High Museum Exhibit Celebrates Atlanta Architect ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - The High Museum's new exhibition "John Portman, Art and Architecture," celebrates the work of this prolific Atlanta native. At a time when many architects are feeling the sting of recession, Susan Mittleman reports the exhibit seems both fitting, and ironic.

John Portman's now famous atrium hotels and tall buildings are highlighted in a 3-floor exhibit at the High Museum, along with other works from a lifetime as an architect, developer and artist.



But outside the lighted museum walls is a dim backdrop of recession, layoffs, and what seems like a virtual halt in the very field of his passion.



"It's been a very difficult time. But I think Atlanta's not unusual. All over the nation building has stopped. There's no capital market for buildings. And that's having an enormous impact."



It's hard to find an architecture firm that hasn't delayed or stopped projects, laid-off staff or cut down hours, including Portman's.

The Georgia Department of labor shows this past year, a more than 13-1/2 percent job loss among architects, engineers and others in the industry.



Last month, the American Institute of Architects put the number of unemployed, registered, member architects between 15 and 25 percent.



None of these statistics include underemployed, part-time, or furloughed workers.



Dan Gerding is with AIA Atlanta.



"I think what's different this time, particularly in Atlanta, is we typically have skirted the worst of past recessions. This time we were caught in the full force of it because our economy is so vested in housing and commercial real estate."



But Architects by profession tend to be optimists, always looking to the future. Especially Portman, who at 85-years young, has lived through both lean and mean times.



"Recessions come and go. It's a wave. And it will continue to be and always has been. So the trick is how do you stay on top of the hills and out of the valleys?"



The recession in the early 90's was devastating for many young architects who couldn't find jobs in their field. It also impacted Portman, who, for the first time in his storried career, found himself down in a valley. He says it was his mother's advice that carried him through the low point.



"She said, now son, you're going to have good times and bad times. And when you really get knocked down, you've got to get up. It's like a wreck on the freeway. Get up, and go on down the freeway and don't look back and don't dwell on it. Look to the future."



The future is Portman's specialty. He invested early in China, and has since made a name for himself there as a pioneer. His work as both architect and developer around the world, has kept him busy, successful, and continually dreaming.



"Visions yes. Imagination yes. But it's all married to pragmatics of the situation and how does it become real."



And that's the challenge facing many architects today, like Mike Nualla, who's worked as a residential architect in Atlanta for the past 15 years.



"I was laid off in September 2008."



Nualla managed to find contract work elsewhere. But by April, that too dried up.

Today, officially unemployed, though unable to collect benefits, he is still somehow optimistic.



"It's a chance to explore some ideas on my own house, and then building them myself. And so I'm sort of making my own projects. But I'm always fishing for new projects. I kind of know there's something around the corner."



While not everyone out of work may feel so positive, confidence, says John Portman is what we all need right now.



"You've got to maintain your positive enthusiastic self and you've got to keep your visions alive. Keep your visions alive. Because this too shall pass."



For WABE News, I'm Susan Mittleman.

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