AIA Treasure Coast Uncovers Nine Architectural Jewels
The AIA Treasure Coast of Florida’s Excellence in Design Awards Program showcases—to clients and the public—local award-winning architects dedicated to providing outstanding architectural services. The program also serves as a public outreach effort, with opportunities for the awards recipients to exhibit their work at public, city, and county venues.

CHPS Offers Guidance for High-Performance Schools
Program helps make direct connection with sustainability and student achievement
California’s Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) notes, “Nearly 6.2 million children, teachers, and administrators—1/5 of California’s population—spend their day inside a school.” The new construction required for an estimated 35,000 classrooms offers the opportunity for administrators, architects, and clients to don their thinking caps about the best ways to accommodate the projected number of unhoused K–12 students who are entering the largest school system in the country. With CHPS, a nonprofit organization that has developed a point-based incentive program, California is offering architects specific tools to support their efforts to design learning environments that are not only energy-efficient, but also healthy, comfortable, well lighted, and containing the amenities needed for a quality education.

Catch the Wind—And Ski Free to Boot!
Vail Resorts announces that it will offset 100 percent of its energy use—for its mountain resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, and Heavenly as well as its lodging properties, corporate headquarters, and 125 retail locations—through the purchase of 152,000 megawatt hours of wind energy per year by partnering with Renewable Choice Energy, a Boulder-based company. Renewable Choice Energy directly funds wind farms to cover the (slightly higher than fossil fuel) cost of producing wind energy and adding to the grid. The goal is to make the cost of wind energy compatible in today’s market. Vail Resorts and Renewable Choice Energy also are offering a special “Ski With the Wind” promotion for the 2006–’07 ski season. Sign up and buy wind power for your home (or apartment or dorm) for one year, and families will receive a free one-day ski lift ticket, valid all season long at any of the five mountain resorts. Visit Renewable Choice Energy for more information or to sign up. (If you prefer eating to skiing, Whole Foods also has a promotion on the site.)

AIA Component Executives Examine Tradition and Innovation
The Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, designed originally by Wisconsin native Frank Lloyd Wright, served as the setting for the 2006 annual meeting of the Council of Architectural Component Executives (CACE) in Madison. Lake Monona was the backdrop for the 126 attendees.

Don’t Miss The New York Times This Sunday!
On Sunday, August 13, newspapers west of Pittsburgh that carry The New York Times Magazine will run the fifth residential special edition, which features exclusively projects by AIA members. This issue focuses on eco-friendly homes and quotes AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA, who cites data from the AIA Home Design Trends Survey, as well as EVP/CEO Christine McEntee, who comments on architects’ involvement in communities. The issue also addresses AIA Sustainability Task Force initiatives, such as the “2030 Challenge,” as well as the AIA Livable Communities Conference in Seattle, slated for September 14–17.

Louis, Louis: Happy Anniversary, Lieber Meister!
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of this country’s most revered architects, the Chicago History Museum on August 1 launched a “one-stop” Web site of Windy City events honoring Louis Sullivan. The museum is leading a citywide celebration of the man who designed many of the earliest and most influential skyscrapers—from Chicago’s Carson Pirie & Scott Building to Buffalo’s Prudential Building (pictured) to St Louis’ Wainwright Building. The museum’s six weeks of programs and special events will begin on Sullivan’s birthday, September 3, and culminate in an international symposium October 13–15. For more information, visit the Web site dedicated to Frank Lloyd Wright’s proclaimed “Lieber Meister,” or “dear teacher.”

Project Watch
Chinese Catholic Church Updates Basilican Church Architecture
The 23,000-square-foot, $5-million Saviour of the World Chinese Catholic Church in Toronto is one of several recent and ongoing church-related projects by Toronto’s Young & Wright Architects Inc., which boasts the only dedicated sacred-architecture studio among major Canadian architectural firms. The Saviour of the World congregation mandated the design of a traditional Catholic church augmented with elements of Chinese architectural form that would express their ethnicity.

Your Kiplinger Connection (members only, AIA.org login required)
Global economy: Wellsprings for growth abound. Property: Remodeling slowdown? Tech: PCs dropping in price.
AIArchitect offers AIA members exclusive access to three stories a week to help them manage their practices and plan for the coming year. Nonmembers may subscribe to The Kiplinger Letter.

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July 14 | July 21 | July 28 | August 4

BEST PRACTICES
New Health-care Guideline: Designing for CCU Documentation
One new item in the 2006 Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities covers the minimum requirements for documentation space in critical care units, which covers both computerization and the need for privacy, as this excerpt from the newly published book details.

Heads Up! Twenty-five Year Award, Honor Award for Architecture Submissions Due September 1
Just a friendly reminder that submissions for the AIA Twenty-five Year Award, honoring works of American architecture that have stood the test of time, as well as AIA Honor Awards for Architecture submissions must be postmarked by September 1. The AIA also will continue to accept entry fees for Honor Award submissions until this date. For more information, contact Kelly Pickard, kpickard@aia.org or 202-626-7563. (Pictured is 2006 AIA Honor Award for Architecture recipient Joseph A. Steger Student Life Center, University of Cincinnati, by Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners, with associate architect glaserworks, for the University of Cincinnati. Photo © Alan Karchmer.)

How Do You Handle Rising Expectations?
According to Practice Management Knowledge Community Advisory Group member Michael Strogoff, AIA, managing client expectations increasingly creates challenges for firms of all sizes. For insights into managing clients’ expectations, and to learn about other essential project delivery skills, join the Practice Management Knowledge Community in Shreveport, La., September 13–16, for the PMKC 2006 fall conference, “Project Delivery Skills SuperConference.” Featuring workshops and seminars led by our industry’s leading practitioners and consultants, it will be held in conjunction with AIA Louisiana’s annual conference. For details and registration information visit the Practice Management conference Web site or send an e-mail to practicemanagement@aia.org.

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