Britt Lindberg, AIA, LEED AP
2020-2022 AIA National Board At-Large Director
Hello AIA Oregon colleagues,
One of the most rewarding things about being an architect and AIA member, particularly in these important and challenging times, is leading collaborative teams to help envision, design, and build a truly better world for the future of all. It is with this spirit that I approach my work as a Technical Director on commercial workplace projects at Gensler in San Jose, CA. It is also with this spirit that I am honored to serve as your AIAO liaison to the AIA National Board, in my role as a 2020-2022 AIA National Board At-Large Director, elected by delegates last year at the A’19 conference.
I became an AIA member after achieving licensure in 2007, just over 5 years after graduating with an M.Arch. from UC Berkeley. I joined the AIA as I was working with a small firm at the time, and wanted to learn from more peers and mentors if there were additional ways of practicing which I maybe wasn’t aware of yet. I quickly found that I gained a lot of knowledge and inspiration from meeting with like-minded colleagues of all experience levels and sizes of practice. I soon volunteered to join the local AIA Silicon Valley Emerging Professionals Committee (EPC), founding its Young Architects Forum and leading programming geared toward recently-licensed colleagues that were seeking to improve their presentation, client relationship, and business savvy skills. The colleagues I met through the EPC then invited me to join the local board of directors, and I couldn’t say no to the opportunity to be involved in a policy-making role at the chapter level. At this time I also began working at Gensler in their San Jose office, where I still love working every day, as living in Silicon Valley I wanted to be a part of large-scale projects for global technology clients.
Seeing first-hand how the work of the AIA board, committees, and members was able to achieve something larger than was possible through project work alone, even large-scale projects, I was motivated to serve as the local AIA chapter president in 2014. Seeking a way to better increase the public awareness of the importance of design and architecture, and boost support to small firms, I launched the chapter’s now-annual Home Tours program. Being chapter president opened opportunities to serve on the AIA California board, ultimately as its 2018 president, which then led to the connections and support to run for national board election. At every step along the way, the personal and professional rewards keep growing – the close friendships with diverse, insightful, and enriching colleagues; the public speaking experience that helps me be more confident in my everyday work; the knowledge and leadership roles that help advance my career; the making a difference through advocacy, mentorship, climate action, equitable communities, and more; and the spreading awareness of the importance of design in helping people live, work, play, learn and heal better. These are my drivers in all that I do every day, and I encourage all of you to also be engaged, and follow your purpose!
Across the AIA today, much listening, planning, and action is being taken for all three urgent and interconnected priorities: racial justice, climate health, and human health. For this work the AIA board, under President Jane Frederick’s leadership, is looking inwardly, to our members, firms, organization, and industry; and outwardly, to our industry allies, elected government leaders, and society at large.
While the below summary of AIA national updates is presented as separate sections, AIA understands that these issues are integrally related. Progress and success in one, will bring progress in another. We cannot have equitable communities without addressing racial justice, climate action, and human health. All are urgent, priority lenses through which the AIA board is approaching all AIA activities, and encouraging chapters and members throughout the organization to do the same. Only by working together will we make the large-scale, global, impactful, much-needed progress that we know is necessary.
Racial Justice
The AIA board issued this statement on systemic racial injustice:
https://www.aia.org/pages/6301167-aia-board-statement-on-systemic-racial-inj.
More than a statement, this is AIA’s commitment to listen, undo, rework, and take strong action against racial injustice toward people of color. AIA is also creating a Racial Justice Framework & Action Plan, that will identify short and long term actions the organization can take, to eliminate bias and barriers. This includes looking at the Honors & Awards programs, which are moving forward this year but some may experience delays as we examine and work to improve our processes to solicit, evaluate, and celebrate achievements with diverse, equitable, and inclusive results. AIA has also actively strengthened our relationship with NOMA, who now is our 6th collateral partner organization (joining AIA’s shared work with NCARB, NAAB, AIAS, and ACSA).
This important work involves at least as much listening as it does discussion of policy change and action. Progress, decisions and actions are ongoing, and will take time. The board will keep AIAO leaders informed, and we also welcome all members’ input any time (my email address is below). In the meantime, I encourage all architects to be a part of making change locally – visit a K-12 school and show BIPOC children that they can and must become our future architects; be a mentor to local high school or college BIPOC students and help them navigate a successful and rewarding career path; ensure your firms and project teams are diverse and including community engagement processes; encourage BIPOC colleagues to join the AIA and serve in leadership roles on committees and boards, which is rewarding and impactful in so many ways; read books and watch online videos to learn about dismantling systemic racism. There is no time to lose.
Climate Action
In 2019 the board voted to prioritize climate action throughout the organization for 2020, in recognition of the great impact our buildings and projects have on the earth’s natural resources and environment. The need for urgent, coordinated action still stands. AIA has adopted the Committee on the Environment’s ‘Framework for Design Excellence’ as a holistic framework for design excellence. You can find more about the Framework, and many case studies and a ‘Super Spreadsheet’ to help evaluate your projects, online:
https://www.aia.org/pages/6201381-architecture-and-climate-action-the-path-f
https://www.aia.org/resources/77561-sustainability
The AIA also just recently released its Climate Action Plan and Executive Summary, which all AIA chapters and members can use as a guide to take action in your projects and in your communities. This plan has been shared with AIAO leaders, who can forward to any that would like a copy. Also if your firm hasn’t yet signed on to the 2030 Commitment, this is a simple and powerful way to commit to and track your progress toward better energy performance and carbon neutral projects:
https://www.aia.org/resources/202041-the-2030-commitment
COVID-19 Resources
As the country’s exposure to COVID-19 grew this spring, AIA responded quickly through formation of four task forces, who have and continue to develop important resources to members. An ArchMap was developed to share rapid response emergency facilities in a database; a checklist was developed to analyze if an existing building could be used as an emergency response shelter; facility re-opening guides were shared for different project types to assist in re-opening safely; business resources for firms were provided to reinforce the value architects provide in this challenging time; working with AIA components to be resilient in this uncertain time; and more. The main COVID-19 page on the AIA website at the 1st link below gathers many of these resources, while the 2nd link is to the Business Task Force’s work which I had the honor to be a part of directly:
https://www.aia.org/pages/6280670-covid-19-resources-for-architects
https://www.aia.org/resources/6295205-covid-19-business-resources-to-thrive-
AIA also recognizes this year is very challenging economically for many. New members graduating from college can sign up for 18 months of free membership, and dues waivers are available on an individual as-needed basis for existing members. As with anything, if you have questions or would like more information, please contact me or your AIAO leaders and we are happy to assist.
Be Involved
All of the above, and more, are achieved through individual AIA members being engaged in the issues, and actively serving on local, state, and national AIA groups. There are hundreds of ways for all 94,000+ AIA members to be involved, expand your peer network, learn more from others, and, I believe, be a better architect as a result. I look forward to working with all of you!
Respectfully,
Britt Lindberg, AIA, LEED AP
2020-2022 AIA National Board At-Large Director
Technical Director, Gensler, San Jose, CA
britt_lindberg@gensler.com