by Tony P. Wrenn, Hon. AIA
Contributing Editor

Summary: Born in the 19th century, growing and often triumphing in the 20th, the AIA entered the 21st century, as noted on each current e-mail message, as “the voice of the architectural profession and the resource for its members in service to society.” With more than 80,000 members as it approaches its 150th birthday, releases to the press note that “members of The American Institute of Architects have worked with each other and their communities to create more valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable buildings and cityscapes. AIA members have access to the right people, knowledge, and tools to create better design and, through such resources and access, help clients and communities make their visions real.”

Portrait of the profession
As Vision 2000 was evolving in the previous decade, pollster Louis Harris found architects rated second only to doctors in public esteem. As the Institute entered its 14th decade, the image was not quite so certain, however. Market research, reported AIArchitect (then a hard-copy publication) in January 1998, indicated that “the public’s perception of architects reveals mixed feelings toward them: mostly positive but laced with negative stereotypes ... In a major new AIA national study involving homeowners, local government officials, school boards, church building committees, public- and private-institution clients and management, small-business entrepreneurs, and members of other market sectors served by architects, all believe that architects need to improve their people skills and become more involved in construction.”

The image of the profession, according to the study, was clear. Architects were “professional, creative, well-educated, organized, strategic” and possessed “technical skills.” While these positives were confirming, the negative stereotypes called for an aggressive public relations program. Architects were, according to the study, “expensive, introverted, stuffed shirt,” had “poor people skills,” were “egotistical” and, in the most damaging finding of all, “not necessary.” Although the public seemed to rate the profession highly and gave architects high marks for “creativity, public service, and integrity,” it noted the “prima donna syndrome” and regarded the architect’s personality as “a marketing stumbling block.” Architects were viewed as “lacking people skills” and as being “inattentive to the construction-phase services that clients value greatly. These perceived failings,” it was reported, “can be significant barriers to expanding architects’ sphere of influence and compensation potential.”

A full-scale public relations campaign was advanced to stress the positives identified in the study and address the negatives. Commercials and print advertisements were prepared for Today (NBC), Good Morning America (ABC), CNN and CNBC programs and Morning Edition (NPR), and in Business Week, Forbes, and Newsweek. Evidently the advertising blitz helped, for a Harris poll conducted May 15-19, 1998, found that 68 percent of those questioned ranked architects in the “very great prestige” or “considerable” prestige category, while 26 percent ranked the profession as having “some” prestige. This did not equal the 88 percent rating for doctors, 85 percent for scientists, and 79 percent for teachers, the highest ranked professions, but ranked very well indeed against journalists, who were considered prestigious by only 48 percent of those polled, next to last in the 17 professions rated.

Today’s e-mails and press releases, each of which hints at AIA strengths, continue the public relations campaign, which has continued during the decade. The 1998 AIA National Convention, for example, discussed “building bridges” between the architect and the public. With nearly 19,000 registrants, and nearly 100,000 square feet of exhibit space, the convention was “the largest ever by 30 percent,” and continuing education programs sold out. AIA President Ronald Altoon’s opening speech challenged architects to “breed a culture of engagement with our communities rather than foster the reclusive role that architects seem to play. There can be no reclusiveness for a profession that designs the environment for human activity.” He suggested that the convention was a beginning, or “a return to an issue on which we architects have literally blown hot and cold. I’m talking about sustainability and sustainable values. Here I am going to make a radical claim for our profession: if, as some might argue, the 19th century was the age of the industrialist; the 20th century the age of the information specialist; then we, you and I, should lay claim to the 21st century as the age of the architect.”

Livable communities
The Clinton administration certainly had architects in mind in 1999 when it planned the “Clinton-Gore Livable Agenda: Building Livable Communities for the 21st Century,” announced by Vice President Al Gore at the AIA headquarters building. It was fitting to begin at the AIA, Gore said, for architects were the “keepers of an American treasure, the architecture of community.” The Clinton-Gore agenda called for restoring a sense of community “by fostering citizen and private-sector involvement in local planning,” promoting collaboration among neighboring communities, “nurturing a high quality of life that attracts well trained workers and cutting-edge industries,” preserving green spaces, and easing traffic congestion.

