Planks From the Platforms
Candidates for AIA office respond to questions
The eight candidates running for AIA office in 2004 have responded by e-mail to two sets of questions. The National Associates Committee asked about public safety, specialization/certification, and responsibilities to interns.
The Professional Interest Areas (PIA Council) wanted candidates' opinions on: the future of PIAs, organizational structure, resource allocation, collaboration in planning for the convention, and a PIA representative to the Executive Committee of the Board. Find out what the candidates have to say.

Happy Earth Day!
AIA’s Committee on the Environment identifies
2003 Top Ten Green Projects
In recognition of Earth Day 2003, the AIA’s Committee on the Environment (COTE) selected examples from new construction and renovation of office, retail, residential, academic, and institutional facilities as the top 10 design solutions that protect and enhance the environment. The projects will be honored May 1 during a ceremony at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., presented by COTE Chair Daniel Williams, FAIA, and then again on May 9 at the AIA national convention in San Diego.

Summit Addresses Bridging Gaps in Diversity Data
The AIA Diversity Committee, committed to gathering data to provide a clearer picture of architecture as a career today, recently convened a collateral summit in Washington, D.C. Individuals from the AIA, American Institute of Architecture Students, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, National Architectural Accreditation Boards, National Organization of Minority Architects, ArchVoices, and McGraw-Hill Construction shared detailed information April 11 on their organizations’ current data holdings and collection methods.

Dallas’ JH+P Named 2003 IDP Outstanding Firm
Award recognizes commitment to professional growth of tomorrow's architects
James, Harwick + Partners, Inc. (JH+P) of Dallas captured the 2003 Intern Development Program (IDP) Outstanding Firm Award. Given to an architecture firm that demonstrates exemplary commitment and contributions to interns, this national award recognizes a firm's balance of comprehensive training opportunities, continuing education programs, and commitment to the IDP.

Poll: What Do You Think About the Profession and Knowledge?
Please share your views on these seven questions
Grassroots Leadership Conference participants expressed their opinions on six topics—architecture education, financial realignment, the profession, communications, knowledge, and membership—during the annual Issues Forum, March 10, in Washington, D.C. Now it’s your turn. Please respond to these seven questions about the fifth topic: knowledge. AIArchitect will run polls of the other topics, tally the results, and share them in our convention issue, May 9. See also comments from past polls.

Your Kiplinger Connection (members only)
AIArchitect links members to three stories a week from the pages of the renowned Kiplinger Letter. (Nonmembers may subscribe to The Kiplinger Letter.)
World Business: International trade up 4 percent this year, 6 percent next in an increasingly interconnected world. Politics: White House targets Democrats to oust from House and Senate. U.S. Economy—Price Points: Gas up until Autumn ($1.20 by year’s end), PCs down 11 percent, softwood low (not hardwood).

PROJECT WATCH
Salt Lake City to Build New Children’s Theater by Helix Architecture
Helix Architecture of Tacoma has just won an invited competition to design the new Children’s Theater of Salt Lake in Salt Lake City. The architects now are entering fee negotiations with the owners and operators, who are based in Seattle. The 30,000-square-foot facility will house a 450-seat auditorium, a 100-seat black box theater, a 200-seat outdoor amphitheater for city-sponsored summer performances, and an acting school for 100 students. A central main lobby formally separates the facility’s two main functions: the theater sits on the north and the school on the south. Its many interesting features include a stepped-down stage to allow interaction among actors and audience during performance and a children’s playground on the south end of the building to allow little ones to blow off steam before performances. Helix’s Alex Protasevich, AIA, conceived of the building’s exterior as “a sequence of unfolding film frames—it is a performance by itself. As one goes around the building, one is confronted with a continuous unfolding of changing perspectives,” he says. Protasevich, a Russian-born architect won a Silver Medal in the “InterArch 2000” exhibition-competition of the International Academy of Architecture, held in Sofia, Bulgaria, for his design of the Episcopal Church in Centerville, Utah. The theater complex, expected to begin construction in 2004, has a $5 million construction budget.

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March 31 | April 7 | April 14 | April 21