Message From the AIAO EVP/CEO

Heather Wilson
AIA Oregon EVP/CEO

“There are some games you can’t win unless you’re all in.” –Jordan B. Peterson

When you are good at something, but don’t really love it, you can do alright. You will get your work accomplished ok, and you’ll earn your living. Nothing out of the ordinary, probably, and so what? There’s a lot to be said for a life of coloring inside the lines. For one, your pictures are very, very pretty, and everyone will recognize exactly what’s happening in those pictures. Boxes, checked!

But what if you’re good at it AND you love it? That’s the place I assume many of you exist in architectural practice, both being great designers and really enjoying the work of collaboration, energy and visualization that it takes to craft a solution in theory to a real built thing. You maybe even like to compete a little? I know I do. This year, our Design Awards program Jury will be chaired by Suchi Reddy, AIA, founder and principal of Reddymade Architecture and Design based in New York. If you missed it, she was our closing speaker for ODC 22 and gave a powerful presentation regarding her work in neuroaesthetics. The conference theme –LINK –is clearly followed through with her agreement to serve as our jury chair, and we couldn’t be happier. If you had a chance to meet her, you know we’re in excellent hands. I can’t wait to see the selections made this year.

But you can’t win if you don’t enter (and you can’t enter if you aren’t an AIAO Firm member – see details here). I really enjoy this time of year because I get to see my members’ best, and it energizes me to keep doing my job supporting all you do. I am hoping to see more of your amazing work this year. We’ll be back in person for the awards presentation at the Portland Art Museum, and you won’t want to miss it.

You’ll also want to make sure you attend the prep session – Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Design Awards *But Were Too Afraid To Ask on August 4 where I will share basic do’s and don’ts, common jury questions and insights, and review the entry process in detail so you’re relaxed and ready to submit your entries. I can’t wait to see this year’s work. Best of luck!

Messages from the AIAO Legislative Affairs Committee

Chris Forney, LAC Committee Member

Using our Collective Voice

In the wake of the latest Supreme Court EPA Ruling, I would like to seize upon this moment to promote discussion, healthy debate and understanding amongst our membership and feel empowered to drive home our shared priorities. Our superpower as an organization is that we have a collective voice that is smart, informed, and structured and can be used to influence legislation. From my perspective, it is a lot more apparent how critical it is that we get better at using that superpower to influence legislation. If we don’t, others will and we may not like those outcomes.How do we do that?

• Can we promote discussion and debate towards hammering out a shared agenda? A shared agenda can be mobilizing for membership.

• Can we be polling our members more frequently and sharing the results? I think Architects want to know what other Architects are thinking. These results might also help us communicate shared priorities with more validity, authenticity and transparency.

• Can we get good at deciphering permission from membership (voting) on 1-3 clear goals that we then confidently use to direct committees to execute, full steam?

I’ve long suspected that executive action through agency directive was not a durable pathway to responding to climate change (or any matter). The recent supreme court decisions are telling us that the only durable response to women’s rights, environmental and health protection and social justice is through legislation. We are being told by this Supreme Court to set clearer rules for them to judge by. So, let’s get organized and let’s get clear on the rules we want our local, State and National communities to live by.Our collective voice just became a lot more important. My hope is that we, as a community of Architects, can gather our focus amongst our membership to describe the future we want to see.

Christopher Forney | Principal
BRIGHTWORKS SUSTAINABILITY

*****

Cindy Robert, Rainmakers LLC (AIA Oregon Lobbyist)

State Wildfire Risk Mapping now available – a proactive measure to prevent and respond to the growing threat of wildfires.
The searchable map shows the wildfire risk of properties across the state. Anyone can plug in their address and see where their property falls on a risk spectrum. The map was made by a collaborative that included the state’s Department of Forestry, the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon State University as part of Senate Bill 762 (2021 legislative session). That bill, passed during the 2021 Legislative session, ordered state agencies to undertake a slate of measures to modernize and improve wildfire preparedness through three key strategies: creating fire-adapted communities, developing safe and effective response, and increasing the resiliency of Oregon's landscapes. The bill is the product of years of hard work by the Governor's Wildfire Council, the Legislature, and state agencies.

At its core, the wildfire risk map is a tool to help inform decision making and planning related to mitigating wildfire risk for communities throughout Oregon and making it a reality has been an immense lift. Every tax lot in Oregon is assigned a wildfire risk classification. Knowing their level of wildfire risk will assist homeowners in identifying mitigation actions that can help protect their homes and communities. For homes that fall within the WUI and are classified as high or extreme risk, there will be required mitigation actions. The Office of the State Fire Marshal is working on defensible space codes and the Building Codes Division is working on home hardening codes.

Message from the AIAO President

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.