Theodore Landsmark Awarded 2006 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award
AIA Diversity Committee Chair and Boston Architectural Center President and CEO Theodore Landsmark, Assoc. AIA, has been named the 2006 recipient of the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award, given to an individual who exemplifies the profession’s responsibility toward current social issues. The award honors civil rights leader Whitney M. Young Jr., proponent of social change and head of the Urban League from 1961 until his death in 1971. Landsmark, who is also president-elect and co-chair of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), is a strong advocate of diversity within the architecture profession.

Tittle Honored with Kemper Award for Service to the Profession
The AIA Board of Directors on December 8 elected James D. Tittle, FAIA, of the Tittle Luther Partnership, Abilene, Tex., as the 2006 recipient of the Edward C. Kemper Award. Named in honor of the AIA’s first executive director, the award recognizes individuals who contribute significantly to the profession of architecture through service to the Institute. His nominators called Tittle’s career “an extraordinary 50 years of service” and the “dedication of a professional lifetime of quiet leadership through practice, in positions of leadership and in civic activities.”

Thorncrown Chapel Wins AIA 2006 Twenty-five Year Award
The Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Ark., has received the 2006 AIA Twenty-five Year Award for architectural design that has stood the test of time for 25 years. The small but soaring glass and cross-braced pine chapel, designed by the late E. Fay Jones, the 1990 AIA Gold Medalist, nestles into an eight-acre woodland setting on a sloping hillside in the Ozark Mountains. It stands 48 feet with 24-foot-wide by 60-foot-long dimensions for a total of 1,440 square feet. Its 425 windows, made of 6,000 square feet of glass, filter woodland light across its upward diamond-shaped pine trusses to form ever-changing patterns of light and shadow throughout the day and night.

FROM THE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE
Answering the Calling
Outgoing AIA President Douglas L Steidl, FAIA, reflects on the past 12 months, how proud he is to be part of a profession that daily rises to the calling of service, and his profound gratitude for having been challenged this past year to do his best to try to live up to that call.

No Year-End Doldrums: Business Conditions Remain Strong in November
Improving market conditions produce increased turnover rates
The AIA’s Architecture Billings Index bounced back in November, signifying that U.S. architecture firms are seeing increased levels of business. If firms report even modest gains in December, 2005 will be the first year since 2000 that firms reported gains every month of the year, according to AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. Given that billings at architecture firms lead construction activity by approximately six months, these trends point to 2006 being the best year for nonresidential construction since 2000.

SOM and the Firm Award: Two Times Is the Charm
Consulting Partner Adrian Smith speaks about winning AIA Firm Award two times.
Since Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s founding in 1936, the firm has completed more than 10,000 architecture, engineering, interior architecture, and planning projects in more than 50 countries around the world. Many of their projects, of course, are iconic buildings that are standing the test of time: the Sears Tower and John Hancock Building in Chicago; New York City’s Lever House; and other signature projects including the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai. In 1961, SOM received the first AIA Architecture Firm Award, the Institute’s highest honor for design excellence in a collaborative practice. It is the only firm to be so honored twice, winning again in 1996.

Neuroscience and Archtecture in A Christmas Carol
A tale of conception, perception, and proprioception
Neuroscientists say that we have both a primary consciousness and a higher-order consciousness. It is the higher-order consciousness that makes humans unique, explains John Eberhard, FAIA, founding president of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture. Eberhard gets a little help from Ebenezer Scrooge and a certain trio of spirits as he tries like the dickens to show how higher-order consciousness enables us to think about the past, contemplate the future, and be conscious of being conscious in the present.

Happy Holidays!
In celebration of this glorious season, AIArchitect This Week will not be published on December 23 to give staff (and avid readers!) some time with family and friends.

Look for a somewhat abbreviated edition on December 30, then full steam ahead in 2006!

The AIArchitect staff wishes all a joyous holiday season and health, peace, and prosperity in the new year.

project watch
“Seismically Safe Gingerbread House” Garners Awards, Laughs
Are you tired of sending traditional holiday cards from your practice? Looking for a way to stand out from the crowd? If so, take a look at this “Seismically Safe Gingerbread House” greeting for Degenkolb Engineering by Skaggs Design & Advertising. Created for the 2004 holiday season, the whimsical greeting won a series of Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) awards. A sampling of comments received from clients and colleagues on the piece include: “Good work. We are headed toward the M&M roof option.” “One of our employees wanted to take it home to his eight-year-old daughter.” and “Whoever came up with this deserves a bonus!” One client even “rejected” the plans and red-penned the design flaws.

