We’re doing things differently at Visions for Architecture this year. To keep everyone safer, our annual honors and awards program will take place online on Thursday, Oct. 8 beginning at 4:30 p.m. The program is free, but advance registration is required. We’re trying some new things — like announcing the Design Awards live — with the goal of creating a vibrant celebration of the people and organizations who mean so much to our profession.
In the past, this black-tie gala recognizing AIA Virginia’s Honors and Design Award winners has served as a fundraiser to support a wide range of architectural education.
At Visions 2020, we’d like to get more specific with our fundraising efforts. Our friends at Hampton University need our direct support and we’re asking you to join the cause.
In addition to recognizing our honorees, Visions will serve as a mini telethon to raise money to support Hampton University’s department of architecture Scholarship Fund. Hampton has a 5-year Master of Architecture program. Students in their final year of the program lose access to the traditional undergraduate financial aid such as Pell Grants. This fund directly helps these students when many funding streams are no longer available to them.
Support Virginia’s only HBCU with an accredited architecture program by making a charitable contribution today.
Since tickets to Visions are free this year (and there’s no travel cost or formalwear to purchase) we’re asking you to consider making a donation in the amount you might have spent to join us in person. Below are some suggested giving levels, but no amount is too small.
Champion: $600
Advocate: $400
Supporter: $200
Believer: $100
Friend: $25
Your gift will directly, and meaningfully, contribute to diversity in the profession. Please give today.
Visions for Architecture, created in 1998, is AIA Virginia’s annual Honors and Awards gala.
Visions celebrates the achievements of those whose work makes especially strong contributions to society and celebrates the recipients of AIA Virginia’s Honors Awards and the Awards for Excellence in Architecture.
Visions for Architecture 2020 will be held virtually and delivered through our online event platform Foresight 2020. Tickets are free, but advance registration is required. If you’re planning on attending any of the educational programming, Visions for Architecture is included free with all ticket options. If you’re only planning to attend Visions, select the Visions for Architecture and Social Events Only ticket when you register.
Visions for Architecture is generously sponsored by:
The INFORM Lab research team from Virginia Tech is seeking to understand the perceived value of Virtual and Augmented Reality within the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction Industry. This study will explore how industry members perceive these technologies and involves a 5-minute voluntary survey to collect data. The results of this study will be used by researchers to better adapt this technology to the industry. We would greatly appreciate anyone willing to take the survey (linked below) and help with this research!
If you are interested in the outcome of the study, please contact James Sims at sjames97@vt.edu. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the principle investigator Dr. Farrokh Jazizadeh at jazizade@vt.edu. Your input will be invaluable in shaping this research (IRB# 20-298)!
AIA Virginia’s annual Honors and Awards gala, Visions for Architecture, will take place online on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020 beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Visions for Architecture,created in 1998, celebrates the achievements of those whose work makes especially strong contributions to society and celebrates the recipients of AIA Virginia’s Honors Awards and the Awards for Excellence in Architecture.
Visions for Architecture 2020 will be held virtually and delivered through our online event platform Foresight 2020.
In the past, proceeds from Visions have been designated to support educational programming. This year, tickets will be free — but we’ll be making a very special request of everyone who joins us.
Virginia’s only architecture program in an HBCU needs your support. We’ll be asking you to consider making a donation to Hampton University’s architecture department. Stay tuned for more information and save the date for Oct. 8!
Full transparency. Pandemic-life is hard for me. Arguably the hardest professional season that I have had to endure in my career (the ARE was very tough but I was blessed to make it through without failing any section).
We recently held our August Board meeting via Zoom. Prior to the pandemic, I thoroughly enjoyed welcoming our 26 Board members from all corners of Virginia to our sleekly designed space in Richmond. Many of these members I have known for a number of years dating back to when I was one of them – a practitioner and fellow volunteer Board member.
Our office’s open floor plan places the kitchen island with three elegant pendant light fixtures as the entry’s focal point. But it is more than just a kitchen island. It is where we gather as professional family. During our Board meeting breaks, this is the space where members congregate to refill coffee, confiscate seconds from the breakfast offerings, and build relationships with one another. The air is typically filled with chatter and laughter. And five-minute breaks would turn into 12-minute breaks requiring the President to slam their gavel on the table to restore a sense of focus. No one seemed to mind. It was a sign that we authentically enjoy each other’s company.
This kitchen island has been vacant for five months now. Our Zoom Board meeting breaks entail clicking the “mute” button, turning off the camera, and heading to the restroom.
