The AIA’s Committee on Design has selected two Knowledge Scholars to attend our Spring Conference—“Regional Modernism” in Palm Springs, California, May 9-12. The scholarship provides all travel expenses and registration to the conference and add-on activities. In exchange, the Scholars will provide COD with a written and illustrated 10-page report on one favorite Palm Springs project that will be used on the COD website and social media. In addition, The Scholars will follow through on the idea for communicating the value of their COD experience to a wider audience which they supplied in their application.

The goal of this scholarship is to introduce an architect to the Committee on Design and ask them to communicate the value of COD to other architects. We looked for individuals who are passionate about practicing architecture and who will have an ability to communicate what they learn at the conference to a wider audience. To that end, we sought applicants who have experience in practicing architecture as well communication skills with social media and blogging about architecture. Applicants needed to be AIA members who have been licensed architects for less than 10 years.  In addition, our selections were limited to applicants who have not received travel funds from any other AIA group (AIA National, local chapter or Knowledge Community.)

Meet The Scholars…

Alvin Huang, AIA
Alvin Huang is the Founder and Design Principal of Synthesis Design + Architecture. He is an award-winning architect, designer, and educator. Alvin received a Master of Architecture and Urbanism from the Architectural Association Design Research Laboratory (2004) in London and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Southern California (1998) in Los Angeles. His work has been widely published and exhibited and has gained international recognition, including being selected to represent the UK at the Beijing Biennale in 2008. In 2009 he was awarded a D&AD Award for Environmental Design.
Alvin is currently a Tenure-track Professor at the USC School of Architecture in Los Angeles. He has also taught design studios and master classes at the Architectural Association (London),
Tongji University (Shanghai), Tsinghua University (Beijing), University of Lund (Sweden) and Chelsea
College of Art (London). He has been an invited critic and guest lecturer at various institutions in
the UK, US, Germany, Spain, Sweden Israel, Switzerland and China.

Learn more about Alvin Huang on the Synthesis DNA website here: http://synthesis-dna.com/

Deepika Padam, AIA
Deepika Padam is the founder and Principal of BLEND Architecture in San Francisco. Licensed since 2008, Deepika earned her Bachelor of Architecture degree from Guru Nanak Dev University in 1999 and went on to earn her Master of Architecture degree in 2003 from the University of Michigan.  Since graduating, Deepika has worked for a number of architecture firms and has been engaged with the AIA through volunteer service and leadership roles in local, regional and national venues, recently winning the national 2013 AIA Young Architects Award.

As the Editor-in-Chief for YAF, she converted a single page newsletter to over 80 pages of eMagazine that has now become a go-to resource for over 23,000 young architect members of AIA. Last year, Deepika successfully got YAF Summit20 articles published with ARCHITECT magazine and Metropolis Blog in addition to voice/video recordings by Monocle Radio and AIA media. She is an active presence on a variety of social media including: Tumblr, Wordpress, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Google+ and Foursquare.

Learn more about Deepika Padam on the BLEND Architecture website here: http://www.blendarch.com/Home.html

Planning for this year’s Committee on Design events is in full swing.

The following conferences and events are now scheduled with details to come. Please visit the COD website in the coming months to see details of these events.  

National Convention Awards Reception and Dinner – Denver, June 20th

We will hold our annual Awards Reception and Dinner at the National Convention on Thursday, June 20th at 6:30 P.M. This event will be held at the McNichols Civic Center Building, a recently-restored Carnegie Library in Denver’s Civic Center Park. The reception and dinner will be an opportunity to celebrate this year’s winners of the Gold Medal, Firm Award, Twenty Five Year Award, Honorary Fellows, and Collaborative Achievement Award. This event provides the opportunity to meet some of the best architects in the world in an informal setting.

2012 Gold Medal recipient Stephen Holl at the COD Annual Reception.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Wolfram.

During the convention, the Committee on Design will also lead conversations with the Firm Award recipient, the Twenty-five Year Award recipient, the Honorary Fellows from around the world, and the Institute Honors for Collaborative Achievement Award recipients.

Fall Conference: Origins of Modernism – Berlin, September 22-28

We will spend five days exploring the roots of modernism in Berlin, Germany. This conference has been in planning for about four years and will provide an opportunity to visit early modern buildings as well new ones accompanied by their architects.

Neue Nationalgalerie, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 1968   Photo by Jim Childress.

COD Fetes 2012 Awards Recipients At Second Annual Reception and Dinner

By Charles Linn, FAIA

Photos by Jeff Wolfram

So perfect was the AIA Committee On Design’s second annual reception and dinner for the recipients of the Institute’s top award winners that it would be easy to believe that Benjamin Henry Latrobe himself was smiling down upon on the event. The honorees were feted under crystal clear, starry skies on May 18th, 2012 in the courtyard behind the Decatur House in Washington, D.C., which Latrobe designed in 1817.

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