by Eugene C. Hopkins, FAIA

Last month’s commentary focused on architecture—the inspiring architecture of the Library of Congress, site of my recent inauguration as the AIA’s 80th president. Acknowledging the power of architecture seemed the right place to lead off this series of commentaries, just as the Jefferson Building in particular, where I began my professional career, was the right place to begin my year as president.

But what was actually said that night? That’s what I’d like to share in this commentary, which is about the AIA’s national component’s agenda in the months ahead.

The AIA: The Big 3
The place to begin is the recently adopted 2004–2005 Strategic Plan. This plan organizes the work of the national component under three focus headings: Advocacy, Knowledge, and Community. Why these three? Because they identify what you and I say are the most important benefits of AIA membership.

Sift through the long hours of strategic planning, brand research, focus groups, and member feedback, and you keep coming back to these three areas or fundamental “purposes.” In other words, when asked, we say again and again that we want:

1. A voice that articulates and advocates our values
2. Access to up-to-date knowledge that will increase our value as a profession
3. A place of belonging—a community, if you will—where we, as well as those with whom we enter into strategic alliances, can work collaboratively to advance our profession and the society we serve.

When you think about it, these three purposes describe the work not only of the national component, but the entire AIA, which is why the 2004-2005 Strategic Plan was circulated last year to all components. The hope is that the document will be used as a template for coordinated planning throughout the AIA. In the words of a Japanese proverb: “None of us is as smart as all of us.”

The AIA: A Factor of 8
If advocacy, knowledge, and community describe the Big Picture, over time there will emerge within this picture a constantly changing landscape of opportunities for specific initiatives. By engaging these special opportunities, we can creatively shape our future and the future of the society we serve.

Looking out at the months ahead, I see a number of opportunities to position the AIA for significant creative engagement with our profession, our industry, our clients, and the world in which we practice. They add up to eight.

1. Accelerate the focus on being a knowledge-based organization.
2. Strengthen existing forms of knowledge sharing and explore the creation of new vehicles for dissemination.
3. Advocate livable communities as an expression of the ethical responsibilities of our profession.
4. Seek to expand the definition of “health, safety, and welfare” to include environmental sustainability, public well-being, and energy consciousness.
5. Cultivate and expand existing partnerships with public-health officials, educators, and neuroscientists to transform the profession in the 21st century.
6. Be credible as the “voice of the profession” by intensifying advocacy efforts.
7. Strive to be a welcoming home for the entire profession by increasing the opportunities for fellowship, by engaging and supporting the growing multicultural diversity that enriches our profession, and by creating opportunities for members with similar needs and interests to come together.
8. Earn the reputation of being the best friend and most reliable resource to the next generation of young architects by recommitting ourselves to be mentors and by working with our collateral partners to build a bridge between the academy and practice, a bridge with a foundation cemented by respect and empathy.

Is this an ambitious agenda? Yes.

Is it doable? Our history as a professional community demonstrates that when we act collectively and with purpose through the AIA, we are capable of truly wonderful things.

Upcoming commentaries will dwell on each of these opportunities. Where possible, I will do so from the perspective of ongoing work on these issues among the AIA’s state and local components. My motives are twofold: to share with our entire membership some of the really creative thinking that’s going on “out there” and to give credit where credit is richly deserved.

As a professional society, we are a diverse community. Our diversity, however, is not a cause for concern, but celebration, as I hope to make clear throughout the coming year. First stop next time, AIA Minnesota and healing by design.

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