Got 6 minutes and 40 seconds to tell us about the best d@mn thing you’ve ever done as a designer? Come share your story at Architecture Exchange East this November. We’re seeking up to 6 presenters for a Pecha Kucha (PK)-style session at ArchEx. (What the heck is a PK?)
With our focus on developing sessions that encourage conversation, connections, and collaborative learning, we figured it was about time we brought the PK back to ArchEx. A good PK is creative, tells a great story, and shares something inspiring (with a little dash of humor mixed in).
It’s a format made for designers by designers. We know you’ve done some pretty incredible things in your professional life and we want to hear about them — whether you’re sharing your favorite project, a brilliant marketing idea, or an innovative office layout. Be as creative as you want. If you can weave in our theme, re:culture, even better!
We’ve only got time for 5-6 speakers, so pitch us your best idea by June 28 and we’ll get back with you in July.
What the heck is a PK?
From ArchEx 2018. Photo by Jay Paul.
Pecha Kucha (Japanese for chit-chat) is a concise
presentation format where speakers tell their story using only 20 slides —
usually with a single image. The slides automatically advance each 20 seconds
while you talk.
This format was conceived of by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham
of Klein Dytham architecture as a
way to showcase creative design work through quick informative presentations.
AIA Virginia is pleased to announce that Ann Beha, FAIA
will chair the 2019 Design Awards jury.
Beha is Principal of Ann Beha
Architects, a Boston practice known for its exploration of heritage in
dialogue with contemporary design. She founded ABA to focus on preservation and
adaptive re-use, and has led ABA to honors for new design and construction and
planning, extending its reach nationally and internationally.
She has been Design Principal at the University of Chicago,
Princeton University, Cornell University Law School, Yale University, and MIT. Her
civic projects include the United States Embassy in Athens, Greece, and
projects at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History,
Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, and at the Newberry Library in Chicago.
Beha received a Master of Architecture from MIT, an undergraduate degree from Wellesley, was a Loeb Fellow at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University,
and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Design at the City College of New York. She is a member
of Harvard University’s Design Advisory Council, received the 2018 Award of
Honor from the Boston Society of Architects and the 2019 Honor Award from the
State Department’s Bureau of Overseas Building Operations Industry Advisory
Group.
The Design Awards program recognizes outstanding design —
both built and unbuilt — from the past eight years. All entries must be the
work of licensed architects who have an office in Virginia OR are members of
AIA Virginia. The deadline is June 17,
2019. Learn more about the Call for
Entries or submit
your entry online.
Join AIA national and AIA Minneapolis for the largest leadership
event in the US for women in architecture! Women’s leadership Summit is three
days of high-value educational sessions, candid conversations, and wellness
activities designed to help you refine your leadership skills and accelerate
your career growth.
You’ll hear from inspirational women leaders including Debbie
Millman, curator and host of the Design
Matters podcast; Priya Parker, founder of Thrive Labs; and Toshiko Mori,
FAIA, Harvard professor and principal of Toshiko Mori Architect.
Invest in yourself and your career—register for the Women’s
Leadership Summit today!
Architecture Exchange East is bringing together the brightest minds and most engaging speakers to explore the theme of culture. And, we think you should have a seat at the table (or lectern, as the case may be). We’re seeking polished presenters as well as fresh voices to share their research and expertise at ArchEx in Richmond on Nov. 6–8, 2019.
We’ll engage in
dynamic conversations around office culture. We’ll dig into redefining studio
culture. We might even get a little lofty and examine architecture’s role in
expressing humanity’s highest ideals.
If you’re an expert
in (re)designing firm culture — submit a proposal.
If you’re a
champion of participatory design — submit a proposal.
If you design
cultural institutions — submit a proposal.
If you’ve conducted
research into the socio-cultural impact of architecture — submit a proposal.
If you can speak to
Japanese influence on custom residential design in the U.S. — submit a
proposal.
You get the idea.
We really value sessions that encourage conversation, connections, and collaborative learning. Think workshops, roundtables, and interactive panels. Most of our session slots will be 60 minutes, but we’ll have a few longer time slots for more in-depth explorations. All confirmed speakers will receive a 50% discount on conference registration.
Help us design the best ArchEx experience yet — submit a proposal. Deadline is May 15. The proposal form is below.
AIA Virginia is pleased to announce the students recognized
as honorees in 2019 AIA
Virginia Prize competition.
AIA Virginia Prize The top award and $3000 prize goes to Jackson Reed a student at Virginia Tech for the submission “Frames of Reference.” The jury recognized the elegant way the structure could be both unveiled and packed away, noting that there was “a kind of magic to how it captured the light.” The submission displayed a technical superiority and a “completeness” to its presentation. The jury appreciated the fresh approach to a shipping container building, particularly in the way the volume could be reconfigured.
