What Our Institute Must Be

The AIA must be:

An organization to which every architect wants to belong.

An organization members immediately regard as their own.

The place to meet someone—and to see something—interesting and useful.

A showplace of innovations, great work and new approaches.

The beacon of professional ethics and high standards.

Of direct value to its members, professionally and personally.

An organization where direction and performance are open to regular member review.

The dominant influence in educating and regulating the profession of architecture.

Influential in all aspects of public policy related to design.

Engaged on key issues with government agencies and client groups.

Representative of all segments of society and the profession.

Cohesive, connected to its members, active in communities.

An organization that listens to its members, and gives them voice.

The AIA's resources and assets -- which come from the members and belong to them -- must do the greatest good for the greatest number.

Architectes . . . sans frontières

Across boundaries of national origin, ethnicity, gender and age, architects seem to share interests and values. We are attracted to the same kinds of buildings and places, and often speak about them in similar terms. Global markets in development and capital make cross-border collaboration -- both for marketing and for project execution -- a mounting imperative for US architecture firms. This is true at all scales of practice: In Europe, large firms carry smaller firms along, as consultants and subcontractors, while some smaller firms with sufficient specialized experience simply carry themselves.

Research and Design

Design professionals must know what works -- and what does not -- when it comes to achieving desired performance results.

Clients determine performance requirements, and design is the methodology used to meet them; research is integral to the process.

The AIA needs to establish an independent design research center, based on the work of its members and informed by such clearinghouse databases as BRIK (the partnership between AIA and NIBS).

This design research center will take the very best work by AIA members and place it at the national forefront of innovation in building.

The center will also tackle the most critical questions and challenges facing contemporary buildings, pushing the limits of performance with careful inquiry and experimentation.