Message from the Programs Committee Chair

Krista Phillips, FAIA
AIAO At Large Director and Programs Committee Chair

Greetings AIA Oregon members!  For those who don’t know me, my name is Krista Phillips, FAIA. I am the Managing Architect at Portland Community College, have been an AIA member since 2005 and was recently elevated to the 2020 College of Fellows.

Currently, I serve as an At-Large Director on the AIA Oregon Board of Directors and as the inaugural statewide Programs Committee chair.  As we head toward the end of the first quarter of 2020, I want to share some exciting updates we’ve made to programming and events planning since I last wrote to the membership in mid-November. 

The Programs Committee, represented by all five membership sections in Oregon, is responsible to the Board of Directors to oversee the guidelines for and development of annual programs and events planning for AIA Oregon.  We establish expectations across the chapter as it relates to continuing education, program development, and event planning. 

This year, the Board has initiated several new statewide opportunities framed around four quarterly themes: Policy & Advocacy, Emerging Technology, People & Culture, and Climate. These themes reflect AIA Oregon’s commitment to serving our communities and engaging with the big issues of our time.

New programs this year include a quarterly discussion and a Business of Architecture series. We’re also holding events regularly throughout the year to give members more options when choosing what types of programs they attend and when. Events generally last 1-2 hours and members can plan on an AIAO sponsored event in their section at least monthly. To learn more about what’s happening at AIAO this year, check out the Event Schedule for 2020.

Our membership is 1,500+ strong. One of the great benefits of being a statewide chapter is the opportunity to tap our deep pool of member talent by sharing stories and best practices at these programs and events. We’re thrilled to be bringing you so much quality programming in the upcoming year.

If you want to get even more out of these programs, consider volunteering with AIA Oregon! Our committee is working hard to recruit and organize planning committees for these and other new events and we’d love to have your voice in the room.  If you want to be part of the process or would like more information, please email me at:  kristarphillips@hotmail.com and I will connect you to the right opportunity.  

Message from the AIAO Treasurer

Kaley Fought, AIA
Treasurer, AIA Oregon

In 2013, I attended my first AIA meeting as a fresh hire with CB Two Architects in Salem, and I must admit, I came away rather shocked at the limited representation of women in attendance - me. This is a story many women in the architecture field have experienced, but I’m thrilled to see the significant shift that has occurred since then. With the encouragement and support of coworkers and leadership in my firm, I joined the AIA Salem Board as an Associate Director a year later, motivated to expand the role of architects, and women in architecture, to have an impactful presence locally, as well as regionally. As an Associate and Project Architect for CB Two, I work on a variety of project types ranging from commercial remodels to new healthcare facilities. For numerous reasons, local community projects resonate most deeply with my architectural philosophy. The outreach and impact of civic work in Salem is fundamentally engaging as I am frequently directly involved with these projects as a citizen, long after my role as architect is complete. I am currently focused on the new YMCA facility in the heart of downtown Salem. I served on the Salem board as Director until 2017 when I was elected President of the AIA Salem chapter, eventually facilitating Salem’s participation in the state-wide merger to AIA Oregon. Last year, I had the pleasure of working as the Chair of the Shift19 Oregon Design Conference alongside our incredible staff. In my current role as AIAO Treasurer I provide feedback on and oversight of the budget, focusing on finding ways to utilize our funds in impactful ways. I’m excited to be a part of the team facilitating and creating programming for members that elevates your experience both as an architect, and as a member.

As both Amy Vohs and Curt Wilson have emphasized in their correspondence, AIAO is striving to create robust connectivity throughout the organization in order to strengthen our relationships internally and externally. Our quarterly themes of Policy and Advocacy, Emerging Technologies, People and Culture, and Climate are the umbrella themes for programming this year. In each of these themes, we can strengthen our unified voice through education, awareness, mentorship, and celebration of architecture. We have a number of established committees whose work has, and will continue to, lay the groundwork for start-up committees locally and state-wide. Each of the Section Directors are coordinating committee open houses to share ideas and provide insight for increasing engagement and participation. I encourage you to attend, and bring someone along with you! There are a variety of ways to get involved and share in our continued efforts to expand the reach of architecture, increasing participation at local and regional levels, building credibility with communities and leadership, and ultimately to facilitate Architects leading conversations affecting the built environment and urban fabric.  Now more than ever our collective voice as a profession needs to be heard.