The AIA had already created a Center for Livable Communities, in late 1998, which worked through local chapters around the country to assist government and communities in planning growth strategies. Making schools centers of community activity and adopting sensible growth policies and appropriate transportation planning, along with historic preservation, “the frozen assets of past generations,” were stressed in establishing the Center.

AIA Regional/Urban Design Assistance Teams (R/UDAT) had been working since 1972 in, among other things, response to disasters—floods, fires, tornados, hurricanes, drought, and the like. In 1992, after Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida, The Architecture Recovery Center, a joint project of the AIA and the University of Miami School of Architecture was established to coordinate immediate and long-term assistance in rebuilding after a disaster. Guidelines for Disaster Response and Recovery Programs were issued in 1999. Those guidelines defined disaster: “depending on its magnitude, a natural occurrence is a ‘disaster’ when so declared by the governor of the state in which it occurs,” with appropriate responses under “emergency,” the immediate response lasting up to three weeks; “relief,” short term housing, health services and employment counseling, and a formal assessment of damages, lasting up to six months; and “recovery,” characterized by rebuilding, a period that “may last three years or more.”

The impact of Katrina
Though machinery and programs were in place, nothing prepared architects, politicians, or residents for the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in the three-state area of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The most costly natural disaster in U.S. history, damage nearing $200 billion was estimated, more than four times the damage of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, with the final figure still undecided. “Close to a quarter million housing units are estimated to have been destroyed in the New Orleans metro area alone,” according to the AIA’s assessment of The Economic and Construction Outlook in the Gulf States after Hurricane Katrina. The pace of recovery will be slow, according to the outlook. “By 2008 only about 100,000 of the housing units lost to the stock will have been replaced.” 

A “Displaced Architects Fund,” to provide immediate assistance, was established, and a Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference, at the request of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, was held in New Orleans in November 2005. The AIA presented the conference in collaboration with the American Planning Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and American Society of Civil Engineers. Some 650 citizens, community leaders, architects, planners, engineers, business people, and public officials attended. A “Starting Point” report then issued outlined stages toward recovery, noting: “Out of adversity and tragedy—as we have witnessed again in our nation’s history—can come improvement and uplift. The wide road to a greater more prosperous Louisiana lies ahead if, collectively, we have the wisdom and the courage to take it.”

In Katrina’s wake, architects campaigned for “federal legislation that insures taxpayer dollars are spent through redevelopment efforts that are well-planned, well-designed, and geared toward permanent solutions for the affected communities.” Proposals include: 

• A $50 million federal grant program to fund “New Community” demonstration projects in the areas affected by Katrina 
• A $200 million “21st Century Schools: Demonstration Projects for Construction, Repair, and Modernization” 
• New tax incentives and federal grants to assist in the preservation and rebuilding of damaged historic structures and homes 
• Federal “Good Samaritan” law to protect architects and other design professionals from “tort liability during the voluntary provision of free services to government authorities in times of disaster and catastrophic events” 
• Incentives to encourage cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated brownfield sites 
• Federal grants for local community planning efforts 
• Use of federal royalty payments from leasing offshore oil and gas concessions to acquire and maintain lands in areas impacted by Katrina “as natural flood protection barriers and wildlife refuges.”

More changes
Recognizing the need to make architecture and technology compatible with natural systems, the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), representing more than 6,000 AIA members, instituted COTE Awards in 1996. Developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Building News magazine, the awards recognized the “Top Ten Green Projects” annually.

The makeup of the profession was changing, and in a way the Institute had sought. The Business of Architecture: the 2003 AIA Firm Survey showed significant increases in the representation of women and minorities in architecture offices. “As of 2002, women composed 27 percent of architecture staff at firms, up from 20 percent in 1999. Racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 17 percent, up from 9 percent three years prior.