Your Kiplinger Connection (members only, AIA.org login required)
The economy: Nonresidential construction up 10 percent in 2006.
Housing: Crackdown on risky mortgage lending.
Insurance: Expect higher premiums for flood, terrorism insurance.
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.

Need to catch up on recent editions of AIArchitect This Week?
November 14 | November 21 | December 5 | December 12

BEST PRACTICES
Try This On-line Housing-Innovation News Service
The National Association of Home Builders Research Center offers a Web-based news service featuring the latest in products and approaches for residential design. The most recent edition features stories on energy-efficient lighting, off-ridge roof plugs to thwart wind-blown rain, high-impact and wind-blown-rain-resistant glazing systems, recycled-newspaper insulation, and automated faucets.

Applications for 2006 SDAT Programs Due January 6
The AIA Center for Communities by Design has issued a Request for Proposals for the Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) Program, which are due January 6, 2006. The SDAT program enables communities to benefit from the objective input of architects and other professionals from around the country and engage the public, community leaders, and decision makers in planning for a sustainable future. For more information about program, visit the AIA Center for Communities by Design Web site or contact Ann Livingston, director of the Center for Communities by Design, alivingston@aia.org or 202-626-7405.

2006 Top Ten Green Projects Submissions Due January 31
The AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) is now accepting online submissions for the 2006 COTE Top Ten Green Projects awards program until January 31, 2006. This juried program celebrates the holistic nature of sustainable design by acknowledging the importance of both its qualitative and quantitative elements. Its unique program requirements include narrative descriptions as well as performance metrics. Each year, the program receives more entries than the year before. Please submit your great green projects and encourage your colleagues to do the same. For more information, visit the COTE Web site or contact Marsha Garcia, cote@aia.org or 202-626-7488. (Pictured is the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH), Austin, Tex. by LZT Architects, a 2005 COTE Top Green project. Photo © Thomas McConnell Photography.)

AIA CAREER CENTER
Here Are This Week’s Featured Opportunities

Start your holiday hinting now: The NewWave Caffe Service Set for Two by noted German ceramicist Villeroy and Boch breaks the mold for comfort and sheer aesthetic. The coffee service is available now to AIA members for the special price of $64 per set ($80 retail). To learn more or purchase, visit the AIA Store or call 800-242-3837, opt. #4.

Integrated Practice: Technological change is one catalyst accelerating radical improvement through the entire construction industry, from owner to architect to contractor to facility manager, through the full length of the project and building lifecycle. Learn more about how this change will transform architectural practice into Integrated Practice at www.aia.org/ip.

Free Postings Through Year-end: You can post your project, firm, award, and other news free on the AIA’s online news service through the end of 2005.

Class of the Week: “Green Design for Productivity, Health, and Quality of Life” making its eClassroom debut this week, features noted architect and educator Vivian Loftness, FAIA, discussing life-cycle sustainable design. This course is available for the week of December 16–23 at a 20-percent-off discounted price of $79.15 AIA members/$107.95 nonmembers (regular price: $98.95 AIA members/$134.95 nonmembers). The course offers 1.5 HSW LU-hour.

AIA Members Save with United Parcel Service (UPS): Save up to 20 percent on U.S. and international overnight air shipping with UPS, the world’s largest package-distribution company.
Call 800-325-7000, ext. 7600. Reference No. C-000-070-0037

Free Continuing Education: After reading the standards and other information on environmental issues and products, references, and more in each MASTERSPEC topic, licensed users can access online tests to earn AIA/CES learning-unit hours.

Version 2.0.5: Software Update Now Available: All the agreements and forms you need to go from design to ribbon-cutting. AIA Contract Documents software, version 2.0.5 offers five new contract documents and many software enhancements. This update is free to all existing customers. Get Update.

Consider Disability Coverage for Your Office: If you become disabled and cannot work, the AIA Trust Business Overhead Expense Plan helps pay your office expenses while you recuperate. Click here for specific information about this program.
For more information about all AIA Trust programs, go to their site.