Kaley Fought, AIA
AIA Oregon President
A’22 - AIA Conference on Architecture
June has been quite an inspirational and exciting month for myself and many of my colleagues! I had the great pleasure of kicking things off with the ODC in Portland, where we heard from a range of fantastic speakers on everything from architectural education to housing to neuroaesthetics. Our panel from NOMA shared a powerful conversation around diversity and inclusion with the field, and how critical it is to not only build diversity within practice, but to seek out and elevate underrepresented voices. Our featured speakers and breakout sessions continued to challenge and invigorate the conversation, and the collective energy and excitement for architecture and the design field left me well-prepared for A’22 in Chicago.
The conference this year felt monumental to me on multiple fronts. Outside of the obvious highlight - seeing President Barack Obama speak - the keynotes were inspiring, honest, and truly poignant. Getting back together with colleagues from around the country was an uplifting and truly energizing experience. Combined with the spectacular architecture and spaces that Chicago offers, I felt immersed in a place of design thinking. Amidst this backdrop, AIA’s new EVP/CEO Lakisha Ann Woods announced the newly elected leaders for AIA National; Kimberly Dowdell as the 100th President of AIA, Britt Lindberg as Secretary, and Illya Azaroff as At-Large Director. I’m so excited to see Kimberly Dowdell lead us into the next chapter of AIA alongside her leadership team. Lakisha also spoke with Julia Gamolina, Founder of Madame Architect, about moving the profession, and ourselves, forward by changing the way we think about equity and sustainability in architecture.
The Day 2 keynote panel, featuring Jeane Gang, Vishaan Chakrabarti, and Renee Chang, delivered a powerful message that immediately brought to mind the Whitney M Young Jr speech in Portland, where he said (paraphrasing) that we are most defined by our thunderous silence and our complete irrelevance. They covered this in full; not shying away from stressing that we have an enormous impact on influencing the world around us through spatial justice in the built environment. This includes breaking down the barriers we have fostered as a profession that can deter many underrepresented groups from even considering architecture as a career. I carried this with me for the duration of the conference, as the lens through which I considered our role in improving the environment around us.
Finally, Day 3 brings us President Barack Obama, who captured the room with his eloquence and resonant message that we are uniquely suited to contribute to the conversation on environmental issues and spatial justice. Just as important as being an active contributor however, is being an active listener. We cannot learn if we are the only ones speaking, and by seeking new and diverse voices, who often are most affected by the projects we work on, we can facilitate creation of healthier, more sustainable, and more reflective spaces for our communities.
The threads of spatial justice, equity, sustainability, and public safety (health and welfare) were strong and continuous throughout the breakout sessions, and left me eager to find opportunities to put words into practice. I hope that you do not take lightly your role as a change agent and architect, and seek opportunities on any scale that can have a positive impact on the human condition. Liberty and progress are a spatial practice, and design is a mechanism for us to contribute to an equitable, tolerant, and healthy world.