Going Global: MVE Chairman McLarand Reviews Changing Marketplace

In this brief Q&A, MVE & Partners Chairman and Founder Carl McLarand, AIA, discusses the growing architectural trade found in the world's boom economies, from Russia, to China, and to the Mideast. Each region requires quality and contextual architecture; yet all demand exacting quality, service and adherence to timetables. The business is demanding, the hours are extreme, but new technology and tools help.

Q. Why are you receiving so many inquiries now, from overseas?

A. Primarily two reasons: One, we have been doing business overseas for decades, so we are known somewhat, and we have earned respect for our ability to design and manage large, diverse and complicated projects. So we are fortunate now to be one of the firms that gets looked at. The second reason is that is where the money is now. Overseas. Oil money, resort money, money made from exporting-that is where the clients are today.

Q. What building types are foreign clients proposing?

A. It is everything from expatriate housing as apartments filling a demographic demand, to omni-use-very dense mixed-use projects that include everything from retail to office to housing to theaters-sometimes in a compressed space. The scope and magnitude of these projects can be exhilarating, involving millions of square feet-it gives an architect a chance to spread their wings, so to speak. But such projects also require intense management. That is one reason overseas clients come to American architecture firms, for our management capabilities and our control systems.

Q. Are overseas clients more apt to make a statement with a building project?

A. It cuts both ways. In some cases, the client wants a traditional design, very contextual, to reflect the culture and history of the area. In other cases, yes, they may be more freewheeling than domestic clients. It runs the gamut. In general, Dubai is the Middle East equivalent of Las Vegas. Anything goes.

Q. What are some of the challenges of overseas work?

A. All over the world, clients want projects executed quickly, but sometimes overseas clients are especially demanding; especially with the different time zones…one can potentially be working "around-the-clock." Sometimes they want work done so quickly, that our work arrives ahead of when the client is even ready to act upon it. The time pressures can be tremendous.

Q. What is different about this latest wave of global business?

A. One aspect of international architecture work is actually easier today with the advent of the web-based communications technologies. We have the technology to work seamlessly with clients all over the globe. Our clients can view images with us, online, in real time. They can use the pointer online, we can draw on the documents and they can see it. We can trade e-mails with attached documents, or meet in videoconferences. We do not have to travel to the client regularly, and that is different from just 10 years ago. The web-based technologies are so effective we will likely use web-based communications more with domestic clients in the future. I also think this foreign wave of business will be permanent, not a trend. Technology has made the world a smaller place, and the global economy is growing. A greater percentage of our business will be international as we are currently engaged in Egypt, Dubai, Russia, China and Latin America.

Q. Is the cheap dollar helping MVE & Partners snag foreign clients?

A. I think it helps our clients, but not so much us. Global clients are coming to us for our design experience in large-scale projects and management skills, to handle large, intense and complex projects. They would come to us anyway, as they need our skills, and they have the money to finance development. I guess the cheap dollar doesn't hurt, but I don't think it is much of a factor.