We are looking for a new addition to the WPA team! You will be working with a fun and interdisciplinary group of architects, interior designers, urban designers, graphic designers, and industrial designers in an open and collaborative environment. Your role is going to be an exciting one, as WPA has an incredible portfolio of adaptive reuse projects, higher education, and commercial projects, ready to get started as soon as you are ready! We have a brand-new studio at Assembly and we can’t wait to enjoy the rooftop terrace together now that the sun is out and the weather is beautiful!
Our buildings are integrated into the urban landscape. As a Project Manager, in addition to working on project administration and coordination, you will be working with our in-house urban design team and our amazing team of consultants who are experts in coastal resilience. You will be able to see your region change around you in just a few years as we design projects that positively affect our families and our neighbors. We expect you to come to the table with a love of actively participating in an urban environment, walking and biking, and designing and detailing to improve the lives of all citizens in our community. You should be comfortable with and enjoy listening, presenting, and discussing ideas in front of a crowd.
Go to wparch.com/hiring for full listing and requirements. Please send portfolio samples and resumes to hiring@wparch.com.
Architect II/III Work Program Architects | Norfolk
We are looking for a new addition to the WPA team! You will be working with a fun and interdisciplinary group of architects, interior designers, urban designers, graphic designers, and industrial designers in an open and collaborative environment. Your role is going to be an exciting one, as WPA has an incredible portfolio of adaptive reuse projects, higher education, and commercial projects, ready to get started as soon as you are ready! We have a brand-new studio at Assembly and we can’t wait to enjoy the rooftop terrace together now that the sun is out and the weather is beautiful!
Our buildings are integrated into the urban landscape. As a Project Architect, in addition to working on building design, you will be working with our in-house urban design team and our amazing team of consultants who are experts in coastal resilience. You will be able to see your region change around you in just a few years as we design projects that positively affect our families and our neighbors. We expect you to come to the table with a love of actively participating in an urban environment, walking and biking, and designing and detailing to improve the lives of all citizens in our community. You should be comfortable with and enjoy listening, presenting, and sketching out ideas in front of a crowd.
Go to wparch.com/hiring for full listing. Please send portfolio samples and resumes to hiring@wparch.com.
A Quick Trip Through the Annual Conference Good tired is how I felt right after AIA24. Like all substantial events, I enjoyed both the content and the connections. More>>
Design Awards Entries Due Next Week Be sure to submit your entries before 5 p.m. June 28th. More>>
Career Stage Roundtables Meet with your colleagues and share thoughts on the issues of today. Free. Registration required. 1.5 LUs June 27th More>>
ArchEx 2024: Save the Date & NEW LOCATION AIA Virginia’s Architecture Exchange East 2024 will be held on Wednesday, November 6 through Friday, November 8, 2024, in Richmond at a NEW location. More>>
The COTE Corner VA COTE is amplifying resources and sharing the great sustainable work by AIA Virginia members. More>>
Slate Roofing and Maintenance Repair Webinar Join the Historic Resources Committee (HRC) and Nick Price with Stevens Roofing Corp. on Wednesday, June 26 to learn how to repair and maintain slate roofs. Register Here>>
2021 VCC Significant Changes Events Join AIA Virginia for Lunch and Learn presentations of the recent 2021 VCC changes followed by a panel discussion with Jonah Margarella, AIA, Florin Moldovan, MCP, and Paul Battaglia, EVP AIA Virginia. July 9 in Richmond>> August 21 in Coastal Virginia>>
Happy Summer, Licensure Candidates! Hopefully, many of you are settling into your summer internships, working through your onboarding activities, and getting to know your teams. More>>
PAC Award Update The AIA Virginia PAC is one of the sharpest tools in our advocacy toolkit. The AIA Virginia PAC Award celebrates the engagement and commitment of a local AIA component that supports the advancement and mission of the PAC. See who’s in the lead for 2024. More>>
Welcome These New Members We are always excited to welcome new members to Virginia. The following members recently joined AIA Virginia. More>>
Newly Licensed Congratulations to the following member for passing their exams and gaining licensure. More>>
Amber Book Are you ready to get licensed? AIA Virginia has 8 more discounted 60-day subscriptions to the Amber Book for associate members. More>>
Findley Elected Chair On June 4, Dennis Findley, AIA, was elected Chair of the Virginia Board of People with Disabilities, the state’s largest board. More>>
The AIA Virginia PAC is one of the sharpest tools in our advocacy toolkit. The AIA Virginia PAC Award celebrates the engagement and commitment of a local AIA component that supports the advancement and mission of the PAC. The winning component goes home with $1,000 cash for Architecture Week/Month and the award trophy at Architecture Exchange East in November. AIA Blue Ridge took home the cash and trophy for 2023.
