ArchEx 2019: Practice Zone

Posted on by cguske

This year, we’ve organized our carefully-curated program for Architecture Exchange East into learning zones. You can pick and choose sessions from any of the zones or do a deep dive into a particular theme.

Join us in our Practice Zone to focus your ArchEx experience on practice management. In this zone, you’ll discuss practice management methods and explore the topic of firm culture.

View the complete agenda or register online today. Discounted Registration ends Oct. 9.

All ArchEx seminars offer 1 AIA/CES learning unit unless otherwise noted in the agenda.

WEDNESDAY

04: AIA Virginia Firm Roundtables
Leaders from various firm sizes come together to discuss pertinent practice topics in a structured and facilitated format. 

THURSDAY

50: Why Should I Choose You?
There’s one question you’re faced with every day that matters above all else: Why should I choose you? It’s the most difficult question to answer and it comes from three directions: business development; employee experience; and customer experience.

103: Building Belonging: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace
How do you foster a diverse firm culture where every individual feels empowered to contribute? Hear from leaders whose organizations have devised and implemented a strategy to build and sustain a culture that celebrates human differences.

203: The Missing Middle: Surviving the Mid-Career Phase
Engage in an open dialogue on firm culture, the recession, and the art of delegating. Discuss firm culture, work/life balance, time management, goal setting, and mentorship. Emerging professionals, mid-career professionals, and firm leaders are all welcome.  

303: Building a Cohesive Firm Culture Across Offices
Quinn Evans Architects has expanded rapidly in the past few years, having merged with both Baltimore’s Cho Benn Holback + Associates and Richmond’s BCWH since 2017. The directors of QEA’s Richmond, Baltimore, and Washington, DC, offices will discuss their experience with the mergers and their impacts on firm culture.

FRIDAY

404: The Culture of Value
Understanding key points such as building a management team, building a client base, building a growth strategy for the firm and individuals, and effective financial controls shows the employees (and perspective future owners) that the firm’s value culture is one they’ll want to buy into.

450: Focus: Your Most Valuable Skill
Distraction is derailing your projects. It’s also making you stressed, burned out, and less innovative. Dive into how our brains function best and discover secrets to overcome distraction individually — and as a firm.

603: Culture Catalyst: Workplace Design as a Leadership Tool
Does your office align you’re your culture, or does it get in the way? Learn how design impacts the culture you have and how it can support the culture you want.

703: Enriching Culture: Diversity Groups in Practice
FXCollaborative shares how the firm’s mission-driven groups foster an inclusive and equitable environment. Hear about the firm’s diversity groups including FXWomen, FXMosaic, and FXOne, which are designed to help women, racial/ethnic minorities, and the LGBTQ community to thrive.

803: Creating a Business Development Culture
Building a corporate culture that embraces business development can be one of the most effective ways to achieve your company’s growth objectives. Discover how to engage in a systematic cultural change process that will allow you to create this type of culture.

903: Purpose-Driven Performance: Connecting Culture to Success
Assess your firm’s culture and learn how to leverage a sense of purpose to drive better performance.

REGISTER

About Architecture Exchange East

ArchEx is AIA Virginia’s annual conference and expo. This year, it takes place at the Greater Richmond Convention Center from Nov. 6–8, 2019. The program is curated to bring together the brightest minds and most engaging speakers to explore the theme of culture.

Registration Open for ArchEx 2019

Posted on by cguske

I don’t know about you, but the anticipation has been killing us. Registration is now (finally!) open for Architecture Exchange East 2019 — one of the largest and most exciting annual gatherings of architects and design professionals in the mid-Atlantic.

ArchEx 2019 features dozens of educational sessions, spectacular behind-the-scenes architectural tours, engaging special events, and more than 60 vendors in the ArchEx Exhibit Hall — all organized around our theme of re:culture. Check out the complete agenda. (View as a PDF)

This year, during the Early Bird registration period, we’ve frozen registration fees. Register today to secure your tickets at last year’s best price – but don’t delay. Discount registration ends Oct. 9. Check out all the registration options and fees.

Keynote Speakers

Our general session features three keynote speakers. We kick off with an opening talk by Dwayne Oyler from Oyler Wu Collaborative. The firm has been published globally and widely recognized for its excellence in architectural design, research, and fabrication. Learn about the firm’s approach to fostering creativity and collaboration, and then hear about their experimentation around fabrication and 3D printing — including their LACE line of products.

