Milwaukee Firm Sponsors Student IPD/BIM Studio
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Architecture and Urban Planning integrates IPD, BIM into design studio
Milwaukee-based Eppstein Uhen Architects (EUA) sponsored for the fall 2008 semester the Integrated Practice/Building Information Modeling (BIM) Studio at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Architecture and Urban Planning (SARUP). The SARUP program is unique in that it combined both IPD and BIM into its design studio curriculum, which introduced Revit® BIM software to architecture students.

Don’t Write New Orleans Off as Dead
New master plan and CZO invigorates city and citizens
Three years after Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast, New Orleans is finally well under way in creating a new master plan and comprehensive zoning ordinance (CZO) that should return hope and investors to the Crescent City. Led by Boston-based Goody Clancy, the master plan and CZO will incorporate recommendations developed during three citywide planning initiatives carried out in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, as well as new input from community groups throughout all planning districts.

Calling All Green Buildings!
Online submission site for 2009 AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects open until January 26
The AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) is now accepting online submissions for the 2009 COTE Top Ten Green Projects awards program. Since 1996, this juried recognition program has celebrated the best in sustainable design. The program requirements are unique and require narrative descriptions as well as performance metrics. This unusual set of requirements is part of the program’s recognition of the importance of qualitative and quantitative elements of sustainable design. These COTE measures and metrics of sustainable design are a framework for a holistic understanding of sustainable design. The 2009 jury for the AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects awards program includes architects, educators, and a student. The deadline to submit projects is January 26, 2009. For more information about the Top Ten Green Projects and to submit a project for consideration, visit the COTE Web site. (Pictured is the Pocono Environmental Education/Visitor Activity Center Dingmans Ferry, Pa., by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, a 2008 COTE Top Ten Green Project. Photo courtesy of the architect.)

New for 2009: CES Credits Via AIA’s Peer Review Web Site
Try it today at no cost and earn one sustainable design, HSW Learning Unit
In 2009, AIA members still will be required to earn 18 continuing education credits, with 8 of the 18 qualifying for health, safety, and welfare (HSW) credit, as usual. What is different is that 4 of those 18 credits earned in 2009 must relate to the subject of sustainable design. To make it easier to obtain those sustainable design/HSW credits, the AIA Continuing Education team is immediately launching a Peer Review Web site, which will offer architects an opportunity to listen to podcasts or read articles on sustainable design, take an essay-based quiz, and participate in dialogue on particular topics right on a new Web site.
The first offering is available now, free of charge. You can listen to three 20-minute podcasts by AIA members on the subject of “Sustaining the Value of Historic Resources.”

User’s Guide: Photo Gallery Navigation Tutorial Comes Into Focus
Use this tutorial, narrated by AIArchitect Associate Editor Zach Mortice, to find out how to navigate AIArchitect from its photo gallery: This Week in Pictures. With the This Week in Pictures, you can view beautiful, full-size images for each story, which can navigate you back to each article. It’s a new, visual way to explore the content in each week’s AIArchitect.