Sheng to Deliver Opening Keynote

Rosa T. Sheng, AIA, LEED AP BD+C will deliver the opening keynote address at the 2016 Architecture Exchange East convention this November in Richmond. Sheng will be speaking on “Why Equity (in Practice) Matters – Elevating Architecture’s Impact”

Rosa T. Sheng, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Rosa T. Sheng, AIA, LEED AP BD+C

Equitable practice has the potential to foster success on multiple levels – equity in the workplace, and socially just access to basic resources, healthier communities and resilient public space in our urban centers. The value proposition of equity at all these levels is rooted in empathy, transparency, education, collaboration and trust.

The lack of equity in Architectural practice and allied professions has made Architects prone to lose talent to other more lucrative career paths due to factors that challenge retention; long hours, low pay, work that is misaligned with professional goals, and lack of transparency for promotion and compensation.

In order to achieve equity in the built environment, the design workforce needs to diversify to reflect the rapidly changing demographic of people that we are charged to serve. Architecture is also prone to the public not fully understanding the value or potential of what Architects can bring to the table. In terms of social impact, design has the power to inform more equitable, resilient, sustainable and relevant built environments for the increasingly multicultural population of our nation.

Join us in Richmond this November! Registration for ArchEx opens August 30, 2016.

About Sheng

Rosa T. Sheng, AIA, LEED AP BD+C is a Senior Associate at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Founder and Chairperson for Equity by Design an AIA San Francisco committee. As a licensed architect with 21 years experience in Architecture and design, Rosa has led a variety of award-winning and internationally acclaimed projects, from the aesthetically minimal, highly technical development of the glass structures for Apple’s original high-profile retail stores, to the innovative and sustainable LEED NC Gold–certified Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business at Mills College in Oakland, California. She is currently working on innovative and sustainable projects including a lecture hall at the University of California, Davis.

As the Founding Chair of the AIASF Committee Equity by Design, Rosa led the pivotal 2014 and 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey projects, authored AIA National Resolution 15-1, and served on the Equity in Architecture Commission. These efforts have launched a national conversation for achieving equitable practice in the architecture profession. Since the group started, Rosa has been presenting nationally and abroad – including Boston, New York, Lisbon, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Seattle, New Orleans. The group’s outreach for equity in architecture has been featured in Architect Magazine, Architectural Record, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, TEDxPhiladelphia and KQED/NPR.

Rosa currently serves on AIA San Francisco’s Board of Directors as Treasurer,  the AIA National Equity in Architecture Commission, AIA National Diversity & Inclusion Council, is a member of SCUP, USGBC, and NCARB Supervisor.

About the Equity by Design

Fueled by the persistent and striking gender inequity within architectural practice, where women compose only 12–18 percent of AIA members, licensed architects, and senior firm leadership, Equity by Design, a committee of AIASF, was developed as a call to action for both women and men to help realize the goal of equitable practice to retain talent, advance the profession and communicate the value of design to society. The 2014 Equity in Architecture Survey with nearly 2300 respondents has sparked a much-needed dialogue that has resulted in a sold-out 250 person symposium, wide-spread media coverage and requests for EQxD presentations nationally and beyond. In 2016, the group conducted its 2nd survey with over 8,000 respondents and the 4th symposium planned on 10/29 at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Closing Keynote Announced

Mickey Jacob, FAIA has been confirmed as the closing keynote speaker for Architecture Exchange East 2016.  Many of you will recall that Mickey as AIA President in 2013, the 89th President.  He has a keen focus on government advocacy, and with his own “citizen architect” story – including a run for Mayor of Tampa, Florida in 2018, his message will respond to our strategic plan and resonate with our members as we all strive to elevate the profession.

Registration for Architecture Exchange East, Nov. 2-4, 2016 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, opens August 30.

2015 ArchEx Keynotes

You’ll enjoy two inspiring keynotes at this year’s Architecture Exchange East, Nov. 4-6, 2015, in Richmond.

On Thursday, we’ll hear from Andrew Freear.

Andrew Freear
Andrew Freear

Andrew Freear, from Yorkshire, England, is the Wiatt Professor at Auburn University Rural Studio. After the untimely death of Samuel Mockbee, he became the Director of the Studio in 2002.

For sixteen years Freear has lived in the small rural community of Newbern, West Alabama where his main role, aside from directing Rural Studio is project advisor to fifth-year undergraduate students: designing and building charity homes and community projects to improve local conditions.

Freear has designed Rural Studio exhibits in Chicago, Cincinnati, Vienna, Barcelona, 2002 Whitney Biennial, the 2005 Sao Paulo Biennal, the 2008 Venice Biennale and most recently at the V&A in London, and at MOMA NYC. He lectures across the United States and Europe. In contrast, he is a member of the Newbern Volunteer Fire Department in Newbern.

