Happy 2020, COTE members!
The New Year is always a time of transition and evolution. It brings an opportunity for renewal, fresh perspective, and exploration of new strengths and expertise. We are honored to have four new members joining the national Advisory Group (AG) this year: Billie Faircloth, AIA; Kira Gould, Allied AIA; Julie Snow, FAIA; and Billie Tsien, AIA. This newsletter includes a profile about Faircloth; the other new members will be profiled in the next issues.
Most AG members serve a three-year term. A heartfelt thank you for the thought leadership, time, and energy all of our volunteer AG commits. We will endeavor to continue building upon the good work that three of our retiring members started. Anne Schopf, FAIA, led our awards alignment efforts which resulted in the creation of the Common App to evolve AIA design awards that piloted in 2019 with several Knowledge Community’s national award programs and with local components. Varun Kohli, AIA, led the creation of the Design Datamap to visualize and provide access to the details of previous COTE Top Ten Competition winners. As 2018 chair, Angie Brooks, FAIA, committed four years to COTE. Along with all the accomplishments of 2018, she was critical in getting COTE’s Advocacy efforts off the ground, including successful letter-writing campaigns, engagement of the Large Firm Roundtable (LFRT), and the creation of the COTE Advocacy Ambassador role (fulfilled now by Mike Davis, FAIA).
2019 included some big strides under Marsha Maytum’s leadership. Most significantly, the overwhelmingly positive support of the AIA Climate Action Resolution and the AIA Board’s adoption of the AIA Framework for Design Excellence (formerly known as the COTE Top Ten Measures). We could not have done this without the support and encouragement of Bill Bates, FAIA, 2019 AIA President.
2020 is a milestone year: COTE’s 30th anniversary (here’s a timeline) and the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. We are already planning events for the AIA Conference on Architecture (A’20) in Los Angeles this May and look forward to continuing our work with the AIA Board and incoming 2020 AIA President Jane Frederick, FAIA, to support the developing AIA Climate Action Plan.
As we celebrate our 30th Anniversary, a special thank you to all the previous COTE Advisory Group Chairs and AG volunteer members who helped build the foundation of what we will be able to accomplish together in 2020. It is an honor and privilege to follow in their footsteps.
Julie Hiromoto
2020 Chair of AIA COTE