The figures for registered architects are just as strong: women accounted for 20 percent in 2002, up from under 14 percent in 1999, while racial and ethnic minorities were over 11 percent in 2002, up from 6 percent ... In 2002, women accounted for almost 21 percent of principals and partners at firms, a figure that grew from 11 percent in 1999. Likewise, racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 11 percent of principals and partners in 2002, up from 5 percent in 1999.”

Building community and fostering sustainability
The work of the Institute was evolving as well. Sustainable Design Assessment Teams (SDAT) joined R/UDAT teams in 2005. SDAT “brings together design and planning professionals, assembled from across the country, to provide a road map for communities seeking to improve their sustainability—as defined by a community’s ability to meet the needs of today without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” The AIA assists communities financially toward covering the costs of the sustainability teams. Architects, planners, hydrologists, economic development specialists, and other related professionals, based on credentials and the specific needs of each community, make up each team.

In the same vein, the AIA Board adopted position statements “to promote sustainable design and resource conservation to achieve a minimum reduction of 50 percent of the current consumption level of fossil fuels used to construct and operate buildings by the year 2010.” In discussing the position, RK Stewart, FAIA, facilitator of the AIA Sustainability Summit Task Force (and soon-to-be 2007 AIA president), stated: “Buildings account for 48 percent of U.S. energy consumption and generate far more greenhouse gas emissions than any other sector. As architects, we must accept responsibility for our role in creating the built environment ... it is incumbent upon the architecture profession to alter our actions and encourage both our clients and the entire design and construction industry to join us in plotting a course of measurable changes that will improve the quality of life for everyone.” It is clear that the job is an enormous one requiring sustained effort over the next 10 or more years, “especially in educating clients about their role in the success of this effort.”

Updated contract document software was released, along with five new contract documents in 2005. Already global, the AIA in 2005 announced the creation of its fourth overseas chapter, AIA Japan, to serve approximately 50 AIA members. AIA London/UK was formed in 1993, AIA Continental Europe in 1994, and AIA Hong Kong in 1997, which together represent some 1,000 AIA members who work and live outside the U.S.

Working toward the future
The AIA Board, in September 2006, underscored the AIA Mission Statement: “The American Institute of Architects is the voice of the architecture profession and the resource for its members in service to society,” with the approval of A Covenant Between The American Institute of Architects and Its Members. The covenant recognizes that AIA members “create a community to share knowledge and advocate a shared vision,” which entails both a commitment from the Institute and contributions from the members. The one-page document recognizes that it is “ultimately grounded in shared values, mutual trust, and a commitment to working together” and concludes: “by forging a good-faith partnership among members, the AIA accomplishes things no single architect can do alone!” It is a provocative document that all members should access and ponder.

In 2006, Christine McEntee became executive vice president and chief executive officer of the AIA, the first woman to hold that position. During the same period, Katherine Lee Schwennsen, FAIA, became the 82nd president of the Institute, the second woman to hold that office. At her inauguration Schwennsen, formerly associate dean of the Iowa State University College of Design, called her coming term “not so much about a change of office, or even a change of direction, as it is about delivering the AIA into the care of the next generation . . . In this new era of globalization, we . . . are challenged to strike out boldly toward a preferred destination for our profession. Getting to this destination will require us to change the how, the who, and the what of architectural practice ... the ‘how’ needs to become both more personal and more digitized, the ‘who' needs to become more inclusive, and the ‘what’ needs to become more innovative, knowledge-based, and sustainable.”

President Schwennsen continued, 2006 “ . . . will be a year of transition to and preparation for our 150th anniversary. And it will be another year of transition from a 20th century, industrial age profession to a 21st century digital age profession, in which anyone who assumes a leadership position, in fact anyone who is a member, should think of the AIA as something important, something of great value that has been delivered into our care, and our role is to sustain it, to nurture it, and steer it to a higher, more influential place, a place of every increasing service to society.”

Schwennsen was prescient in her inaugural remarks in that 2006 also saw the first African American elected to become president of the AIA. Marshall E. Purnell, FAIA, will assume that office in December 2007.

On February 23, 2007, the AIA will complete 150 years of “service to society” as it begins its year-long celebration of that past and a brighter future for all.

Here’s to the next 150!