Marketing through research: William Caudill and Caudill, Rowlett, Scott (CRS)
The partners of Caudill Rowlett Scott (CRS), a post-Second World War architecture firm in Texas, USA, were especially innovative in their professional and business practices. One of their original contributions was the firm's marketing strategy, which was based on promoting not only design achievements but also the CRS ‘research attitude’ by publishing and distributing studies produced by members of the firm. This strategy, which built on a wide-spread American belief in the fundamental role of science and research in the nation's progress and development, was successful in the first two decades of the firm, but was dissolved in the 1970s with the firm's expansion and transformation into a profit-oriented enterprise. This paper describes the firm's research-based marketing strategy and argues that the success of the marketing strategy relied on the CRS partners' ability first, to integrate marketing into the firm's approach to architecture and design and into cultural norms of the time and secondly, to balance the expectations of both their potential clients and their professional peers. The CRS marketing strategy is an important case study for architects today as they respond creatively to similarly competing demands.
Comments on Academic Research in Architecture in the United States
"Research" does not hold an important role in guiding the priorities of the "culture of architecture." Architecture, at least as practiced by the majority of architects in the United States, is of necessity and before all else a commercial enterprise, albeit a less than lucrative one in many cases. Certainly "research" is done but more often than not in response to exigencies of the marketplace, and ranges from the dictates of energy conservation to the imperatives of style and fashion. Architectural research survives as an ad hoc phenomenon which is employed when needed, remaining erratic for most subject areas and, in general, unmonitored and uninstitutionalized. The percentage of the yearly total of building construction which is devoted to building research of all kinds is miniscule. However, precise statistics are not available, which is probably symptomatic of the state of research. Recently, the American Institute of Architects did attempt to monitor research using computerized data, but that effort was short-lived.' There are many research areas which in some way coincide within the realm of building construction and use, but most are simply not of intereset to architects, and many others are of interest on a cyclical basis, depending on shifts in the larger economic, political and cultural climate within which building occurs. In the interest of coherence, and because I am principally involved with the academy, my comments will be directed primarily toward the academic realm of architectural research, to the possible exclusion of other areas which might also be considered.
Repeat victimisation in Australia : extent, correlates and implications for crime prevention
This report discusses the extent and relevance of repeat victimisation in Australia, and how individuals and households that suffer from repeat victimisation are similar to, or different from, single incident victims. The geographical distribution of repeat victimisation is examined, as well as the relationship of a number of personal and household characteristics with both single and repeat victimisation. The likely links between repeat victimisation and fear of crime are highlighted and findings and policy implications for crime prevention that emerge from the results are presented.