Less than an hour after the Expo05 doors opened, the floor was filled with convention attendees of all stripe. They shared a mission, though: a quest for knowledge and connections. AIArchitect asked a few the question:

What brought you to the convention Expo05 floor, and what have you found to make the experience worthwhile?

Theresa Smith, Assoc. AIA
Kaiser Permanente, Denver

The Expo is a fabulous experience. I’m a facilities planning specialist, and I’m picking up all kinds of interesting information and ideas that I can take back to my project managers. I came here looking for general information—I’m learning lots of stuff here. What I’m looking for partly is solar and green products. It’s more information than I even know what to do with, but I’m going to take it home and sort through it. I’m probably going to be out here on the Expo floor for a couple of hours; I haven’t a clue how many booths I’ll be able to see. I know there’s probably more here than I can cover, so I’m going to have to pick and choose the things that are going to be of use to me.

Karen Cooper, AIA
Jeffrey Jennings, AIA
TPC Architects, Orangevale, Calif.

At the convention, there’s a lot of selection for earning learning units. TPC does mainly churches, fitness centers, and some commercial work, so we came to the Expo to look at things such as fitness center flooring and metal mesh. And, right now, we’re looking for the best booths to try to win free things.

Cedrick Brown, Assoc. AIA
Thomas R. Sieg, AIA Pittsburgh allied member
Alcoa Home Exteriors, Pittsburgh

What we are trying to do is identify the opportunities that are available to us. Actually, we are suppliers looking for representatives of firms who want to create architectural education programs on aluminum. Just yesterday, we attended the CES Marketplace event for all AIA/CES Providers, and what we try to do is build a nice bridge between our company and the architectural community. That is the greatest value to us of attending the convention.

Charles L. Willis III, AIA
Charles L. Willis & Assoc., St. Louis

The first thing I came looking for was innovations in technology; to see what has been updated that I might be missing in my small office. There were several new materials that were refreshing, such as what you can do with glass. We used to have PPG, who would come and show us what is new, but now we don’t see many technical people anymore. So, consequently, this is our lone exposure to the latest product information unless we call a manufacturer or supplier and ask. Glass is an important element of almost every building type, so knowing about what’s going on with the types, color, and sizes, and what you can and can’t do is interesting. And energy considerations, transmission and reflectivity, are part of it. I also looked at several types of glass to see if they would act as a sunscreen; if I could see through the glass and still get some impact from sun reflection. I’ve spent about five hours on the floor so far. It’s huge, and I won’t cover it all today, but I’ll cover it all before I leave.

Copyright 2005 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved. Home Page