“Frames of Reference” by Jackson Reed, Virginia Tech was awarded the AIA Virginia Prize.
Special Jury Award and Hampton University Best of School The Best of School Award for Hampton University goes to Julian Washington for “Veggie Soul.” The jury appreciated that the submission was rooted in its cultural context as well as its inventive placement inside an existing building. They found the rendering particularly evocative, giving a true sense of the concept and placement. The jury found this submission particularly notable and elected to make a Special Jury Award of $500.
“Veggie Soul” by Julian Washington, Hampton University – The Best of School Award and Special Jury Award
University of Virginia Best of School The Best of School Award for University of Virginia goes to Taha Suhrawardy for “Sic Parvis Magna Café.” They jury enjoyed the design’s informality counterbalanced with its placement within a formal setting. Its lightweight characteristics and structural creativity were interesting. The approach to mobility was notable.
“Sic Parvis Magna Café” by Taha Suhrawardy, University of Virginia – Best of School Award
Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center Best of School The Best of School Award for the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center goes to Meredith Sattler for “Deadrise Oyster Bar.” This entry expressed what the environment has to offer in a really simple, pleasurable way. The jury found the response to the tidal condition interesting.
“Deadrise Oyster Bar” by Meredith Sattler, Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center – Best of School Award
The following were recognized with an Honorable Mention
“The New Taste of Flow” submitted by Mengzhe Ye from University of Virginia
“The Hangout” submitted by Gary Garner from Hampton University
“King St. Pop Up Café” submitted by Juan Urey Fernandez from WAAC
“The Fulcrum” submitted by Andy Merida from Virginia Tech
“untitled” submitted by Anna Fletcher from Virginia Tech
“Boba — A Pop Up Bubble Tea Shop” submitted by Kirt Hilker from Virginia Tech
“The New Taste of Flow” submitted by Mengzhe Ye and Weiran Jing from University of Virginia The jury appreciated the graphic approach. They found the innovative and thoughtfully-considered user experience notable.
“The Hangout” submitted by Gary Garner from Hampton University The jury found the idea of using readily-available swing equipment to create seating and a dining environment refreshing.
“King St. Pop Up Café” submitted by Juan Urey Fernandez from the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center The jury was pleased with the clean, comprehensive design. The site placement was clear and precise — there was little missing.
“The Fulcrum” submitted by Andy Merida from Virginia Tech The jury appreciated the elegant simplicity of this submission and its implied invitation to engage your imagination.
“Boba — A Pop Up Bubble Tea Shop” submitted by Kirt Hilker from Virginia Tech The jury delighted in the submission’s imaginative approach that was truly representative of a “pop up” café.
“untitled” submitted by Anna Fletcher from Virginia Tech The jury found this entry and its story gripping. The graphics beautifully captured the mood and emotional context of the narrative.
About the Challenge
The competition — which took place over the weekend of Jan.
25–28 — challenged students to design a pop-up diner with a small kitchen,
short-term supply storage, and a dining counter for standing and sitting
customers. Students were asked to consider the energy, water, and waste flows
in their solutions. [Read the full competition brief.]
About the AIA
Virginia Prize
Conducted simultaneously at Hampton University, University
of Virginia, Virginia Tech,
and the Washington-Alexandria
Architecture Center, the competition is a design charrette that
engages students at all of the accredited schools of architecture in Virginia.
Students are given the competition program on a Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. They
work over the weekend to create a design solution and submit it by 9 a.m. the
following Monday. The top submission wins a $3000 prize.
Launched in 1980, the competition is intended to promote
collaboration between the profession, students, and professors in Virginia.
Historically, the charrette has taken place in January, however over the last
several years, the competition has been hosted in September to accommodate an
ongoing scheduling conflict at one of the schools. Now that the conflict has
been resolved, the Prize weekend has shifted back to the spring semester to
better align with the demands of the academic calendar.
Development of the competition brief rotates between the
four schools annually — the 2019 Prize challenge was developed by Virginia
Tech.
About the Jury
Each school’s faculty reviews the submissions and sends up
to 10 finalists to Richmond for final consideration by the following Jury.
Nick Serfass, FAIA, Executive Director, RVATECH | Jury Chair
The Emerging Leaders in Architecture: An Honors Academy of AIA Virginia is completing their eleventh year in 2019. Architecture students, candidates for licensure, and recently licensed architects apply for the program in November of each year and are selected to participate based on chapter and university nominations and open applications. Beginning in January, the class gathers once per month for a series of topic-based seminars to expand the horizons of their experience. Each meeting rotates around the state chapters, introducing participants to new places, new firms, and new peers. Aside from that, the class is tasked with a group project, and present the results of their work at the Architecture Exchange East Conference in November.