Then, hear from Pascale Sablan, AIA. She’s a Senior Associate at S9ARCHITECTURE as well as the Founder and Executive Director of Beyond the Built Environment. Pascale is the 315th living African American woman in the United States to attain her architectural license. She was recently appointed to AIA New York’s Board of Directors and to the AIA National Strategic Planning Committee. Pascale was named one of 25 Young Architects to Watch in 2019 by Architizer and recognized with the 2018 AIA Young Architects Award. She is an architect, mentor, intrapreneur and a passionate advocate for bringing visibility and voice to the issues concerning minority designers. 

The general session wraps up with an address by Patricia Gruits, Senior Principal and Managing Director of MASS Design Group. Gruits leads both design and research projects in health, education, and equity. Since joining MASS in 2013, she has led the design of the Maternity Waiting Village in Malawi with the Malawi Ministry of Health, a series of primary schools in East Africa with the African Wildlife Foundation and the M2 Foundation, and is currently leading the development of an assessment tool to measure the impact of design and infrastructure investments.

Prior to joining MASS, Patricia worked with Kennedy & Violich Architecture in Boston and co-founded the global non-profit, Portable Light, which provides a portable and sustainable source of power and light to those in resource limited areas of the world. Her work has been featured in journals of architecture and design as well as on the BBC World News and the Discovery Channel.

About the Program

This year, we’ve organized our carefully-curated program into learning zones. You can pick and choose sessions from any of the zones or do a deep dive into a particular theme.  Check out descriptions of learning zones below or see the seminar titles in a grid.

The Inspiration Zone: In this zone, you’ll attend design-focused sessions that are intended to recharge your creative batteries.

The Future Zone: In this zone, you’ll discover emerging technologies, methods, and research and find out what’s on the horizon for the profession.

The HSW Zone: In this zone, you’ll focus on health, safety, and welfare – and earn up to 15 HSW learning units.

The Practice Zone: In this zone, you’ll discuss practice management methods and explore the topic of firm culture.

The History/Community Zone: In this zone, you’ll hear case studies, discuss preservation, and deliberate the power of building community.

The Public Work/Good Zone: In this zone, you’ll discuss the opportunities (and challenges) of engaging in public work as well as the benefits of working for the public good.

The Crowd Sourced Zone: In this zone, you suggested the sessions, we invited the speakers.

About Architecture Exchange East

ArchEx is AIA Virginia’s annual conference and expo. This year, it takes place at the Greater Richmond Convention Center from Nov. 6–8, 2019. The program is curated to bring together the brightest minds and most engaging speakers to explore the theme of culture.

Register

ArchEx 2019: Future Zone

Posted on by cguske

This year, we’ve organized our carefully-curated program for Architecture Exchange East into learning zones. You can pick and choose sessions from any of the zones or do a deep dive into a particular theme.

Join us in our Future Zone to find out what’s on the horizon for the profession. Discover the latest research, emerging technologies, and trends.

View the complete agenda or register online today. The Early Bird discount ends on Sept. 18.

THURSDAY

101: Floating Communities: Cultural Shift to Living ON the Water
Floating communities are environmentally sound, socially focused, and a wellness living environment second to none.  Michael Winstanley AIA AICP and Leejung Hong LEED AP will present their vision and plans for a series of floating communities ranging from a small community of 25 homes in an existing urban marina in downtown Washington, DC to a large 84 home new community in Woodbridge.  The proposed plans document a net-zero development of homes ranging from 1,500 gsf to 3,000 gsf each constructed on a concrete “float” foundation in a remote location and brought in by barge an assembled to create a vibrant and integrated community.  Power, water, and sewage are all part of the discussion as well as common facility and shore-based support functions.

201: Moon Base: Designing a Lunar Village
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has released the conceptual design for the first full-time human habitat on the lunar surface, called “Moon Village.” Learn about the proposed concept and hear how the team had to consider entirely new challenges, such radiation protection, pressure differentials, and how to provide breathable air.

301: Virtual Reality and the University of Virginia Hospital Expansion
The University Hospital Expansion project (UHE) is a 14-story, 440,000 square-foot patient-tower currently under construction at the University of Virginia. Seeing the value of the use of Virtual Reality during project design, the on-site team decided to set the challenge of finding a way to use VR during construction administration. Through this presentation, the design team will share their journey over the last 5 years of software exploration and the ever evolving use of technology during construction.

