"The mission of the Academy of Architecture for Health is to improve both the quality of healthcare design and the design of healthy communities by developing, documenting, and disseminating knowledge; educating design practitioners and other related constituencies; advancing the practice of architecture; and affiliating and advocating with others that share these priorities."

FROM THE ACADEMY

Welcome from Academy President Dan H. Noble

Welcome to 2012.  There are many Issues facing us this year on the national and international front:
The sovereign debt situation in Europe threatens to kick start another European recession. Will this ripple through the US and China with lower demand for our exports?  Will Greece and other Southern European nations leave the European Union? The Social Security tax cuts end in February with no indication how this contentious congress will move on this issue; it is an election year and the gridlock in congress shows no sign of abating – can they get anything done in 2012? We are teetering on social class warfare here in the states, in the Middle East and really much of the world. Terrorist threats and the specter of a nuclear Iran continue to play out on the world’s stage. Korean questions continue to build anxiety.  Is China building an economic bubble that is about to burst?  So many unknowns as we persevere through years of unemployment over 8% and an anemic growth rate that hovers around 2% or 3% while the construction industry is still hounded by double digit unemployment and little to no growth.

But on the other hand, jobless claims are down, as is the unemployment rate.  Consumer spending was robust in the last quarter and our automobile manufacturing industry was vibrant.  It’s been a long time since we’ve used the terms robust and vibrant in the same sentence to describe even a part of our economy.  The US energy producing machine is alive and well and our reliance on foreign oil sources is shrinking.  There is pent up demand for all services and consumer products.  The demographics point to high growth in the healthcare design industry, people are continuing to get older and sicker, immigrants continue to flock to the US and our populations continues to expand.  House prices are back to their historic averages and our personal savings rates are much healthier than they were before the recession hit.  We are still alive and kicking!

So with all this up in the air I remain optimistic that the future is positive. As I said, there remains a demand for the type of service our industry can provide to the world and when this pent-up demand opens up, I suspect we will have all we can handle just trying to keep pace.  In the meantime we at the academy will push our initiatives for 2012 to continue to advance our mission:

To improve both the quality of healthcare design and the design of healthy communities by developing, documenting, and disseminating knowledge; educating design practitioners and other related constituencies; advancing the practice of architecture; and affiliating and advocating with others that share these priorities.  

To this end we will pay notably focused attention to several key initiatives:

Regional Design Initiatives:   As the dollars have become tighter for travel and more people are relying on alternatives to national conferences such as webinars and local seminars, we will devote a sharpened focus to this initiative and work with the ACHA to coordinate our efforts on this front.

Connect:  Use the AIA AAH website as a virtual portal that can help support the work of our regional initiatives subcommittee and bring robust and meaningful content to our members who are organizing themselves in grassroots regional groups. Let this site be the common denominator for all the regional groups’ efforts.

Collaborate:   Reach out and affiliate with other groups that share our priorities. We will work
together to mutually benefit each other’s efforts and bring greater value to our membership.   In the end we all want the same thing; to educate our members in the most robust, efficient and meaningful way possible.   It’s gestaltic.  The whole IS greater than the sum of its parts and we are much stronger when working together.

Education and Leadership:  Grow our Summer Leadership Summit to include a day of engaging the leadership within the academy who are involved in board and committee work in an effort to leverage the time we have together into a more impactful, meaningful manner with real work product as a result.

Design Awards:   Continue our efforts with the AIA AAH Design Awards program and grow this into an event that is educational, relevant and the “go to” awards program.

Fundraising:  Work closely with the AAHF to put some topspin on our coordinated fundraising efforts and build a resource that will enable us to broaden our efforts, enhance our content and move to financial autonomy.

We have much to be thankful for and much to look forward to.

Thank you to Ron Smith, our past President, for the endless energy and selfless sacrifice he gave to us through this past year. 

I look forward to the year ahead and the positive potential that lies in front of us. 

Dan H. Noble, FAIA, FACHA, LEED AP
President of the AIA Academy Architecture for Health

GET INVOLVED

HC 101/201 2012 Calendar
*Subject to change

Academy Journal Call for Papers
You are invited to submit articles, innovative project case studies, completed research projects, and monographs in the field of healthcare design. Articles should be timely; preview new trends; and address industry wide topics, issues of relevance, and emerging technology in the healthcare system.

The Academy of Architecture for Health is an interactive and multidisciplinary organization. Submissions selected for publication will reflect the diversity of its programs, the specialized commitments of its membership, and the quality of composition befitting a learned journal that is accessed and read worldwide.

Submission Deadline: May 31, 2012. Submission Criteria | Journal Archives

Center for Health Design offers 20% Discount for EDAC exam at PDC
The Center for Health Design is offering a special discount to AIA/AAH members who take the BETA EDAC exam at the PDC conference on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at the Phoenix Sheraton.  This is an opportunity to take the new updated exam and help establish the pass/fail cut score. Register by February 3,use code ADV01 to receive 20% off the exam price, and take advantage of the free exam prep session offered March 4, 2012 at the conference. Register today.

SAVE THE DATE

AIA 2012 Convention | May 17-19, 2012 | Walter E. Washington Convention Center | Washington, DC

Design & Health 8th World Congress | June 27 - July 1, 2012 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

HCD.12 | November 3-6, 2012 | Phoenix Convention Center | Phoenix, AZ

HEALTHCARE RESOURCES Did you know anyone can join AIA/AAH for free? Sign-up on AIA KnowledgeNet and view the Healthcare webinars on-demand on the YouTube playlist.

The American Institute of Architects 1735 New York Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20006

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