I strongly suggest and sincerely hope that all AIA leaders, members, jurors and jury selectors read the comments on this Huffington Post online article. An overwhelming majority of them are negative and some of them imply that poor design is symptomatic of all architects. Yes, Huffington Post online commentators are only a subset of the entire American populace--the sample is probably skewed a little toward the more highly educated and affluent, if anything. If we had a true representative sample of Americans responding to these photos of this year's award-winning housing, the comments would be even more negative. It would be convenient to dismiss the comments as mere trolling but in reality they appear to be well-reasoned and persuasive, almost without exception.
If our job is to respond to American culture and taste, we are failing. If our job is to lead American culture and taste, we are still failing.
In terms of public opinion of AIA members and architects in general, we would be considered more relevant, in-touch and valuable if the AIA had no housing awards program at all.
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Sean Catherall AIA
Senior Project Manager
DAVE ROBINSON ARCHITECTS
Salt Lake City UT
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-17-2015 09:24
From: Scott Frank
Subject: Huffington Post coverage of Housing Awards
This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Custom Residential Architects Network and Housing Knowledge Community .
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Hi all -
Passing along the first-ever coverage of the Housing Awards that ran on the Huffington Post Home section:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/16/most-beautiful-homes-2015_n_7079048.html?utm_hp_ref=huffpost-home&ir=HuffPost+Home
Please share via social media channels and pass along to anyone that you think might have an interest.
thanks!
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Scott Frank
Sr. Director, Media Relations
The American Institute of Architects
Washington DC
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