Over the past six months, ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge did something that few architectural firms in the country pulled off: they added jobs instead of shedding them. Buoyed by a $90 million addition to Genzyme’s Framingham Science Center, the $114 million expansion of Genzyme’s Allston plant (ARC originally designed both buildings), and UMass Medical School’s $300 million Sherman life sciences center, the firm’s Kendall Square offices are humming with activity.

Philip Laird

Title: President

Company: ARC/Architectural Resources, Cambridge

Experience: 29 Years

Age: 53

What’s it been like working in this industry over past seven months?

The last seven months has been one of the most challenging periods of time for architects in Boston, if not the most challenging that we’ve experienced in the 30 years I’ve been here. The initial start of the recession was felt very early on in condominium and housing projects, which then spread to retail and restaurants, and then this fall, when the stock market collapsed, a lot of the institutional clients also put projects on hold or cancelled projects. In Boston, a lot of firms are struggling, and we’re not really sure where the market’s going and when it will come back.

In a sense, you’ve had a front-row seat to every twist and turn this thing has taken.

Most firms have. It’s hit every single sector. In the early ’90s, there was a recession that impacted a lot of architects, but many of our institutional clients and some of the corporate clients continued projects through that recession. This year’s has been different because it came on faster than previous recessions, and has been more widespread in terms of the markets that it has impacted.

So what kept ARC moving forward in the face of all that? Is it a certain stable of clients, a specific approach?

Luck plays a factor in it. Some of the work we’re doing now is with clients we’ve had for 10 or 15 years. Some of our work is in building types where we have a lot of experience. And some of our projects are a combination of the two. There’s another factor – as a firm, we’ve made a firm-wide commitment to focusing more on sustainability, and also embracing BIM [3-D design] technology in our design process. Every project we’re working on now is a LEED-registered project, and all the clients we work with are very interested in sustainability. Our commitment as a firm has helped us keep some of those existing clients, and also helped us attract new clients.

Have we reached a tipping point yet where sustainability is going to be a required element for all projects?

As a firm, we’ve reached that point. As a building industry, I think we have reached that tipping point, just because buildings can be an enormous consumer of resources. The institutional clients are very interested in the 50-year cost of a building. They also see the educational value of teaching students the value and the importance of sustainability, and of energy conservation. It’s part of the values they’re trying to impart on their students.

Have firms’ bidding patterns changed recently – the types of jobs and size of jobs that people chasing?

There are fewer jobs to chase, and for each project that’s out there, there’s more architects chasing them. Many architects are chasing projects that are outside their normal type of building project that they’d go after. Some are going after projects that might be smaller than projects they might have gone after a year ago. Obviously, we’re in a very competitive market, and everybody’s looking for work.

Can you update us on the UMass life science center project?

We’re still in a master planning phase. That project will be on an accelerated schedule, and we hope to be ready to start construction by the end of the year. That was a project that went through a public bidding process. It’s quite similar in size and in program to the project we completed a few years ago for Harvard Medical School, the New Research Building. That, along with other projects we’ve done, showed that we had the relevant experience, and I think the team that our office put together did a fabulous job preparing for the interview. That was a very important project for us to win, especially in this economic climate.

ARC is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. What has enabled the firm to get to this point?

We’re very fortunate to have had a very interesting and exciting group of clients and projects to work on over time, and on an annual basis, well over half of the work has been with repeat clients from previous years. Our focus on design, on client service and our focus on making sure it’s a good place to work, and that people who work here are happy, have helped make the firm successful over 40 years.

Looking forward 40 years from now, can you conceive of what type of design we’re going to be looking at, or how your jobs as architects will be different?

I don’t know what the timeframe is, but collaboration between and teaming between architects, engineers and contractors is going to be more and more important as we move forward. As everyone embraces BIM and other technologies, and as newer technologies emerge, the lines between architects and engineers and contractors will blur, and it’ll become more of an overall team effort.

Philip Laird’s 5 Favorite Buildings In Boston:

1.) Boston Public Library, by McKim, Mead and White.

2.) Trinity Church, by H. H. Richardson.

3.) Hancock Tower, by I. M. Pei.

4.) Boston Athenaeum, by Edward Cabot Clark.

5.) Fenway Park, by Osborn Engineering.