Outreach, bringing people together, and presenting with my colleagues at conferences are some of my favorite aspects of this position (some of the best conversations happen at 10:30 p.m. at the hotel bar). My calendar has been wiped clean from meetings in Los Angeles, Omaha, Memphis, and Washington to name a few. I foresee it being this way well beyond the boundaries of 2020.
Now I realize this outlook is a personal one. My introverts out there are thriving right now – living their best life. And as I ponder what the future looks like, there are some bright spots.
I never knew I had so many neighbors. There are hundreds of homes in my neighborhood and prior to the pandemic, I might would see one person while on a morning run. Their duties outside had nothing to do with exercise, but more so allowing their dog to take a bio-break. Today, I habitually see nearly a dozen neighbors walking or biking on my running loop. My family time has increased dramatically which is allowing me to form a relationship with my three-year-old daughter that I never knew was possible. And in a sense, setting up virtual coffee meetings with colleagues around the country is becoming the norm on my schedule opposed to seeing each other at an annual event.
Take this opportunity, to strengthen your relationships with family, friends, and professional colleagues. Recently, a friend shared on Facebook that we should make sure we take a picture with all our siblings. Once you lose one, it is never the same. Let us not look back on these challenging days and have regrets about how we invested our time with and into others.
This is hard. But we are going to be OK in the end.
Be encouraged,
R. Corey Clayborne, FAIA, NOMA, MBA Executive Vice President
AIA Virginia announces the call for applications for the 2021 class of Emerging Leaders in Architecture (ELA): An Honors Academy of AIA Virginia.
The application and more information is available here>> The application deadline is Nov. 6, 2020.
ELA is an intensive program of educational sessions structured around presentations, discussions, team exploration, analysis, consensus-building, collaboration, and case study activities undertaken over the course of a year by a small cadre of participants selected for their potential to be outstanding contributors to the profession and the community. Facilitators and mentors who are established leaders in the building, finance, non-profit, development, university, legal, consulting, and design professions and in the community at large develop and deliver the sessions, designed to provide participants with advanced knowledge and skills related to specific areas of leadership and practice.
The program consists of monthly, day-long seminars, work sessions, or class project presentations, culminating at a presentation at Architecture Exchange East in November.
The seminars are interactive, drawing on real examples and actively involving participants. They rotate among sites in Roanoke, Charlottesville, Richmond, Alexandria, and Norfolk in conjunction with the firms, schools, and the local AIA component in each area.
The class project for 2021 will be in Richmond, so many sessions and the project workdays will be located in the Richmond area.
How to Apply The committee seeks applicants from three categories:
Component Nominees: Each of the five AIA Virginia local component Boards may nominate one or more individuals for admission to the program. One participant will be selected from each component for a total of five. If interested, please contact your local AIA chapter representative. Each chapter sets its own deadline and application requirements for these positions.
Student Nominees: Each Virginia Architecture School (UVA, VT, Hampton, and WAAC) may nominate one or more students for admission to the program. One participant will be selected from each school for a total of four. If interested, contact your department Chair/Dean.
Open Applications: Applicants may apply on their own or be nominated by someone else. Seven participants will be selected from among these applicants.
The application and more information is available here>> The application deadline is Nov. 6, 2020.
If you have any questions, please contact Cathy Guske, Member Services Director, cguske@aiava.org
The last couple months have been a bit unstable to say the least. For many who are in the process of taking exams and studying for them it has been a sort of limbo that no one asked for. NCARB has attempted to get out in front of it all and allow for extensions on testing windows, explanations into testing time tables, and how to continue to gain AXP during these unprecedented times. While I will never be able to bring to light information at the level of NCARB, I did think it would be a good time to share some of the questions I’m asked relatively often on topics such as examination, studying, reciprocity, and a few other items.
Question: I’ve met my requirements in a category for hours as I accrue them to sit for exams. Should I continue to accrue hours in those categories even though I’ve met the minimum?
Answer: A simple answer, yes. While doing this it may seem like you’re just stacking hours away in a specific category when you would prefer to have hours going elsewhere, but this can be helpful for a handful of reasons.
It shows where the vast majority of your time is which can help you determine where your possible strengths and weaknesses are with your experience. This helps with the exams and topics for each section, as well as your general work experience.
It’s helpful in those times where you would like to get opportunities for other work experiences in the office by being able to show superiors where more time could be allocated to assist your growth.
