Phelps School Students Set Off on AEC Career Paths and Take AIA Mentors with Them
The Grassroots “Shadow an Architect” program invests early in a diverse profession
For the first time at the AIA’s Grassroots advocacy conference, the Institute hosted a Shadow an Architect program. It brought students from the Washington, D.C., Phelps Architecture, Engineering, and Construction High School to the conference and on a tour of the Washington Convention Center, led by a principal of the architecture firm that conceived it, 2008 AIA President Marshall Purnell, FAIA. Students then led their mentors on a tour of the Phelps school and presented their work, which spans every corner of the architecture, engineering, and construction industry.

AIA Components and Individuals Lauded for Outstanding Efforts
“This past year, AIA members have been building on and extending the AIA’s reputation and the reputation of architects by their knowledge, their achievement, and their engagement with their communities, whether the opportunity for such engagement is a civic initiative to improve the quality of life of their neighbors or a response to disaster,” noted AIA President Marvin Malecha, FAIA, as he opened the awards program of the AIA Grassroots Legislative and Leadership Conference on February 5. “Each year the components and knowledge communities are invited to submit work they are especially proud of. These submissions are reviewed by a jury. Their task is to evaluate the submissions for their impact and value as best practice case studies, studies from which all of us can learn.”

Defining the Scope of BIM
With building information modeling (BIM) becoming more and more common as the preferred platform for building design and construction, the content of the model looms larger as the subject of negotiation between business partners, Contributing Editor Michael Tardif, Assoc. AIA, tells us. BIM fosters greater collaboration through digital information exchange, but the near limitless possibilities for design detail in BIM means that the parties to any exchange need to define the limits, or scope of the model, for any particular project. Owners are increasingly specifying BIM deliverables in their RFPs, but the scope of work, or “level of detail” of the model is rarely indicated with any specificity. This creates an environment that could, at best, lead to misunderstandings and, at worse, lead to contractual disputes.

FROM THE NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM
Ask the Sustainability Roundtable Panelists about the "Future of Green"
On January 27, the National Building Museum held a "Sustainability Roundtable" as part of its ongoing For the Greener Good lecture series. Architectural Record Editor in Chief Robert Ivy, FAIA, and National Geographic Editor Dennis Dimick, along with Museum curator and roundtable moderator Susan Piedmont-Palladino, AIA, discussed the effect of climate change on the built environment, the natural world, and politics. If you didn't get to ask a question during the presentation, or even if you didn't attend it at all, you still have a chance to learn more from the panelists, who will be taking questions until February 24 about their views on "the future of green." Their answers to selected questions will be posted on the Museum's Web site in late February. Watch a video of the roundtable discussion or submit your question now.