by Heather Livingston
Contributing Editor

Summary: Michael Lischer, AIA, RIBA, is a member of the AIA UK chapter and an unassigned member of AIA Continental Europe, and is the first international member of the AIA Board of Directors. Previously the European Director of the HOK Sports Facilities Group, Lischer founded London-based Sport Concepts in 1998 to offer a comprehensive consultancy for sport and entertainment developments.

Years in practice: 28, 23 of which have been exclusively in sports architecture. I have been based in London for 18 years and established Sport Concepts 8 years ago.

Education: I am a graduate of the University of Kansas. I received my bachelor of environmental design in 1978 and my BArch in 1979.

Hobbies: Basically, anything with engines. I am a private pilot and an avid motor sport fan. I own several classic sports cars, one of which I race. The others I simply enjoy driving in the English country side.

Favorite pastime: Wasting my weekends at various car racing tracks in England and Europe.

Last book read: Two Sides of the Moon by astronauts David Scott and Alexei Leonov. This is a fascinating account of the space race in the 1960s and ’70s from both the Russian and American perspectives.

On the importance of having an international AIA Board director: Architecture is a global industry, and many of our members work on international projects or work for firms that have projects overseas. It is important for the AIA to have direct input at the board level from someone who understands international practice and the challenges that face our international members.

Greatest opportunity as director: The greatest opportunity for me personally has been to get to know my fellow Board members and be part of the management process of the AIA. I’m very impressed with the high caliber of people on the Board and our membership should know the AIA is in good hands.

Challenges for international practice: There is growing competition in the United States from foreign architects, and, although I think this is good as it raises the bar, our members need to be aware that international issues are, or will be, affecting them whether they work overseas or not.

The second major challenge currently facing our profession is a shortage of young architects and qualified staff. Facilitated by new technologies, this shortage of staff is driving the trend towards outsourcing certain elements of our work to overseas companies. This can include elements of design, but most likely is the production of working drawings. I’m pleased the AIA has recognized this trend and taken the initiative to understand it better. A successful roundtable discussion was organized last fall, and there are other programs being organized this year. I believe the result will be guidance on how the membership can use this new tool and operate in the global marketplace.

How can the international delegate be more effective? In a word, communication. We need to spread the word to our members that international practice issues are important and the AIA is here to help them expand their practice overseas and/or assist them when they work overseas. Furthermore, better communication among the four international chapters is important to discuss common issues and differences in practice. This will help inform the Board’s deliberations and decisions. This is beginning to happen with overseas members meetings at Grassroots and the Convention.

The future of international chapters: More and more AIA members will be working overseas in the coming years, particularly in emerging markets. I see the AIA’s international membership growing and, therefore, the international chapters. There is great interest in the AIA in China and India. The president of AIA Hong Kong, Grover Dear, recently told me he expects his chapter’s membership to double to more than 300 members in the next year or so.

On the importance of AIA members practicing abroad: The AIA is a recognized “global brand” and membership identifies an architect with a high level of professionalism and education. This is attractive to many international clients.

The difference between practice in the U.S. and abroad: As you can imagine, there are often language and cultural differences. Also, project procurement is often different. For example, in Europe, most large projects involve design competitions where there can be literally hundreds of entries. In the United Kingdom, most public projects involve design-build, where the design team usually ends up working for the contractor.

It is common on large projects to have big international teams of consultants. It is easy to envision a project in, say, Turkey, where the client is from the Middle East, the financing is from a German bank, the design architect is from the United States, the engineers from England, and the working drawings are prepared in India. These types of projects can be very challenging, but also very rewarding. I encourage our membership to look seriously at how they can apply their skills and expertise to practicing internationally.