Electronic Voting for Council Elections and Bylaw Amendments – Member Feedback Survey Results

AIBC Members and honorary members were invited to participate in a survey designed to provide the institute with feedback on e-voting.  AIBC Council supports the principle of electronic voting for council elections and bylaw changes and asked the Bylaw Review Committee to inform and seek feedback from members.

The survey results are now available for viewing.

Based upon these results Council will decide whether to recommend bylaws for vote by the members to authorize e-voting as one option for council elections and bylaw votes.

Note that any decisions about e-voting will not impact the current council election.  E-voting would become another voting option and would not eliminate council’s ability to direct mail ballots or bylaw votes at annual meetings.

Bjarke Ingels: mastering the rules before breaking or bending them

The Vancouver Sun
March 20, 2014

For years, the unusual shape of the building site in the 1400-block Howe in the shadow of the Granville Street bridge stymied developer Westbank. Site restrictions, including a 30-metre setback from the bridge, left only a triangular chunk of land of 6,000 square feet.

And that, as architect Bjarke Ingels said, was prohibitively tall for a condominium tower.

Ingels, a Danish architect whose firm Bjarke Ingels Group has offices in New York and Copenhagen, approached the problem differently. If the intent of the city’s regulation was to provide a minimum distance from the bridge for residents of a tower, what would happen once you rose 100 feet above the bridge? Residents would be well above the bridge sightlines.

If that was the case, then a design solution would be to start the building on a triangular base and slowly change the form into a rectangular as it climbed higher.

The simple and elegant design freed up the upper building envelope for development. In essence, it found unused developable space in thin air.

“Behind any rule or regulation, there is intent,” Ingels said in an interview. “There is the letter and the spirit. If you understand the spirit, then there might be ways of addressing those concerns that are the underlying reasons why the code is the way it is. Read More…

TED Vancouver Stage Has Entirely B.C. Design, Materials

The Huffington Post B.C.
March 19, 2014

When speakers take the stage at the TED Conference in Vancouver, they’re standing on an innovative and proudly B.C. piece of craftsmanship.

The stage for the sold-out conference, being held in Vancouver until March 21, was built by local architect Michael Green with donated B.C. wood from Interfor mills.

The 16-foot high wall was made with 400 linking planter boxes made of Hem-Fir (a mix of the hemlock and fir species) and cedar lumber from mills in Castlegar and Maple Ridge, B.C., according to a press release Tuesday.

“An idea I certainly would like to spread is that wood is an amazing material full of unexplored potential,” said Green, who gave a TED talk in 2013 called “Why We Should Build Wooden Skyscrapers.”

“Wood sequesters carbon, which means we can meet the challenge of building the new affordable homes needed by so much of the world’s population while limiting our impact on the environment,” he explained in a news release.

The stage was designed and built with a group of architecture students from UBC, BCIT, Kwantlen, and Emily Carr. Read More…

AIA Wunderkind Courtney Brett Bridges Architectural Worlds

By Lamar Anderson
Curbed National, March 18, 2014

This week, Curbed National is examining what it’s like to be a woman working in architecture. Today, writer Lamar Anderson profiles Courtney Brett, who, at 24, became the youngest architect ever licensed by the American Institute of Architects in 2012.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014, by Lamar Anderson

This week, Curbed National is examining what it’s like to be a woman working in architecture. Today, writer Lamar Anderson profiles Courtney Brett, who, at 24, became the youngest architect ever licensed by the American Institute of Architects in 2012.

If you know Courtney Brett’s name, you probably remember her as the lovely but mysteriously grayscaled millennial who, at 24, became the youngest architect ever licensed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). In 2012 Brett made headlines as the architectural wunderkind who began college at 14, transferred to Auburn University’s architecture program at 16, and, at 20, reported for duty at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in New York. By 21, she was working on Qatar Petroleum, an unbuilt complex for Doha that, at the time, was shaping up to be the largest construction project in the world.

In the slow-moving universe of architecture, 24 is the equivalent of a child star. And, as befalls anyone celebrated for her youth, Brett was quickly supplanted: in 2013, her former Auburn classmate Rosannah Sandoval, just 23 at the time, unseated her as AIA’s reigning ingenue. Read more…

2014 CACB Conference Call for Position Papers

The Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB) is planning a conference in September 2014 to review the holistic education of an architect. The theme of this conference, Educating Future Architects, will focus on the education of future practicing architects from a student beginning a pre-architecture program to licensure and registration. At this conference, the CACB and its collateral organizations (CALA, CASA, CCUSA, RAIC) will be concerned with the future education and internship process for architectural professionals. The last such conference was in September 2001.

