Friends and colleagues
Members of the AIA Seattle family
Let's recognize each talent
Let's promote justice and compassion
Let's make the road by walking together
Toward a vision of inclusiveness

Friends and colleagues
Members of the AIA Seattle family
Let's give back what we have received
Let's take a stand on what we believe
Let's make the road by walking together
Toward a vision of inclusiveness

Friends and colleagues
Members of the AIA Seattle family
Let's make the road by walking together
Together we can make a difference

Magnificently garbed for the occasion, Solstice Diva Dr. Sharon E. Sutton, FAIA, invoked powerful concepts of assembly and action in her remarks to those gathered for the fourth annual Solstice Procession, a program of the AIA Seattle Diversity Roundtable, on a pleasantly cool Friday evening June 22. The roundtable draws together for this occasion to celebrate professional diversity and raise funds for programs of student support at the University of Washington (UW) College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

This year's event attracted some very special guests, as AIA President John D. Anderson, FAIA, and his wife Flodie, visiting Seattle from their Denver home, and Vice President-Elect Edward Kodet, FAIA, from Minneapolis, stepped along the way with their Seattle colleagues.

The roundtable and procession organizers, David H. Fukui, AIA; S. Keli Hagen, Assoc. AIA; and Donald I. King, FAIA, along with AIA Seattle President Norman Strong, AIA; First Vice-President-elect Rena Klein, AIA; Director Wolf Saar, AIA; and Secretary-elect Doug Brinley, AIA, joined Sutton in welcoming and thanking all participants.

Celebratory stops and stories
The festive throng followed this route on Seattle's Capitol Hill:
• The Hop Vine Pub, where host Dennis Ryan of the UW Department of Urban Design and Planning extended the pub's hospitality. Procession guests gathered in a circle to introduce themselves and make offerings in the form of cash and checks flung into a handily upturned Solstice umbrella.
• Environmental Works' 31st Anniversary Open House, decorated with colorful balloons. Hosts Jan Gleason, AIA, and Roger Tucker, AIA, introduced the unique social service mission of Environmental Works (EW), originally established as a community design center. Here Sutton delivered the invocation, (quoted in part above) and EW Executive Director Gleason remembered the personal and professional contributions of the late Denice Hunt, AIA, who served as an EW Board member as well as 1995-'96 president of AIA Seattle. (The Denice Hunt K-12 Internship honors the memory of the first woman of African-American heritage elected to preside in an AIA component.)
• Arai/Jackson Architects and Planners, a design workplace occupying a structure originally used as a church, where Rich Murakami, AIA, welcomed the processional. Inside, Kjell Anderson and Katarina Roepke invoked the spirits with fiddle tunes ranging from reels to Scandinavian airs to the classics, while celebrants feasted on treats from several ethnic cuisines.

Perhaps most significantly, people celebrated the occasion of the solstice and spoke from their hearts with people who listened. Many spoke of their own efforts to incorporate the value of diversity into their design practices, testifying about successes and expressing concern about limits encountered within and beyond the profession.

Many thanks
The throng, numbering about 75 over the procession route, included individuals from all around the world and from all generations. Procession hosts and sponsors brought their special gifts, too. Thanks to:
• LMN Architects (Rob Widmeyer AIA)
• Mortenson, Mulvanny G2 Architecture (Jerry Lee, Keli Hagen)
• NBBJ (Jim Suehiro, AIA)
• Turner Construction (Larry Hutchinson)
• ZGF (Don Miles, FAIA)
• DKA (Donald I. King, FAIA)
• Streeter and Associates (Indra Jain, AIA)
• Fukui Architecture (David Fukui, AIA).

The solstice umbrellas along the way not only brought color to the procession but also attracted donations to enrich the coffers for student support at the UW to the tune of nearly $700, in addition to sponsorship monies received in advance. "If it had rained, umbrella sales would have put us over the top toward our goal of $5,000 in revenue from this event," noted Donald King. "Because of the pleasant weather, we will rely on pledges received to finish the job. We thank all who participated in a memorable event."

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