The AIA and advocacy—what do we mean?

As the AIA Vice President for Advocacy, I preside over a Board committee and portfolio concerned with Institute policies, legislative priorities, and programs in public outreach.  Advocacy is about influence, about the power to cause change.

Our purpose is to stimulate the demand for work by AIA members, responding to the needs and interests of client groups, government agencies, and the public.

Our targets are policymakers and influence groups; the executive agencies of government that implement building programs; the organizations and associations with greatest authority in the eyes of our clients, the legislators who frame the laws and budgets that shape building programs, and the media organizations, who influence us all.

The messages we intend to convey: Design is vital to your interests and concerns; AIA members create value that responds to your needs; design is good for business, health, and the environment; here is how to contact the AIA and here is what you can obtain.

The vehicles for these messages include print, broadcast and digital media; client organization conventions, meetings and forums; social and business networks; and influential public figures who embrace the values of design. We are also striving to build networks of members who are engaged and effective in civic affairs at all levels.

The actions we will oversee include messaging campaigns, official testimony, editorials and special events involving client organizations and key influence groups.  We will encourage members to serve effectively in public office and in civic roles.  We will work with the AIA staff on objectives and approaches for major investments in public relations and advertising.

An article in the latest AIArchitect is about advocacy—efforts by AIA Dallas to counter plans to build a toll road:

“If you want to have a direct impact on a local design or policy issue, brief and straightforward—but extremely forceful—storytelling is a wise course to take. See how AIA Dallas President Bob Bullis AIA cuts right to the heart of the matter: ‘We’re being very clear: We’re for the park. We’re against the highway. The return on investment is huge, and we think the highway is going to undermine the change for the park to be successful . . . [the park] is essential to the future health and prosperity of Dallas.’" 

The water crisis: “Let them drink wine.”

That was the title of a long article I wrote for the April 1983 issue of Progressive Architecture magazine—32 years ago, I called upon architects to pay much greater attention to (fresh) water, even then clearly seen as a dwindling resource. The article outlined ways that architects could help. It isn’t that I was particularly prescient; P/A had wonderful editors, always ready with terrific story ideas. And—having come of age during the 1973 oil embargo—I was just one among many young architects who wanted to reverse our wasteful, destructive ways with natural resources.

“You can go three weeks without food,” I wrote then. “Without water, you’ve got just three days.” Apparently, we wanted a bit of drama in a story that was essentially about low-volume flush toilets, grey water drainage systems and water-conserving landscape designs.

The drama about water is certainly still with us, maybe now more than ever. Given the latest news, it is not difficult to imagine a day—which might not be far off—when at least some Californians (not to mention Brazilians) turn on their household taps to find that nothing comes out, or that they can’t drink what does. An ever-larger segment of the globe’s population, including many of its poorest, cannot rely on regular supplies of potable water.

It’s sad to say that, on the whole, we haven’t done very well to reverse the trends that have led to our present-day water problems, even if some steps have been taken (lots of those low-volume flush toilets are in use today, for instance, and now we have many waterless ones).

To be fair, only some of today’s challenges stem from wasteful development and building practices, or from plumbing systems that remain stuck, so to speak, in the age of Thomas Crapper. There’s also the inexorable saltwater encroachment on fresh water systems, plus almost boundless irrigation for agriculture and for livestock feed, along with profligate industrial use and unchecked car washing—and so on, and so on.

But architectural design and urban planning practices do have a central place in grappling with this pressing resource crisis, and especially in the developed world. We also have the bully pulpit—now devoted mainly to seeking carbon neutrality—which we need to direct at coping with and attenuating our growing water crisis.

These two issues are not unconnected, of course, but people tend to understand water more readily, to experience its shortages more directly, and to get more exercised about it—perhaps because it is a vital resource (that’s the drama part).

Ironic, isn’t it? “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” That might make a good title for a magazine article.

The AIA and Public Outreach

The AIA is now running its most ambitious ever public communications and outreach campaign. It began with videos posted on social media in early 2015, followed by paid advertisements on broadcast television. To see the spots: YouTube.com/user/AIANational

If you believe—as I do—that a main purpose of the AIA is to stimulate broadly-based demand for our work, you might agree that the main purpose of a public outreach campaign must be to reach clients, potential clients, and others who are in a position to have direct influence on decisions about building.

But architects practice at so many different scales, in so many different places, in so many different contexts, with so many different market concentrations; it’s difficult to pinpoint an exact “target audience,” simply because there are so many of them.

