Awards: 2003 Young Architects Award
Recipient: Ronald Todd Ray, AIA (STUDIO27architecture)
Representative Work: GYMR Mediating Wall; Washington, D.C.
Client: GYMR (Garrett, Yu Hussein, McCabe & Reis, LLC
Photo: John K. Burke, AIA (STUDIO27architecture)
 
   
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  Accent on Architecture Television Documentaries
The American Architectural Foundation produces television documentaries showing how public participation in the design process can help revitalize communities and improve the quality of life.
 
     
 

Messages of the Built Environment
Try this activity to help you and your family become more aware of the built environment around you. Visit the AAF for more information.

Take a neighborhood walk and look at some windows.
What shapes do you see? Why?
Where do you see windows?
What do you think is behind them?
Find some that appear in odd places.
What would it be like to have no windows?
What would it be like to have all windows?
Draw a picture of a building that is interesting to you, or design your own. Where did you put the windows? What is the building's story?

 
     
  Architects & the Public
 
 

The American Institute of Architects, founded in 1857, is a community of 80,000 licensed architects and associated professionals--individuals dedicated to building on your vision. Here's your source to find out more about the profession and how to work with an architect.

 
Things to Explore
America's Favorite Architecture
20 Questions to Ask Your AIA Architect
Communities by Design
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Design for Aging
Historic Resources Committee
Religious Architecture
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Disaster Assistance

Visit our Professional Knowledge area to find more information.

 
 
Design Students Get Boxed In

One person’s empty shipping crate can be another person’s design treasure. At Cañada College in Redwood City, south of San Francisco, interior design students have created concepts for disaster and homeless housing incorporating imported-goods shipping containers. An 11-week class project, led by design instructor Annie Cronin, yielded creative designs that arrange and stack the spacious metal containers into low-cost, temporary communities.

 
 
You and Your Architect













Download the You and Your Architect PDF- Revised 2008

Browse Expanded Content:

Getting Started
Selecting Your Architect
Services Available from Architects
Negotiating the Agreement
Compensating Your Architect
Keeping the Project on Track


Few things are more satisfying than a successful project.

The secret to success lies in the professional, business, and personal relationships between owner and architect. Here, we provide guidance on how to establish and benefit from those relationships. This resource, originally written for the American Institute of Architects by David Haviland, Hon. AIA, professor of architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is updated periodically to reflect current industry practices. To read on, explore the links below. For more information about working with an architect, please contact your local AIA chapter or the national component at 800-242-3837.



AIA Communities by Design's 10 Principles for Livable Communities

 



 

Application of AIA  Principles improves livability and makes conventional strip development pedestrian friendly.
Courtesy Benjamin Lee, FAIA.


Visit the Center for Communities by Design for more information on how architecture can influence the quality of life in our nation's communities.

1. Design on a Human Scale
Compact, pedestrian-friendly communities allow residents to walk to shops, services, cultural resources, and jobs and can reduce traffic congestion and benefit people's health.

2. Provide Choices
People want variety in housing, shopping, recreation, transportation, and employment. Variety creates lively neighborhoods and accommodates residents in different stages of their lives.

3. Encourage Mixed-Use Development
Integrating different land uses and varied building types creates vibrant, pedestrian-friendly and diverse communities.

4. Preserve Urban Centers
Restoring, revitalizing, and infilling urban centers takes advantage of existing streets, services and buildings and avoids the need for new infrastructure. This helps to curb sprawl and promote stability for city neighborhoods.

5. Vary Transportation Options
Giving people the option of walking, biking and using public transit, in addition to driving, reduces traffic congestion, protects the environment and encourages physical activity.

6. Build Vibrant Public Spaces
Citizens need welcoming, well-defined public places to stimulate face-to-face interaction, collectively celebrate and mourn, encourage civic participation, admire public art, and gather for public events.

7. Create a Neighborhood Identity
A "sense of place" gives neighborhoods a unique character, enhances the walking environment, and creates pride in the community.

8. Protect Environmental Resources
A well-designed balance of nature and development preserves natural systems, protects waterways from pollution, reduces air pollution, and protects property values.

9. Conserve Landscapes
Open space, farms, and wildlife habitat are essential for environmental, recreational, and cultural reasons.

10. Design Matters
Design excellence is the foundation of successful and healthy communities.

     

The graphics above illustrate the AIA 10 Principles and are available to download and support events and general dissemination.
Please follow the links below to download them.

Small Size: Suitable for hand outs and flyers
Big Size: Suitable for large posters and panels