Our nation is facing the deepest recession in years. Families, businesses, non-profit organizations, and the government are all facing shrinking budgets. This could be a time for keeping things the same and just sitting back and waiting until the economy changes, or it could be a time for gaining new knowledge and choosing to be innovative. This is not a new idea. People didn’t always have the money or the energy to build something new, so they had to take what they had and reinvent it.

Think of the field of education. It is always changing its teaching strategies and its environment. Research is showing that math and science need to work more collaborately with the arts. This means that new space concepts have to be designed that will look more to finding areas that can be repurposed into labs and eliminating the traditional classroom setting; therefore establishing “repurpose” space. Businesses, too, are discovering that with fewer employees less office space is needed. However their areas for marketing and advertising have to be recreated to become more technical and client friendly. Many are choosing smaller buildings and establishing more appropriate work spaces.

Choose to take a leadership role in showing that now is the time to be both innovative and progressive in originating new visions for design. We know one has to be smarter and more creative about how to get money and how to budget money for projects but helping clients to make an impact with their project is foremost. It is critical to make an environment that promotes-not hinders-open concepts, team building, and the well-being of clients, students, employees or patients. Understand the challenge-models have to change. Get creative. Re-envision your project and possibly “repurpose” a space-a penthouse becomes a college research center, an airplane hangar turns into a tropical rain forest resort, or a contemporary art museum is in the shell of a former power station. The possibilities are as endless as your ability to “think outside the box.”