We are a diverse class of sixteen architects, designers, and students from all over the world and working in the state’s top firms and schools in Virginia. Though we are only a few months into the year, we’ve already had loads of fun and gotten to know each other quite well. At our first session in Richmond in January, we each gave three minute long Pecha Kucha style presentations to introduce ourselves to the group, got familiar with the program and visited a project site. For our project kick-off in February, we met at AECOM’s offices in Arlington. Following our day of seminars, we spent the night at an Annandale AirBnB mansion-ette, which featured a baby grand piano and a hot tub. It was there that we learned of Ojima’s musical talent, Ryan’s trivia brilliance, and we discovered that Jeff is our group “Dad.” Everyone also got the chance to learn more about each other on a personal level and get comfortable as a group, be more personal and get comfortable with each other which we all really enjoyed. In our March session, held at the offices of DBI Architects in Reston, we dug even deeper with a Strengthsfinder test. We learned how valuable it is to have strengths balanced in the four main categories like Zakiya and Ianta (something that is a rare trait). They give credit to their Virgo qualities. We then practiced our teamwork and strengths dynamics in a fierce spaghetti tower competition. (See our Facebook page for pics!)
This
year, our team has been asked to tackle a broad question, “What should we do
with unused office space in Northern Virginia?”
NOVA has about 172 million square feet of office space and about 20% of
that space is currently vacant. In presentations given by local developers,
planners, and politicians, we learned that two primary disruptors contributed
to the rise of vacancy beginning in 2008: the BRAC commission, which called for
some government functions in leased space to be relocated to bases, and
secondly the release of the iPhone. The iPhone brought with it a major shift in the way work
happens. People are no longer tethered to physical places where information is
stored; many can now conduct their business from anywhere. As a result, more
employees work from home and companies require less square footage per person
to operate. Currently, developers look to the bottom line to decide which
obsolete office buildings are candidates for upgrades. Tenants have come to
expect amenities such as exercise facilities and cafeterias from newly
constructed office space. Proximity to parking, public transit, and shopping
also help developers predict which buildings have investment potential which is
a challenge for the unused spaces farther from civilization.
Currently,
we are wading through a sea of research available on this big topic. We are
studying the evolution of office space typologies and adaptive reuse case
studies across the world, mapping vacancies, and seeking input from the next
generation of building end users – children!
We are working on reframing the question. Beyond the bottom line, we are
interested in how these buildings could contribute something more to both the community
and the environment in which they reside.
In
the coming weeks, we will be moving from the research phase into more defined
parameters for our final project. We will be tackling questions like: what is
the scale of our solution, will policy-making play a role, what are everyone’s
individual goals for a solution, and finally, how are we celebrating at the end
of this thing?
For updates on our progress please visit our Instagram@elaclassof2019 and spread the word!
Nearly 60 firm leaders came together in Northern Virginia on
March 22 to exchange ideas, enjoy fellowship, and learn at the second biennial
Art of Practice.
The program kicked off with Message Book training presented by the AIA’s Caitlin Reagan and Frank Scanlan. The group learned the basics of communication philosophy and how to design effective messages. After hearing some excellent tips and watching good (and truly awful!) examples of public speaking, attendees took part in an interactive exercise on crafting message headlines. After that, the group dug into how to use these tools in business development and advocacy environments. Several brave souls volunteered to put what they learned into practice. Short mock interviews were conducted and played back for the group to critique.
Following robust conversations (and wine) over lunch, Michele
Russo, the Managing Director of Research and Practice at the AIA, offered an
economic forecast. After sharing current conditions and the top four business
concerns in architecture firms, she offered a 2019/2020 outlook for the
profession. Predictions indicate that
firms can expect growth in 2019 – but at a slower rate than last year. She
shared several indicators that hint at slower economic growth in 2020.
Karl Feldman from Hinge offered emerging research and best
practices for employee recruitment and retention. He shared generational
differences in how candidates approach a job search as well as how they
evaluate opportunities. Following a lively Q&A session, Karl moderated a Leadership
Transition Panel Discussion featuring Donna Phaneuf, FAIA; Mark Orling, AIA;
Bob Moje, FAIA; Tom Kerns, FAIA; and Rob Comet, AIA. Each of the panelists
shared their approach to leadership cultivation and transition within their
firms.
Art of Practice Video
Special thanks to Philip Moo for creating a video of highlights from the day.
When a disaster strikes, one of a community’s first tasks is to determine whether its buildings are safe for habitation. Too often, the structures that must be examined greatly outnumber the trained city inspectors. You can help bridge this gap.
