Amy Vohs, AIA
AIAO President
Hello everyone,
I don’t know about you, but I’m working on getting my head around no school till September. Home school is turning out to be a fairly substantial shift in thinking for me. I’ve had to learn new programs, new meetup websites while covering the gap in the day when school gets out just after lunch. I am grateful for the many on-line resources out there and looking forward to slipping in some of these programs during the summer..SHHH. I’ll tell them it’s life-long learning. It should never stop right?
The staff has been busy over the last several weeks uncovering and expanding resources as well for members to better deal with current practices during this pandemic. We get updates from National at least once a week and sometimes daily to get out information on how to help financially, educationally and emotionally.
These resources and updates are located on our Resources page https://www.aiaoregon.org/covid-19.
On Wednesday we discussed how to stay safe on the job site. There are articles and templates on how to communicate to owners and continue Architectural services during Construction Administration safely, how to create your own business plan for emergency preparedness and more. These will also be on our resource page.
Please let us know if we can help connect you with other chapters when you have projects in other states that require regular site visits. Partnering up with other local firms can help ease the pressure to travel while assuring you’re not missing something from a Facetime video walk.
Virtual Happy Hours
AIA Oregon is hosting two happy hours a week. We don’t just drink in front of our computers. These are meant to be informational and assist with responding to questions we are getting on a regular basis. Tuesdays we are focusing on support for individuals and Fridays we are focusing on support for business leaders. Please attend as you see an interest. Topics will be posted prior to the events. In many cases we include attorneys and insurance carriers to provide any support as needed. We are open to topics that concern you to assist with continuing the practice of architecture and related work.
In an effort to continue with our quarterly topic of Emerging Technology, we’d like to get a happy hour started to discuss how your firms handle the digital move working with clients from a distance and keeping the design process moving. Please let us know what your favorite platforms are. Email Curt Wilson at cwilson@aiaoregon.org.
Virtual Education Programs
AIA National has made several webinars free during the next few months to assure that we are providing enough credits for licensure. Many of these are shown on our Resources page under Professional Development. We are also adding several that are dealing with virtual design programs as firms share just how they are maintaining the design process at a safe distance from others while not getting Zoom bombed! This finally happened to us Wednesday and it was interesting, to say the least.
Chapters across the country are sharing access to their educational programs as well. When we hear of good ones, we post them to you. Here are a few coming up:
Action Now: Accelerating Pathways to Decarbonization April 21, 2020 8:30 to 5:00 (6.5 LU/HSW) https://www.aiaseattle.org/event/action-now-2020/ Cost is Free.
Living Future Conference is going virtual as well. May 7 – 8, 2020 https://www.aiaseattle.org/event/action-now-2020/
U of O HOPES Conference April 15 – 17, 2020 HOPES website
AREs and Emerging Professionals
As most of you who are testing are aware, NCARB is giving a 90 day extension to those currently testing. We are looking for additional ways to provide on-line study courses for you as well since all those travel plans are on hold. We hope to have more information for you in the next few weeks.
Chris Lewis, the AIA appointed NCARB Licensing Advisor, was present at the EPC happy hour on Tuesday to offer his services and information on NCARB. Please feel free to contact him with any questions you might have if you missed the happy hour.
There is a lot going on right now and most of it is virtual so remember to take a break from the screens. Get outside now that spring is here (at a safe distance that is). My yard is getting some much-needed attention and my dog is getting more walks. Remember to be patient with each other as stress has a funny way of popping up once in a while, surprising us all.
I look forward to seeing you soon,
Amy Vohs
AIA Oregon President