2017 Directory

20 WYOMING ARCHITECTURE .17 | www.aia-wyoming.org 2017 AIA Western Mountain Region Conference Summary BY SUSAN MENGHINI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR A IA Las Vegas was honored to host this year’s Western Mountain Region Con- ference and to welcome attendees from all over the six-state region – Arizona, Colora- do, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Nevada. The theme of the conference was “Learning MORE From Las Vegas” – New reflections on Lessons Learned, Inspiration, Practice and Ideas. Forty-five years ago, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown published their astounding research on Las Vegas design. This year we took the time to reflect on the messages and wisdom of that ground-breaking book to refresh our spirits by Learning More from Las Vegas. All lectures, speakers, presentations, programs and tours were registered for AIA/CES credits. The conference opened on Thursday morning with a welcome from Jon Sparer, AIA, AIA Las Vegas President followed by an update and report by our WMR Regional Directors, Tania Salgado, AIA and Patrick Panetta, AIA. The first speaker of the day was David Zach, Futurist, one of the few trained futurists on the planet. He provided strategic trends and tradi- tions we encounter in technology, economics, business, education, demographics and society. Following Mr. Zach was Robert Lang, Ph.D., Ex- ecutive Director, the Lincy Institute and Direc- tor, Brookings Mountain West. This presentation by a nationally recognized authority on urban growth, economic development and popular dy- namics including the interplay between politics and growth in the American West provided an understanding of the economic recovery in the west and how to plan for the future. Katie Hazard, Co-Lead Central Arts Team, Burning Man, next provided a session on an intriguing look into the “Burning Man” festival, the art and the anarchy of creating and destroy- ing a city in the desert. The AIA Western Business Meeting convened at noon with a full agenda presented by Tania Salgado, AIA and Patrick Panetta, AIA. The regional reports/information packet was reviewed. The election took place that identi- fied Bruce Fallon, AIA as the 2018-19 WMR Secretary and Nate Hudson, AIA as the 2018-20 Junior Regional Director. Katie Wilson, AIA was previously appointed to serve as the 2018 Senior Regional Director. Amber Haro, Asso- ciate AIA was appointed as 2018-19 Regional Associate Director and Nick Caravella, AIA was appointed as the 2018-19 Young Architects Regional Director. The draft 2018 budget was presented. The WMR Pettigrew Leadership Scholarship recipient for 2018 was introduced from AIA Colorado — Jordan Lockner, Associ- ate AIA. Other communications were reviewed, i.e. Board of Directors update, Strategic Council Update, WMR Operations Manual Update. The new WMR website was revealed and a thank you to Diana Smith and Katie Wilson, AIA for leading the effort was noted. Thursday afternoon sessions included a panel discussion of the cultural, economic and his- toric factors that have impacted the Western United States and what can be expected in the future by panelists John Restrepo (Prin- cipal of RCG Economics) and Frank Martin (Co-founder and Principal of Martin Harris Construction). Additionally, Alan Hess, Critic and Author spoke of the lessons learned with the publication of “Learning From Las Vegas” in 1972, and the continuing educational experi- ences provided through the design, growth and development of the city. Other Thursday afternoon sessions included Tom Kaplan, Senior Managing Partner of Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group — one of the worlds most renowned and successful restaurant organizations shared their knowl- edge and expertise in designing and planning restaurant venues that capture all generations. The afternoon concluded with a NCARB session by Greg Erny, FAIA (NCARB’s First Vice President/President-elect) and a College of Fellows session by Ed Vance, FAIA and AIA Nevada Fellows. Thursday ended with an Emerging Profession- als/Young Architect Forum event, downtown