The 11-member AIA delegation to the International Union of Architects (UIA) triennial Congress and Assembly in Istanbul returned energized by their interactions with their colleagues from around the world through the program’s theme “Cities: The Grand Bazaar of Architecture,” held July 3–10. AIA President Douglas L Steidl, FAIA, headed the U.S. group, which also included First Vice President Kate Schwennsen, FAIA, and AIA Executive Vice President/CEO Norman L. Koonce, FAIA.

The Congress included hundreds of education sessions, poster sessions, exhibitions, and special events over four days. The Congress appealed to the many architecture students in attendance, who swarmed the session’s presenters—including Zaha Hadid and Shigeru Ban—as if they were Hollywood celebrities, reports Michael Geary, executive director of the American Institute of Architecture Students. Keynote speakers included Peter Eisenman, FAIA; Moshe Safdie, FAIA; Robert Venturi, FAIA; Joseph Rykwert; and Michael Sorkin.

Ellen Delage, Assoc. AIA, the Institute’s director of international relations, noted that the UIA Congress offers a great opportunity for AIA architects working overseas to meet their colleagues and exchange ideas. Geary, who attended as a guest of the AIA, cited his own positive relationship-building experience and said he would seek to increase AIAS representation for future meetings. He also said he appreciated how engaged the non-U.S. students were in the profession and will seek to apply these lessons to his work at AIAS.

Getting down to business
The assembly is constituted by representative delegations proportional to the size of their membership of all the national sections of the UIA. The Congress meets every three years to conduct business and hold elections for the Council, roughly equivalent to the AIA Board of Directors.

A candidate from Region IV, Africa, Gaetan Siew of Mauritius, was elected UIA president. The AIA was unopposed for the vacant seat on the Council for Region III, the Americas. James A. Scheeler, FAIA, was elected Council member and Eugene C. Hopkins, FAIA, as an alternate Council member. Don Hackl, FAIA, was elected to his third three-year term as UIA treasurer and will serve on the Bureau of the UIA, equivalent to the AIA Executive Committee. Ron Altoon, FAIA, completed his six years as a council member, during which time he contributed to the development of new rules of procedure for the UIA governance process.

Russell V. Keune, FAIA, co-director and secretary of the UIA’s Professional Practice Commission, presented his commission’s report, including its work on the UIA Accord on Recommended International Standards of Professionalism in Architecture Practice. He reported that through its work in three meetings the Commission “accomplished all we set out to do,” including:

• Completing recommended guidelines for each of the UIA Accord policies
• Developing new UIA policy recommendations
• Initiating a new series of documents, Professional Practice Information Notes
• Initiating a new series of case studies
• Pursuing, with the leadership of the Collegi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya, updating the International Practice Standards database
• Developing a new UIA Accord Policy.

Scheeler, a member of the Validation Committee for Architecture Education, presented a summary of his group’s efforts to hold meetings to investigate the possibility of a memorandum of understanding among validation systems worldwide. The council also developed plans for reorganizing the UIA’s working groups and streamlining their procedures. Scheeler’s work is especially important to graduates who want to work in a country different from the one in which they have earned their architecture degree.

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