It’s not unknown that the AIA is an organization built on improving the architecture profession; it’s stated in our own chapter’s mission statement. But what does that philosophy actually mean though?
What a lot of people don’t understand is what the AIA actually does. Our communities are guilty of it and so are our members. The AIA Winston-Salem January Section Lunch was centered around “what can we do to improve our chapter for our members?” Also, I have heard a number of times that “the AIA does nothing for me.” And that’s coming from our own members. What’s the perception then from our community made up of people outside of our profession? They have very little knowledge, if any, regarding our organization as well as our profession.
The AIA has a plan though to improve not only the outlook from within our profession, but to extend this knowledge to our communities as well. Over the last few years, the AIA has interviewed, researched, and observed architects and the public to gain some idea of how the architecture profession is viewed. “The research showed there is tremendous respect for the profession of architecture, but the public isn’t always aware of what architects do or how their work affects society.”
As a member of our community or an architect: do you think that statement is correct?
Most architects would say that we, along with our clients, contractors, engineers, and communities, create environments with which our communities can thrive. That is the knowledge that the AIA wants to extend to each and every person to improve the perception of the architecture profession as well as for our communities to see the value of our work in society.
Blueprint for Better is a new campaign starting up in 2019 that is going to bring this narrative to life and convey that the role of architects is one, “as thought and action leaders in improving our cities, towns, and neighborhoods.”
This year’s campaign is going to focus on strategic partnerships with our community and our community leaders. Workshops will be conducted alongside the public during Chicago Ideas Week (pictured at left). The AIA will be promoting the value of architecture to mayors and community leaders at a number of key meetings. This campaign is even going to be featured in Wired Magazine.
There’s a lot going on within our organization at a national and community level. This post touches on only a minute amount of the work going into this campaign by our AIA leaders as well as the architects in our organization. And this is only one means the AIA is using to improve our profession as a whole.
Read more about the campaign at their website: https://blueprintforbetter.org/ and on the AIA’s role in our profession here: https://www.aia.org/pages/89901-blueprint-for-better-campaign-2019
I want to conclude this post with something motivational from the last link mentioned above: