Los Angeles architects keep busy by catering to clients in far-off locales.

New commercial real estate development in L.A. has been virtually nonexistent for years, forcing local architectural offices to cast their nets farther afield to capture new business. Some firms are finding work in other states, some are doing public-sector projects, and nearly all are active overseas, primarily in Asia.

"At the end of the 1980s, our domestic-to-international work ratio was about 65-to-35, but now it's essentially flipped," said Chief Financial Officer Paul Martinkovic of The Jerde Partnership Inc., an architectural firm in based Venice.

Martinkovic explained that, prior to the late 1980s, most of Jerde's international work was either in Japan or Europe. But in the last 10 years, the firm has become active in China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, as well as remaining active in Japan. Martinkovic also noted that Jerde established its first Asian presence - a Hong Kong office - in 1994.

"We've gone to Asia because that's where the market is," he said, adding that only 10 percent of his office's current billings are coming from California-based work.

Michael Fejes, senior vice president at the Santa Monica office of architectural firm Hellmuth Obata & Kassabaum Inc., said HOK has been in Asia since the early 1980s. The firm has opened three Asian offices since 1985. They are in Tokyo, Hong Kong and, most recently, Shanghai, China.

"Right now, we probably have between 20 and 30 major (Asian) projects under way - either in design or under construction," he said. Both Fejes and Martinkovic noted that most of their Asian projects are either commercial or mixed-use developments.

Thriving entertainment

Back in the U.S., Los Angeles-based architectural offices are also keeping busy with a stream of work from the thriving entertainment and leisure industries.

"Themed development work has been quite strong lately," said Fejes of HOK, explaining that themed projects typically come from the entertainment, recreation and leisure industries. As two examples, Fejes cited the proposed Long Beach Aquarium and the Japanese American National Museum in downtown L.A., both designed by HOK.

"These projects were a less-significant portion of our work before the recession, but now we're forming a themed-entertainment group to capitalize on the emerging market, especially in Southern California," said Fejes.

Another line of work keeping architects busy in L.A. is interior design work.

Fejes said "facilities strategic planning" - helping companies develop strategies to best utilize their facilities - is one kind of work that is still in demand from large clients, particularly in the present climate of corporate downsizing.

"In downsizing, we help companies figure out how to best use their (facility) assets, based on their manpower requirements," he said.

Ken Lee, principal at Santa Monica-based architectural firm Lee Burkhart Liu Inc., agreed that interior office design for downsizing clients is an important kind of work in today's L.A. architectural market. "The office market is coming back in L.A., but the focus is (on interior design rather than new buildings)," he said.

Government time

Outside the private sector at home and abroad, L.A. architectural offices have also been doing a large amount of public-sector work in recent years, both for state and federal agencies.

Art Border, vice president of architecture at the L.A. office of Rochlin Baran & Balbona Inc., said a recent piece of California legislation provided his firm - a health care architectural specialist - with a flurry of new business last year.

The legislation allowed health care providers with disproportionate numbers of indigent or Medi-Cal patients to be reimbursed by the state or other funding sources for some of their capital costs.

"That stimulus drove us nuts. We turned around about 14 months' worth of architecture in eight to nine weeks," he said, explaining that the law required eligible health care providers to submit building plans under the new provision to the state by June 1, 1994.

Other public-sector projects handled by L.A. architectural firms in recent years have included work on universities, correctional facilities, government administrative buildings, and port and airport facilities.

Most L.A. architectural firms also report doing more out-of-state work now than in the past. Industry sources mentioned Nevada and Texas, both of which have already emerged from local recessions, as two of the most dynamic markets for out-of-state work.

Bob Newsom, senior vice president of Mid-Wilshire-based Daniel Mann Johnson & Mendenhall, L.A.'s biggest architectural firm, said only 55 percent of that firm's current billings are coming from California projects, compared with about 70 percent 10 years ago. "We're trying to focus on California, but we're also trying to keep our plates full," he said.