Free Membership for New Grads

© 2006, The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.The Society and the AIA national component offers 2010−2011 graduates from accredited schools of architecture complimentary membership at the Associate level for up to 18 months. Some local components charge a nominal membership fee. For questions regarding your local chapter, call 800-242-3837, option 2.

For young professionals, membership with the AIA is a critical choice at a time when it feels like there are so many life decisions to make. When you join the AIA, you immediately increase your professional network by almost 80,000 colleagues. These are people you can rely on for answers and assistance, or even just confirmation that you’re on the right track.

Member Benefits

As an Associate member, you’ll have access to these and other benefits:

  • Events, activities, support, and networking opportunities through your state and local AIA component
  • Intern Development Program (IDP) support, including help finding IDP coordinators and mentors
  • Architect Registration Examination (ARE) study resources to support you on the path to licensure
  • AIA Career Center assistance to find internship and professional opportunities
  • The Emerging Professional’s Companion, an online professional development tool though which you can gain credits towards IDP
  • AIA Transcript, to track the vast offerings of AIA CES Discovery and Continuing Education Providers
  • Subscriptions to AIArchitect, the bi-weekly newsletter of the AIA, and ARCHITECT, the magazine of the AIA.
  • National Associate Committee (NAC) programs, activities, and resources that ensure you have a strong voice within the AIA, including your subscription to the AIA AssociateNews and FORWARD email publications
  • AIA Knowledge Communities, which enable you to customize your membership and network with like-minded colleagues who share your specific interests

And if those are not reason enough to join, we’re offering you an additional incentive. Join now and get free membership through 2012. That’s up to 18 months of membership at no cost!

Joining the AIA

Some local and state AIA components charge a nominal membership fee. For questions regarding your local chapter, call 800-242-3837, option 2.

Download a membership application

As part of the join process, you will be asked to provide a copy of your diploma or degree in architecture from an accredited school of architecture/program.

For More Information

 

*The Fine Print

The AIA offers complimentary membership for 2011 graduates of accredited schools of architecture. Provide a copy of your diploma with your membership application, and you receive free membership with the AIA for up to 18 months. Note that this promotion begins upon date of graduation and not your join date (e.g., a June 2011 graduate receives complimentary membership through December 31, 2012).

Your membership will be at the associate level until you receive full licensure and have the opportunity to become an architect member. Please note that the AIA is a three-tiered organization. Although your membership is at the national, state, and local levels, this promotional offer applies only to dues for the national component.

Citizen Architect: Hansen and Loudon Co. Design Cabinet Honored

Al Hansen, AIA accepts the 2010 PlanVirginia Citizen’s Award

Al Hansen, AIA, and the entire Loudon County Design Cabinet were honored with the 2010 PlanVirginia Citizen’s Award.  This award is given to a group or individual who has made a notable and constructive contribution to the harmonious and orderly development of the community, region, state or nation.  PlanVirginia, who sponsors this award, is a volunteer-based nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering, throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, public understanding and awareness of the need for excellent community planning as a means of making our localities better places in which to live, work, and do business.  

Since 2003, Hansen, who is Director of Architecture for DBI Architects, has served as cabinet chair of Loudoun County’s Design Cabinet.  The Design Cabinet promotes high quality ecological, urban, architectural, and landscape design in Loudoun County. Design Cabinet members include engineers, architects, planners, and designers who have come together in a fusion of creative community problem solving.  Collectively, Hansen and the Design Cabinet members have been actively involved by volunteering in the community, conducting design charettes and problem solving sessions, focusing on improving plans, and stimulating new ways to think about projects in Loudoun County.

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.

Call for Entries: VSAIA Honors Awards

William C. Noland recipient, Abingdon architect Peyton Boyd, applauds his fellow honorees at Visions for Architecture.
Click to view gallery

Do you have a colleague that should be recognized for extraordinary work? The VSAIA Honors program is accepting nominations for Virginians who exemplify the professions highest ideals and who are committed to enriching the built environment.

In keeping with our commitment to sustainability, we are pleased to announce that the VSAIA Honors Awards program is continuing to use paperless submission! Use the handy tool found at on the Society Honors page to upload your nomination. We are accepting nominations, compiled into one PDF submission up to 30 MB.

If you have any questions, or if you are having trouble uploading your nomination, please contact rgeorge@aiava.org or (804) 644-3041, ext. 302. Nominations were due by 4 p.m. on Friday, July 29, 2011, and are now closed.

The submitter should be prepared to provide unrestricted high-resolution images to be used in connection with publicity of the program and the recognition of the honorees at Architecture Exchange East on Nov. 2–4, and at Visions for Architecture on Nov. 4.

Call for Entries: VSAIA Prize for Design Research and Scholarship

VSAIA board members tour Va. Tech's campus and the award-winning Lumenhaus
VSAIA board members tour Va. Tech's campus and the award-winning Lumenhaus.

Compelling architectural research is conducted in universities and in practitioners’ firms all over Virginia. Firms pursue research to further the interest of staff, develop innovative ideas, and as a means to maintain productivity for staff during down periods.  The VSAIA Prize for Design Research & Scholarship was created in 2008 as one means of encouraging a healthy dialogue between researchers in the universities and the firms. Last year’s prize was awarded to Eclipsis System: An Innovative Sun Control and Insulation Fenestration submitted by the team of Robert Dunay, FAIA, Joseph Wheeler, AIA, Robert Schubert, Associate Dean for Research, and Jonathan Grinham from Virginia Tech.

The VSAIA Prize for Design Research & Scholarship will be awarded to a licensed, practicing architect in Virginia OR a faculty member at a Virginia institution of higher learning for outstanding design research and/or scholarship in the field of architecture.

Eligible papers or articles include those that have been submitted but are pending acceptance, or those that have been published in a journal or conference proceedings within the past two years. Research projects or innovative project case-studies completed within the past three years and summarized in a paper or article are also eligible.

Entry forms and payment are due by 5 p.m., Friday, June 10. Submissions are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, July 1. The winner will be announced in September. Download the registration form for more information or to register.