Editor's Welcome

Well. . .the skinny cows have moved in. Consider that statement more than just my own quick take on current affairs. I'm putting the official "press" imprimatur on capitulation, following a series of very unofficial but genuine heart-to-hearts with leaders of our industry. There is trepidation, ad nauseam, going around already among firms large and small. Personally, however, I don't plan to dwell one futile minute more than necessary on those unappetizing bovines—an activity that yields a big fat nil where net benefits to any of us are concerned. Enough of it. It's time to stick to the business at hand. My business is your business: your work. There's still plenty of it clamoring for immediate attention, overflowing my file drawers, relentlessly coming in daily.

The projects that made the cut for our February portfolio offer some beautiful examples of how to do more with less, a little less or a lot less. Two young architects worked magic on mundane drywall, MDF, and fluorescent tubes at a restaurant in Germany. At a Houston office park, our Hall of Fame member Rand Elliott used cheap tilt-up concrete walls to construct a stunningly sculptural building. And his fellow Hall of Famer Deborah Berke, working on a New York luxury apartment building, nevertheless opted to put the swimming pool right below street level, not up on the roof. Residents can watch the world go by while they do their laps. How cool is that?

Moral of this story as of today: It's business as usual. No, I take the last part of that back.