The AIA Safety Assessment Program (SAP) trains architects, engineers, building officials, and inspectors to evaluate homes, buildings, and infrastructure in the aftermath of a disaster. This workshop teaches you to conduct rapid damage assessments of structures affected by earthquakes, wind, and water. Upon completion of this course, you’ll be able to consistently and safely assess structures for habitability. You’ll also receive a nationally recognized Cal OES registration ID card from the state of California.
CREDITS// 6.5 AIA LU|HSW Saturday, April 6, 2019 8 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Location: Jacobs| 1100 N. Glebe Rd., Suite 500, Arlington VA
This curriculum is based on the State of California’s
training program and has benefited numerous communities — resulting in
thousands of safety evaluations and saving municipalities millions of dollars.
The Safety Assessment Program Training is a technical
training program that includes Applied Technology Council ATC-20
Post-earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings and ATC-45 Safety Evaluation of
Buildings after Wind Storms and Floods.
AIA Virginia is pleased to announce the jury for the 2019 AIA Virginia Prize. The competition — which took place over the weekend of Jan. 25–28 — challenged students to design a pop-up diner with a small kitchen, short-term supply storage, and a dining counter for standing and sitting customers. Students were asked to consider the energy, water, and waste flows in their solutions. [Read the full competition brief.]
Each school’s faculty reviews the submissions and sends up to 10 finalists to Richmond for final consideration by the jury.
Jury
Nick Serfass, FAIA, Executive Director, RVATECH | Jury Chair
Lori Garrett, FAIA,
Senior Principal & Director of Higher Education Studio, Glavé &
Holmes
Sandra
Hunter, AIA, Design Manager, Loudoun County Dept of Transportation and
Capital Infrastructure
Donna Phaneuf, FAIA, President
+ Lead Design Principal, Via Design
Patrick Thompson, Assoc. AIA, Associate, Commonwealth Architects
The Prize is expected to be awarded in April.
About the AIA Virginia Prize
Conducted simultaneously at Hampton University, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and
the Washington-Alexandria
Architecture Center, the competition is a design charrette that engages
students at all of the accredited schools of architecture in Virginia. Students
are given the competition program on a Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. They work
over the weekend to create a design solution and submit it by 9 a.m. the
following Monday. The top submission wins a $3000 prize.
Launched in 1980, the competition is intended to promote
collaboration between the profession, students, and professors in Virginia. Historically,
the charrette has taken place in January, however over the last several years,
the competition has been hosted in September to accommodate an ongoing
scheduling conflict at one of the schools. Now that the conflict has been
resolved, the Prize weekend has shifted back to the spring semester to better
align with the demands of the academic calendar.
Development of the competition brief rotates between the
four schools annually — the 2019 Prize challenge was developed by Virginia
Tech.
Current and future firm leaders from across the Commonwealth
will converge on March 22, 2019, at the Winery at Bull Run for the
second biennial Art of Practice summit. The program is intended to cultivate leadership
skills, identify solutions to common business problems, and fuel collaboration
across the profession.
Registration is now open for the day-long event in Northern Virginia. The venue was selected to nurture a retreat-like atmosphere and to encourage relationship building among peers. In keeping with this notion, space is extremely limited, so early registration is strongly encouraged. Tickets are available to members only and are $125 (lunch is included). Participants can earn 6 learning units.
Advanced Communications Training Effective communication skills are critical the success of any business leader. Take part in an intensive leadership communications program — developed specifically for architects — that was designed to improve your public speaking and storytelling skills. Learn advanced presentation techniques and discover more about your personal style and delivery. Come away with an understanding of how facial expression, eye contact, hand and body movement, and voice impact your message.
Lunchtime Roundtable Discussions The learning doesn’t stop when we break for lunch. Taking a cue from the most popular part of AIA Virginia’s Firm Roundtable meetings, we’ve reserved time for peer-to-peer learning. Discover best practices and share your experiences with colleagues while you enjoy a catered lunch (carefully paired with sparkling water or a glass of Bull Run’s finest).
Employee Recruitment
and Retention
Firm leaders are telling us that their biggest challenge right now is finding
and hiring the right talent. Hear emerging research from the AEC industry and
discover best practices for employee recruitment and retention.
Moderated Leadership
Transition Panel Discussion
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Whether your firm is facing the retirement
of a key leader, a merger, or simply considering how to nurture the next
generation of principals, leadership transitions can often take years — even
with advance planning and management. Hear how your colleagues faced a host of
issues and positioned their firms for success in the face of change.
A limited room block is held nearby at the Hyatt Place Chantilly. Make reservations online or call the Reservations Center at 1-888-591-1234 using the group code G-AIAE. Complimentary shuttle service is available for those who wish to stay afterward and a enjoy tasting.
About the Art of Practice
The biennial Art of Practice was launched in 2017 with the purpose of providing current and aspiring firm leaders and with timely, relevant, actionable advice on how to grow and sustain their businesses.