My initiation into state-wide AIA involvement began when I attended my first Oregon Design Conference in 2016 at the encouragement of my firm and came away feeling inspired and invigorated. Having participated in other fantastic design conferences, I found that the ODC has a unique combination of camaraderie and creative energy that sets it apart. We are in the early stages of planning the Oregon Design Conference 2021, and are looking for members interested in joining the planning committee. Building on last year’s theme, our focus is on seeking new perspectives, both within and beyond the traditional profession of architecture. We will continue to develop a more specific theme for 2021 once a committee is established. AIA Oregon, and the Oregon Design Conference, offer a unique platform from which we can elevate these conversations, critically placing us in front of policy makers and community leaders. If you are interested in joining the planning committee, please email me at kaley@cbtwoarchitects.com, or Curt Wilson at cwilson@aiaoregon.org.

Message from the AIAO LAC Resiliency Subcommittee Chair

Jay Raskin, FAIA
AIAO LAC Resiliency Subcommittee Chair
Tsunami Inundation Zone Development

As an architect whose practice has been centered on the Oregon coast, I became very active in issues dealing with a Cascadia earthquake and tsunami. This started with helping Cannon Beach, where I lived, as a volunteer with emergency planning. As I realized the impacts such an event would have on the built environment of not only the coast, but the entire state, my focus shifted to pre-disaster mitigation and resilience efforts. I have done this as an elected official and as a member of various city, state and national committees, including the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Community Resilience Panel. I helped initiate and create the Oregon Resilience Plan (ORP). I have been active with AIA Oregon’s legislative efforts to create a State Resilience Officer position (which was a key recommendation of the ORP) and passage of HB 2206 in 2019, which created OrSAP the post-disaster building Safety Assessment Program.  

The beauty of the Oregon Coast is partially defined by the Coastal Range and the steep hillsides that meet the Pacific Ocean.  The result is relatively narrow swathes of land for development.  Most of the coastal communities were developed close to the ocean because that is where the developable land is.  A lot of this developable land is located with the tsunami inundation zone.

Laws were enacted in the 1990’s that restrict the placement of schools, hospitals, police and fire stations, and assembly spaces with more than 500 occupants (i.e. larger hotels) within the tsunami inundation zone.  This was a fundamental part of the resiliency planning in Oregon.

In 2019, the Oregon legislature passed a bill that loosened the restriction on development in the tsunami inundation zone.  This was a result of a bipartisan effort of the coastal delegation within the legislature and motivated by economic development concerns.  After passage, the bill has come under attack because it didn’t adequately address safety standards.  However, it is important to stress that the legislature passed the bill.

The response from the coastal delegation is HB 4119, which incorporates design and engineering standards from ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) 716, chapter 6.  This chapter is relatively new, and significant as it is the first nationally recognized standard to guide the design and engineering of buildings within the tsunami inundation zone. 

Incorporating a safety standard to govern the design and engineering of buildings located within the tsunami inundation zone improves the legislation passed in 2019, however the broader question remains: how to balance safety and development in Oregon’s coastal communities within the tsunami inundation zone?  I, along with many of my colleagues, believe this bill is flawed on a number of levels.  However, this bill is part of a package of resiliency related bills, and the politics of one is related to the politics of others.  AIA Oregon is neutral on the HB 4119 due to our overall support for the resiliency package, but even the bill’s sponsors are expecting further legislation on this issue next session.

For architects to make a difference on this issue, and any issue we care about, we need more actively engaged members.  If you want to get involved, please contact me, AIAO Legislative Affairs Committee (LAC) co-chair Kim Olson, or AIAO EVP/CEO Curt Wilson (cwilson@aiaoregon.org).