FRIDAY

411: Technologies for Inclusion
Computational design and digital fabrication technologies—including robotics—have afforded new potential for all design disciplines. Global architecture and design discourse continue to profess the potential of ‘emerging’ design technologies and fabrication methods as the drivers of the future of creating buildings. Computational design, collaboration, project management, and fabrication technologies have enabled projects to happen faster while utilizing global supply chains, global labor and universal methods, often without respect for impact—both positive and negative, in the short and long term, on local communities, economies, environments, and culture. In opposition are amazing stories emerging from the discourse surrounding the Architect as an inclusive creator. Often as one-offs or special projects outside of the normal practice, these altruistic endeavors rarely result in sustained solutions with systemic impact. In this dichotomy, we have people that make buildings at a pace to meet global demand and in opposition we have people that make buildings that meet local and regional human needs, through processes that empower—a healthy framework for discourse but the practical reality is that development is outpacing altruism at an alarming pace.

To meet global demand while also empowering local communities we must find ways to leverage the same design technologies that are allowing the global construction industry to thrive, to enable collaboration, engagement across stakeholders, find new ways of working, and to reinvent the value proposition of design. Through a series of examples from the Center for Design Research at Virginia Tech, this talk will explore ways in which design and construction technologies help us do more, better and faster, while enhancing the human experience by enabling inclusive processes.

501: Goldilocks and the Power of Ten
Scientists are providing greater and greater access to the design of materials at super-small scales. This talk will provide case studies that explore how designers can make, size, and apply these new materials to orchestrate the flow of energy through buildings in novel and efficient ways.

601: Emerging Leaders in Architecture Session
Celebrate the achievements of the 2019 Emerging Leaders in Architecture and hear about this year’s class project. Dramatic changes in technology and workplace behavior has contributed to an excess of vacant office space, with Northern Virginia approaching a 20% vacancy rate. This year, the Emerging Leaders in Architecture class identifies strategies and creative interventions that revitalize these structures to provide space and amenities that contribute to their local communities.

701: [yaf]CON
[yaf]CON aims to unite and connect members of YAF chapters in Virginia through a mindfully curated micro-conference intended to forge connections and advance the careers of attendees.

REGISTER

ArchEx 2019: Inspiration Zone

Posted on by cguske

This year, we’ve organized our carefully-curated program for Architecture Exchange East into learning zones. You can pick and choose sessions from any of the zones or do a deep dive into a particular theme.

The Inspiration Learning Zone at ArchEx 2019 offers 9 sessions to help you find inspiration in new work and creative approaches. Check them out below or review the full agenda. Registration for ArchEx is now open.

THURSDAY

100: Introduction to Cultural Landscapes
Cultural landscapes are places that have acquired significance through interactions between people and the land; they may surround one or more historic buildings or be significant sites in their own right. Interest in Cultural Landscape Reports (CLRs), the landscape counterparts of Historic Structure Reports (HSRs), is on the rise among stewards of historic places who seek a deeper understanding of their site. Get an introduction to the key issues in the analysis of cultural landscapes.

200: Transforming Office Culture: Parkitectural Expression
Where do you spend most of your “awake hours?” For most of us it is at the office … so why not make it a “LIVING OFFICE” that supports the way you live, work, collaborate and play! The City of Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation Department had been deprived of a new administrative facility for decades and entrusted the presenters to bring them a fresh new definition of the workplace for their staff.

300: Creating a Culture of Integrative Design
A firm’s commitment to the 2030 Challenge helped transform a design culture to embrace high-performance design using an integrative design process. Recognizing that clients do not always want an official sustainability certification, the presenters worked to embed an integrative design process into the culture utilizing a network of sustainable design leaders, early and more energy modeling, and a more metric-driven design process. They’ll review the strategies that helped transform the culture to help enhance the firm’s design process to meet projects’ energy, water, habitat, and material sustainability goals.

FRIDAY

410: Architectural Ethnography as a Learning Tool in Study Abroad
How could study abroad programs for architects teach cultural empathy? Drawing from on-site observation of buildings raises questions that help us understand cultural forces that shapes architecture. For example, why do wood lattices conceal Kyoto’s machiya storefronts instead of revealing the interior with an expansive window? Such question may uncover why contemporary Japanese architecture take on forms different from the western counterparts. The presenter demonstrates how architectural ethnography in study abroad programs can deepen cultural understanding.

