Jury Selects 2023 Virginia Prize Winner 

Five architecture students have been selected as recipients of the 2023 AIA Virginia Prize. The jury named University of Virginia’s Lydia Cartwright as the competition’s overall winner of the $2,000 prize. Alyssa Stephenson, Hampton University; Brandon Meinders, University of Virginia; Brynn McClatchy, Virginia Tech; and Twishi Shah, Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center, were recognized as the winners from each school and received $300 awards. 

This year, University of Virginia professors Phoebe Crisman and Maria Gonzalez Aranguren authored the brief for the design challenge. The 2023 competition – which took place Feb. 10-13 – challenged students to design a house for two artists that included their workshop and a public program in the form of an exhibition space and an educational space. Each school’s faculty reviewed the submissions and sent up to 10 finalists to Richmond for final judging. The jury convened April 10 to determine this year’s overall winners. 

The jurors were Forrest Frazier, AIA, chair; Azadeh Rashidi, AIA; and Everald Colas, AIA. Frazier is the founding director of Two Street Studio’s Richmond office. Rashidi is a project manager at Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners in New York. Colas, an award-winning Haitian American architect, educator, and storyteller, is the founder of Storyn Studio for Architecture in St. Petersburg, Fla. 

While the number of people primarily working from home has tripled since 2019, historically the workplace and the home were not separate locations until the industrial age. As the current digitalization of many professions and the Covid-19 pandemic has led to the acceptance of teleworking as a viable option, residences must adapt to accommodate the working program again. The Virginia Prize competitors explored this live/work social reality as they designed a short-term residence for artists staying between three months and one year, located at a specific site along the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, Va.  

The students were asked to design living spaces for two artists with both individual private and shared areas, including sleeping areas, kitchen, bathroom(s), living area(s), and personal storage. There should be outside spaces for working and living, and the home’s working spaces must accommodate the potential range of art manifestations, from large paintings to sculpture to digital art. And the residence must have exhibition spaces open to the public, as well as educational space available for workshops and lectures open to the Charlottesville community. 

Jurors said that overall winner (pictured above) Lydia Cartwright “seemed to understand the history of the downtown mall, extending it into the site.” The design’s “incorporation of art reinforced the program concept with a legible and believable story,” they said.  

The jury noted that Hampton University’s winner Alyssa Stephenson’s design featured a “nice distribution of public vs. private program elements,” while the Virginia Tech winner, Brynn McClatchy, submitted a “beautiful collection of old-school drawings imbued with originality.” 

Brandon Meinders, the University of Virginia winner, was praised by the jury for the “graphic clarity and sequence of construction.”  They noted that Twishi Shah, of the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center, presented particularly appealing curtain roof and curtain wall sections, and a design with “thoughtful life and spirit.”  

2023 AIA Virginia Prize Jury Announced

AIA Virginia is pleased to announce the jury for the 2023 AIA Virginia Prize. The competition — which took place over the weekend of Feb. 10-13 weekend —challenged students to design a house for two artists that will include their workshop and a public program in the form of an exhibition space and an educational space.

The AIA Virginia Prize is a design charrette that engages students at all of the accredited architecture programs in Virginia.  Conducted simultaneously at each institution, students are given the competition program Friday at 5 p.m. They work over the weekend to create a board presenting their design solution by 9 a.m. the following Monday.  The competition is intended to promote collaboration between the profession, students, and professors in Virginia.

Each school’s faculty reviewed the submissions and sent up to 10 finalists for final consideration by the jury which will be chaired by Forrest Frazier, AIA.

About the Jury

Forrest Frazier, AIA studied Architectural History and Design at the University of Virginia before receiving his Master’s in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was the recipient of the Stephen Lenci Award and Chester Miller Traveling Fellowship. He has over fifteen years of broad professional experience at award-winning design firms including Mark Cavagnero in San Francisco, Alterstudio in Austin, and Tod Williams Billie Tsien in New York. Prior to founding Two Street Studio, Forrest worked on high-end residences in Manhattan and the Hamptons with the acclaimed boutique architecture/development firm founded by Cary Tamarkin. Forrest is the director of Two Street Studio’s Richmond office. 


Azadeh Rashidi, AIA is a Registered Architect and Project Manager at Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners (TWBTA).  She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Architecture from the University of Virginia, where she has also taught.  Since joining TWBTA in 2008, she has managed several of the firm’s projects from conception to completion.  Her expertise working with cultural buildings for the firm began with the David and Reva Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. Azadeh has also overseen the renovation and expansion of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. Most recently, she completed TWBTA’s renovation of David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, home to the New York Philharmonic. Prior to her work at TWBTA, she was an associate at WG Clark Architects in Charlottesville, VA, and was involved in the design of the award-winning addition to the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia. Beyond her practice as an architect, Azadeh is devoted to creating opportunities for young designers of diverse backgrounds and spearheads TWBTA’s mentorship program.


