Message from the AIAO Representative to the AIA Strategic Council

Curt Wilson, AIA
Principal, Wilson Architecture
AIA Oregon Representative, AIA Strategic Council

Hello AIA Oregon!  It’s been about a year since my time as the interim EVP/CEO for AIA Oregon ended and since then my focus has been growing Wilson Architecture.  It’s been exciting to do all the things necessary to build a business, such as creating a website, preparing marketing materials, establishing work processes, pursuing projects, and most importantly doing the work.  Working closely with clients, consultants, and contractors, evaluating existing buildings and planning renovations, drawings and details, spec writing, securing permits and construction activities are in my wheelhouse and my career passion, and it is great to be doing it again.  As with most firms in this market, I’ve been fortunate to have many opportunities and be staying very busy.  Some of my projects include a new library and city hall in Lowell, a Navigation Center in Roseburg that is part of the city’s infrastructure to help people living on the streets, and a new Visitor Center and Admin Building at the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge in northern California.  I’m enjoying the new challenges of integrating Revit into my work processes and pushing myself to stay on top of all this work.  The next step for Wilson Architecture is to add staff and grow capacity.  I’m forever grateful to AIA Oregon for the opportunity work as the EVP/CEO in my transition to the new firm and all the experiences and skills that came from it.

One of the challenges I have faced is working as a single person firm from my home office and the lack of engagement with others during the design process.  I have a great group of clients and consultants that I’m working with and meeting on one project or another daily, but I miss the informal conversations that take place during the design process and about design.  That is one of the reasons that I’m excited for the 2022 Oregon Design Conference, June 1-3 in Portland, and looking forward to face to face interactions! I was on the AIA Oregon board when the ODC was created and participated in almost all of the conferences since then.  The relatively intimate venue on the coast and design-focused themes was a welcome diversion from the day to day pace of practicing architecture and a chance to reflect on design as a core principle in the work we do, and interact with colleagues.  The coastal format was pretty fantastic, but the format was accessible only to those with the ability to take a few days off and to afford the costs of the venue hotel.  AIA Oregon leadership has acknowledged that for the ODC to live up to its potential, it needs to be available to more people associated with our profession.  The format change to Portland is appropriate, a good step forward towards our goals of an integrated state chapter as future conferences will be held in other Oregon communities.

There is a necessary critical mass for a successful conference, so we need many of us to register.  I appeal to firm leaders to support the Oregon Design Conference by encouraging your team to attend, and providing as much financial support as you can.  A few years back, Seth Anderson, past AIA Oregon president and now a principal in the Bend office of BLRB brought all of his firm’s staff to the ODC.  My partners back then at PIVOT were motivated, so we did something similar for the next one.  This is my challenge to you: support your employees to attend the 2022 Oregon Design Conference.  I’ve focused this past year on growing Wilson Architecture, I’ve continued to be an engaged AIA member.  Sending your staff to conference is one way you can do that as well.

Another way I have remained engaged is through Strategic Council.  At the end of 2021, the AIAO Board appointed me to the new role as Oregon representation to the AIA Strategic Council.  The Strategic Council was created when the former large operating board comprised of regional directors was reorganized into a smaller board, and charged with thinking broadly about the future of the Institute.  The mission of the Strategic Council is:

The Strategic Council advances the architecture profession by informing the Board and other Institute bodies about important professional issues, opportunities, and threats. Although it is not an AIA governing body, the Council’s work is vital to AIA’s ability to serve the profession.  The Council approaches its tasks with an emphasis on an outward and forward-focused vision.    

State chapter representatives replaced regional representatives as the Institute changed the governance model recently from regions to states, and we are working through what that means for the Strategic Council and how members are represented.  As the year progresses, I look forward to providing you with updates on the activities of the strategic council.

Respectfully

Curt Wilson, AIA
Principal, Wilson Architecture
AIA Oregon Representative, AIA Strategic Council.

