AIArchitect

by Edward Mazria, AIA

Like the fairytale princess “Cinderella,” we are in a race against time. Global warming, caused by a manmade blanket of greenhouse gases, is well under way and is seriously threatening our planet unless we act now to reverse that for which we are responsible.

The building sector is responsible for half of all U.S. global warming emissions annually, which are increasing at an alarming rate according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The consensus is that we must limit the rise in global temperature to less than 2° C above pre-industrial levels to avoid disastrous impacts: millions displaced from their homes, declining food production, rivers too warm for trout and salmon, decreased snow pack threatening urban water supplies, more extreme weather, glacial melt inundating coastal areas, coral reef destruction, and mass plant and animal extinction.

At 3° C the impacts are projected to be catastrophic. If we continue on our present course, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that we could reach 2° C by 2050 and 3° C by 2100. 

Two major steps your AIA is already undertaking are to adopt the 2030 Challenge and support the establishment of a mandatory, full-year, innovative, studio-based program for schools of architecture that promotes creative problem solving relevant to climate change. 

Let us accept this challenge and make this our profession’s finest hour.

What do you think?

by Marshall E. Purnell, FAIA
AIA First Vice President/President-elect
2007 Grassroots Leadership and Legislative Conference Chair

One thing you learn living in Washington, D.C., for any length of time: Although words are very important here, of course, it is action that carries the real weight. One of the most important AIA national events each year is the AIA Grassroots Leadership and Legislative Conference Government Advocacy Day when chapter presidents, presidents-elect, and executives schedule visits with their congressional representatives; prepare with cogent, to-the-point messages; and exercise our First Amendment responsibility of petitioning the government.

This exercise in basic civic responsibility, which has come to be called lobbying, is guaranteed in our Constitution’s Bill of Rights:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Unfortunately, because of the irresponsibility of a few, the concept of lobbying has been encumbered with a number of negative connotations over the years. The great news we bring to the Hill—which our senators, representatives, and congressional staff contacts well appreciate—is that our issues truly serve the public good when we talk about energy efficiency, community building, and historic preservation.

The effort doesn’t stop at the end of Government Advocacy Day, either. I’d like to offer this challenge to every AIA member: Get involved. Go to your town council meetings, get to know your elected officials and their issues, read this week’s issue of AIArchitect and review the AIA positions, and take the time to visit your congressional representatives at their district offices.

We not only have a right, we have a responsibility, an obligation to ensure that our legislators do the right thing, the right thing by us, by our community, and by our country.

What do you think?

by Chris McEntee, AIA Executive Vice President/CEO

Anytime you make a bold new move, there are those fleeting thoughts in the back of your head: Will it work? What might be the repercussions?

It always helps to have strong allies, and such was the case with the launching of the celebration of the first 150 years of your AIA, which is also a reinvigoration of the Institute as the voice of the architecture profession and the resource for its members in service to society.

What better way to start the celebration than with a vital connection with the public through their favorite works of architecture? And that is what spawned the idea of America’s Favorite Architecture. AIA members participated last year to identify 248 outstanding works of architecture in the U.S. With the independent assistance of Harris Interactive, which polled a random sample of Americans (and received 1,800 responses), we identified 150 of the most popular built works in the country.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon helped pique public curiosity by sponsoring a press conference on Capitol Hill to announce the results of this effort. Concurrently, AIA national component staff e-mailed releases to media outlets across the country. The response was overwhelming. Within days, local television, radio stations, and newspapers throughout the nation had carried stories. The Wall Street Journal broke the news on the front page of its February 7 Marketplace section. USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, and San Francisco Chronical ran stories, as did the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call. Time and other on-line blogs started discussions. In fact, the AIA.org blog is still rippling with comments, laudings, and laments as members and the public alike discuss design excellence and architectural contributions.

With such success sometimes comes complications. The site generated so much traffic that the AIA Information Technology Team had to jump in midstream and double the AIA.org server capacity. The site is running fine now, though. So if you haven’t already had the chance to take a look, please do. And tell us:

What do you think?