Everald Colas, AIA is an award-winning Haitian American architect, educator, and storyteller and is the founder of Storyn Studio for Architecture. He has led a variety of internationally acclaimed projects during his time as an architect and specializes in projects that require a sensitive approach to integrating mixed-use buildings in a historical context. As a practitioner, he is committed to civic engagement and how design can promote stronger communities, create more inclusive spaces, foster place-making in a neighborhood, and be identity-affirming to individuals within a community and greater city. He is motivated to find solutions for designing equitable spaces for all voices and believes that design is a tool for social change. Before creating Storyn, Everald was a senior architect for Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Everald holds both a Master of Architecture degree and a Master of Science in Architectural Pedagogy from The University of Florida. In 2018, he co-founded and organized the annual University of Florida School of Architecture COMING HOME Alumni Lecture Series. He has been awarded the Garcia Award for Design Excellence by the Tampa Bay AIA, Florida’s Young Architect Design Award, and the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Florida.

The Art of Practice

Every other year, AIA Virginia convenes a diverse cadre of decision-makers, from firms of all sizes, for a one-day forum designed to cultivate strong leaders and advance business practices. With a focus on creating and fostering a healthy firm culture, both seasoned and emerging leaders will come together to share and learn best practices, be challenged, and be celebrated by their peers.

headshot of Sonya Ravindrath Waddell

The 2023 Art of Practice will take place on Friday, June 23, at Common House Charlottesville. This year the theme will revolve around the concept of stress. Of course, there are various forms and degrees of stress, and they’re not all “bad.” Maybe your firm is stressed by having more work that your staff can manage! Our focus will include assessing your readiness for and planning for times of economic stress, as well as considering the range of factors “stressing” our members. For example, some have observed that the private sector is being shepherded into a kind of recession, while those in the public sector are awash in unprecedented funding. 

Our keynote speaker is Sonya Ravindranath Waddell, vice president and economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. She will provide a macroeconomic view of where the practice of architecture fits into the U.S. economy and how federal policies impact Virginia firms.  

headset of Joseph Cooch

Attorney Joseph Cooch of Lee/Shoemaker PLLC will dig into issues of liability and risk management. How can firms gain resiliency through flexibility? What safeguards can be built into contracts?  

Matt Laird from Atlantic Union Bank will address the specifics of readying a firm’s financial position, from securing lines of credit to paying down or eliminating existing debt. Attendees will learn how banks assess their businesses when considering making loans.  

Take a look at what the day holds on June 23:

Morning

  • Breakfast and welcome
  • Poll of participants regarding economic outlook
  • Macroeconomist keynote: the broad perspective
  • Banker keynote: how to prepare your financial posture
  • Lawyer keynote: what’s your liability?

Midday Lunch

Afternoon

  • Panel discussion: Battening down the hatches, featuring Charles Piper, AIAJeanne LeFever, AIA, and Stephen Halsey, AIA
  • Roundtable discussions by firm size, led by Maggie Schubert, AIA, (small); Andrew McKinley, AIA, (mid-size); and Charles Piper, AIA (large)
  • Reports back to the group

Register today for the fourth biennial Art of Practice business symposium!
Earn 6 elective LUs.

Art of Practice is generously sponsored by Bamforth, Gropen, Keith Fabry, Lee/Shoemaker PLLC, McGriff Insurance, Moseley Architects and O’Hagan Meyer PLLC

If you would like to sponsor the Art of Practice conference, contact Jody Cranford.

The 2023 AEC Virginia Spring Conference

Strategic partners are highly valued. For architects, these include, most especially, Professional Engineers and General Contractors. This year’s AEC Conference provides an excellent opportunity to connect with these allies. The event will be held 25 and 26 April at the Hilton Downtown Richmond.

Speakers, presentations, and roundtables will address important issues such as leadership, business development, legislative advocacy, risk management, recruitment and retention, and the economic forecast for the industry. Presenters from the architectural delegation include Kermit Baker, Ph.D., Hon. AIA, Caitlin Morgan, Assoc. AIA, Hana Nguyenky, AIA, and Eric Keplinger, AIA. Learning Units will be reported. I am already registered and look forward to seeing you there.

Additional information on the conference and the hotel, as well as the registration form can be accessed here.

Paul Battaglia, AIA

Knowledge Community Grants

Do you have a passion for one of these knowledge communities? AIA Virginia launched new knowledge community grants last year by awarding $1,000 to the Historic Resources Committee (HRC) and $1,000 to the Committee on the Environment (COTE).

Are you interested in re-invigorating an AIA knowledge community throughout Virginia? Do you need some seed money for a special speaker or an in-person statewide event? A new grant program is available to any statewide knowledge community (new or already up and running.) Your knowledge community could be awarded up to $1,000 to remove programmatic barriers and to enhance the quality of programming. $2,000 in total grants are available each year.