In 2006 Freear was honored with The Ralph Erskine Award, from Sweden, which aspires to promote urban planning and architecture which is functional, economical and beautiful, and which is to the advantage of underprivileged and deprived groups in any society.  In 2008 he was a Laureate in the second edition of the Global Awards for Sustainable Architecture.

He has just written a book about the Rural Studio educational process entitled: “Rural Studio at twenty: designing and building in Hale County, Alabama.

 

And on Friday, we’ll hear from David Zach.

David Zach
David Zach

The future depends upon design – and designers need to understand how important their role is in building that future. Some have said that the future requires us to be open to change, but futurist David Zach disagrees. It’s not that simple. To design and build a better future, we have to hold on to the best of the past and make sure we learn from the lessons of history. To believe that everything can change, that nothing is permanent, is to believe that we have learned nothing.

Design and logistics are now at the center of the economy and these two forces are both clashing and cooperating to create an explosion of innovation. The boundaries between design occupations are fading. Design professionals are not only taking their talents into other realms, so those other realms are poaching into theirs too. 3D printing could help spark a manufacturing renaissance and the reindustrialization of America. Virtual design could have many people not caring for the built environment. The down sourcing of design talent into a variety of inexpensive apps raises questions, for instance: Can designers be automated? (Brief answer: No. Not the good ones.) It also raises questions about what will define a design professional in the 21st century.

This is the most exciting time to be an architect at the intersection of logistics and design. You’ve got questions about the future and your careers? David does too. Join him on Friday for this poignant discussion.

David Zach is a futurist who have given over 1,500 talks throughout North America and Europe. He was the 2010-2013 Public Director on the AIA National Board. In 2012, he received a Presidential Citation from AIAS for his work with Emerging Professionals. He loves architecture and design. He’s hopeful about architects.

Registration for Architecture Exchange East opens soon!

Keynote Speakers Announced

Join us at Architecture Exchange East, Nov. 4-6, 2015, and hear these inspiring speakers.

Andrew Freear
Andrew is the director of Rural Studio – the award-winning, off-campus design-build program of Auburn University. He is the first American-based architect to win the prestigious Ruth and Ralph Erskine Nordic Foundation Award which aspires to promote urban planning and architecture that is functional, economical and beautiful, and to the advantage of underprivileged and deprived groups in any society.

David Zach
David is one of the few professionally trained futurists on this planet. David will expand your imagination and share fresh stories of all the cool toys and tools that are just around the corner. When we bring the past and the future together into our thinking, we can make the future better for our society, our businesses, our schools, our children and yes, even our grandparents.

Registration opens in August. www.ArchEx.net

MacKay-Lyons ArchEx 2014 Keynote Speaker

Brian MacKay-Lyons, Hon. FAIA
Brian MacKay-Lyons, Hon. FAIA

The Virginia Society AIA announces Brian MacKay-Lyons, Hon. FAIA, as the 2014 Keynote Speaker at Architecture Exchange East.

In over 30 years of work, he and his firm — MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects — have built an international reputation for design excellence, winning more than 100 awards, including six Governor General’s Medals and two American Institute of Architects Honor Awards. In addition, the firm’s work has been featured internationally in over 300 publications and 100 exhibitions. Reminiscent of Taliesen or the Rural Studio, MacKay-Lyons also runs the Ghost Architectural Lab, which won an AIA Institute Honor Award in 2012. Although the lab is currently on hiatus, he hasn’t been idle.

Houses designed in Atlantic Canada have made MacKay-Lyons a leading proponent of critical regionalist architecture worldwide. This recognition has led to a transition in the practice toward increased public and international commissions, involving increased complexity in both design and project delivery.

The Keynote Address takes place on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014. Registration opens for ArchEx in late August.

About Brian MacKay-Lyons

MacKay-Lyons was born and raised in the village of Arcadia in Southwestern Nova Scotia. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from the Technical University of Nova Scotia in 1978 where he was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Medal. He received his Master of Architecture and Urban Design at U.C.L.A., and was awarded the Dean’s Award for Design.

