2015 Directory

17 CONVENTION PROGRAM AIA National Convention BY CHET LOCKARD, AIA T he 2015 AIANational Convention brought thousands of archi- tects and design professionals to Atlanta onMay 14-16 for one of our best, most inspiring, andmost impactful events yet. We also broke a few records. Thursday’s keynote had the most attendees in AIA Convention history. So didThe Party! at the College Football Hall of Fame. As AIA-Wyoming President I had the honor and duty to represent AIA-Wyoming. OnThursday President Bill Clinton kicked off the convention, telling a standing-room audience to tackle pressing global issues and “low-hanging fruit.” Friday began withWelby Altidor and Julie Dixon who shared strate- gies for finding creative courage during a TED-style keynote. Fox Business anchor Trish Reganmoderated Saturday’s keynote panel on building a smart, enduring firmwith Katherine Darnstadt, AIA; Steven Ehrlich, FAIA; Curtis Moody, FAIA; andMark Ripple, AIA. During theWesternMountain Region business meeting we recognized 14 newmembers from our region into the AIACollege of Fellows (none fromWyoming). As the representative fromWyoming I took advantage of the opportunity to show our colleagues our award winning publication, Wyoming Architecture .14, and ourWyoming Architecture 2015 Calendar. During the AIANational business meeting several issues were discussed. The topic that elicited the most interest was the issue of a graduated dues system for newAIA and Associate AIAmembers. Nothing was passed but there are some pilot programs in effect in a few locations around the country. Some of the launches that occurred during this gathering were: The AIA’s first documentary featuring architect Chris Downey, AIA, and his incred- ible, must-hear story; Four newAIAContract Documents, including a residential design-build agreement; The AIA and Department of Energy’s 2030 Design Data Exchange, an online tool for firms participating in the 2030 Commitment; The Architects Foundation revealed the next two Regional Resilience Design Studios as part of the National Resilience Initia- tive; A new collaboration between AIAContract Documents andMas- terSpec, to eliminate repetitive work through data exchange; A revitalized Covenant House Georgia, thanks to blitz build efforts by 125+ design and building industry volunteers, CMD, HanleyWood, and the AIA. Congratulations to the AIA’s newest leaders elected at AIAConvention 2015: 2016 First Vice President/2017 President-elect, the 2016-2017 Trea- surer (our own Stuart Coppedge, AIA fromColorado), and three At-large Directors. We recognized the accomplishments of our colleagues when we celebrated the work of Moshe Safdie, FAIA; EdwardMazria, FAIA; Peter Eisenman, FAIA; Rural Studio, Ehrlich Architects, and Broadgate Exchange House, recipients of some of the AIA’s most prestigious awards in 2015. The Small Project Practitioners “A Safe Place” design winner, Eduardo Lacroze, AIA, built his winning design for a portable, temporary homeless shelter and donated it to a local non-profit. Atlanta was a gracious host and an inspiring city. I encourage all who can attend a National convention to attend. The 2016 AIANational Convention will be May 19-21 in Philadel- phia. b