Eligibility requirements

  • Must be an AIA recognized KC either currently organized or newly formed. (Virginia Women in Design is also eligible.) Grant monies could be used to start a recognized KC.
  • KC volunteer committee must have statewide representation.
  • Program/initiative goal should be to reach members across the Commonwealth.
  • Grant monies to be used for honoraria, materials, venue, technology, and/or something that advances the efforts of the KC.
  • Any grant recipients agree to submit a follow-up article/pictures (30 days after event) to show how the grant helped advance the mission. This article will be shared with the AIA Virginia membership through email, social media, Inform Magazine, etc.

Application process

  • Applications will be open now through April 28, 2023.
  • Applications can can be submitted by the KC chair or committee members.
  • Complete online application here>> https://www.aiava.org/knowledge-community-grant/
  • Monies will be awarded and available starting July 1, 2023.

ELA Class of 2023

Meet the Emerging Leaders in Architecture class of 2023! This year’s class of 15 comprises architects and associates from around the state and students from Hampton University and the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center. We will be traveling around the state throughout the year for our educational sessions and focusing on the Charlottesville area for this year’s class project. Would you like to support the class as they travel around the state? Contact Cathy Guske, cguske@aiava.org for more information.

Bottom row: Noah Bolton (2023 Chair), Emily Baker, Ava Helm, Mira Abdalla, Anna Kniceley, Haley DeNardo (2023 Vice-Chair), Middle row: Lindsey Blum, Caitlin Morgan, Perry Hammond, Veena Shah, Adam Schultz. Top row: Cat Smith, Jason Lin, John Sturniolo, Briana Smith-Stiff, Kelsey White, Javius Richardson.

Procrastinator Series

Join AIAVA for our Procrastinator series – a series of Lunch and Learn sessions for those of us who couldn’t get around to it before now. These sessions are for you if you happen to be running behind on your learning units for the year or waiting till the last minute.

Because we get it.

Each approved course is worth 1 AIA | HSW credit.

We hope you’ll join us below:

(click the date to be taken to registration link)

December 5: Design Green & Healthy Built environments with Natural Wood Flooring with Walter Laurie

December 8: Maximizing Tile Installation Using Profiles with Gustavo Tovar

December 9: Using High Pressure Laminate (HPL) Compact Panels for Drained and Back-Ventilated Rainscreen Wall Systems with Dan Brown

December 12: Interior Non- Load Bearing Partitions with Anthony Stazzone

December 13: Waterproofing Roof Decks and Balconies with Walkable PVC Membranes with Nathan C. Heavel

December 14: Meeting LEED v4.1 Acoustical Requirements for Schools with Scott Harvey

December 15: Structural Mulling for Fenestration with John Pugh

Experience lots of NEW and lots of COOL at Architecture Exchange East!

How amazing it will be to return to our annual gathering of friends and colleagues in November as we assemble for Architecture Exchange East 2022! For the post-pandemic ArchEx, we are retaining the best bits from the past, refining other bits, and adding new bits to create (and curate) a lighter and brighter ArchEx as we explore the conference theme of “(re)Building Community.”

“Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context – a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.”

 ~ Eliel Saarinen

As I contemplated possible topics for this month’s newsletter article, I decided that concentrating on our largest gathering of architects was well worthy of the space and attention. Mr. Saarinen’s quotation seems the perfect representation of our intentional ‘redesign’ of Architecture Exchange East. We are doing more than reinvigorating this significant member event; we are enlivening it in a way that will have our members and stakeholders departing genuinely uplifted, with their batteries fully recharged. 

Energizing all aspects of the conference aligns with our desire to make it more aspirational and inspirational for everyone through enhancements to the exhibit hall, educational programming, marketing and promotions, hospitality, social events, and other major components. Foremost in our minds, in each and every way, is elevating your experience as an attendee.

Arriving in your inbox this week was your invitation that explains all of the opportunities for networking collegially, growing professionally, and rebuilding societally. We hope this stimulates your interest in participating in a wholly redesigned user experience – one that promises to be awesome for attendees, vendors, exhibitors, sponsors, and speakers alike.

Join in the newness … join in the coolness … November 2-4 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. I cannot wait to see you there for “(re)Building Community!”

Helene Combs Dreiling, FAIA
Interim Executive Vice President

2022 CPSM Released

The 2022 edition of the Construction and Professional Services Manual (Rev. 0) was issued on Aug. 1, 2022. A PDF of the current CPSM Edition along with DEB Notice 080122 summarizing the significant changes from the prior Manual version are both available on the DEB website.

CPSM changes were made to reflect recent legislative changes, updated legal interpretations and administration initiatives, and to improve communication and business operations. Because some changes are a result of changes to the Code of Virginia, these changes require immediate compliance. Therefore, a CPSM revision is effective on the date issued for all projects that do not have an approved CO-6 or working drawings approved by DEB. See CPSM Section 3.2.5.1 for how these changes impact A/E services and contracts.

Learn more in the August issue of the DEB Newsletter (#78).