The count is not official yet, but as of Saturday, May 19, some 16,500 architects, exhibitors, and design industry professionals had attended the 133rd annual AIA national convention, held this year in Denver, May 17–19. The attendance figure is exceeded only by last year's convention in Philadelphia and the 1998 meeting in San Francisco. Nearly 7,000 architects—close to 10 percent of the AIA's total membership—took part.

Officers:
Thompson E. Penney, FAIA, was elected to serve as the 2002 AIA first vice president/president-elect and will serve in 2003 as Institute president. Penney's term as first vice president begins in December 2001. Penney, the director from the South Atlantic Region, is the president and CEO of LS3P Associates Ltd., a 185-person architecture, land planning, and interior architecture firm, with offices in Charleston, S.C., and Charlotte, N.C.

James A. Gatsch, AIA; Eugene Hopkins, FAIA; and Edward J. Kodet Jr, FAIA, will serve as AIA vice presidents in 2002. At yesterday morning's general session, a call for nominations for vice presidential candidates went unanswered; nominations therefore were closed, and the three unopposed candidates were declared winners. Douglas L. Steidl, FAIA, regional director from the Ohio Valley, who ran unopposed, has been elected the next treasurer of the AIA. His two-year term will run from 2002 through 2003.

Bylaws Changes:
Delegates voted for bylaws amendments that allow components to prescribe residency requirements for both regional directors and component officers. Another bylaw change mandates that the immediate past president of the Council of Architectural Component Executives shall be included as a member of the AIA Executive Committee, but shall have no voting rights on the Executive Committee. (If that individual is unable or unwilling to serve, the Council shall be represented by such other individual as the Council's Executive Committee shall designate.)
Delegates defeated a proposed bylaws change that would have extended the terms of office for AIA vice presidents from one year to two years.

As is traditional, delegates offered to extend its sincere appreciation to:
• The officers and members of the AIA Board of Directors who are retiring at the end of 2001
• The host chapter and convention committees
• Convention committees
• Exhibitors
• John D. Anderson and Flodie Anderson.

Resolutions
Ad campaign: voted to authorize an assessment of $50 per year per Architect member for three years (2002–2004) to extend the current AIA television advertising campaign. The assessment would be adjusted annually in the years 2003 and 2004 in an amount equivalent to the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for the preceding 12-month period. The assessed funds would be used only for advertising or similar sponsorship or underwriting opportunities. The Institute will monitor the effectiveness of this effort and report results to the membership annually. The assessment authorization will expire after three years unless reauthorized by a vote of the delegates.

Support of educational and licensing standards: Delegates passed a resolution sponsored by AIA Philadelphia supporting educational and licensing standards. Per the resolution, the Institute resolves to partner with institutions of higher education to encourage active AIA participation in degree programs leading to licensure; work toward creation of minimum acceptable standards first professional architectural degrees, licensure, and AIA membership; and support offering of the licensing exam—uniformly throughout the U.S.—to begin in the final semester of any accredited first professional architectural degree program. Through the resolution, the AIA supports the separation of the architectural licensing exam into two separate portions. Part 1 would test the academic knowledge of the graduate upon graduation. Part 2 would test the professional knowledge of the same individual after he or she has completed the intern development program.

Offer to Help with National Energy Policy: Delegates also passed a resolution from the floor, titled "Design and Energy Efficiency Initiative—Committee on the Environment," sponsored by the AIA Committee on the Environment, AIA Kansas City, and AIA Seattle. The intent of the resolution is to delegate a committee selected from the PIAs to help the national leaders develop the National Energy Policy for Building Codes and Standards.

The resolution resolves that, "the AIA supports a program of national initiatives that will improve the energy efficiency, develop new alternative energy sources, and improve capital investment of our infrastructure and the preservation through good design and construction practices. It further resolves that "the AIA makes itself available to the President and the Congress of the United States of America to immediately assist in developing the architecture and urban design conservation standards to provide the American public with safe, efficient, and beautiful structures and the public realm while relieving stress on our energy supply related issues."

Theme Speakers
Stamberg Addresses Creating Community: Award-winning radio journalist and former AIA Public Director Susan Stamberg was the keynote speaker for Thursday's theme session. Stamberg-who hosted National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" program for NPR and now serves as the station's special correspondent—drew on her interview experiences over the years to explain the connection between architecture and community. Stamberg said she reflected on how NPR broadcasts build a "community without walls or structure," and how, when listeners meet, a bond is formed instantly. "Community happens with or without a built environment," she said. "Community is a set of shared values."

Libeskind Offers Visual and Verbal Feast of Work: International architect Daniel Libeskind enthralled the standing-room-only crowd at the "Environment and Place" theme session May 18 with an eloquent visual and vocal tour of five museums he has designed. Libeskind told the crowd he was extremely pleased to speak "in a city which I love."

Calatrava Enthralls Architects with Prodigious Display of Awe-inspiring Work: Awesome! It's the only word to describe the presentation that architect-engineer-sculptor Santiago Calatrava delivered to the standing-room-only audience at the May 19 theme session, entitled, "Design Arts and Implementation."

Copyright 2001 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.