Global boom for hotels; for retail, not so much

High-end hotels in the U.S. have been having a good 2012 and can expect to do even better next year, with average daily room rates expected to be up 5.3% in 2013 compared to 4.7% this year and the 2.8% long-term average, according to PKF Hospitality Research. That bodes well for firms doing hotel design and construction.

On the retail side, the ULI Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate forecasts vacancy rates to begin to turn around this year, down to 12.5% in 2013. Retail rentals should be up 2.0% next year, says the ULI. +

TOP 10 HOSPITALITY SECTOR ARCHITECTURE FIRMS

Rank	Company	2011 Hospitality Revenue ($)
1	WATG	54,939,171
2	Gensler	51,750,000
3	HKS	32,336,523
4	HOK	18,287,163
5	Hnedak Bobo Group	14,580,025
6	tvsdesign	14,188,382
7	RTKL Associates	13,970,968
8	BLT Architects	12,200,000
9	BBG-BBGM	12,058,000
10	Perkins Eastman	11,050,000

TOP 10 HOSPITALITY SECTOR ENGINEERING FIRMS

Rank	Company	2011 Hospitality Revenue ($)
1	AECOM Technology Corp.	296,000,000
2	Parsons Brinckerhoff	17,600,000
3	Rolf Jensen & Associates	9,000,000
4	Arup	8,838,492
5	Jacobs	6,310,000
6	KPFF Consulting Engineers	6,000,000
7	Thornton Tomasetti	5,850,000
8	WSP USA	5,300,000
9	Michael Baker Jr., Inc.	4,340,000
10	Stantec	4,230,000

TOP 10 HOSPITALITY SECTOR CONSTRUCTION FIRMS

Rank	Company	2011 Hospitality Revenue ($)
1	Tutor Perini Corp.	839,703,000
2	Swinerton	243,415,560
3	Hardin Construction	239,457,598
4	Structure Tone	223,330,000
5	Balfour Beatty US	170,785,709
6	Hunt Construction Group	164,500,000
7	Yates Co., The	137,600,000
8	Weitz Co., The	118,200,000
9	Pepper Construction Group	89,843,000
10	Manhattan Construction Group	84,325,000

TOP 10 RETAIL SECTOR ARCHITECTURE FIRMS

Rank	Company	2011 Retail Revenue ($)
1	Gensler	84,700,000
2	RTKL Associates	58,957,056
3	MulvannyG2 Architecture	42,033,036
4	WD Partners	35,294,000
5	Perkowitz+Ruth Architects	32,686,910
6	MBH Architects	30,541,000
7	RSP Architects	17,641,000
8	FRCH Design Worldwide	16,630,000
9	LawKingdon Architecture	15,600,000
10	CASCO Diversified Corp.	14,650,000

TOP 10 RETAIL SECTOR ENGINEERING FIRMS

Rank	Company	2011 Retail Revenue ($)
1	AECOM Technology Corp.	136,000,000
2	Jacobs	60,550,000
3	Stantec	59,220,000
4	Henderson Engineers	47,600,000
5	URS Corp.	23,650,000
6	Parsons Brinckerhoff	21,700,000
7	Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates	18,562,000
8	Bergmann Associates	14,200,000
9	Science Applications Int’l Corp.	11,860,000
10	Wallace Engineering	7,210,000

TOP 10 RETAIL SECTOR CONSTRUCTION FIRMS

Rank	Company	2011 Retail Revenue ($)
1	Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., The	396,821,222
2	Shawmut Design and Construction	276,700,000
3	PCL Construction Enterprises	188,344,721
4	EMJ Corp.	164,437,662
5	Weitz Co., The	136,700,000
6	Structure Tone	97,500,000
7	O’Neil Industries / W.E. O’Neil	96,620,000
8	Ryan Companies US	92,895,680
9	E.W. Howell	79,395,000
10	KBE Building Corp.	70,365,040

Earlier this month, my colleague and I presented a session to a group of civil engineers and transportation agencies about the tech trends in the AEC space. Along with advice on how to prepare your plan for controlled collaboration, we also talked through some practical use cases. One such use case was especially interesting, as it outlined a challenge not unfamiliar to government agencies who are contemplating the leap from paper to digital processes: how to securely migrate workflows.

For an 1893 academic building in the Collegiate Gothic style at Bryn Mawr (Pa.)

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Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, Mich. Photo credit: Justin Macono

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First look: Zaha Hadid reveals designs for dreamy sculptural hotel - CORRECTED

Hadid's design, which will become the fifth hotel tower in the City of Dreams entertainment hub, features a latticed exoskeleton enveloping the building's exterior. The 40-floor, 150,000-square-foot space is envisioned as a monolith with voids carved throughout.

David Chipperfield Architects has won the Nobel Center architectural competition

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Chipperfield's sparkling brass-clad scheme selected to be new home of Nobel Prize

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