The CACB notes that, “the roles of architects and the face of the profession are changing. Current practice does now, and future practice will, require new knowledge and skills. How we prepare graduates for success in this evolving and expanding discipline is critical to our collective futures. It is time to take a collective fresh look at how the delivery of architectural education and the requirements of post-graduate internship can be better integrated and how the partnership between educators and those in professional practice can support a shared outcome.”

In order to develop more meaningful sessions, the Conference Organizing Committee is issuing an open call for position papers relevant to topics of current and future architectural education. Once collated and summarized, the resulting position papers will be used to shape discussion sessions by the delegates (invited representatives of the various collateral organizations) at the September 2014 conference. Learn more…

Deadline extended: Western Living Designers of the Year 2014

Western Living’s annual Designers of the Year competition celebrates the best new designs in Western Canada.

Categories include:

• Architecture
• Interiors
• Furniture
• Fashion
• Industrial
• Landscape
• Eco
• The Arthur Erickson Memorial for an emerging architect
• The Robert Ledingham Memorial Award for an emerging designer

The submission deadline for the 2014 competition has been extended to April 14, 2014. For information about the competition, visit Western Living Magazine or contact Western Living Contributing Editor Amanda Ross, at: amanda.ross@shaw.ca. Winners and finalists will be published in the September 2014 issue of Western Living magazine.

City of Vancouver – Digital Copies of Building Plans Now Available

The City of Vancouver announced updates on the availability of Digital Copies of Building plans that will be starting March 25, 2014. Click to view, City of Vancouver – Digital Building Plans.

Liget Budapest International Design Competition

The Museum of Fine Arts Budapest and the Városliget Zrt., owned by the Hungarian State hereby announce an open, international, two-stage design competition for the design of museum buildings within the framework of the Liget Budapest Project on the territory of the City Park Budapest.

The first round of the competition was announced on February 27 2014, and the deadline for the submission of competitive projects is May 27, 2014.  For all those who are interested in this free, international, two-round, anonymous architectural competition, find the summary and its set of rules at the competition’s official website at: www.ligetbudapest.org

This competition programme was compiled in accordance with the Hungarian legal regulations in force and the guidelines of the Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA).

Theme of Competition:
The two partners, Museum of Fine Arts Budapest and Városliget Zrt. are promoting four separate competitions in the framework of the Liget Budapest International Design Competition to construct the five new buildings, which will house six institutions. There is a competition for the common building of the New National Gallery and the Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art, the building of the Museum of Ethnography and the Hungarian House of Music, while a joint call was announced for the FotoMuzeum Budapest and the Hungarian Museum of Architecture.

The international design competition forms a part of the Liget Budapest Project aimed at the complex development and renewal of Városliget (City Park). Through the construction of the new museum buildings, the complete renewal and expansion of the park’s green area as well as the reconstruction and development of the institutions already operating there, Városliget will be transformed into one of Budapest’s key tourist and cultural destinations and family event parks, making it known all over Europe.  The planned investment is the largest new museum development project in Europe to date.

For further information please contact:
Project Team
Liget Budapest
www.ligetbudapest.org

Cultural Values & the Contemporary Urban Landscape

Julian Smith will share current international thinking on cultural landscape theory and practice.  It is a relatively new planning concept, emerging at the intersection of nature and culture, continuity and diversity, the old and the new.  It is a response to changing attitudes in both the conservation field and the design and development fields. In a period when people are searching for more integrated approaches to community development, cultural landscape theory and practice provides a broad ecological approach to sustainable practice.  Julian has consulted with UNESCO, the World Bank, federal and provincial governments, and the private sector to help develop cultural landscape theory and practice as part of a more dynamic approach to cultural resources and practices in a wide variety of settings.

Event details:
Date: April 4, 2014 ( 7 – 9 p.m.)
Location: SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W Hastings Street, Vancouver
Admission: Free, reservations are required. Reserve

About Julian Smith:
Julian is an architect, conservator, and educator. He is internationally recognized for his contributions to the field of heritage conservation in general, and to cultural landscape theory and practice in particular. He began his career in the contemporary design field with Peter Eisenman in New York, and then spent a number of years in India researching the cognitive mapping of historic town centres.

