Curt Wilson, AIA
AIAO Executive Director
Let’s Celebrate!
The Oregon Architecture Awards Virtual Celebration is tomorrow, Friday, October 23 at 5:30. The event is free this year and we are hosting it on Zoom. Follow this link to register. When we think about 2020, it is difficult getting past COVID, working and schooling from home, an economy in recession, the racial reckoning spurred by the killing of George Floyd and others at the hands of police officers, federal officers occupying Portland, and wildfires devastating communities in Oregon. What a year… None of these things bring a smile to my face, nor do they improve my mental state or outlook, and I haven’t mentioned the election yet! I’m ready for 2020 to end and look forward to learning from this year and help make our society and communities better. I need a party. Social distancing precludes a party, but how about a celebration!
I want to put the focus on celebration in the Oregon Architecture Awards Virtual Celebration. This is an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the clients that support what we do, the great work that is happening throughout Oregon and the people that are doing it, as well as acknowledge the significant milestones in the career of an architect.
The celebration will begin with remarks by a few board leaders, including 2020 President Amy Vohs, AIA, and our Title Sponsor, Niedermeyer Risk Management. The Fellows Committee will recognize the Halprin Landscape Conservancy and The Sequence with the 2020 Fellows Award for the important commitment to vibrant open space in downtown Portland. As a 30-year resident of Eugene, I’m familiar with the Keller Fountain, but was not aware of The Sequence and the important role it played in the urban development of downtown Portland, and how the private-public partnership that has developed is a model for other communities.
Oregon has three new AIA Fellows in 2020, and 56 new Oregon-registered architects over the past 12 months. Both are significant career milestones of an architect, and I’m really look forward to acknowledging all 59 of them. If you are a new architect in the last 12 months, or know one, or want to be one in the next 12 months, join the celebration. We also acknowledge and celebrate significant achievements by individuals with the Young Architect Award and the President’s Award. I’m very excited to announce the recipients at the Celebration tomorrow night.
The celebration wouldn’t be complete without celebrating the recipients of the Oregon Architecture Awards. Two members of the five person jury, Scott Wolf, FAIA of Miller Hull Partnership and Matthew Kreilich, FAIA of Snow Kreilich Architects will lead the celebration for the 13 projects that will receive awards. I encourage you to check out all the jurors on the event page at the link above.
It wouldn’t be a celebration without people connecting together. As noted above, the platform is Zoom, and we encourage you to have your video ready so we can see you when called. I encourage you to join the celebration. We commit to a good program with a snappy pace. See you there!