7th Annual CRAN Symposium Promises Fun, Education

By Dawn Zuber, AIA

CRAN’s 7th annual symposium will be held at the Mills House Wyndham Hotel and Hibernian Hall on Meeting Street in historic Charleston, South Carolina, from Thursday, September 18, through Saturday, September 20. Entitled “The Architecture of Influence,” the three-day symposium, open to all, will bring together practitioners of custom residential architecture from across the country to learn more about topics relevant to the practice of residential architecture.

Stock Plans Old and New

By Daniel Gregory | Editor in Chief of Houseplans.com

Ready-made house plans go way back, as scholars like Daniel D. Reif and Elizabeth Byrne have shown. Reif’s Houses From Books: Treatises, Pattern Books, and Catalogs in American Architecture: 1738-1950: A History and Guide, (Penn State Press, 2000) is the essential reference. Byrne’s more recent exhibition at the University of California at Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design titled “Stock Options: Houses for Everyone,” chronicled the evolving American home through the profusion of pattern books and brochures published by building companies from the late 19th century to the present day.

Building Blocks: "How to Talk with Your Clients: Words of Wisdom from Architect Jeremiah Eck, FAIA"

By John Altobello

The first two articles in the “Building Blocks” series deal with the all-important question: how do architects effectively communicate with clients? A successful design project is often attributed to the mastery of good communication skills.  This first installment explores topics such as landing a commission and laying the groundwork for successful relationships.

Nooks and CRANnies: Local Chapter News

Cincinnati

AIA Cincinnati's Custom Residential Architects Network (CRAN) committee held their sixth annual awards banquet on May 15 at The Bell Event Centre.  This year's judges were chaired by Kimball Hales, AIA + LEED AP.  The presenting title sponsor for the event was Marvin Windows and Doors.  Award winning projects will be featured in the July issue of Venue magazine.

To view all the winners, click HERE.

Award winner “Rauh House Restoration” by Architects Plus was a featured project in the first issue of the CRAN Chronicle in January 2013. To read more about it, view the Chronicle archives.

Charleston

The Charleston chapter is gearing up for the annual CRAN Symposium in September. The chapter will be hosting the oyster roast on Wednesday evening, September 17th.

In June, the chapter held a meeting sponsored by Nichiha, Southern Components and Burchette & Burchette. In addition to product information, a case study was presented to the group regarding sound issues in a local condo. This topic was a nice transition to the next topic of the evening on how architects open themselves up to potential litigation, presented by Attorney Pat Flynn.

To read more about recent activities with the Charleston chapter, and to view upcoming events and meetings, visit their website.

Capital Area

The Capital Area CRAN group held a presentation in April titled “Affordable Homes and the Residential Architect’s Role”, given by Habitat for Humanity. In May, the Lutron Experience Center hosted a lighting demonstration at their facility.

The group will hold a lunch and learn on July 31st with a presentation by a local mortgage company to help familiarize architects with the process a homeowner goes through when financing a custom home renovation.

To learn more about the group, visit their website or follow them on Twitter at @capitalareacran.

Greenville

The Greenville chapter holds a membership meeting every other month in a revolving location. Their next meeting is August 26, 2014.

Each of their meetings is capped by a 10 minute “Pecha Kucha” style presentation by an architect on a topic of their choice. This helps create a lively discussion among the group.

The chapter is also focusing efforts on associate members and assisting them with their licensing requirements.

You may follow the events of the Greenville chapter by visiting their website, Facebook page, or follow them on Twitter at @CRANgreenville.

Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh chapter will be holding a presentation by a construction lawyer and/or insurance carrier to discuss the implications of a recent CA ruling upholding architects’ responsibility to third party property owners (owners who did not originally hire the architect or builder).

They are also working with Houzz to prepare a webinar for CRAN members on how to take advantage of the recent AIA-Houzz deal, which is designed to maximize AIA architects’ exposure on Houzz.

To learn more about upcoming events in Pittsburgh, including information about their monthly meetings, visit their website.

Austin

By Christy Seals, AIA- Things are heating up in Austin this time of year, and the CRAN component of AIA Austin is no exception.  We have a very active and growing residential architect community and are experiencing something of a building boom throughout the city, so there is a lot to talk about at our monthly meetings, and a lot to see when we meet on job sites.

►  The following articles feature interviews and/or quotes from AIA CRAN members in national media.

The mayor of Charleston, SC was interviewed for the NY Times recently. He will be introducing the CRAN Symposium in September. This article highlights his commitment to design. To read the interview, click HERE.

Greenville CRAN members contribute articles to a local design magazine "At Home". To see their featured designs in the summer 2014 issue, visit At Home’s Facebook page.

Hutker Architects, located in Massachusetts, had two different projects recently featured in publications. One project was highlighted in the July issue of Architectural Digest, which can be found HERE. The other project was featured in New England Home, the article can be found HERE.