Pittsburgh Architects in Action: Who’s Taking Action for Climate and How You Can Get Involved While this week’s U.N. Climate Summit in New York and the Global Climate Strike turned the world spotlight on climate action, AIA National released a Climate Action statement citing the unique position of architects to help solve the ill effects of climate change. The statement begins by announcing the ratification of the AIA Resolution for Urgent and Sustained Climate Action, proposed in June of this year. How have Pittsburgh architects contributed to climate action initiatives, both far away and close to home? Here’s a list of five highlights from the past month. Pittsburgh was named a U.N. Center of Excellence for High Performance Building, honoring...

At the end of each year, members of the AIA Pittsburgh community gather together to celebrate at the President’s Holiday Party. This year, the party was held at IKM, Incorporated. The Annual Meeting portion of the evening kicked off with the election of four AIA members to serve on the AIA Pittsburgh Board of Directors – Lisa Carver, AIA, Principal at Perfido Weiskopf Wagstaff + Goettel: NCARB, LEED AP, Leadership Pittsburgh Graduate; Patricia Culley, AIA, Senior Associate at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson:  WELL AP, LEED AP BD+C, member of the PA COTE Committee, John Ryan, AIA, Project Architect at DesignGroup, LEED AP, Leadership Institute graduate.  Brian Gaudio, Assoc. AIA was renewed as Associate AIA Board representative. Next, the membership voted on the proposed by-law changes. The new Bylaw changes that were unanimously accepted...

The AIA Pittsburgh Governance Committee is compiling a list of nominated and solicited names for the following positions for the 2019 AIA Pittsburgh Board of Directors. (2 or 3) Directors (3-year term, renewable once for a total of 6 years max; serving 2019-2021) (1) Associate AIA (1-year term, renewable once for a total of two years max, serving 2019) If you are an AIA member in good standing interested in being considered for one of the open positions, please submit: your resume and in 100 words of less tell us why you want to be on the board, by 5:00pm September 28th  to Jeffrey Murray, FAIA, Chairman of the Governance Committee: jmurray@cannondesign.com The Governance Committee will review nominees for skills and experience the Board...

Passive house standards apply to this multi-family project, and 2015 Architecture Honor Award winner, in Uptown. PROJECT: Uptown Lofts on Fifth CLIENT: ACTION-Housing, Inc. ARCHITECTURE FIRM: FortyEighty Architecture ENGINEERS: Langan Engineering & Environmental Services, Inc.; Keystone Structural Solutions; Iams Consulting, LLC CONTRACTORS: Mosites Construction Company PHOTOGRAPHER: FortyEighty Architecture Passive House Western Pennsylvania (PHWPA) received a $25,000 grant from the West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund (WPPSEF). The contribution will be used to secure space in Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center for the North American Passive House Network Conference on October 17-22, 2018. Passive House applies a set of design principles used to attain a quantifiable and rigorous level of energy efficiency. As a result, Passive House buildings offer tremendous...

At the end of each year, members of the AEC community gather together to celebrate at AIA Pittsburgh’s President’s Holiday Party. This year, the party was held at our new office. Early in the evening we conducted our Annual Meeting. Four AIA members were voted on to be part of the AIA Pittsburgh Board of Directors – Joe Chaffin, AIA; Quintin Kittle, AIA; Laura Nettleton, AIA; Bea Spolidoro, AIA – as well as one Associate AIA Board representative – Brian Gaudio, Assoc. AIA. Next, the membership voted on the proposed by-law changes. The newly-voted-on bylaws now reads: 6.51 The Board of Directors must meet in regular or special meetings in order to transact business. Meeting in person is expected, however in special circumstances...

Reposted in its entirety from Ray Bowman’s blog RMB-Design: Architecture Made Accessible. As I mentioned last year, I’m doing more and more with the American Institute of Architects (the AIA), both locally, regionally and nationally. It’s part of the reason that I don’t blog about things until months after I do them anymore. One important role of the AIA is to advocate for all architects and support legislation that is supportive for the profession. That’s why the organization moved its headquarters to Washington, D.C. from New York City 50 years ago, to have a louder voice in influencing national legislation. But all politics is local, which is why regional and local chapters of the AIA organize their own lobbying days. Pennsylvania’s...