AIA Colorado National Representatives – Spring 2023

Kari Lawson, AIA, National Associate Committee, State/Territory Associate Representative, HDR Inc,
Denver

National Associate Committee (NAC) meets quarterly to discuss key topics that impact associates. There are 5 workgroups organized to assist with advocating on the behalf of associates: Advocacy, Strategic Partnership, VALUE, Knowledge: Professional Development, and Turquoise Agenda.

Our Q2 call focused on: Licensure (the ARE, Stop the Clock), Associate Resources & Engagement, Equity (Barriers, Pay, Work-Life Balance), Networking (Visibility & Awareness), and Mentorship.

As a team member of the Strategic Partnership NAC work group, our mission is to amplify visibility of the NAC by providing a clear framework to raise associate member awareness and provide a repository of information to leverage leadership opportunities. The Advocacy Work Group recently completed a research sprint of the specific jurisdictional impediments blocking the full adoption of NCARB’s newest score validity policy. See the presentation deck that provides in-depth information for jurisdictions with regulatory or statutory impediments.

Here are several A’23 Sessions featuring NAC Members or Topics:

• Building Leadership Through Volunteerism. Featuring NAC Committee Members: Katie Cherrier, Zachary Henry-Litchliter, Arthur Sheffield
• Table Topic Conversations: Looking at the Bigger Picture—A Bias Free Future
• Drawn Out: Ideation & Sketching Solutions for Mental Health Environments. Featuring NAC CACE Liaison, Shahad Sadeq
• Book Signing – “City Shapers: Stories of Immigrant Designers”. Featuring NAC CACE Liaison, Shahad Sadeq. Friday, June 9th, 11:30 AM to 12:30 AM at the ‘A23 Bookstore

Brett Hartle, AIA, Colorado State Disaster Assistance Coordinator, Director of Design – Denver International Airport, Denver

Brett acts as AIA Colorado’s liaison/primary point of contact with other State Disaster Assistance Coordinators across the United States and AIA National Office. Additionally, Brett is certified by Cal OES as a Safety Assessment Program (SAP) Evaluator.

Home Innovation Research Labs (Home Innovation) was tasked by HUD to develop a set of practical, actionable guidelines to assist builders and developers in designing and constructing residential buildings, neighborhoods, and accessory structures in a manner that could improve residential resilience to natural hazards and integrate resiliency throughout the community. The resilience guides provide technical content in a straightforward way that is easy for a layperson to understand, while also providing references through which design professionals, builders, developers, and public officials can obtain full details. The guide consists of five volumes. Each volume focuses on a major category of hazard that may pertain to a given project: wind, water, fire, earth (seismic, earthslides, sinkholes), and auxiliary (other hazards such as volcanoes, hail, and temperature extremes). These resilience guides are not intended to substitute for engineering or architectural project design work; rather, the technical guidance identifies components that can be enhanced or improved to achieve above code performance to make residential buildings and other community assets more resilient.

View Designing for Natural Hazards Series Volumes 1 – 5

Zachary Taylor, AIA, Strategic Council Representative, Taylor Architecture Design, Colorado Springs

The AIA Strategic Council, formed in 2015 from the national repositioning, has changed in the last two years as Councilors were previously chosen at the Region level to serve the membership. With the dissolution of the regions, states now have direct representation on the Strategic Council. It has been my privilege to serve as the first AIA CO representative to the Council.

The Strategic Council is charged to be the forward-looking body within the AIA that informs the national Board of Directors of important issues relevant to the profession through the lens of the Strategic Plan’s core values, imperatives, and strategies. More information about the Strategic Council can be found here.

This year the Council is focusing on five areas of study: Carbon, Design, Economy, Equity, and Health Wellness. Personally, I have been involved with the Carbon Study Group where we’ve been diving into the topic of “Climate-Positive Practice”. We are building on past Council work/reports of Scalable Climate Action and Carbon Literacy (both of which can be found at the link above). I’d like to thank Rodwin Architecture, Fentress Architects, and Shape Architecture for allowing me to pick the brains of their team members on how they’re currently pushing this topic forward within their practices.

Kaylyn Kirby, AIA, Young Architect Forum Representative, Semple Brown Design, PC, Denver

As the Young Architect Rep for CO, I represent the state at the National level within the Young Architects Forum. The YAF is the voice of recently licensed architects (licensed less than 10 years) and a catalyst for progress within the Institute. The 2023-2027 Strategic Initiative is: Architects in Action, Catalyzing for Change. The group meets as a full committee as well as is organized into Focus Groups, which allow us to provide more focused attention on certain initiatives. The 2023 focus groups include: Communications, Community, Advocacy, Knowledge, Strategic Vision, and Special Projects.

Available Resources:

• Recent AIA YAF Connection Issue – All Issues
• The Culture of Architecture – A Multicultural Perspective on Design Through the Lens of Diverse Storytelling
• Young Architect Toolkit – How to Facilitate the Emerging Professional Friendly Firm Program

Gregory M. Friesen, FAIA, AIA College of Fellows Western Mountain Region (COF WMR) Representative Member, CSNA Architects, Colorado Springs Colorado, Springboard Preservation Studio, Colorado Springs | Montrose

Although AIA National no longer recognizes it, the College of Fellows retains the Western Mountain Region and considers it to be vital. The seven-state Region includes Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. There are 184 Fellows in the Western Mountain Region, which is 5% of all AIA Fellows.

There are two Regional Representatives – Jonathan Sparer, FAIA Las Vegas Nevada, and Gregory M. Friesen, FAIA Colorado Springs Colorado. In addition to the Regional Representatives, there are State representatives:
Jack DeBartolo, FAIA – Arizona with 62 Fellows
Glen Berry FAIA, – Idaho with 3 Fellows
Jonathan Sparer, FAIA – Nevada with 16 Fellows
Glenn Fellows, FAIA – New Mexico with 25 Fellows
Roger Jackson, FAIA – Utah with 23 Fellows
John Carney, FAIA – Wyoming with 4 Fellows
Currently Colorado – with 70 Fellows – does not have an official representative; I am
serving in that role de facto.

The COF WMR Representatives meet monthly. At our last meeting, we agreed to form a COF WMR Fellows Committee to promote candidates for Fellowship within the Region, and to review and strengthen their submittals to the AIA College of Fellows Jury.