Innovation and Practice in House Design - Research Grant Application Released
The AIA Housing Knowledge Community and Small Project Practitioners (SPP) are proud to offer the 2012 AIA Innovation and Practice in House Design Research Grant. This grant will fund one emerging professional (defined in the attachment) to conduct research on residential design practice in small architectural firms or a topic of direct applicability to these firms. Applicants are encouraged to research emerging approaches to the professional practice of architecture. Learn more and download application.
Practice Management Knowledge Community Call for Proposals
Design is serious business and you need serious advice. The AIA’s Practice Management Knowledge Community has reorganized, culled, and expanded the online compendium of nearly 400 Best Practices, which now align with the Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice. Best Practices continue to evolve, and you can contribute your own firm’s best practices by e-mailing bestpractices@aia.org. To learn more, visit http://www.aia.org/practicing/bestpractices.
What do our schools say about what we value?
By Greg Stack, AIA
On a recent trip to London to attend an AIA Committee on Architecture for Education conference and to tour schools, I revisited a question that is always of interest to me, namely: What do schools say about how a society values learning, its educational system, and ultimately its children? I had been able to examine this question on trips to Finland and Australia, and would now study it in the UK. Study trips such as these invariably look at shining examples of progressive school architecture and although they offer only a glimpse of the overall stock of schools, they are indicative I believe of the commitment to education. They tell us if the country is preparing its students for the future or the past, whether they are open to trying new educational approaches, and the standing of education as a profession. They tell us if there is economic support for education and perhaps most importantly, send a message as to whether the activities that take place in school are valued. Read the full article from the CAE Article of the Month.
2012 Top Ten COTE Awards Announced
The American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment (AIA–COTE) has announced its Top Ten projects for 2012. Dominated by limited-budget public and institutional projects, this year’s Top Ten winners include an unusual number of adaptive reuse projects and highlight community ties, social equity, and attentiveness to water issues on par with what we’ve customarily seen for energy performance. View the 2012 AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects!
An Interview with Todd DeGarmo
Contributed by Sean Dorsy, Assoc. AIA
From the age of five, Todd DeGarmo knew he wanted to be an architect. Today he heads STUDIOS Architecture, an international design practice recognized for innovation in both buildings and interiors. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, Todd joined STUDIOS’ Washington, DC office over twenty years ago. In 1995, he founded the New York office and in 2005 was named the firm’s CEO. Read the interview.
Understand your email open rates
By Ann Harris
What’s an open rate? Your email open rate is expressed as a percentage. The 'total open rate' formula is calculated as: emails opened / (emails sent – bounced). Another statistic to consider is the 'unique open rate', which hopes to gauge the number of individual users who opened your email. Read the entire blog entry.
BIM Case Studies Posted
Contributed by the AIA Technology in Architectural Practice
BIM is advancing from a pure tool to a catalyst of a more collaborative design and construction process. Energy efficiency, sustainability, program analysis, metadata exchange and design-to-fabrications are some of the attributes of the case studies. View the case study index.