Premier Design Firm with Limited Employee Promotion or Career Advancement Potential
Pros
Perkins Eastman Architects PC is one of the "Top 10 "architectural firms in New York City, one of the Top 100 design firms in the United States, and one of the top architectural firms in the world. Founded in 1981, the firm has become a leading international architecture, urban design, and interior design firm offering programming, planning, design, strategic planning, and consulting services with a diverse portfolio of projects in the following practice areas: Planning and Urban Design, Office, Retail and Mixed-Use Development, Corporate Interiors, Housing, Hotels and Resorts, Senior Living, Healthcare, Science and Technology, Education, Public and Cultural. The range of design vocabularies employed for these building types illustrates the diversity of the firm's principals and clients. In this way, the firm leverages its continually growing body of research and industry expertise to provide clients with unique solutions that are thoughtful, well designed, and uncompromised. The firm's design focus and design process assumes that the challenge of the project is often discovering how to go beyond the conventional solution, and the firm hires, retains and promotes outstanding designers from the best schools in the United States, Asia, Europe and South America.
Cons
Under the Leadership tab on their website (updated 2012), the firm lists the names of the 8 Founding Principals/ Executive Directors, 66 Principals and 31 Associate Principals (total = 105), some licensed architects/ planners, interior designers and/or LEED-accredited professionals and some not licensed, so there are opportunities to achieve the rank of Principal or Associate Principal without licensure. However, those opportunities for promotion and upward mobility within the firm are heavily weighted on in-house politics, who you know in what capacity and personal preferences and favoritism among Leadership rather than an employee's dedication to the firm, the profession and the quality of an employee's work. You will notice a sprinkling of Senior Associates and Associates in the NYC headquarters, and a larger cadre of Intermediate Architects, Entry-Level Architects and Support staff, but none of those employees receive any recognition whatsoever on the firm's website, while working late and doing a lot of heavy lifting in the office - - day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. In addition, strong technical architects at any level with a track record of significant on-site construction exposure who can organize, manage, draw and deliver a comprehensive set of construction documents based on the real-world needs of general contractors, subcontractors, trade professionals and the unavoidable complications and conflicts of construction operations are few and far between. And, if you like the idea of having a conversation or two a few times a year with Brad Perkins or Mary-Jean Eastman or any of the Founding Partners/ Executive Directors as you go about your daily business, you may find them to be totally inaccessible, reclusive, not at all interested and without an "open door" policy. (So get back to work son; we've got a deadline to be worried about.)
