5/12/02 Mothers Day, en route Charlotte-Seattle
Today and soon, most of the AIA Seattle group attending AIA Convention in Charlotte will make their way homeward, following several days of immersion in the various facets of AIA: fellowship with professional colleagues from around the world, a rich menu of continuing education, celebration of some of the best recent work including recipients of awards for design and innovation, recognition to individuals who have served the profession in outstanding ways, exposure to information about products and services of all kinds, tours of the urban and cultural phenomena of the Carolinas, and attention to organizational business. See below a list of those seen in various venues, including those who joined the comradely circle at the AIA Seattle dinner.

Otherwise, some highlights:
* Honors brought home: an AIA Honor Award for Architecture to the Maple Valley Library, by Cutler Anderson Architects and Johnston Architects; Housing Design Awards to three Northwest projects by Mithun; one of the 2002 Top Ten Green Awards to Mithun's Puget Sound Environmental Learning Center; and the 2001 Executive of the Year Award to AIA Seattle EVP Marga Rose Hancock Hon. AIA. Two fellow Washingtonians became Fellows of the AIA, inducted at a grand Convocation: Jim Merritt FAIA of Tacoma and Mike Smith FAIA of Bellingham. AIA Seattle received a Component Excellence grant from the AIA Trust and CNA/Schinnerer, for a proposed conference on collaboration in technology, developed by AIA Seattle Managing Director Carolyn Forbes with Patrick Mays AIA and others. At the AIA Seattle Honors Gala June 1, AIA 2003 President Thom Penney FAIA and Gretchen Penney AIA will join festivities to help "bring the honors home."

* Leadership elevation: Our Washington colleague Bruce E. Blackmer AIA of Spokane succeeded in election to AIA Vice President. Check MyAIA for a full election report, as well as an action summary of other organization business.

* Business: The assembled membership passed measures increasing recognition and representation in AIA action for students, Associate AIA Members, and International Associates. The assembly had a preview of AIA's new media campaign, focused in commercial radio and print, scheduled for airing next Fall -- and expressed confidence in the science and creativity that guided the direction and the details of the campaign and approving the results of the expenditure of the assessment by which the membership has supported the necessary investment. Many of the delegates expressed dissatisfaction with the current processes for conduct of business, the cumbersome and remote manner for recording the will of the electorate. With some 600 delegates representing 70,000 Members -- and representing constituencies of vastly divergent size -- the democratic principle often seems rather muddled. Watch for revamping efforts over the coming year.

* The Diversity Agenda kicked up, beginning with a keynote presentation by management guru Tom Peters in which he blasted the profession for its failure to attract and retain women and to capitalize on their special potentials to contribute to the organization and to advance design in new directions that the future promises to ask of us. Many of our national colleagues expressed interest in joining us in Seattle for the June 21 Solstice Mini-Conference and Feast, with keynoter Kathryn Anthony, author of Designing for Diversity: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession, whose work lends authenticity and specificity to Peters' critiques.

* Seattle Educators: several of our Seattle colleagues presented sessions in the CE program, including Carolyn G. Jones AIA, in a panel on "Creativity: Awakening the Sleeping Giant;" Richard W. Hobbs FAIA, on "Value-Based Design Team Decision Making;" and Marga Rose Hancock Hon. AIA on "Practicing Ethically -- and What To Do About Those Who Don't." Don C. Miles FAIA presented the Awards for Urban and Regional Design, and Bill Kreager AIA the Housing Awards.

* Big Sibs: Our relationship with our colleagues from the large components continues to deliver useful comparisons and contrasts in the dilemmas we face. Our remarkable meeting in New York on October 11 intensified our connection. The Big Sibs will meet in Seattle in September, and we have begun planning an action agenda.

* Ethics: The focus on ethics that the AIA Seattle Practice/Ethics Committee has nurtured for us locally has echoes on the national scene. Several CE sessions, and hallway conversations, mirrored themes of the importance of helping both architects and their publics understand the seriousness of architects' responsibilities to their clients, to society, to colleagues, and to the profession -- and the consequences of not meeting these in a professional manner.

* Charlotte and the Carolinas: regional variation reminds us of the vastness and variety of our country. Charlotte's urban form contrasts sharply with what we know in the Puget Sound region. As one of our crowd remarked of this town dominated by Bank of America, Wachovia, and other corporate financial giants, "This town keeps bankers hours," with shops and restaurants closing early in the evening and most not opening at all on weekends. The absence of downtown retail and housing seems strange to Northwesterners. Smoking in public places -- even Starbucks! Many enjoyed tours in and around Charlotte, noting particularly the delights of the nearby Biltmore Estate and attractive neighborhoods.

* AIA NW+P Region Conference 2002: August 7-11, Tacoma
* Convention 2003: May 2-5, San Diego

Seen in Charlotte at AIA Convention 2002:
Steven N. Arai AIA
William Bain FAIA & Nancy Bain
Kelly Brandon AIA & Jacque Brandon
Jim Bodoia AIA & Laura Bodoia
Jennie Sue Brown FAIA
Christopher Carlson AIA
Vivi Curutchet Assoc. AIA
James Cutler FAIA & Beth Wheeler
Phil Duff AIA
Dennis Haskell FAIA & Victoria Medgyesi
Richard W. Hobbs FAIA
Tim Jewett AIA & Mary Jewett
Mary Johnston AIA
Norman Johnston FAIA & Jane Hastings FAIA
Carolyn G. Jones AIA
Rena Klein AIA
Bill Kreager AIA
Ray Leong AIA
Jon Magnusson
Patrick Mays AIA
Don Miles FAIA
Russell Morse AIA
Marga Rose Hancock Hon. AIA
Roger Schultz AIA & Marcia Schultz
Alan Sclater FAIA
Norman Strong AIA
Ron van der Veen AIA
Michio Sugawara Hon. FAIA & Ryoko Sugawara
Also joining in the festivities at the AIA Seattle dinner: Alpha Blackburn of Indianapolis; Charles Alexander AIA of Newport, KY; and Nadine Post, Engineering News Record.