Message from the AIA Oregon EVP/CEO

Heather Wilson
AIAO Executive Vice President/CEO

A Call for Member Leadership!

The last couple of years have been…something for all of us. I don’t even want to put any sort of descriptor on it because not only would I fail to capture it fully in words but also because there is no one way this time in our lives has been experienced. Every time I want to sink into the way I feel about this moment, this time, how difficult something feels; I am reminded of how, in a moment, things can change for someone and become far more dire than any disconnection I feel. I have much to be grateful for, and I think more than a few of us may feel that way. These reminders are opportunities for me to resettle my mindset into a more grateful space; the disruption does me good.

There are two definitions for disruption: a disturbance or problems which interrupt an event, activity, or process; and/ or: radical change to an existing industry or market due to technological innovation. We often experience disruption when we have new leadership; when we move to a new location or if we experience some other radical shift. There can often be a lot to gain in the space created around a disruption. Google the term “Positive Disruption” and you’ll find all sorts of resources (probably helpful to people in the design industry) that extol the virtues of positive disruptors – voices in your organization that highlight areas of concern, need and opportunity for improvement.  

I’d like to think that here in AIAO, we have some positive disruptors, and they are often found in leadership. That’s not an accident. Often, AIA leaders start as positive disruptors. It’s how we developed the YAF (Young Architects’ Forum) and EP (Emerging Professionals) programming you know today. It’s how AIA started discussing issues of climate change, sustainability, equity, and justice in the built environment. It’s why you’ve developed a Social Justice Action Plan. We are always seeking new voices for leadership that can highlight our spaces to grow as an organization.

AIA is over 170 years old and we hope the Institute will be able to continue to support professionals as you create an better built world. AIA is, however, a volunteer organization, and it is not only member-focused, it is member-led. I hope that as you read our T@3 newsletter you pay special attention to the calls for leadership (we are also currently asking for nominations to our Board of Directors and AIA National is seeking submissions for the Strategic Council and nominees for the National Associates’ Committee) and tune in to programming we have scheduled around leadership development like the upcoming Thursday Roundtable with Evelyn Lee, FAIA and Je’Nen Chastain, AIA, producers of the podcast “Practice Disrupted.”  It’s going to be a great conversation you won’t want to miss.

Message from the COTE Chair

Erin Lauer, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Fitwel Ambassador
Chair of the AIAO Committee on the Environment

With an increasing number of publications and major news media outlets reporting daily on the effects of climate change on our world’s populations, along with this change recently being reported by National Public Radio (NPR) as the “greatest threat to public health,” the imperative for climate action from each of us as an individual and a professional is now. The AIAO Committee on the Environment (COTE) welcomes and embraces collaboration and thought processes that distinctly progress us to positive sustainable actions.

I learned at the beginning of my career years ago, and then relearned many times again, that my daily work and career choices must involve providing and improving habitable environments for all to enjoy. Sure, I attempted other types of work, but conclusively was not interested. My work must make a difference and positive impact. My work in sustainable design and planning often served more privileged building occupants, but that is how a movement must begin. Computers were not affordable at first and neither were solar panels, but we began somewhere as a society and thus the sustainability movement also progressed to providing healthy environments for a more inclusive population.

As Chair of COTE, I am enthusiastic about how we welcome collaboration as people to share old and new ideas, tools, and resources and share knowledge across a diversity of disciplines, and not architecture alone. This collaboration informs my daily professional practice as sustainability consultant and co-owner of Project Pivot, a women-owned sustainable building consulting practice. I am motivated to listen to the concerns of our clients and building occupants, to hear the stories of how climate change is affecting us all as individuals and those for whom we care all around the region and the world, and to brainstorm together actionable solutions that can be incorporated into early design to mitigate and reverse climate change or to adapt to these changes, while considering the effects on our building inhabitants and surrounding environment.

