B.L.U.R.’s purpose is to celebrate the collaboration with other people, whether design-orientated or not, and learn from their perspectives. Hence, we greatly encouraged the exhibitors and sponsors of this conference to participate in the sessions/events.

The conference began with a golf tournament on Wednesday afternoon at the Three Crowns Golf Club. The tournament was used as a fundraiser for the Architectural Education Foundation; the proceeds went towards financially supporting Wyoming High School graduates who are attending architecture schools in other states.

Pre-conference sessions began Thursday afternoon at Stateline No.7 Architects. These sessions include: An Introduction to Asbestos in Facilities by Jacob Ojeda, Vegetated Roofing Systems by Scott Patz of Rocky Mountain Reps Inc., and A Most Perfect Wall of All by Lee Dzierzanowski of Tremco Construction Products Group.

The evening included two tours: one at the Hein House by Randy Hein, AIA and a presentation at Blacktooth Brewery by Lyle Murtha, AIA and Ansley Mouw, Assoc. AIA. Our Blacktooth sponsors were EDA and Brick and Bond, providing free drinks for conference attendees. The Membership Development Committee created a “speed mentoring” activity, encouraging people to mingle with a mentor outside of one’s firm and meet other pairs.

Friday’s conference sessions took place at the M Building, the newly remodeled 1960s bank provided a grand space for both exhibitors’ tables and presentations, allowing the exhibitors to participate and listen in during the conference. AIA WY President Dale Buckingham, AIA welcomed everyone to the start of the conference.

Paul Lewandowski, AIA of Paul Designs Project (Portland, ME), started the conference with his presentation on A Real World Approach to Embracing the AIA Framework for Design Excellence. Paul reviewed the 10 Principles of the Framework that represent good design in the 21st century and inform progress toward a zero-carbon, equitable, resilient and healthy built environment. He walked us through a spider chart to visualize how well a project would do in each category, using some of his own projects as examples.

Lauren Griffith of Lauren Griffith Interiors and Liz Price of GSG Architecture hosted an interior designer’s panel discussion about Synergistic Coalescene/The Confluence of Architecture and Interior Design. They took turns presenting their work and what interior designers specialize in. The panel then opened to questions, with the most partaking advice being to involve an interior designer early enough in the project.

The Chapter Business Meeting began before lunch with the voting of two board members: Carl Kohut, AIA, for Secretary (2024-2025, 1st term) and Ellen Martin, Assoc. AIA, for Associate Director (2024-2025, 1st term). Please see other articles in this publication for additional news.

Our delicious lunch was sponsored by Lower & Co and Polished Concrete of Wyoming. Diane McGinley presented The “M”: Transforming an Icon to Serve Athletes in the Future as the conference attendees ate, a wonderful presentation about the M Building’s history and renovation from a bank into a clinic/event space while retaining its historical appearance.

Tim Schenk, AIA presented the Converse County Joint Justice Center after lunch was completed, an ongoing project that has him on “semi-retired” status. It is a multiple-phase sprawling building in Douglas that ties into the landscape while providing the needed security to keep the occupants inside safe.

Scott Lindenau, FAIA presented Home as a Vessel of Memory, taking the conference attendees on a journey of Scott’s design method. We explored the architectural potential of homes to nurture and elevate the human experience through personalization of the person’s unique needs, creating their own haven.

Ben Channon of Ekkist (located in the UK) was the final speaker of the night, presenting Happy by Design: Designing for Mental Wellbeing. He talked extensively about the elements in our built environment that affect our mental well-being without us potentially knowing. These elements include light, nature, aesthetics and legibility, activity and exercise, social interaction and community, comfort and material choices, and control and autonomy. We, as designers, can use these lessons to create places that not only allow people to survive but to thrive. This presentation was made possible by a grant from the Wyoming Board of Architects and Landscape Architects; thank you!

The Design and Honor Awards started in the evening and was open to the public to attend. The Design Awards Jury Chair, Paul Lewandowski, AIA, presented the award winners for the design categories, while separate honor awards were presented by the Honor Awards Jury Chair, Bruce Fallen, AIA. This was a record year of over 70 design and honor award entries, with 20 of those entries awarded! Please see pages 37-56 for all the winners.

Saturday morning was bustling with four tours. Starting with the Thyra Thomson State Office Building by Lyle Murtha, AIA and Anthony Jacobsen, AIA. The Tale of Two Pools was next, presented by Sampson Construction’s Logan Ridgeway, who led the tours of both the Natrona County High School pool and the YMCA pool. The final tour was presented by Brandon Diagle, AIA on the Casper College Visual Arts Building. And thus, the conference was concluded.

We want to thank our sponsors for supporting our Annual Fall Conference + Design and Honor Awards: ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions, Epic Metals, FCI Constructors of Wyoming LLC, Prairie Pella Wyoming, Martin/Martin Wyoming, Brick and Bond, Engineering Design Associates, Lower & Co., Polished Concrete of Wyoming, and WLC Engineering and Surveying.

We also want to thank our exhibitors for participating in this conference: Allegion, ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions, Epic Metals, FCI Constructors of Wyoming LLC, Foster Architectural Products, Inberg-Miller Engineers, J+J Flooring, Martin/Martin Wyoming, Masters Petersens Flooring and Design, Nordic Sound, Nudura/Tremco/CPG, Prairie Pella Wyoming, Shaw Contract, and West Plains Engineering.

And finally, we thank our conference planning team: Brandon Daigle, AIA; Randy Hein, AIA; Katelynn Larsen, Assoc. AIA; Ellen Martin, Assoc. AIA; Lyle Murtha, AIA; Susan Menghini, Executive Director; Tim Schenk, AIA; and Britney Sulzen, Assoc. AIA for their efforts in bringing a successful conference and design and honor awards ceremony to our members.