(Already have an account? Log in)

Registration

Not sure? Read the benefits of registration.

Need help registering? Send us an email!

Create a new account with Residential Architect!

* Required fields
 
 
OR

Register using your Social Network:

 

A Shift in the Gestalt

Submit A Comment | View Comments

I get a lot of press releases from construction industry trade groups. Most of them are of no direct use for either of the magazines I write for, but I feel obliged at least to skim each one to make sure. In the process, I absorb, almost subconsciously, something of the gestalt of the industry, a general sense of the shape of things. In the past several years, needless to say, the gestalt has been in the dumper. But lately things have taken a turn.

Here's the headline of a press release, dated April 29, from the American Society of Landscape Architects:

Business Significantly Improves for Landscape Architecture Firms, Survey Shows
Hiring highest since third quarter 2008; significant jump in inquiries for new work

Now, we can parse this in a number of ways. A significant improvement in the worst business climate in decades doesn't necessarily mean that business is actually good. Read down the page, and you'll learn also that nearly a quarter of the landscape architects surveyed report receiving federal stimulus funds.

But news that is even a little good beats news that is all bad, which is what we've had for way too long. Plus, gestalt is not about individual pieces of news; it's about an accumulation of data that yields a global picture. And in that regard, we do seem finally to have rounded a corner. --B.D.S.

 

 
 

Comments

Be the first to add a comment to this post.

Comment on this Post

Post your comment below. If you wish, enter a username and password though they are not required. Please read our Content Guidelines before posting.

 

Enter the code shown in the image

Username is optional

 

Enter a password if you want a username

 
 

About the Bloggers