Resiliency Week 2024

Posted on by Delaney Ogden

Resiliency is the ability to quickly recover from disruption. But, how quickly can our buildings and systems bounce back from natural or man-made disasters? Can our infrastructure rapidly adapt to changing environmental, social, and economic conditions? 

Join AIA Virginia from 12:00-1:00 pm each day from April 22 to April 26 for an exploration of resiliency in the built environment and discover why investing in resilient solutions can help protect us all.

Schedule:

4/22: Luisa Black Ellis with Elizabeth River Project – The Ryan Resilience Lab: Accessible, Resilient Design – 1 AIA LU pending

4/23: Lindsay Brugger with Urban Land Institute – The Business Case for Resilience – 1 AIA LU pending

4/24: Paul Robinson with RISE – Architectural Adaptation and Risk Transfer: Making buildings safer and protection more affordable – 1 AIA LU pending

4/25: Lewis Lawrence with Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission – Flooding is Changing the “Landscape”= New $ Opportunities – 1 AIA LU pending

4/26: Troy Hartley with Virginia Sea Grant – Finding Innovative Climate Solutions: Knowledge Integration through Resilience Design – 1 AIA LU pending


AIA Member – $15
Non-member – $20
Students – FREE

Register Here>>

Taking Design Online: K-12 Outreach

Posted on by cguske

As Virginia’s students, educators, and parents are working (and sometimes struggling) to adapt to a new online learning environment, architects and firms have an unprecedented opportunity to serve as a resource to the community. Let’s do what architects do best and nimbly design a solution to deliver online STEAM and design-thinking programming – with the secondary benefit of introducing a generation of learners to the profession of architecture!

  • Do you currently offer outreach programming that could be adapted to deliver online?
  • Are you interested in volunteering to develop or deliver online lessons to students?
  • Would you be willing to participate in an “Ask an Architect” session online with students?

Let us know and AIA Virginia can help make connections with local educators, take registrations for courses, and facilitate communication and online delivery of courses.

Now is the time to build relationships with educators and students (and help out parents who are trying to keep children learning and engaged)!

K-12 Outreach Clearinghouse

AIA Virginia is also working to develop an online clearinghouse of existing programs. If you, your chapter, or your firm has a program that you’re willing to share, please let us know. We want to be the go-to place for Virginia’s educators and parents to discover opportunities and architecture programming for students.

We’ll organize the courses you share and make them available to other architects and educators. But, we don’t just want your courses – we want your stories! We would love to share your experiences on our communications platforms.

Community Dinners

Posted on by cguske

In September, AIA Virginia will Unveil Groundbreaking Initiative to Connect Architects with Local Community Leaders over Dinner

I’ve seen the data.  I’ve read the survey results.  One major common thread is that, in general, Architects wish the public understood what they did and why they are of importance to society.  As a professional architect, I want that also. The knowledge and skills we possess through our unique education, experience, and training, position us to be a valuable resource to those who influence the quality of life in our respective communities.   In September, AIA Virginia will unveil a groundbreaking initiative that will help bridge that gap around the Commonwealth.

This initiative will be centered on a simple concept of bringing together architects and community influencers over a private catered dinner to discuss what community means to each individual.  Within the context of this conversation, we will discuss what we are most proud of in our community and what challenges are we working to overcome.  How can architects be a resource in overcoming these challenges?

Dinners will have no more than 20 invited individuals.  Of these invitees, six to eight will be architects who live or work in that hosting community.  The other seats will be reserved for local leaders who have influence over shaping the quality of life.  Positions that come to mind are the Mayor, School Superintendent, the individual overseeing Transportation, Housing, and so forth. 

We are proud to announce that the first dinner will be held in Richmond on September 10th at the home of Burt Pinnock, FAIA.  The attendance of Mayor Levar Stoney has been confirmed and we are working on inviting other local leaders.  This initiative is planned to continue for five years with the hope of hosting anywhere between 25 to 50 dinners during this time frame in all corners of Virginia.  Our hope is that this initiative is a seed project in which each of our local components will begin to host their own dinners to continue this dialogue. 

Meal after meal, we look forward to positioning our members to be a valuable resource for the community.

With service,
Corey Clayborne, AIA, MBA
Executive Vice President

Students Explore Architecture “From the Ground Up”

Posted on by cguske

This July, the Virginia Center for Architecture was host to the Math Science Innovation Center’s Summer Regional Governor’s School program From the Ground Up. The program, aimed at middle school students, was a two-week exploration of the professions of architecture, planning, interior design and landscape architecture. Through hands-on activities, lectures, and visits to firms and sites — including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Carlton Abbott’s striking sculptural installation at historic Pole Green — students learned about the language of architecture, investigated green design, and planned their own community from the ground up.

The program culminated with presentations by the students to an inspired audience of onlookers. The students, broken into groups responsible for the design of five different zones of their fictional community, presented models explaining their various design choices — including a roof-top community garden on the recreation center to the green features of the police department.

This marks the fifth year the Center has played host to the program.