500: How Drawings Work: A User Friendly Theory
Pulling from a diverse and eclectic landscape of theories from grammar, functional linguistics, philosophy, art criticism, science fiction, popular culture, and, of course, architecture, Susan Piedmont-Palladino proposes a new way to think about architectural communication and how drawings really work.

600: The Work of Joeb Moore & Partners
Joeb Moore & Partners is an architecture and design firm known for its intellect in design, craftsmanship, inventive formal and spatial systems, and details. The practice specializes in precise and creative buildings, landscapes, and furnishings that sensitively respond to their environment and ecologies of place. Hear from principal Joeb Moore, FAIA about the firm’s approach to residential design.

700: The Work of Ann Beha Architects
Hear about the work of Ann Beha Architects. The firm seeks a dynamic discourse between heritage and the future. With an equal emphasis on contemporary architectural expression and the revitalization of historic resources, their projects shape and strengthen community life, establish new directions, identities, and vibrant settings for education, the arts, and the civic realm.

800: AIA Virginia’s Design Awards Session
See the winning projects from AIA Virginia’s Design Awards program. Discuss the jury’s comments and hear insights from the jury chair.

900: Pecha Kucha: The Best Darn Thing I’ve Ever Done
Four presenters will have 6 minutes and 40 seconds to tell us about the best d@mn thing they’ve ever done as a designer. We’ve built some time in for discussion at the end. Join us for this dynamic session to wrap up your ArchEx experience.

About Architecture Exchange East
ArchEx is AIA Virginia’s annual conference and expo. This year, it takes place at the Greater Richmond Convention Center from Nov. 6–8, 2019. The program is curated to bring together the brightest minds and most engaging speakers to explore the theme of culture.

Register online.

Looking Back at ArchEx 2018

Posted on by cguske

As we look back at ArchEx in the rear view mirror, here are a few highlights from the 3-day program where the profession came together to be inspired, learn and make connections.

Top 10 Reasons to Attend ArchEx

Posted on by cguske

From November 7th – 9th, we will convene for our annual conference, Architecture Exchange East, in Richmond. This may very well be the best one we have ever hosted. The theme of the conference is TENSION. From the physical tension that empowers buildings to stand to the tension between creative vision and practical restrictions. We will even have a dialogue on how tension is present between architecture and social equity.

R. Corey Clayborne, AIA. photo by Jay Paul

Headlined by award-winning architect and TED-presenter, Francis Kéré, Hon. FAIA as the keynote and an appearance by The Hip Hop Architect, Michael Ford, I guarantee you will be moved in a special way. For the first time, we will engage the public within our conference for our Housing Equity Panel that folds under the Institute’s “Blueprint for Better Communities” initiative. This year, our education track is themed to cater to Practice Management, Design, Historic Preservation, Educational Environments, Healthcare Environments, Residential, Technology and Practice, and Building Performance. This means that there is content shaped to accommodate all of our members who have various practices with wide-ranging needs.

On Wednesday, we will offer our full-day program workshops that include our Safety Assessment Program training that will allow you to be instrumental contributors in getting communities back on its feet after a natural disaster. Thursday and Friday promise to offer exceptional content culminating with Visions for Architecture. For this special event at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, we will celebrate those whose work make especially strong contributions to society and celebrates the recipients of AIA Virginia Honors Awards and the Awards for Excellence in Architecture.

Would you rather be in your cubicle or do any of the following:

  1. Francis Kéré’s keynote address
  2. Michael Ford – The Hip Hop Architect. Enough said.
  3. Housing Equity Panel consisting of a prominent architect, the Virginia Poverty Law Center, and the Better Housing Coalition
  4. Safety Assessment Program disaster assistance training
  5. Join members of small, mid-size, and large firms to discuss relevant issues in roundtable format
  6. See the 2018 Emerging Leaders in Architecture (ELA) present its class project and how it will benefit the City of Charlottesville
  7. Engage in dialogue with Higher Education decision-makers on improving collaborate with architects
  8. Tour of Historic Petersburg in collaboration with Preservation Virginia
  9. CONNECTIONS party and networking dinners that include ELA alumni and Virginia Women in Design
  10. Engage with over 70 Vendors that are showcasing cutting-edge materials

If your answer was “yes” to any of the above, then come join us at the conference.

Look forward to welcoming you to Richmond next month!