Points are accrued in three areas: local component Board participation, the percentage of local component’s membership who have invested in the PAC, and the total amount of money invested by the members of the local component.
Current Leaderboard: AIA Blue Ridge – 80 points AIA Central Virginia – 40 points AIA Coastal Virginia – 30 points AIA Richmond – 20 points AIA Northern Virginia – 0 points
Points are allocated as follows:
Local component Board participation a. Did 100% of the Board of Directors invest in the AIA Virginia PAC? i. Yes = 20 points ii. No = 0 points
Percentage of local component members who have invested in the AIA Virginia PAC i. Component with highest % = 40 points ii. Component with second highest % = 20 points iii. Component with third highest % = 10 points
Average investment per member from the total local component membership i. Component with highest average investment/member = 40 points ii. Component with second highest average investment/member = 30 points iii. Component with third highest average investment/member = 20 points iv. Component with fourth highest average investment/member = 10 points v. Component with fifth highest average investment/member = 0 points
Scoring will be closed on Friday, October 11, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. EST.
On June 4, Dennis Findley, AIA, was elected Chair of the Virginia Board of People with Disabilities, the state’s largest board. The Board advises the General Assembly and the Governor on disability matters to ensure disabled Virginians enjoy “A Life Like Yours.” As the parent of a disabled son, Dennis has been appointed by four successive governors to the Disability Board since 2009. He is a passionate advocate in the General Assembly, leading a six-year effort culminating in 2024 legislation that allows disabled Virginians to retain meaningful life jobs and essential services after a parent’s death.
Dennis Findley, AIA, is the President of Studio Findley Design in McLean, Virginia. He holds architecture degrees from Auburn University and Harvard University and has served a diverse clientele over his 40+ year career. His civic involvement is extensive; he represents the McLean Chamber of Commerce on the McLean Planning Committee as a Director and recently chaired the committee’s advisory role in drafting new streetscape urban design guidelines for McLean. Additionally, he serves on the Advisory Board for the McLean Project for the Arts and has been a member of the Heritage and Architectural Review Boards for the town of Herndon, Virginia. Elected to the McLean Community Center Governing Board in 2013, Dennis was also a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010.
Hopefully, many of you are settling into your summer internships, working through your onboarding activities, and getting to know your teams. If this is your first summer working for an architecture firm, congratulations! This is an excellent time to establish your NCARB record and start documenting your work experience. If you’re not working for a firm, don’t worry, there may be a way for you to record your experience too.
While it can be a daunting task, the AXP (Architectural Experience Program) is an essential step on your licensure path. The objective of the AXP is to ensure candidates get diverse experience that will prepare them for practice after they become licensed. In fact, most US jurisdictions require candidates to complete the AXP before they can earn their initial licensure. If you’re just getting started, there are a few key things to keep in mind about the process.
Start as soon as possible. With 3,740 total hours to report and 96 tasks split among 6 experience areas, there’s a lot to cover. If you worked 40 hours a week full-time, it would take almost two years to complete the minimum requirement, and some jurisdictions require additional documentation or reporting. Even though you can report AXP and sit for your AREs concurrently, completing the AXP is required to earn your initial license.
Find your supervisor. Your supervisor in the office could be anyone, but your AXP supervisor must be a licensed architect. Ideally, your AXP supervisor is someone you talk with regularly, and who has a good idea of what you’re working on day-to-day. All the hours you report for AXP must be approved by your AXP supervisor, so it’s important to have a good relationship with that person. Always ask the person you have in mind before sending them an experience report! Starting off right and maintaining a connection with them will also come in handy as you start completing some experience areas and need to shift focus to complete others.
Ask for and be open to diverse experiences. Once you dive into the experience areas and tasks, you’ll start to understand the breadth of information the AXP wants you to complete and understand. On the surface, it might seem like you can get general experience aligned with each phase of a project, but the 96 tasks that are part of each experience area are actually closely aligned with the content you’ll see on the ARE. Skipping tasks or being too broad may set you up for frustration as you start to prepare for your exams.