Depending on where you are accruing AXP, logging all hours can help you in other categories if ARE updates to a new and improved 6.0. When the jump was made from 4.0 to 5.0 how and where credit hours went were moved around. Those who were short hours in on area were now meeting or exceeding their requirements. At the moment, there isn’t an ARE 6.0 on the horizon, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Question: With working from home, or not being able to secure a position for a summer internship, what other ways can I accrue hours towards AXP?
Answer: The current times are horribly unfortunate and that’s likely an understatement. Many AIA chapters, both local and state, would be the first place to look. Remain tapped in as they have been looking to provide online seminars that can assist in these areas. Even if it doesn’t assist with AXP, there are a number of online seminars that talk to you about the things you will need to know and learn in practice and for exams. These can range from seminars on curtain wall systems to water and air barriers.
Question: What’s the current situation with Prometric and testing?
Answer: Prometric is currently open although at a limited capacity. While you may be able to locate a spot to get in there it may be best if you can to wait until later in the fall. Much of Prometric’s focus currently is on first responders and getting those people in.
Question: With working from home, opportunities to meet specific categories for AXP have become more difficult (CA, etc.), what suggestions are there to continue to accrue time in these categories?
Answer: I would simply advise you to have an honest conversation with your supervisor or studio director. Hours may become crunched and fees may become tight where jobs are not as likely to have the fluff in them to allow for extra people to contribute to certain phases of projects.
Question: Where can I find information on obtaining reciprocity in other states/jurisdictions?
Answer: NCARB updated much of the content on their website last year and added in a really helpful page on this very topic. It provides an interactive map where one can click on the state (or territory) they’re looking to either gain their initial licensure or reciprocity in and what it will require of them. It will list degree requirements, examinations achieved, additional paperwork, and anything else a jurisdiction will need from you. In many cases, it will even provide hyperlinks to the appropriate entities to file paperwork or at a minimum who to contact (The link to this is: https://www.ncarb.org/get-licensed/licensing-requirements-tool).
In closing, if at any point you have any questions or need clarification on anything regarding NCARB, AXP, ARE, or reciprocity please reach out, even if your question is an extension of one of the questions above.
Professionally, it is a serious summer drought for in-person connections with other designers, and the incoming autumn has a foreboding forecast. Fewer internships, fewer spontaneous conversations, fewer professional relationships formed. For students seeing an architecture office for the first time outside the studio bubble, or young designers trying to learn and contribute to their workplace, the challenge of finding meaningful upward-facing relationships presents a real problem for our ongoing professional development.
In this environment, finding mentors is so critical for us as young designers trying to steer ourselves toward our short- and long-term professional goals. Earlier this summer, AIA Virginia launched a statewide mentoring program called Operation Reach-Retain-Develop, pairing architectural students with design professionals across the state due to the pandemic-induced dearth of internships and networking opportunities. At its best, successful mentoring is both intentional (such as AIA VA’s ongoing program) and organic, so here are a few questions you can consider as you approach a potential mentoring relationship:
Who are those I admire, both personally and professionally, from whom I might like to learn from?
What are the values you might share with your mentor? How might they help you cultivate those values and qualities?
Do you want a mentor in your firm, or outside of it?
How can I make it easy for the mentor to say “yes” to meeting?
What is an aspect of practice or design that you don’t understand well that a mentor might help you with?
How do each of you unplug? What are things you both enjoy outside of the office?
How might a mentor serve as a reflection for how others perceive you?
Who are other great people your mentor might introduce you to?
As a young professional, having mentors has dramatically shaped and elevated my early career. Mentors have provided reassurance when I was overwhelmed with the pressures and learning curve of studio and my first job. Mentors have tapped me for opportunities like the Emerging Leaders in Architecture program, when I would not have thought to reach out on my own. Mentors have provided advice, recommendation letters, and wisdom over lunch booths and coffee cups, as well as the warm friendship cultivated by intentional time together. While mentoring—at its best—is a two-way street, I have always felt like I gained far more than I could ever give.
If you are interested in finding a mentor but are not sure where to start, feel free to reach out, and we can work together to find you the support you need, wherever you might be.
In solidarity and action, Michael Spory, Associate AIA spory@vmdo.com
Just a Few Fun Things to Click On
Something to Peruse at Lunch: AIA National just released their revised 2020 Policy Platform, which focuses on the changing landscape of our future economy, climate action, and healthy and vibrant communities. Advocacy at every level begins here: educating ourselves on where we can put our money, time, and attention.
