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Letter from the Editor
By Marika Snider, AIA
Welcome to the New Year and the 60th Issue of the Small Projects Practitioners Journal. In celebration of the New Year, this issue is dedicated to new directions in the AIA. As a profession, we are facing many pressures including ever changing technology, hyper specialization, the public underestimating architects’ value, shrinking budgets, and the need for sustainable buildings. However, it is also essential to remember the importance of design, as architecture is primarily a design field where we use technical tools to realize our ideas. As small projects practitioners we are in contact with all phases of design, and it is my hope that the articles in this issue will help us focus on ways to improve the entire design process.
Jane Frederick, FAIA introduces the AIA’s repositioning initiative and explains how it relates to Small Project Practitioners. One of the programs to support the repositioning is the Building Research Information Knowledgebase (BRIK). Virginia Ebbert discusses the resources and organization of BRIK and how to use it. Marc Manack, AIA concludes with a call to place design in the forefront.
Marika Snider, AIA
SPP Journal Editor / SPP Advisory Group Member
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Features
How the AIA's Repositioning Initiative Affects the SPP
By Jane Frederick, FAIA, LEED AP
How does the AIA Repositioning Initiative impact Small Project Practitioners? The new vision statement adopted by board outlines the big picture but the real question is how is this accomplished? Activities are occurring throughout the institute and I will give a short overview of some of the initiatives.
Read more »
BRIK: A Research Portal for Discovery and Engagment
By Virginia Ebbert, Manager, Architect’s Knowledge Resource
Where do you turn to back up good design with data?
The Building Research Information Knowledgebase (BRIK) offers a starting point. BRIK is an interactive portal with free online access to peer-reviewed research projects and case studies in all facets of the built environment. From new approaches to fundamentals, BRIK covers architecture and related disciplines and compiles research from a growing number of knowledge providers including associations, firms, and universities. This collection of accessible knowledge supports applications to practice in order to benefit your clients, your firms, and your communities.
Read more »
Inspiration: On Positioning
By Marc Manack, AIA
Seattle Public Library, OMA (Marika Snider)
As our membership is now keenly aware the AIA’s Re-Positioning initiative has preoccupied and permeated nearly every aspect of the Institute’s efforts and communications in 2013. The goal of Repositioning “…to determine how the Institute should reposition architecture, architects, and how to reflect current client and public perceptions…” is ambitious in its scope and claims. For me repositioning raises some fundamental questions about the nature of positioning in architecture, or positions in general, and whether or not the AIA itself is positioned as the best organization to deliver on this promise of change. However, in our discipline’s history, the transformation of the library, offers a way in which architecture, through design, can proactively reposition an institution.
Read more »
Submit Your Project: 2014 AIA SPP Small Project Design Competition: The Pop-Up Project
Submission Deadline: Before 5PM ET, March 21, 2014
The AIA Small Project Practitioners invites architects and architecture students to submit design ideas to the 2014 SPP Small Project Design Competition. In this unique design competition, submitters are asked to re-imagine the standard farmer’s market canopy pop-up booth.
Farmers markets across the United States are popping up as fast as pop-up tents. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture put the number of markets at more than 6,100 - a 16 percent increase over the 2009 count. Most of these markets feature delectable produce sold by friendly vendors under a hodgepodge of well-worn tents.
Submit Your Project:
The non-refundable entry fee for this program is $75.00 per submission.
Visit the AIA SPP Small Project Design Competition website to learn more and submit your project.
Call for Volunteers
SPP Tips Editor
The Small Projects Practitioners (SPP) Advisory Group seeks a volunteer to edit the SPP Tips. The SPP Tips are typically 100-400 words, videos, or podcasts that share an experience, anecdote, failure, lessons learned, proven best practice or good advice. TIPS are distributed to the 9,000+ SPP members biweekly.
Responsibilities include:
- Soliciting, selecting, and editing Tips from members and colleagues for distribution to the SPP community via biweekly email, the SPP Journal, SPP Twitter feed and SPP webpage.
- Acquiring permission to use the Tips provided
- Coordinating biweekly distribution with AIA staff
- Reporting to the SPP Advisory Group monthly via conference call or email
The time commitment is one year and requires approximately 2-4 hours per month.
To read past Tips, click here. Current Tips editor Jean Dufresne can answer any questions: 312.829.6666 x101, jean@spacearchplan.com.
To Apply: Please email a letter of interest summarizing your qualifications SPP@AIA.org, with "SPP Tips" in the subject line. Position is open until filled.
Resources
Rate and Review Your Favorite Content
You've got a unique perspective on how we continue building the profession and we'd love to hear what's on your mind. Can you please take a minute to rate and review the content on the AIA site? All users may comment on, rate, and save as "favorite" any blog post or library on AIA KnowledgeNet and AIA.org. Share your know-how with all our other members and rank the best resources.
Find out how »
Digital Library Repository for Peer-Reviewed Research
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) have developed the Building Research Information Knowledgebase (BRIK), an interactive portal offering free online access to peer-reviewed research projects and case studies in all facets of the built environment, from pre-design through occupancy and reuse.
Review contributions to Design Issues research »
For further information on BRIK and on how to become a Knowledge Contributor, visit the "Frequently Asked Questions" section on the website home page, www.brikbase.org.
 
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