Message from a Fellow

Martha Peck Andrews, FAIA
”Looking for a few good Fellows”

A few weeks ago, at a meeting of the Oregon AIA Fellows – a virtual meeting, of course,  due to the COVID-19 pandemic – I volunteered to write a column about what AIA Fellowship is all about.  That got me to reflecting about how my own architectural career has evolved from a student at the University of Oregon in the 1960’s-70’s, into my first part-time job in an architecture firm during college, through internship and employment in several firms (Texas and Oregon), and eventually partnership with my husband James E. Andrews, AIA, in our own Portland-based firm for 35 years.  Even though I am recently retired, the American Institute of Architects has been an important part of my professional life, especially with election to AIA Fellowship. 

Frequently I have been asked what that means, to be a “Fellow” in the AIA.  This column is written on behalf of the Oregon AIA Fellows Committee to help answer that question.

It’s been 163 years since a group of thirteen New York architects met and agreed to form an architectural society, one that they soon audaciously decided to rename as the American Institute of Architects.  Those AIA Founding Fathers were all talented and creative, responsible for designing many of the landmark buildings being erected in their era, but they probably couldn’t envision the evolution of architecture as we practice in 2020.  And yes, they were all men.  White men.  Not a Founding Mother in the bunch. 

For that matter, they weren’t even architects by today’s standards.  In 1857, there were no educational standards, no internships, not even requirements to demonstrate experience or competency in the interest of public welfare and safety.  All it took to be an architect back then was to simply proclaim yourself an architect. 

But they were visionary, and they were influential in setting standards for our profession. We are the fortunate inheritors of what they started.  Some of us initially join the American Institute of Architects so that we can put the letters “AIA” behind our names. Most of us soon take our professional involvement to a higher level through volunteer service in our communities, education, research, and mentoring. Along the way, we reap the benefits of AIA membership like seminars and tours, design awards programs, and especially the camaraderie of other professionals – not a small thing where many of us work solo or in very small firms. A few AIA members are granted the distinction to add an “F” in front of the AIA to designate “Fellow” in the American Institute of Architects.

So what really is that “FAIA” all about?   To quote the AIA’s own history, “The origins of the term ‘Fellow’ are lost amid the earliest records of the AIA.”  When founded, the organization recognized two levels of membership, Associate and Professional.  And it appears that “Fellow” was interchangeable with Professional. Just like you could decide to call yourself an architect, you could call yourself an AIA Fellow. Beginning in 1935, the AIA board appointed a jury with the responsibility of selecting AIA Fellows, and in 1952 the College of Fellows was established, which is the system of selection for Fellowship that is essentially still in place today. 

Annually the AIA College of Fellows invites submissions of applications for Fellowship, and across the entire country the AIA grants Fellowship to about 100-120 architects.  The applications are detailed and must show how that particular architect’s contributions in the profession and the greater community are outstanding.  Oregon has a legacy of extraordinary architects who have made significant contributions in design and also education, public service, and the profession.  

A candidate for Fellowship must be an AIA member for at least ten years, and then is eligible to apply for Fellowship under one of the five original founding principles of the AIA:

• To promote the esthetic, scientific and practical efficiency of the profession;

• To advance the science and art of planning and building by advancing the standards of architectural education, training, and practice;

• To coordinate the building industry and the profession of architecture;

• To ensure the advancement of the living standards of people;

• To make the profession of ever-increasing service to society.

The application must be endorsed by an AIA chapter or by at least ten individual AIA members, and supported by letters of recommendation.

My own pathway to Fellowship wound through private practice with a focus on elderly and special-needs housing; leadership positions in AIA Portland and AIA Oregon; and volunteer service in my community including the Portland Planning Commission.  My contributions best fit the category of “advancing the living standards of people through their improved environment.” With significant help from other women in architecture and the hands-on guidance of AIA Portland’s Fellows Committee, my application was completed and put in the mail to the College of Fellows at AIA headquarters.  (Since then, the application process has become digital.)

Early in 1998 I received a letter indicating that I had been elected to AIA Fellowship, and I was invited to the investiture ceremony during the AIA national convention in San Francisco in May 1998.  Although the AIA’s College of Fellows is headed by a Chancellor, it is nothing like any other college that I ever attended.  The leadership definitely knows how to create pomp and pageantry.  Traditionally the investiture is held in an historic or architecturally significant location.  The 1998 investiture was held in St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco designed by AIA Gold Medalist Pietro Belluschi, FAIA, an inspiring and light-filled space.  As each candidate approached the dais, a summary of their contributions was read; and Seattle architect and 1992 past-Chancellor Jane Hastings, FAIA, made a point of warmly greeting each Pacific Northwest or woman architect.  It was quite a moving experience.

At that time, I was the third woman architect in Oregon to be granted Fellowship, following in the footsteps of Marjorie Wintermute, FAIA (1979), and Mary Alice Hutchins, FAIA (1997).  Those two remarkable women had begun their architectural careers during World War II when most of the young men were marching off in uniform, and architecture firms were desperate enough to take a chance on a “girl.” (Those firms definitely got an excellent return on their gamble.)  I was part of the next generation of woman architects and I am so delighted now to see many women in our profession. 

AIA Oregon is now proud to claim about 64 Fellows, including 10 women.And we are always looking for a few more good Fellows. . . . If you would like to suggest an AIA member for nomination to Fellowship, please contact The Fellows Committee through AIA Oregon.

