Chris Forney, AIA
Member, AIAO Legislative Action Committee
Member, AIAO Committee on the Environment
Hi! I’m Chris Forney, currently serving on the AIA Oregon’s Legislative Action Committee (LAC) and Committee on the Environment (COTE). I’m an architect and I’m one of four owners/principals at Brightworks Sustainability. We are one of the first sustainability and green building consulting firms in the United States and a proud member of the U.S. Green Building Council since 2001. We have survived a great recession, maintained our solid position in the market and enabled others to do the same, leading by example and doing well by doing good. I’ve had a passion for architecture and engineering since entering the Architecture program at University of Oregon, but I made the difficult decision to “jump over” to consulting in 2006 because I saw a profession (and design and construction industry) in need of change and saw a unique opportunity to affect that change in this new role on projects, something the industry had not seen before, as a sustainability consultant. After 9 years with Brightworks Sustainability, I was proud to at last complete my licensure in 2015, to call myself an architect. To this day, I enjoy being involved in the practice through AIA.
This is an important time for architects to get involved and help respond to the growing concerns we face across this State. Communities have burned to the ground and need rebuilding. Our climate is changing and building codes need to keep up. Racial injustices perpetrated in our State’s past can still be seen in the lack of diversity our practice suffers from today. And a pandemic has disrupted our lives. We are all still searching for a return to “normal” yet coming to terms with what may have changed forever. These are the complicated challenges we face and, as architects, we know that challenges this great cannot be solved in isolation.
Architects are particularly trained to resolve complicated, multi-variable problems, mediating between clients, trades, experts and novices – it is what we have been trained to do. These conditions are ripe for disagreement, yet architects persist toward a defined vision relying on the map and compass of the processes defined by our profession. These skills are in high demand.
AIA Oregon provides a valuable platform for you to exercise your talents to benefit a far-reaching variety of communities. Over the past five years AIA Oregon has provided me with opportunities to break silos and build relationships with other talented colleagues working towards a better future.
In 2016 I was recruited by past AIA Portland President Stefee Knudsen to join the State chapter board as a delegate from Portland. While serving on that board, I participated in the process of transitioning AIA Oregon from four chapters and a council to a single State chapter unifying Southern Oregon, Bend, Eugene, Portland and Salem into a more integrated system. Raising the profile of voices from across the State to join on a common platform was a major undertaking. The benefits of sharing ideas and working together outweighed the challenges of change. We learned that change, even if for the better, is difficult. Today, communication and collaboration across the State sections has never been better, but we still have room to be more inclusive.
The past four years I have served on the AIA Oregon Legislative Action Committee, to help articulate AIA Oregon’s position on legislative matters, especially in the area of green building. I have learned much about the responsibilities and important function of this committee, from long-time board member and current Executive Director Curt Wilson and AIA Oregon’s State lobbyist, Cindy Robert, who keeps us apprised of issues concerning Architects in the State. I am lucky to serve alongside seasoned professionals like Jay Raskin, Resiliency expert, Eric Sandoval, Code expert, and Kim Olson, LAC Chair.
In matters of policy and State legislation, elected officials are constantly seeking feedback from their constituents on the potential impacts of legislative actions, positive or negative, to different groups. Because AIA Oregon has over 1,500 members, and we represent a consolidated perspective from across the State, our position matters and can influence decisions. Our positions are aligned with AIA National, but get revisited and reaffirmed by our committee. We will be leveraging our single State Chapter model to hear from members on what issues are important so we can accurately represent and encourage our elected officials to endorse those priorities. In the coming months, look for our survey to membership as we register the voices of architects from across the State. In preparing for the 2021 legislative cycle we are seeking to uphold the priorities and values of our membership.
Perhaps most importantly, while serving on the Legislative Action Committee, I’ve learned that not all action is legislative. Activism on the part of our membership starts with learning how the legislative process works so we can effectively represent our needs and work with trade groups and other organizations to reach better results. I’ve learned how City and State jurisdictions interact, what code matters are statutory, requiring legislative action, versus what matters are administrative, requiring advocacy at the division or committee level, like with Building Codes Division and the Construction Industry Energy Board.
Oregon in the early 2000’s was a national leader in green building. Oregon Department of Energy funded research demonstrating 2005 Oregon Energy Code equivalency to the 2004 ASHRAE 90.1 baseline used for LEED. This was an important step to benchmarking Oregon to other States and showing our leadership. The 2008 recession put a six-year pause on energy code updates. No improvements to code-required energy performance was made during that time. Our Legislative Action Committee has been responsibly advocating for rapidly improving Oregon’s energy codes, appearing before the Construction Industry Energy Board to testify in favor of more regular code cycle updates.
This Friday, you can learn more about AIA Oregon’s ongoing advocacy role with Oregon’s State Building Codes Division (BCD). AIA Oregon is hosting its Virtual Happy Hour with special guest Mark Heizer from BCD who will talk about the energy code changes recently undertaken to reduce new construction building energy use by 60% by 2030. Learn More and Register Here.
Now is a great time to break silos in an increasingly polarized world. You are invited to take advantage of the great culture AIA Oregon has cultivated and be a part of the solutions we are creating towards a brighter future together.