Member News

Huizar, Community Work Together on Downtown Park Grant

March 12, 2010

Councilmember José Huizar worked with the Downtown community to submit a $6. 6 million grant proposal for a pocket park on 9th and Hill streets, with the hope of acquiring and converting a parking lot into a mini-green oasis in the dense downtown neighborhood.

The 30-10 Transportation Plan Update

March 11, 2010

As you know, support has been building for our 30-10 initiative to accelerate construction of the 12 mass transit projects funded by the voter-approved Measure R. Our goal is as ambitious as it is critical to LA’s transportation, environmental, and job creation needs: get all 12 projects built in 10 years, instead of 30.

Court Facility Projects – Funding and Contracts

March 11, 2010

The money that currently is financing the acquisition of land and contracts with architects for the $5 billion court facility improvement program remains threatened in the Legislature. Some judges and the court employee unions are asking the Legislature to divert the money to the court system general fund to offset budget cuts. The AIACC is a part of a coalition to protect the capitol improvement money. The coalition includes other design professional associations, contractor and sub?contractor groups, construction unions, and the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Baseline Hillside Ordinance

March 9, 2010

Staff is currently processing all of the comments made at the workshops and will try to address as many of them as we can in the proposed Baseline Hillside Ordinance. We will take into consideration written comments received up to Monday, March 15, 2010 in the development of the proposed Ordinance; please email them to . We will continue to accept your comments after the 15th, but will unfortunately not be able to be incorporated in that iteration of the proposal. For those individuals who attended and/or gave us their input, thank you for your time and participation.

USC School of Architecture Dean Qingyun Ma earned international recognition from BusinessWeek

March 8, 2010

According to BusinessWeek, Qingyun Ma, dean of the USC School of Architecture, joins Apple design guru Jonathan Ive and spaceplane designer Burt Rutan as one of “the 27 most influential designers making an impact on business today.”

BUILDABLE VISIONS: SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATIONS IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENTS OF CAMPUSES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES

March 8, 2010

The Ninth Annual California Higher Education Sustainability Conference: Golden State Green Opportunities, hosted by Los Angeles Trade Tech and the Los Angeles Community College District at Trade Tech June 20th-23rd, will share best practices designed for California campuses, introduce student leaders creating change for sustainability, present green business leaders and their products – and will showcase several specific design concepts in specified project categories toward sustainable environments: the Buildable Visions Design Competition seeks to accelerate this campus-to-community-to-society innovation transfer.

Meeting Topics

March 5, 2010

What topics would you like to discuss at future meetings?

Young Architects Forum (YAF) of Atlanta Announces Design-Build Challenge

March 5, 2010

Young Architects Forum (YAF) of Atlanta Announces Design-Build Challenge

WWCOT to join DLR Group

March 2, 2010

WWCOT to join DLR Group

Commission Sets Stage for Economic Action Plan

February 26, 2010

The Little Hoover Commission on Thursday urged the governor and the Legislature to restructure the leadership and coordination of the state’s economic development programs. When the Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency was shuttered in 2003, largely due to controversy over its overseas trade offices, the state’s economic development programs were dispersed to various agencies and departments. The lack of a single state economic development organization created room for local economic development associations and regional collaborations to emerge and set bottom-up priorities for economic growth. The Commission calls on the state to once again play a leading role.

SCAG is now accepting nominations for its Fourth Annual Compass Blueprint Recognition Awards

February 25, 2010

SCAG is now accepting nominations for its Fourth Annual Compass Blueprint Recognition Awards The Compass Blueprint Recognition Awards are presented annually in recognition of projects that demonstrate excellence and achievement in the four key elements of Compass Blueprint planning: Livability, Mobility, Prosperity and Sustainability

Position Statement Process

February 25, 2010

The Los Angeles Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA|LA) engages the public in many ways. We craft Press Releases announcing events, achievements and initiatives, we formally develop Issue Briefs as part of our annual Legislative Day at City Hall advocacy efforts, and, additionally the Chapter develops Position Statements to represent the professional interests of architects and our members. These Position Statements serve as advocacy tools to help shape public policy and our environment.

David Fridlund - Co-Chair

February 24, 2010

International Practice Law

L.A. County Strategic Plan for Economic Development

February 24, 2010

With Los Angeles County struggling with double-digit unemployment, BizFed last week took a significant step toward aggressively working for a more business-friendly environment to spur jobs and help all of our communities thrive in this new decade

Ted Hyman, FAIA

February 22, 2010

If you have energy and interest in helping please let us know your ideas and insights of issues that the committee might take on.

Arch Is_ Winners Announced

February 19, 2010

The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Chapter proudly announces the winners of the first annual Arch Is_ program.

Congratulations to:
Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu - Oyler Wu Collaborative, Los Angeles, CA
Tom Wiscombe - EMERGENT, Los Angeles, CA

AIA|LA ASKS LEGISLATORS TO PROTECT SB1407 FUNDS FOR COURTHOUSE CONSTRUCTION

February 18, 2010

LOS ANGELES, CA, February 18, 2010: in letters to California Legislators, the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA|LA), expressed strong support for protecting funding for the court facility renovation and construction program created by the passage of Senate Bill 1407

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February 17, 2010

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Baseline Hillside Ordinance Public Workshops

February 12, 2010

The Department of City Planning has been conducting a citywide study on how to best address the issue of out-of-scale single-family development in the hillside area. The Department has developed a citywide proposal that would ultimately address key issues raised by various communities including floor area ratios, height and stories, and grading limits.

The Positive Results in Integrated Project Delivery Case Studies

February 12, 2010

Sacramento, CA (January 28, 2010) – The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and The AIA California Council, (AIACC) today announced the results of a joint project focused on real building projects that utilized and implemented Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), during the building process. IPD is a construction project model in which owner, design professional and builder jointly share a project’s risk and reward. These studies demonstrate the successful application of IPD in a variety of building types and scales in diverse regions of the country, and are the first installment of an ongoing evaluation process of how the IPD model might be incorporated nationwide to protect against project losses. In particular, all six participants in the study delivered projects on time and within budget using the IPD model, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of its use.

ANGELA BROOKS, AIA, RECEIVES THE 2010 USA NETWORK “CHARACTER APPROVED” AWARD CELEBRATING CULTURAL INFLUENCERS AND TRAILBLAZER

February 10, 2010

USA Network announced today the ten honorees for the second annual Character Approved Awards, a multimedia campaign honoring individuals who are changing the face of American culture. Inspired by USA's Characters Welcome brand, the initiative is dedicated to celebrating the true trailblazers across a variety of disciplines such as art, philanthropy, new media and film.

GRAYWATER REGULATIONS

February 10, 2010

The California State emergency graywater regulations, which added Chapter 16A, (Part I) "Nonpotable Water Reuse Systems" into the 2007 California Plumbing Code, were approved by the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) on July 30, 2009 and became effective on August 4, 2009. At that time the Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) issued an Information Bulletin to inform the public about the regulations.

Get L.A., a short film competition

February 5, 2010

Get L.A., a short film competition that celebrates the city, the lifestyle, and the state of mind that we call Los Angeles.

A Message from Gerhard W. Mayer, AIA about the importance of architects becoming more involved in public policy and urban planning

February 5, 2010

What can we learn from great traditional cities and why can we not create more of those cities here, cities we like so much elsewhere? And what can we do to create some of those models here, in our own country?