I AM AIA
Chien-Yi Chu Assoc. AIA
I’m a designer, specializing in PK–12 education, civic design, and housing. My work is grounded in one belief: excellent design is a collaboration — between people, site, and vision. Born in Taiwan, I came to architecture through landscape — that foundation still informs how I think about belonging, context, and access. I co-authored the AIA AI Resolution and Toolkit with the AIA National Strategic Council, co-founded the AIA Washington Emerging Professional awards, and am moderating the AI for Emerging Professionals session at AIA26 in San Diego. I’m running for the board because membership should feel like community beyond a credential.
I joined AIA Seattle because…
I needed a community that took the profession seriously — and I found one. AIA gave me the infrastructure to go from mentee to mentor, from emerging professional to co-founder of statewide awards, from observer to contributor at the state and national level. The value isn’t just the programs or the events — it’s the people who show up consistently to make this profession better. Now it’s time to root deeply into the AIA Seattle community I call home: to help build membership that feels less like a directory and more like a living community — one that explores the future of architecture together.
How was I drawn to architecture as a profession?
Landscape drew me to architecture. Trees grow with the seasons; buildings collapse. That contrast never left me — because what I really wanted was to understand how buildings could breathe with nature, not resist it. Trees operate on centuries. Buildings rarely do. But the best spaces feel like they’ve always belonged exactly where they are — rooted, responsive, alive to their context. Curiosity is what keeps me going: the restless need to understand how land, people, and program become one cohesive whole.
What do I hope to contribute through my work?
I want more people to feel like they belong in this profession — and to have the tools and community to stay. My approach is rooted in system building — creating structures that outlast any one person’s tenure. When I co-founded the AIA Washington Emerging Advocate Award and Emerging Professional Friendly Firm Award, the goal wasn’t just recognition — it was a self-sustaining system that keeps raising the bar to support EPs long after I stepped away, continuously signaling to firms what good EP support looks like. That’s the thinking I bring here. That means three things. First, developing an AI strategy framework — not just a conversation, but a practical system from firm leadership to early-career designers to leverage AI responsibly. Second, strengthening the EP pipeline with licensure support, clear pathways, and a membership experience that reflects where people actually are in their careers. Third, translating all of this into how AIA Seattle communicates, engages, and delivers value — so the chapter stays relevant as the profession transforms. Membership development isn’t a maintenance role. It’s how we build systems that carry the profession forward — long after any one of us has moved on.
How has my community helped me get where I am?
Every step of my journey has been shaped by a community that made space for me — and then trusted me to grow into it. AIA NEXUS and AIA Seattle Laddership showed me on what leadership in this profession could look like — and that I belonged in it. From there, AIA Washington Council and the AIA National Associates Committee gave me a stage: to represent emerging professionals, contribute to statewide governance, and co-found the AIA Washington EPFF and Emerging Advocate Awards. The AIA National Strategic Council deepened my thinking — working alongside practitioners shaping the profession’s future, co-authoring the AI Resolution and Toolkit, and contributing to national conversations on equity and digital practice. Being selected for AIA Next to Lead was a confirmation: that the profession saw something worth investing in. I owe my professional confidence to every person in those rooms who said, “You should be here.” Which is exactly why I want to build that for others.
If I could sum up my outlook on life in a bumper sticker, it would say…
Build the door you wish someone had opened for you
Something about my lived experience that has informed my work is…
Coming to this profession from two directions — landscape first, then architecture. That crossing trained me to hold multiple perspectives at once: the long-time horizon of a planted site, the human scale of a room, the systems that connect them. It keeps me curious. Always seeking. Always asking questions — and comfortable sitting with the ones that don’t have easy answers. I also came to this country from Taiwan, and I know what it feels like to walk into a room and not see yourself reflected — in the people, the process, or the priorities. That experience lives in how I practice and how I lead. It’s why I care deeply about who’s at the table, whose needs get centered in design, and who feels welcome in the architecture profession itself.