Sponsored by: 
ICOMOS Canada, Parks Canada, City of Vancouver, and Heritage BC.

New Registered Educational Provider: Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin Inc. (RWDI)

RWDI is an international specialty consulting engineering firm that uses a variety of engineering, computing, and scientific capabilities to help designers create comfortable environments and high performance buildings and structures. To learn more about all AIBC Registered Educational Providers, click here.

AIBC Council Summary: March 11, 2014

At its meeting on Tuesday, March 11, 2014, AIBC Council dealt with the following matters:

– A request from a member to appear as a delegation to council regarding honorary membership. Vice President Darryl Condon Architect AIBC provided background to the request, indicating that it had followed proper process.  The request was referred to the Recognition Committee by the Governance Committee, who had initially considered it.  A vote of council was taken, and the request was defeated.

– A submission presented by the Bylaw Review Committee regarding member feedback and survey results on the proposed bylaw amendment with respect to electronic voting.  The results suggest strong support for the initiative, assuming cost and security protocols are managed. Council passed related motions.  The institute will prepare the bylaw notice supporting material for a member vote at the 2014 annual meeting.

– A report from Treasurer Cal Meiklejohn Architect AIBC regarding Financial Policy 2.12, which outlined changes to the policy based on continued work to address the Risk Assessment report submitted to council in September 2013.

– A report and accompanying motions from the Strategic Engagement Steering Committee calling for proceeding with the recommendations for stakeholder engagement in the form of open houses for information gathering purposes.  Council approved the motions.

– A report and accompanying motions from the Associates Task Force regarding independent design services provided by two of the three Associate categories (Intern Architects and Architectural Technologists). Council confirmed that a presentation of the issue will be given to members at the 2014 annual meeting.  As part of the motion, council requested further consideration of the Associates Task Force and staff of the enforcement risks, budget impacts, and effective implementation.

– A report and accompanying motions from the Act Review Working Group requesting council support for efforts to seek amendments to the Architects Act with respect to limited liability partnerships (LLPs), addressing non-compliance with continuing education system as an administrative matter rather than as a disciplinary matter, and to provide for basic duties and objects language in the Act.

– Council consented to receipt of reports from: the Governance Committee, the Finance Committee; and the Executive Director.  Other committees reported activities under separate agenda items later in the meeting.

– Council also passed motions pertaining to various consent items dealing with policy compliance, committee changes, examination results and registration amendments, and the appointment of the auditor for resolution at the 2014 annual meeting.

AIBC Annual Meeting & Council Election Nominations – Update

The nomination deadline for AIBC Council elections is now closed. All signed Call for Nominations Forms, Nominee Declaration Forms, and Nominee Statement Forms must have been received by the AIBC time stamped before 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 21, 2014. For more information please visit the Nomination Process for AIBC Council and 2014 Annual Meeting web pages.

Council Nominees Announced:
Tuesday, March 25, 2014 please visit 2014 Annual Meeting to view the council nominees.

The Annual Meeting & Council Election Information Package:
The Annual Meeting & Council Election Information Package will be mailed out beginning April 9, 2014 to all AIBC members and honorary members. Included in the package will be the official notice, meeting agenda, meeting protocols, members’ forum protocols, draft minutes from the 2013 Annual Meeting, audited financial statements, Council Officer reports and Executive Director’s report.  In addition, the package will include information related to the 2014 Council Election: nominee information, election ballots and envelopes. The Annual Meeting & Council Election Information Package will  be made available online the first week of April 2014; please visit 2014 Annual Meeting web page to view.

The 2014 AIBC Annual Meeting will take place:
Date:         Saturday, May 3, 2014, 1:00pm – 5:00pm (registration at 12:00 noon)
Location:   Segal Building, Simon Fraser University Vancouver Campus
Address:    500 Granville Street

Register for the 2014 AIBC Annual Meeting:
AIBC registrants and members of the public are welcome to attend the 2014 Annual Meeting. Architects and Architectural Technologists who attend the 2014 Annual Meeting are entitled to two non-core learning units. To assist in recording these learning units, it is asked that Architects and Architectural Technologists register online in advance for this free event.