Corey Clayborne, AIA, MBA
Executive Vice President

ArchEx Registration Closes Soon

Posted on by cguske

Online registration for Architecture Exchange East closes Nov. 2, 2018. Register today>>

This is the last chance for you to lock in your spot for our exciting conference. Here are a couple of sessions you might be interested in attending:

Designing Justice Facilities for Mental Health
3:15-5:15 p.m. Thursday, November 8th

Justice Architecture touches almost every citizen’s life, whether through a family member, colleague, or friend. As such, correctional facilities may have a more direct impact on a larger number of citizens than any other civic building type, and yet, they have changed relatively little in this country over the past half-century. Today’s criminal justice context acknowledges that individuals serving time will not return to society as improved citizens without treatment and/or better coping strategies. Rehabilitative programs in corrections target addictions, criminal thinking, anger management, parenting skills, and job skills, among others. Teaching inmates to make better, more informed decisions lies at the heart of most programs, with the ultimate goal of providing an improved framework for addressing life’s problems within the parameters of the law. At the same time programs deliver improved mechanisms for making better decisions, the secure correctional environment reduces the level of autonomy and individual decision-making to a minimum. The rigid structure imposed by the prototypical secure correctional environment delays much of the practice required to master new behaviors until after release. It is widely believed that this structure is necessary for security; yet other countries have achieved better results upon re-entry with a different structural approach. How do their populations differ? How are they the same? This session hopes to better define the relationship between rehabilitative programming and legacy U.S. institutional design, and to probe the extent to which more normalized housing and creative, new approaches to facility design (such as those used in other countries) might enhance programming success, without compromising security. Within this workshop, you will learn about where correctional architecture is going in terms of integrating innovative mental health, behavioral health, & re-entry programs into new, replacement, and renovated facilities. All are encouraged to attend – the solution to fewer correctional facilities and a more effective criminal justice system is in the hands of not only the design and health professionals but policy-makers and every community nation-wide.

Demystifying Security in Design: A Holistic Approach
3:30-5:30 p.m. Thursday, November 8th

In today’s America, sincere emotion and fear surrounds the conversation on security as we become more aware of incidents of mass shootings, sexual assault, cyber bullying, and terrorism. Responses by many have called for the “hardening,” of our schools, cultural centers, and civic spaces. Designers have the awesome responsibility of respectfully listening to end users, distilling concerns, and yet still meeting clients’ functional, aesthetic, and programmatic needs. Architects, administrators, and educators can begin demystifying security by using a more democratic, holistic, and well-informed approach. Join us for a round table discussion with a group of panelists who work in multiple arenas: architectural design, infrastructure and technology, governance and legislation, and socio-emotional development.

Tour of the Varina Area Library
3:15-5:15 p.m. Thursday, November 8th

Tour the Varina Area Library which was awarded a 2017 AIA/ALA Library Building Award. The Varina Area Library, which opened on June 1, 2016, is a brand new 43,000 square foot building located on a 22 acre parcel of land in the rural, eastern section of Henrico County. The new state-of-the art-library replaces a small 6,000 square foot branch that served the Varina community for over 40 years. Varina’s citizens wanted an active library that provided a “next generation” of library services. To create a hub for learning with sufficient quiet space, the library features several unique learning spaces and programmatic elements that facilitate project-based learning pedagogies. More casual learning spaces are integrated throughout the library in the form of private and group study rooms outfitted with mobile, adaptable furniture to promote various learning, working, and collaborating styles.

Tour of Capitol Square
3:15-5:15 p.m. Thursday, November 8th

Explore one of America’s most influential buildings. The Virginia Capitol, a living landmark and home to the oldest elected legislative body in North America, was designed by Thomas Jefferson and was the first public building in the New World constructed in the Monumental Classical style. It has served as a prototype for countless capitols, public buildings, churches, and residences for more than 200 years. This tour will include an overview of Capitol Square, a survey of the Capitol’s architectural history, and a tour of the public spaces and exhibits inside the Capitol.

We look forward to seeing you in November!

Online registration for Architecture Exchange East closes Nov. 2, 2018. Register today>>

ArchEx Discount Registration Ends Oct 5

Posted on by cguske

The Discount Registration deadline for Architecture Exchange East is October 5, 2018. Register by then to save big on tours, seminars and parties!

Register here today>>

This year’s conference features countless educational sessions, spectacular behind-the-scenes architectural tours, engaging special events, and more than 60+ vendors in the ArchEx Exhibit Hall. Francis Kéré, Hon. FAIA, is this year’s Keynote Speaker. You won’t want to miss it.

We look forward to seeing you in November!