Something to Listen In On: AIA Virginia is facilitating a free panel discussion on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020 at 4 p.m. about the design of a new Memorial to Enslaved Laborers (MEL) on the grounds of the University of Virginia. Learn about the robust community engagement process, including descendants of the enslaved and how the shared vision informed each element of the Memorial’s design. This event is SOLD OUT but the recording will be available on their YouTube channel.
Get licensed this year: $50 2-month subscriptions to the Amber book are still available here thanks to scholarship funding made possible through a grant from The Branch Museum of Architecture & Design.
Some dates for your calendar: Take special note of your calendar on November AIA Virginia’s signature annual gatherings (ArchEX, Design Forum, Visions for Architecture Gala) are going virtual this fall under the umbrella of Foresight 2020–with lots of great (and discounted) options for educational, professional, and networking programs during the entire month of November. Take special note of the speaker lineup for Design Forum on Thursday, November 5–it’s going to be a good one, with presentations from partner Kristen Murray from Olson Kundig and David Lewis from LTL Architects, with a keynote from Steven Holl himself. Registration opens in just a few days–stay tuned!
Something to keep in your Google tab: This spreadsheet was started by designer Dong-Ping Wong, and it is a growing list of BIPOC firms across the nation. If you have a firm in Virginia that is not on this list–add it! He also specifically created it as a job-application resource for young designers of different races and ethnicities looking for BIPOC-led firms, so it also serves as a hiring resource.
Factory-built homes come in two broad categories: Industrialized Buildings and Manufactured Homes. Nowadays, it can be almost impossible to determine whether a home is an Industrialized Building or a Manufactured Home by just looking at the home. However, though their appearances may appear similar, there are differences between these two types of homes in terms of their construction, the applicable building codes and regulations that govern their construction and installation, and the authority having jurisdiction responsible for their conformance to the applicable codes and regulations.
“Manufactured Home” refers to a class of homes built after June 15th, 1976 whose design, construction, and installation is regulated by the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards. Prior to 1976, these types of homes were colloquially known as “Mobile Homes” given their ease of transportability, but the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 established and codified their construction standards. Unlike the prescriptive nature of state regulations and building codes, the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards are performance-based and provide standards for design and construction, strength and transportability, fire resistance, and energy efficiency.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) oversees the design and factory construction of manufactured homes through third-party agencies: Inspection Primary Inspection Agencies (IPIAs) and Design Approval Primary Inspection Agencies (DAPIAs). Further, HUD often partners with States who act as HUD’s State Administrative Agency (SAA) to help oversee each State’s Manufactured Housing Installation Program and resolve consumer complaints. To this end, Virginia’s State Building Codes Office acts as HUD’s SAA.
“Industrialized Building” is defined in the Virginia Industrialized Building Safety Regulations to mean a combination of one or more sections or modules, subject to state regulations and including the necessary electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilating, and other service systems, manufactured off-site and transported to the point of use for installation or erection, with or without other specified components, to comprise a finished building. These types of homes have a rich and vibrant history, dating back to the early 1900’s when Sears, Roebuck, & Co. popularized their kit homes. Unlike Manufactured Homes, the design, installation, and construction of Industrialized Homes are regulated by the Uniform Statewide Building Code.
Virginia’s State Building Codes Office is the administrator of the Virginia’s Industrialized Building Program and, as such, serve as the authority having jurisdiction for all of Virginia’s Industrialized Buildings. Much like HUD relies on third-party agencies for the design and factory construction of Manufactured Homes, the State Building Codes Office relies on third-party agencies for the design and factory construction of Industrialized Buildings. For Industrialized Buildings, these agencies are called, “Compliance Assurance Agencies (CAAs),” and they are responsible for reviewing building designs, inspecting the construction of buildings in the factory, and certifying the buildings through the application of the Virginia Registration Seal.
While the State Building Code’s Office monitors the performance of CAAs through application and auditing processes, local code officials are responsible for handling permitting, site inspections, and the issuance of certificates of occupancy for Industrialized Buildings.
For additional information or if you have questions, please contact The State Building Codes Office by calling 804-371-7150, or via email at SBCO@dhcd.virginia.gov. You can also visit our website at https://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/
We understand the dedication and effort required to study for and pass the ARE. Congratulations to the following members for passing their exams and gaining licensure. This is great news that thrills all of us and we are so proud to call you architects!
Alexander M. Jack, AIA (Central Virginia) Ms. Esther J. Jeong, AIA (Richmond) Susan Scarlet-Macaw, 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
