If you are coming to the AIA Conference on Architecture & Design (AIA24) this year (June 5-8 in Washington, DC), there is an official PMKC event plus many more great sessions on the topic of research to consider!
PMKC events
Thursday: Practice, Present & Future: PM Luncheon
EV213 | 11:30am-1pm | $95
Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, winner of the AIA Gold Medal, will set the tone at this luncheon exploring practice and career in the 21st century. The founder of Chicago-based Ross Barney architects has won 220+ awards over more than four decades of practice, continuing the Windy City's storied heritage of trailblazing architects. Like Ross Barney, today's practice leaders face a different work environment in this new millennium. You'll learn what they are doing to set their firms apart, engage new talent, foster emerging professionals, exceed client demands, and continue to grow their firm and themselves.
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Other sessions related to research
Wednesday
Tour: The Next Generation of Interdisciplinary Engineering: The IDEA Factory
ET317 | 12:45-4:15pm | 2 LUs/HSW | $120
Expanding boundaries of innovation, entrepreneurship, and world-class research, the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland is "unconventional in every way." This tour will highlight how the school, dubbed The IDEA Factory, epitomizes science-on-display while harnessing the energy of entrepreneurship. Discover how the design of a facility can help bring together students, faculty, and staff to conceive ideas, develop designs, build prototypes, enact business plans, and help spur economic development. Witness how a building can promote education and research through active, participatory experiences.
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Tour: Virginia Tech's New Icon: The Innovation Campus Academic Building
ET131 | 1:30-5:30pm | 3 LUs
Visit the Virginia Tech ICAB—a new anchor for Virginia Tech in northern Virginia. You'll learn how the building was carefully designed for the unique work of hosting the computer science/computer engineering programs, including teaching, research, faculty, and student spaces. The tour will explore the building's distinct faceted form that is naturally shaped and optimized with computational design tools to maximize photovoltaic power generation. Join us to witness multiple energy efficiency solutions, flexible interiors, and a welcoming urban environment, all of which capitalize on daylighting, views, and pedestrian flow to create an iconic image for Virginia Tech's new 21st century campus.Tour is not accessible
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Biophilic Design's Impact: The Research, Design and Assessment
WE309 | 1:30-3:00pm | 1.5 LUs/HSW
As a practitioner, you understand the power and impact of design, but findings from a recent study show an impact even greater than you might have imagined. This session will review an AIA Upjohn grant-funded study that associates biophilic design with reduced student stress and improved learning. You'll see how the team applied a process of research, design, and assessment to create innovative spaces that inspire awe, encourage mental health, and cultivate learning.
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Measuring meaningful outcomes in social equity, resilience, and ecosystem health
WE303 | 1:30-4pm | 2.5 LUs/HSW
How can you best measure meaningful outcomes in social equity, resilience, and ecosystem health? In this session, you'll delve into the transformation of green building certification—seeking to move from a plaque-driven approach to one focused on real performance and impact. This interactive workshop will crowdsource innovative solutions and emerging performance metrics. Be part of a collective effort to shape a sustainable future and leave with actionable insights and a network of collaborators.
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Experiential Design Schemas: creating sensory delight
WE305 | 1:30-4pm | 2.5 LUs/HSW
This practical workshop will utilize experiential design schemas—a generative language and framework that empowers the intentional design of pleasurable, engaging, sensory, and nature experiences in buildings. The schemas are organizations of form and space that guide architects toward avoiding the experiential monotony and nature disconnections too often found in contemporary life, striving instead for human vitality and environmental variability. You'll participate in a design charrette where you'll generate schematic design solutions utilizing experiential schema cards that offer specific ideas supported by research and design typologies.
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Thursday
Valuing Vegetation: Empowering Architects with Data Driven Design
TH110 | 2-3:30pm | 1.5 LUs/HSW
The benefits of building-integrated vegetation systems to human and planetary health are many and varied—energy reductions, storm water management, increased biodiversity, and improved air quality. Join this discussion with architects, product manufacturers, and scientists to unravel the opportunities and challenges of building with living biomass. This session will share research and data analysis to empower professionals working to understand scale, costs, and maintenance requirements. Designing with living systems is complex, but new systems are coming to market—and this session will provide you with the knowledge essential to make informed choices.
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Visualize Net Zero Energy, 2030 Data and Tableau
TH215 | 4-5pm | 1 LU
Experience the value of data collected by AIA 2030 Commitment firms. Thanks to an interactive exploratory dashboard that visualizes AIA DDx data using a free online tool, Tableau Public, practitioners are already benefiting from it. This session will help you make the most of this free resource.
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Friday
Research in Practice: New Models & Funding
EV301 | 10-11am
This event will be your chance to ask direct questions of established research leaders—Billie Faircloth, FAIA, partner at KieranTimberlake and 2023 COTE director, and Upali Nanda, PhD, Assoc. AIA, EDAC, ACHE, Global Sector Director, Innovation Executive Vice President at HKS—and debate ways to fund research within a firm. A lively discussion will explore how you can establish new methods of working that benefit from previous successes and failures. Join us to investigate case studies highlighting how investment in research and development can bridge gaps and lead to new kinds of work in economic downturns. You'll examine typologies from healthcare and education to workplace and public institutions. You’ll learn about how grants can help fund your research work, plus you'll have an opportunity to get advice on your own ideas.
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Designing for Air Quality: Boosting Accessibility and Zero-Emission Goals.
FR205 | 2-3:30pm | 1.5 LUs/HSW
While architectural design typically focuses on what you can see, touch, hear, and feel, today's environmental dilemma requires an additional focus on climate mitigation measures. The built environment is the largest global emitter and a primary source of air pollution—giving architects a unique opportunity for environmental transformation with a broader cultural impact. In this session, renowned sustainability experts will explain why improving air quality is the key to ensuring accessibility in many public and private spaces and the foundational first step in guaranteeing more equitable designs.
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Practical & Profitable: AI, Neuroscience, Biophilia & Innovative Design Processes
FR314 | 4-5pm | 1 LU/HSW
AEC practices can no longer ignore the "Intelligence Age." This session will showcase how practical, knowledge-first processes incorporating AI, VR, and sensors can measurably support business efficiencies, profitability, and market leadership. You'll hear how information databases can more rapidly reveal design choices in multiple forms, including, VR, plans, or sensor-based data. Through case examples and ROI data, presenters will demonstrate the benefits of translating neuroscience, human sciences, and user experiences and outcomes into design innovations in award-winning global built projects.
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Saturday
Scenario Planning for Climate Resilience: A Design Charrette
SA103 | 10am-12:30pm | 2.5 LUs/HSW
Get hands-on with climate resilient design. Along with an overview of the current state of climate projection for architecture and engineering, you'll practice scenario planning with limited information. This session will show you how to analyze data and use it to inform design decisions relating to vulnerable populations, potential impacts, and response strategies. You'll leave this session with a climate-forward mindset and knowledge of a process to integrate this crucial work into your practice.
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The Sociology of Architecture: "Can Architects Be Socially Responsible?"
SA304 | 11:30am-12:30pm | 1 LU/HSW
Homelessness is becoming a conventional reality for many living paycheck to paycheck across all income levels. This session will examine the social and economic contradictions of developing affordable housing within profit-maximizing industries. You'll analyze how contradictions, such as cost-efficiency, influence functional quality and expose the limitations of devising systemic housing solutions. This robust discussion of the intersection of sociology and architecture will uncover ways to mitigate various prevalent contradictions by utilizing a framework of social responsibility. By defining social responsibility as emancipatory, this conversation will establish a pathway to rethink how institutional practices provide housing security.
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