Thus far, the AIA approach has been to portray architecture as an inspired—and inspiring—calling, which it surely is. But don’t we also need to pinpoint and appeal to specific markets? I would very much like to hear from colleagues about the kinds of messages we need to convey for specific groups.

Small firms, big impacts.

Small firms, big impacts. Small businesses account for 99.7 percent of all US employers, and for 63 percent of net new jobs created in the past decade. More than half of all US workers either own small businesses or work for them. Most AIA member firms consist of four or fewer persons, and many are sole practitioners.

The costs of capitalizing professional architecture practice today are significant—to acquire and maintain design software, to build office infrastructure, to carry insurance, to lease or buy space, and simply to be an employer. This translates into a need for sound business acumen among architects working in small practices.

The AIA must pay more attention to profitability and to the other factors that make or break smaller firms as going concerns. This means systematic sharing of information—about business and practice models, about sales and marketing techniques, about delivery methods, about pricing, and about all of the other factors we face as private practitioners in small firms.

Various advocacy groups regularly lobby Congress on small business issues, including paperwork reduction, tax relief, and growth incentives. The AIA can certainly support initiatives that help small business, but we face issues that are unique to architecture—internships, professional development, partnering and liability, specialty certifications—and these are the issues upon which AIA must focus resources.

Responses to AIA "Strategic Plan" questions

Strategic Council is gathering responses to three questions for its strategic plan. Candidate Thomas Vonier provided these responses.
The Institute's new

What issues should we address in society?
We often hear voices in the profession — indeed, we hear the AIA itself — asking the public to understand architects, and what architects do. Of course! But what are we doing to understand the public and its needs? We must pay greater attention to the political, social and business factors that influence practice, and engage with them more effectively. Our advocacy and influence programs must align with the issues of greatest concern to the public, and we also need to voice our concerns and convictions — for example, about the abysmal state of our infrastructure.

How might the architect's role change?
The requirements for capitalizing professional practice have risen — the costs of equipment, office infrastructure, practice insurance, and the mere costs of being an employer. This translates into large need for basic business acumen. As a professional body, we need to pay much more attention to profitability and the factors that sustain firms. This will mean a greater need to stress — and to deliver — valuable design and advisory services. As architects, we're better positioned, educated and qualified than our competitors. Let’s act that way.

On what should we focus in the near term?
With a reinvigorated emphasis on public outreach, and with new efforts to reshape the fee environment in which we practice, we’re moving in the right directions. We must work harder to reach the most influential policymakers and opinion leaders — not just to help them understand the value of well-designed communities and buildings, but to help them promote these values.

Sidewalk cafés

Café society

Eat, drink, and make money on the sidewalk

Business and amenity: Sidewalk cafés symbolize Paris for many visitors, but they are also a multi-million Euro source of business for the city. Café owners know that even a little piece of the public sidewalk can be worth a fortune. Today some 8,750 terraces decorate the city and each year brings as many as one thousand new applications.

As good as gold: One owner of a typical small café in the sixth arrondissement reports that only two small tables outdoors, with room for just four chairs, increase his daily gross revenues by 200,00 € (about $265.00), or some 20 percent of receipts over the course of a year.

Revenues for the city: The city of Paris collects between 25 € and 30 € million ($32.5 to $39.0 million) each year in taxes on sidewalk café spaces. The owner of one café on the avenue des Champs-Elysées pays the city 38.000 € ($49,500) each year for use of an unenclosed terrace of 68m2 in area (about 900 ft2).

Smoking ban adds push: Paris city officials estimate that sidewalk terraces—both enclosed and open—have increased in number by about 20 percent over the past five years. Many more terraces have opened or been significantly upgraded since 2008, when a citywide smoking ban went into effect for all interior public spaces.

Cost to operators: Sidewalk café “rental” charges range from 15,00 € – 82,00 € per m2 per year. The most expensive are on the major avenues, and the least expensive on the exterior boulevards. Costs can quadruple if the sidewalk space is enclosed.





Research: Thomas Vonier Architect LLC

Make a Difference

Candidate for Vice President

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Make a difference: Cast your vote for me in Denver. The AIA must stimulate demand for excellent buildings and communities, designed by AIA members. This is the central mission for our professional society as it advances our work. As your vice president, I will help us to capture the public imagination, reach new markets and expand client allegiance. Chapters are the place to focus — to innovate and to influence. Please choose Thomas Vonier for vice president.