Advisory Design Panel Applicants Wanted

The AIBC Advisory Design Panel Committee is currently inviting architects to submit Advisory Design Panel (ADP) applications indicating any municipalities for which they wish to be considered in the future. The role of an advisory design panel member is to give impartial, professional advice directly on any proposal or policy affecting the community’s physical environment in the public interest. Architects nominated by the AIBC serve as volunteer members of ADPs and are dedicated to carrying out their duties and responsibilities to high professional standards in the public interest. All applicants will be required to have familiarity with the AIBC’s Bulletin 65 Advisory Design Panels – Standards for Procedures and Conduct (http://www.aibc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Bulletin_65.pdf). For additional information, refer to ADP Frequently Asked Questions (here). An application form is available at http://www.aibc.ca/membersite/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/07/Design-Panel-Application-Form_Dec-2013.pdf. Completed applications may be forwarded to the attention of Administrative Assistant Yana Vassilenko at yvassilenko@aibc.ca.

Green Building Leadership Award For Vancouver

Vancouver took top honours at the World Green Building Council’s Government Leadership Awards, earning the citation for Best Green Building Policy. Held in partnership with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and the United Nations’ UN-HABITAT Human Settlements Program, the biennial award program recognizes local government leadership in green building and highlights policies that maximize the opportunity for buildings to mitigate environmental impact. Vancouver was singled out for its Greenest City 2020 Action Plan, which calls for a 20% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Winning cities were chosen by an expert panel of judges representing ICLEI, UN-HABITAT, and the World Green Building Council. The winners were announced at the Warsaw Dialogue on Scaling-Up Local and Subnational Climate Action, held in conjunction with the UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland. For more information, click here.

Can We Please Stop Bashing Architects?

By Rory Stott, ArchDaily
November 19, 2013 

If the discussions recently held at the Battle of Ideas are any indication, it seems that we in the architecture community are living a certain crisis of confidence. Not one new utopian vision has been presented in the past 30 years, lamented Theodore Dounas; all these pop-ups popping up are just evidence, said Pedro Bismarck and Alastair Donald, of architecture’s fearful reluctance to tackle  complex problems or act as a legitimate agent for change at all; and then there’s the problem, voiced by Rory Olcayto, of architects being bullied by their clients into executing questionable agendas. These interpretations – of architects as meek, cautious, deferential, afraid of responsibility – are far from the stereotype of the architect as megalomaniac artiste. Yet two recent articles chastise architects for just that: “Why I Left the Architecture Profession” by Christine Outram and “The Fountainhead All Over Again” by Lance Hosey both criticize architects’ out of control egos, absence of common sense, and lack of respect for the people who their designs are supposed to serve. More …