Keep detailed notes. Candidates can choose to report hours weekly or in bulk, and it can be a lot to keep track of over 3,740 hours. To complicate things further, each firm approaches timesheets and hourly tracking differently. While you’re working through your AXP hours it’s a good idea to practice over-documentation. If there’s a section to add notes to your timesheet, list what activities you performed during the hours that you worked each day. If taking notes by hand is more your speed, take that approach instead. You’ll need that information later to align your hours to the tasks and experience areas, and your AXP supervisor may request it before they approve your report.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions! Every licensed architect you know had to start this process and work through its challenges, so you’re not the first and only candidate to ever struggle with AXP. NCARB provides and maintains AXP Guidelines for candidates and supervisors to reference. Reporting requirements have changed a few times over the years, so if your supervisor doesn’t know the answers, that’s a great opportunity to learn about it together, or to reach out to a Licensing Advisor for help.
Most of the above applies to candidates who are reporting hours under Setting A, which is work performed for an architecture firm under the supervision of a licensed architect. Some candidates may report hours under Setting O, which includes experience outside an architecture firm. This can include work for other licensed professionals (including engineers), construction work, design competitions, or community volunteering. While there are some restrictions on how many hours can be reported under Setting O, it’s a good way to get started on your AXP reporting, even if you don’t land a job at a firm.
Transferred In Diego Diez de Medina, AIA (Northern Virginia) from AIA Florida Aaron Sheffield, Assoc. AIA (Northern Virginia) from AIA Texas Society of Architects Julia Katherine Stokien Hunter, AIA (Northern Virginia) from AIA Pennsylvania
New/Renewed Allied Members Justin Trent, Design Director, Lynch Mykins Structural Engineers, PC Patrick Dyer, Vice President, Gulf Seaboard General Contractors Inc Stephan (Hobie) Andrews, Partner, O’Hagan Meyer PLLC
There is “good trouble”, and there is also “good tired”.
Good tired is how I felt right after AIA24. Like all substantial events, I enjoyed both the content and the connections. I enjoyed the stimulus of the sessions and the keynotes. I enjoyed the technology and the innovation of the expo. I enjoyed a great number of social events – including the tremendously pleasant AIA Virginia reception at VMDO|DC (Thank you to VMDO for hosting us and to all of you who made it out). And I enjoyed the journeys between those intentional destinations, which were pleasantly punctuated by opportunistic encounters with friends, fellow members, and former colleagues, classmates, and students. (I’ve enjoyed how the lines between those categories have blurred over the years.)
The fatigue has subsided – or at least it is now attributable to other causes. Satisfaction and gratitude remain. There are a lot of great people in our organization. My confidence in our colleagues and our members has been refreshed. There are challenges to be faced. (We even recognize some of them.) But I am convinced that we will overcome those challenges – together; and I know that there is, and will continue to be, much to celebrate along the way.
We are left to look forward to Boston. And I hope to see you several times in and around our own Commonwealth between now and then.
We understand the dedication and effort required to study for and pass the ARE. Congratulations to the following member for passing their exams and gaining licensure. This is great news that thrills all of us and we are so proud to call you an architect!
Sarah Brummett, AIA (Northern Virginia)
Have you recently passed the ARE? Upgrade your membership to Architect using this AIA form. or send an email to your Member Services Director, Cathy Guske, cguske@aiava.org
Are you ready to get licensed? AIA Virginia has discounted 60-day Amber Book subscriptions. Read more about it here>>
Have questions about licensure? Contact AIA Virginia’s State Licensing Advisor, Gina Robinson, AIA, at gina.robinson@hdrinc.com
Solex Architecture is seeking an Architect/Project Manager responsible for technical drawing production and document coordination. This individual must be well organized and understand the details involved in building assemblies. The Architect/Project Manager will be required to set and meet timelines involved with production milestones while receiving minimal supervision. The Architect/Project Manager will coordinate project information with the architecture/engineering team, the clients and the contractors. This individual must have a thorough understanding of the processes involved in design projects from concept through construction.
Responsibilities:
Establish tasks and scheduling to comply with the project work plan.
Develop detailed technical drawings and specifications.
Manage the development of construction documents.
Mentor entry level staff.
Perform required code analysis to ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations.
Serve an integral role in the conceptual design on assigned projects.
Prepare and coordinate specifications for building materials and product slections using CSI formatting.
Coordinate with project engineering and design consultants.
Monitor scope, time and budget.
Conduct regular job progress meetings during construction.
Participate in business development proposals, presentations, and meetings as required.
Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from an accredited college or university required.
A minimum of 7-10 years of comprehensive relevant design experience.
Demonstrate thorough knowledge of design, construction, codes, specifications, and drawing composition.
Advanced proficiency in Autodesk Revit, AutoCAD, Photoshop, other rendering programs, and Microsoft Office.
Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
