Germ-Free. What The Near Future Is Not: Spec Building (Bisnow)
"When the coronavirus crisis ends, building owners with newer assets armed with germ-fighting technologies are most equipped to succeed in the new normal, DFW developers Bill Cawley and Bill Brokaw say."

5. The Pandemic May Mean the End of the Open-Floor Office (New York Times)
"As businesses contemplate the return of workers to their desks, many are considering large and small changes to the modern workplace culture and trappings."

6. The Los Angeles market continue to lead the U.S. hotel construction pipeline at the close of the first quarter of 2020 (BD+C)
"Nationally, under construction project counts hit a new all-time high with 1,819 projects with 243,100 rooms."

The Architectural Billings Index measures the general sentiment of U.S. architecture firms about the health of the construction market by measuring 1) design billings and 2) design contracts. Any score above 50 means that, among the architecture firms surveyed, more firms than not reported seeing increases in design work vs. the previous month.