The Committee on the Environment has had participants join from around the state who voice concerns and give solutions. At the beginning of 2021, we listened to AIAO members express their desire to join our committee, but observed the overlap with other similar committees. Thus we joined committees with the Architecture 2030 Working Group, an Energy Trust of Oregon (ETO) working group focused on bringing firms together to calculate carbon. Together, we joined forces in April 2021. We collaborate with other committees including the Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (CoEDI), Emerging Professionals Committee (EPC), and the Legislative Affairs Committee (LAC), with liaisons from these committees joining our COTE meetings to cross pollinate information and resources.

This collaboration of different committees or groups has evolved our offerings. This year’s Green Champion Summit, on Monday, October 11, focuses on the imperative for climate action now. The year 2030, that year that we have all been benchmarking as the year for net zero carbon design, is just around the corner, less than 9 years away. Climate change is real and is having long-lasting impacts on our most underprivileged communities. We are seeing a rise in houselessness and climate refugees. We are feeling the effects of the forest fires in our western states, with the burning of rainforests that left us with this year’s heat dome. We experience extended power outages, more extreme freezing temperatures in the winter, and longer periods of drought. The Green Champion Summit weaves together voices from around the country and the region, to dive more deeply into the effects of climate change, the data that supports those most affected by this climate change and to develop solutions as individuals and professionals for actionable change over the next year. To continue the conversation, AIAO and COTE will be hosting a panel discussion of ETO Net Zero Fellows in November and introduce the carbon tracking tool with an educational component in the spring of 2022. (If you are a Net Zero Fellow, you may be contacted by a member of COTE in the near future.)

If you care about the effects of climate change on your daily life or the daily life of someone you care about, please join the AIAO Committee on the Environment, to share your ideas, resources and tools and to be inspired to do more today.

“No time like the present…” - John Trusler, 1562

Erin Lauer is Chair of the AIAO Committee on the Environment, a LEED Accredited Professional and Fitwel Ambassador. She is a licensed architect in the State of Oregon and sustainability consultant and owner of Project Pivot, a COBID certified ESB and WBE in the state of Oregon, along with her business partner Julie McEvoy Baines.

Message from the AIAO Executive Vice-President/CEO

Heather Wilson
AIAO CEO/ EVP

Design Awards Submission Deadline!

I am amazed (and maybe a little exasperated) to tell you that here we are in September already! This year is flying by, and the summer is coming to a close. If you have children, whichever decisions you’ve made about school – in person, online, or hybrid – it is time to go back. We have had a very crazy week in my home, and I assume many of you are experiencing the same thing.

So, this may not be the best time, but I am here to offer a gentle reminder that the Oregon Design Awards entry period is coming to a close. Don’t panic – the AIAO staff have extended the deadline to September 13 – but please purchase and submit your entries! This year we have secured Pascale Sablan, FAIA, to be our Awards jury chair and I’m excited to see how our projects hold against critical comment and review. The conversations that arise from this process each year help us assess our work against what’s being produced nationally and globally. The program helps us highlight and recognize pioneering methods of practice; and by participating in the Oregon Design Awards program, our firms become better storytellers.

This is important for our profession, and I hope you’ll tune in to the TRT tonight: “Helping your Listener”. We’ll have consultants from a group called Graceworks come help us understand some basic storytelling tools that are timely and helpful additions to any architects’ repertoire.

We are currently planning on an in-person opportunity for gathering to celebrate our winners for 2021 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on October 29. Of course, we do not know what tomorrow holds; but like the projects we submit for entry, we are optimistic and hopeful that our plans come to pass. Please stay on the lookout for event updates and ticket sales. As appropriate, we’ll find ways to broadcast elements of the presentation so that we can both share the moment with those who can’t join us in person as well as save the recording for our archive.

If you have any questions about submission, want more details, or just need to make sure we’ve received your entry, please reach out to us! We are grateful, as always, for all you do.

Thank you – and we’re looking forward to seeing your entries!

Heather Wilson
AIAO CEO/ EVP