After studying in China, Japan, California and Italy working with Charles Moore, Barton Myers and Giancarlo De Carlo, MacKay-Lyons returned to Nova Scotia in 1983 to challenge the historic maritime ‘brain drain’ trend, and to make a cultural contribution to Nova Scotia where his Acadian and Mi’kmaq ancestors have lived for centuries. In 1985 he founded the firm Brian MacKay-Lyons Architecture Urban Design in Halifax. Twenty years later, Brian partnered with Talbot Sweetapple to form MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Ltd. The firm has built an international reputation for design excellence confirmed by over 100 awards including six Governor General Medals, two American Institute of Architects Honor Awards for Architecture, 15 Lieutenant Governor’s Medals of Excellence, seven Canadian Architect Awards, three Architectural Record Houses Awards, and seven North American Wood Design Awards. A fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC), and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA), MacKay-Lyons was named Honorary Fellow (International) of the American Institute of Architects (Hon. FAIA) in 2001.

As a full professor of architecture at Dalhousie University, he has contributed to architectural education for 30 years. He has held numerous visiting professorships and endowed academic chairs at leading universities including: The Peter Behrens School of Architecture in Dusseldorf, University of Houston, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Michigan, University of Arkansas, University of Maryland, Texas A & M University, Auburn University, Tulane University, Syracuse University, Middlebury College, University of Oklahoma, McGill University, and Harvard University. Brian has held an international summer internship called Ghost on his farm since 1994. He has given over 180 public lectures on his work internationally.

Tschumi Announced as ArchEx Keynote

Parc de la Villete
Parc de la Villette has become known as an unprecedented type of park of “culture” rather than “nature.” Photo courtesy of Bernard Tschumi Architects.

Equal parts avant-garde theorist, radical author/educator, and pioneering practitioner, architect Bernard Tschumi  will undoubtedly make an impression as the 2013 Architecture Exchange East (ArchEx) Keynote Speaker.

Currently working from both New York and Paris, Tschumi first gained recognition in 1981 as a theorist with the exhibition and publication of The Manhattan Transcripts (and again later with Architecture and Disjunction, a series of theoretical essays published by MIT Press in 1994).

In 1983, he won the prestigious competition to design and build the Parc de la Villette, in Paris, prevailing over entries from Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, and Jean Nouvel.  Since then, he has made a reputation for groundbreaking designs that include the New Acropolis Museum, Le Fresnoy Center for the Contemporary Arts, and the Alésia Archaeological Museum, among other high-profile projects.

Acropolis Museum
The Acropolis Museum’s transparent enclosure provides ideal light for sculpture in direct view to and from the Acropolis.

Tschumi’s work has been widely exhibited, with solo exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Venice Biennale.  He served as Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University in New York from 1988 to 2003. His most recent publication is Architecture Concepts: Red is Not a Color (Rizzoli, 2012), a comprehensive collection of his conceptual and built projects.

Registration for ArchEx begins in late August at www.archex.net. The ArchEx Keynote is sponsored by Froehling & Robertson, Inc.

Kaufmann Announced as ArchEx Keynote

Michelle Kaufmann, photo by Garret Curtis

The Virginia Society AIA is pleased to announce Michelle Kaufmann as the 2011 Architecture Exchange East Keynote Speaker. Her firm, Michelle Kaufmann Studio, recipient of the 2008 TOP FIRM AWARD by Residential Architect, specializes in sustainable design including single family homes, eco-luxury resorts, and multi-family communities.  She is also a consultant for builders, developers and architecture firms on sustainability and prefabrication, and an advisor to Architecture for Humanity, and Cradle to Cradle Products Institute.

Her book, Prefab Green describes off-site construction and the green design principles of Kaufmann-designed homes such as the Glidehouse®, the Sunset® Breezehouse®, the mkLotus® and others. She has been called “the Henry Ford of green homes” by the Sierra Club and was named “2009 Green Advocate of the Year” by the National Association of Home Builders. She was also included in Business 2.0 magazine’s list of “100 People Who Matter Now,” and listed as one of the “The Green 50” by INC magazine. She has been featured on the Sundance channel, HGTV, Discovery, Planet Green and in numerous magazines including Town+Country, Dwell, Sunset, Time, and the Smithsonian.

Working to help extend education and awareness about the beauty of sustainable design, Michelle has had a number of her homes showcased in museums. A full-size replica of Michelle’s home, the Glidehouse® home was built at the National Building Museum as part of the exhibit The Green House, and a fully-functioning 3-story Smart home is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry. The home is the exhibit on green building called The Smart Home: Green + Wired. Her work has also been on display at MOCA, the Walker Art Center, the Vancouver Art Center, and the Virginia Center for Architecture.

Kaufmann received her undergraduate degree from Iowa State University, and her Master’s from Princeton University. A well-known and highly-acclaimed speaker, she has taught at Iowa State University and Woodbury University, and prior to founding Michelle Kaufmann Designs, she was an Associate with Frank O. Gehry.

The 2011 Architecture Exchange East Keynote Address is sponsored by MTFA Architecture, Inc. and Hourigan Construction.