From: Janes, Mike
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2000 11:29 AM
To: 'Geary, Lesley '
Subject: Hip & happenin' architects impacting the built environment

Hi Lesley . . .

Here's what I've got for you. Following are a group of top-notch architects from around the country, all doing diverse and important work in their respective fields. We've selected people that we know to be "TV friendly," i.e. youthful, photogenic, articulate, and engaging. If any of them piques your interest, let me know and perhaps we can set up a phone conversation so you can hear for yourself what they're all about. I'd also be happy to visit you in your NY office at any time to chat about these and other ideas.

My picks? If it were up to me, I'd take a serious look at Julie Snow (very much a "mover," ideal for your show. Do a web search and see how often she comes up!), Gail Lindsey (wonderful environmental credentials, and dynamite TV-type. Shows up all over the web as well), Mike Medick (the "New Town" planning concept is really hot right now nationally, and Mike is young, handsome, and super-articulate. His work, though similar to the New Urbanism, is unique in its own right), and Paul Doherty (another ideal one for "Movers." He's definitely our lead "Techy"). McAffee and Bingler are good, too, and the Welborne transit program in LA is hot.

Sorry for the length of this, but there's a lot of into to convey. Without further ado :

• Julie Snow, FAIA, is a principal at Julie Snow Architects, Inc. and an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota's School of Architecture. Her Minneapolis-based design and architecture firm has established a reputation for design excellence in a broad base of project types ranging from corporate and manufacturing facilities to municipal works and museums. Her work for Quadion Corporation, Phillips Plastics Corporation, and The Good Samaritan Society has resulted in buildings that advance not only the technological aspects of manufacturing and communication but appeal to the human experience through natural light and materials and the creation of spaces that celebrate human connections in the workplace. Her firm has designed innovative buildings that support clients that are reinventing the way we learn, work, and think about the world around us. Among other honors, the firm was a two-time winner of the Business Week/Architectural Record Award for the second year in a row for demonstrating the value of design in support of strategic business and organizational goals. She received her fellowship from the American Institute of Architects last year.

• Paul Doherty, AIA, is one of the AEC industry's most sought-after lead consultants and integrators of Information Technology. He is the principal partner of the Digit Group, a Management Consulting and Information Technology Services firm based in Memphis with offices in Atlanta, Washington, DC, New York and London. He is an author, educator, analyst and consultant to Fortune 500 organizations, the most prestigious architectural, engineering and contracting firms in the world, government agencies and prominent institutions. His unique and pioneering implementations of knowledge-based IT solutions, called BuildingKnowledge™, have received international recognition and have been recently quoted in the media as providing "a critical context of knowledge management that few have ever considered". Widely quoted in the media, including ABC News, USA Today, Information Week, Architecture and Civil Engineering, he is the author of the critically acclaimed book, "Cyberplaces - The Internet Guide for Architects, Engineers and Contractors" published by RS Means and a contributing author to the American Institute of Architects Handbook of Practice. Paul is a featured writer for Information Week, buzzsaw.com, Knowledge Management, Civil Engineering, Construction Specifier, Interiors and Architecture magazines, Editor-at-large of DesignIntelligence™ and Editor of the new international publication, DesignTechnology™. Paul is requested to give numerous public and private presentations worldwide on the implementation of Information, Communications and Internet Technology, including the 1998 and 1999 International Knowledge Management Summit's, where he was a lead speaker along with business management guru, Dr. Peter Drucker.

• Steven Bingler, AIA, New Orleans, LA. A nationally recognized innovator in urban planning and school design, Bingler's Henry Ford Museum Academy of Manufacturing Arts & Sciences adapted a scarcely used space into an innovative elementary school learning environment. Bingler collaborated with the U.S. Department of Education on a just-released handbook, "Schools as Centers of Community: A Citizen's Guide for Planning and Design" and is currently working with the city of Littleton, New Hampshire, to move its classes out of traditional schools and into converted museums and town halls.

• Gail Lindsey, AIA founder and President of Design Harmony, Inc. is a leader in environmentally conscious architecture. She is the former Chair of the National AIA Committee on the Environment and was the past Chair of the North Carolina Green Building Council. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Environmental Building News publication and on the North Carolina Environmental Technology Consortium. Her other activities include the Greening of the White House, The Greening of the Pentagon, and the Greening of Habitat for Humanity. Ms. Lindsey has been instrumental in the Sustainable Initiative for the National Park Service at the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. Currently, she is heading national efforts to create an International Green Building Assessment Framework. She is also a member of a team selected to do additional work on the LEED Green Building Rating System in the United States. Ms. Lindsey lectures nationwide on environmental issues to promote the design and construction of a built environment that is healthy for the inhabitants, as well as for the Earth.

• Michael K. Medick, AIA, Medick + Associates, Maryland. A former chair of AIA's national housing committee, Medick started his own firm recently after serving as Director of Town and Community Planning for Looney Ricks Kiss. While at LRK, Michael spearheaded the planning and architecture for the 338-apartment home community, The Caruth at Lincoln Park in Dallas, TX; the planning of a 128-acre residential portion of Schilling Farms Development in Collierville, TN; and the planning and architecture for several single-family, multi-family projects, including Plum Creek, a 2,000-acre development in Austin, TX; Greenlaw Manassas Homeownership Zone in Memphis, TN; and many others.

• Sarah Susanka, AIA, a residential architect, whose book, The Not So Big House, made a big splash last year and changed the way people think about smaller, more intimate homes (the book was so successful that Sarah is coming out with a follow-up in October and took a leave of absence from her practice in order to lecture, write and travel full time).

• Martha Welborne, FAIA, Director of the Surface Transit Project in Los Angeles, whose dedicated busway ideas may prove to be a long sought-after solution for LA's mass transit problems. (I've got an eight-minute video on this that I can forward you, narrated by the actor James Edward Olmos, as well as various print clips describing this program).

• Cheryl McAfee-Mitchell, AIA is President of Charles F. McAfee Architects and Planners in Atlanta, Georgia. Cheryl has responsibility for the company's offices in Georgia, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma as well as the firm's international development. One of her most noted accomplishments was overseeing the planning, design and construction of the over 32 sports projects for the Olympic facilities construction project for the '96 Games. Current projects include the sports complex for Benedict College, schools for the Atlanta Public School System, housing initiatives for community development and revitalization, assisted living facilities, and 30 hotels for Cendant Corporation. Cheryl was Co-Chair of the 1998 AIA Diversity Forum and was the first woman president of The National Organization for Minority Architects (NOMA) and now serves on the NOMA Foundation. She is a noted speaker and has been featured in numerous national magazines and newspapers.

Mike Janes
Director, Media Relations
The American Institute of Architects
(202) 626-7467
mjanes@aia.org

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