Message from the AIAO EVP/CEO

Heather Wilson
AIAO Executive Vice President/CEO

Linking Action to Intention

Have you seen how ODC22 is shaping up? 3 days, 5 featured speakers, 2 parties! Don’t miss it!

The excitement generating between committee and Board members, AIA Oregon staff and our alliedpartners is getting palpable! We are really looking forward to welcoming membership back to in-person event attendance as well as providing a quality digital experience for those who prefer to stay at home.

We’ve come through 2 years of pandemic and hopefully we have learned so much that we can put into practice when we meet, including sharing what we’ve been working on, the way we see the profession shaping solutions for our new landscape, and just having fun seeing each other.

What can you expect? Three days of presentations on practice and design culture, the opportunity to ask lots of questions and even a little yoga. The Sentinel Hotel will serve as our venue –and they are offering a discounted stay for our members, so consider staying overnight. With good food and evening receptions, you can also stick around and avoid traffic nightmares talking with your colleagues about all we’ve missed while we’ve been apart.

Those who register for the digital experience will be able to tune into live broadcast presentations of our Featured Speakers. Breakout sessions will be recorded and shared with registrants for 6 weeks. You won’t want to miss the opportunity to hear from these great presenters, reconnect with fellow architects and allied members. Register today, and set your intention toward inspiring interaction in Portland, Oregon June 1-3!

Message from the UO Architecture Department Head

Michael Zaretsky, AIA
Architecture Department Head
University of Oregon

Hello AIA Oregon!

I am a new member of AIA Oregon, but not new to Oregon. I was a Master of Architecture student at the University of Oregon (UO) from 1994-1998. I then practiced architecture in Copenhagen, Denmark, San Francisco, California and Seattle, Washington before choosing to transition to academia. I taught one quarter at UO in spring 2004 and then two years at the Savannah College of Art and Design before taking a tenure-track position at the University of Cincinnati (UC). I taught for ten years and led the MetroLAB Community Design/Build program before transitioning to an Associate Dean role in the UC College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP). In 2018, my wife was offered a position as Dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs (CAPPA) at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). We moved to Dallas, Texas where I became the Director of Architectural Engineering at UTA. However, when the opportunity came up to come back to the University of Oregon, we couldn’t resist. My wife, Adrian Parr, is the Dean of the College of Design and I am the Head of Architecture at UO.

It is an immense honor to return to UO Architecture to work with the faculty, staff and students of the Department of Architecture. My experience here set me on a path that embraces all forms of environmental sustainability, a critical integration of context and place as well as a deep appreciation of cultural specificity. I learned to collaborate with others to create meaningful buildings and places using appropriate materials and technologies. I learned to incorporate passive strategies and integrated systems through projects at all scales.

Upon returning last spring, I have discovered that the work of the faculty and the program has expanded to engage cutting-edge research in centers such as the Institute for Health in the Built Environment (IHBE), the Tallwood Design Institute (TDI), and Urbanism Next among many others. I have also learned that the department, and the School of Architecture and Environment (SAE), have embraced social justice as a critical component of sustainability. In the last three years, the Design for Spatial Justice Initiative (DSJI) program has brought 15 DSJI Fellows to UO from across the world to UO to integrate diverse perspectives from practice, academia and lived experience. These fellows have profoundly impacted our design and our dialogue.

We recently completed our accreditation visit from the National Architectural Accreditation Board (NAAB). The feedback was extremely positive overall. They noted our focus on collaboration and the commitment to high quality teaching among our faculty. We received national commendations for two areas – “Ecological Knowledge and Responsibility” and “Social Justice and Equity.” However, there is one area where we need to improve - preparation for Professional Practice. While all UO Architecture students take a course in Context of the Profession, we need to do more to engage our students with the profession throughout their academic experience. We are currently preparing to start offering Practicum again (following covid) as well as offering more opportunities for Internships and engagement with Practice in Eugene and Portland.

We are hoping to build our relationships with all of our AIA partners in Oregon, throughout the PNW and across the country. We are excited to work with all of you to create more bridges between our program and your firms.

Don’t hesitate to reach out or come visit us in Eugene or Portland.