Sunday morning marked the demolition of the first building in Phoenix since the Adams Hotel in the 1970s.  According to an Arizona Republic article , the implosion was filmed for a new TLC show called “Dynamite Family,” which will begin airing in December.  The building at Third Street and Earll Drive housed Mountain Bell and Qwest Communications since it was built in 1972 until 2003.  Local architect Al Beadle originally designed the glass-and-steel office building.

Powered by dynamite situated in the basement, stairwells, elevators shafts and first floor, the building fell gracefully as promised — an implosion contrary to the explosions commonly seen in action movies, the Arizona Republic article noted.

In case you missed the action, here’s a video captured by Mark Roddy last Sunday morning.

The Building industry is just coming into it’s own in terms of social media.  Here are some ways to utilize Twitter to garner a reputation not only for innovation but for collaboration.

1. Follow Your Clients and Client Influencers – The first step to getting followers on twitter is to find connections in your industry who already have Twitter accounts.  Then sign up to follow them.  If you are an active professional in their industry, they will likely sign up to follow you too.  Once you are actively engaged, you will find you are not only gaining followers but more importantly, building virtual relationships and learning from those you follow.  Sharing is the name of the game.
2. Try To Keep Your Finger On The Pulse – People follow you to learn what you know.  You should be looking for information to share with your followers and only share that which would be interesting to you.  Don’t tweet what you had for lunch.  No one cares.
3. Help to Keep Your Followers In The Loop – If you become a resource for your followers, they will look forward to your tweets.  Events, breaking news, competition and award opportunities are all good ways to inform your followers.
4. Direct Traffic To Your Blog – If you have a company blog, Twitter is a great way to share relevant posts.  One hint: don’t tweet “New blog post: Topic”.  Tweet something that will peak their interest for example, “Find out how…”.
5. Share Company News – Company news is interesting to those you work with.  If your company has achieved a major goal or one of your principals has an unusual and interesting challenge to share, tweet the message and post a news update on your website.  You will not only provide information to your followers but drive traffic to your website.

5 Common Pitfalls:

1. Your Website Is Not Up To Par – If you’re not proud of your website, don’t refer followers to it.
2. You Don’t Assign a Champion – Someone must be in charge of maintenance.  Without regular maintenance, your followers will get bored and you will have defeated the purpose.
3. You Don’t Set Aside Ample Time – Participating on Twitter takes time.  You must spend time researching relevant topics, news and information.  It’s not easy finding unique information to share.
4. You Don’t Utilize Time-Saving Tools – Maintenance can be overwhelming if you are not utilizing the tools that make tweeting easier.  TweetDeck and HootSuite are two that can serve as your right hand.
5. Ill Managed Content – Carefully manage the content being communicated about your company.  Insure that the Twitter project champion understands your brand, your clients and standard communications guidelines so you don’t end up embarrassed or worse.

Twitter is a very effective way to reach out to your colleagues in an efficient and really fun way.  Preparation, realistic expectations and communications know-how will ensure you have a brand-building (not a brand-busting) experience.

Allison Van Dyke is Ambassador & CEO at JOLT!, a marketing consulting company specializing in the A/E/C industry.

While architects from around the Valley were partaking in fabulous appetizers and beverages Saturday night at the AIA Arizona Celebrate Architecture 2009 Awards Gala, I decided to ask some of them two questions each.

Watch the video below to see how they responded!

Saturday night, architects from around the state gathered at the Phoenix Convention Center to gnosh and celebrate the Valley’s best designed buildings, hosted by AIA Arizona.  A jury from Los Angeles judged hundreds of entries this year, awarding a total of 11 design awards to both built and unbuilt projects. 

Several Special Awards were given to key participants in the A/E/C industry as well, including The Reference Library winning the Award of Distinction, and an Affiliate Award given to both Doug Folk of Folk & Associates, P.C. and Ken Martinek of Arcadia, Inc.  John Sazama of Maricopa County Community College District, who recently passed away, was honored with the Client Award, which was accepted on his behalf by his wife.

Other major winners include:

2009 AIA Arizona Honor Award Winners (most prestigious)

• Optima Camelview Village, 2009
  Architect: David Hovey & Associates, Inc.
• Relic Rock, 2008
  Architect: David Hovey, Jr., AIA

2009 AIA Arizona Merit Award Winners

• Arizona State University Polytechnic Academic Complex, 2008
  Architect: RSP Architects, Ltd.
• Papago Gateway Center, 2008
  Architect: SmithGroup
• University of Arizona College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, 2007
  Architect: Jones Studio, Inc.

2009 AIA Arizona Citation Award Winners

• Renovation of the James E. Rogers College of Law, 2008
  Architect: Gould Evans Associates, L.C.
• Helen S. Schaefer Poetry Center, 2007
  Architect: Line and Space, LLC
• City of Phoenix Maryvale Pool House, 2006
  Architect: Holly Street Studio, LLC
• City of Peoria Sunrise Mountain Branch Library, 2009
  Architect: Richard + Bauer Architecture, LLC
• Balboa Theatre Restoration, 2008
  Architect: Westlake Reed Leskosky
• Scottsdale Museum of the West, 2007
  Architect: Jones Studio, Inc.
• AGRI [localism], Unbuilt
  Architect: Gensler
• Avondale Old Town Library, 2008
  Architect: SmtihGroup

APS Energy Award

• Papago Gateway Center
  Architect: SmithGroup

SRP Sustainability Award

• Tempe Transportation Center
  Architect: Architekton + Otak

2009 Firm of the Year

• Weddle Gilmore Architects

2009 Sustainable Firm of the Year

• Line and Space, LLC

Upon receiving Phoenix Business Journal’s e-mail about ‘Volunteerism — The Heart of Business Awards 2009′ finalists, I was pleased to see A/E/C firms represented on the list!

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is a finalist in the ‘Most Outstanding Company Project’ for medium-sized businesses (100-499 employees), called “Heart Hats.” 

Kristy Kevitt of SmithGroup and long-time member of SMPS Arizona is also a finalist in the ‘Volunteer Spirit’ award for her ‘See Kili Our Way’ campaign, raising over $200,000 for the Foundation for Blind Children, and summiting Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania while managing to break two World Records — the youngest blind person to summit (13 years old) and the largest group of blind climbers to summit.

Award winners will be announced at the awards reception Nov. 10 at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.

Congratulations to those in the A/E/C industry who are being recognized for their service to fellow Arizonans!!

Get Connected:

www.smpsarizona.org

www.seeitourway.org