Message from the AIAO Executive Director

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!

Message from a Legislative Action Committee Member

Chris Forney, AIA
Member, AIAO Legislative Action Committee
Member, AIAO Committee on the Environment

Hi! I’m Chris Forney, currently serving on the AIA Oregon’s Legislative Action Committee (LAC) and Committee on the Environment (COTE).  I’m an architect and I’m one of four owners/principals at Brightworks Sustainability.  We are one of the first sustainability and green building consulting firms in the United States and a proud member of the U.S. Green Building Council since 2001.  We have survived a great recession, maintained our solid position in the market and enabled others to do the same, leading by example and doing well by doing good. I’ve had a passion for architecture and engineering since entering the Architecture program at University of Oregon, but I made the difficult decision to “jump over” to consulting in 2006 because I saw a profession (and design and construction industry) in need of change and saw a unique opportunity to affect that change in this new role on projects, something the industry had not seen before, as a sustainability consultant. After 9 years with Brightworks Sustainability, I was proud to at last complete my licensure in 2015, to call myself an architect. To this day, I enjoy being involved in the practice through AIA.

This is an important time for architects to get involved and help respond to the growing concerns we face across this State. Communities have burned to the ground and need rebuilding. Our climate is changing and building codes need to keep up. Racial injustices perpetrated in our State’s past can still be seen in the lack of diversity our practice suffers from today. And a pandemic has disrupted our lives. We are all still searching for a return to “normal” yet coming to terms with what may have changed forever. These are the complicated challenges we face and, as architects, we know that challenges this great cannot be solved in isolation.

Architects are particularly trained to resolve complicated, multi-variable problems, mediating between clients, trades, experts and novices – it is what we have been trained to do. These conditions are ripe for disagreement, yet architects persist toward a defined vision relying on the map and compass of the processes defined by our profession. These skills are in high demand.

AIA Oregon provides a valuable platform for you to exercise your talents to benefit a far-reaching variety of communities. Over the past five years AIA Oregon has provided me with opportunities to break silos and build relationships with other talented colleagues working towards a better future.

In 2016 I was recruited by past AIA Portland President Stefee Knudsen to join the State chapter board as a delegate from Portland. While serving on that board, I participated in the process of transitioning AIA Oregon from four chapters and a council to a single State chapter unifying Southern Oregon, Bend, Eugene, Portland and Salem into a more integrated system. Raising the profile of voices from across the State to join on a common platform was a major undertaking. The benefits of sharing ideas and working together outweighed the challenges of change. We learned that change, even if for the better, is difficult. Today, communication and collaboration across the State sections has never been better, but we still have room to be more inclusive.

The past four years I have served on the AIA Oregon Legislative Action Committee, to help articulate AIA Oregon’s position on legislative matters, especially in the area of green building. I have learned much about the responsibilities and important function of this committee, from long-time board member and current Executive Director Curt Wilson and AIA Oregon’s State lobbyist, Cindy Robert, who keeps us apprised of issues concerning Architects in the State. I am lucky to serve alongside seasoned professionals like Jay Raskin, Resiliency expert, Eric Sandoval, Code expert, and Kim Olson, LAC Chair.

In matters of policy and State legislation, elected officials are constantly seeking feedback from their constituents on the potential impacts of legislative actions, positive or negative, to different groups. Because AIA Oregon has over 1,500 members, and we represent a consolidated perspective from across the State, our position matters and can influence decisions. Our positions are aligned with AIA National, but get revisited and reaffirmed by our committee. We will be leveraging our single State Chapter model to hear from members on what issues are important so we can accurately represent and encourage our elected officials to endorse those priorities. In the coming months, look for our survey to membership as we register the voices of architects from across the State. In preparing for the 2021 legislative cycle we are seeking to uphold the priorities and values of our membership.

Perhaps most importantly, while serving on the Legislative Action Committee, I’ve learned that not all action is legislative. Activism on the part of our membership starts with learning how the legislative process works so we can effectively represent our needs and work with trade groups and other organizations to reach better results. I’ve learned how City and State jurisdictions interact, what code matters are statutory, requiring legislative action, versus what matters are administrative, requiring advocacy at the division or committee level, like with Building Codes Division and the Construction Industry Energy Board.

Oregon in the early 2000’s was a national leader in green building. Oregon Department of Energy funded research demonstrating 2005 Oregon Energy Code equivalency to the 2004 ASHRAE 90.1 baseline used for LEED. This was an important step to benchmarking Oregon to other States and showing our leadership. The 2008 recession put a six-year pause on energy code updates. No improvements to code-required energy performance was made during that time. Our Legislative Action Committee has been responsibly advocating for rapidly improving Oregon’s energy codes, appearing before the Construction Industry Energy Board to testify in favor of more regular code cycle updates.

This Friday, you can learn more about AIA Oregon’s ongoing advocacy role with Oregon’s State Building Codes Division (BCD). AIA Oregon is hosting its Virtual Happy Hour with special guest Mark Heizer from BCD who will talk about the energy code changes recently undertaken to reduce new construction building energy use by 60% by 2030. Learn More and Register Here.

Now is a great time to break silos in an increasingly polarized world. You are invited to take advantage of the great culture AIA Oregon has cultivated and be a part of the solutions we are creating towards a brighter future together.