Marshall Craft Associates, Lord Aeck and Sargent Win 2007 Continuing Education Award for Excellence
The AIA on January 4 presented two architecture firms Awards for Excellence in Professional Continuing Education. Marshall Craft Associates, Baltimore, was honored in the small firm category, and Lord, Aeck & Sargent Architecture, Atlanta, in the medium firm provider category. Established nine years ago, the annual award recognizes educational providers to architectural and engineering firms and their commitment to an overall system of developing high quality professional continuing education programs. The recipients will accept a trophy at the AIA/CES MarketPlace May 2 during the AIA 2007 Annual Convention and Design Exposition in San Antonio.

Spinning Straw into Gold
Maintenance facility employs diverse sustainable technologies to earn LEED Gold certification
The city of Santa Clarita, Calif., now possesses one of the world’s only Gold LEED®-certified straw-bale buildings. Completed in May 2006, the 12-acre Santa Clarita Transit Maintenance Facility includes a 22,000-square-foot administration building, 25,000-square-foot maintenance building, bus wash facility, compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling island for city buses, and publicly accessible CNG fueling station. The $20-million project was designed to accommodate more than 150 buses and 160 personnel, with room for future expansion. In addition, the facility exceeds California Energy Efficiency Standards by more than 40 percent.

Call for Participation: NAAB School Visits
Applications due February 15
Each year, the AIA nominates 10 practitioners to serve as AIA representatives on National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) school visits. Nominations are for a four-year term, 2008–2011, and AIA representatives may be scheduled for up to one school visit per year. If you have an appreciation of architecture education and would like to be involved in the accreditation process, submit a letter of interest and one-page resume no later than February 15 to the Institute’s director of education, Catherine Roussel, AIA.

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Some Things to Know on Applying PV
An AIA Expo2007 preview
Among the many educational opportunities at the AIA 2007 National Convention and Design Exposition will be free continuing education presentations on the Expo2007 show floor. As a sample, AIArchitect offers a discussion of a roof-system-integrated, self-adhering photovoltaic membrane, where manufacturer representatives discuss design considerations for tying solar-powered commercial systems into the local electrical grid.