Wednesday, March 23rd
Noon

Decorative Hardwood Plywood & Interior Air Quality
Our goal is to better inform the designer on decorative hardwood plywood. The designer will gain an understanding of composite core adhesive options with formaldehyde emission issues as a focus.  Formaldehyde will also be viewed through two different perspectives (LEED Based and Emissions Based).  The application examples will help to demonstrate the abilities of decorative hardwood plywood and it's features/options.

Columbia Forest Products is North America's largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood and hardwood veneer.  Columbia's decorative, interior veneers and panels can be found virtually everywhere you look - in high end cabinetry, fine furniture, architectural woodwork, commercial store fixtures, residential construction and remodeling projects.

For additional information about Columbia Forest Products, visit our website.

Members - $5 / Non Members - $20

Lunch will be provided!

 RSVP here.

Wednesday, April 6th
Noon

Control Systems Impact on Building Green
A "green home" is more than energy efficiency; one must look at the big picture. Participants in this course will discuss their understanding of what it means to "go green". Discussion will include efficient use of resources, including electricity and water, and how electronic devices can work with these resources to contribute to reducing a home's carbon footprint. Additionally, attendees will discuss how a green home can be a comfortable and healthy environment for its occupants and identify methods such as engaging a trained electronic systems professional, choosing the right building materials, and providing proper air quality and ventilation in order to achieve clients' "green goals".

The course is provided by Robert Wien with Integrity Home Systems.
 
1 LU/HSW/SD

Members - $5 / Non Members - $20

Lunch will be provided!

 RSVP here.

Homes Tour - 25th Anniversary 

1. Call for Entries, click here. 

2. Q&A Meeting on Monday, March 14th at 5:45pm - have questions about submitting a home for the tour, join us at this meeting to learn more.

3. Photographer Call - Pro Bono Services Needed, read more. 

4. If you have had a house on the homes tour in the last 25 years, we are looking for ONE IMAGE of each house either a photo or sketch, to be included in marketing graphics/poster celebrating our 25th anniversary.  Prefer that the image be legible at a small size, 1" x 1" or so.  Send photos to Kristina.  

 

Design Awards & Studio Awards

*Studio Awards are for AIAS Students & Associate AIA Members
Call for Entries, click here.
Deadline to submit is March 17th by 5:00pm.
The Design Awards Jury is scheduled to meet on March 25-26 at the Center for Architecture.

This year's jury is:
Anne Fougeron, FAIA
Trey Trahan, FAIA
Scott Merrill, AIA

All committees are open to members and nonmembers, we encourage your participation.  Committee meetings take place at the Austin Center for Architecture, 801 W. 12th Street, unless otherwise noted.

Archi-CAD User Group

Meets tomorrow, March 10th at 6:00pm at the CFA.  Monthly meetings hosted by David Larrew, AIA of ArchiSolutions. Most meetings include periodic news updates pertaining to ArchiCAD and other BIM-related topics as well as general user questions and answer sessions. This is a great venue to meet and interact with other professionals utilizing ArchiCAD in the Austin area. David, besides being an architect, is the Texas regional Graphisoft Registered Consultant specializing in helping AEC firms implement and utilize ArchiCAD and other related technologies. To learn more, contact David Larrew, AIA.

Committee on the Environment Meeting

Monday, March 14th at Noon.

Honors Award Committee Meeting

Tuesday, March 15th at Noon.  If you have ideas for the local honor awards, please join this meeting.

Design Voice Committee Meeting

Wednesday, March 16th at 6:00pm.

Small Firms Roundtable Meeting

Thursday, March 17th at 11:45am.

Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH)

AAH Committee  will conduct our "March" meeting on Friday, April 1st at 11:30.  This month we'll meet at the Lance Armstrong Foundation facility (designed by The Bommarito Group), hear a brief overview of their Foundation, and tour their facility.
 
When:     11:30am on Friday, April 1, 2011.
Where:    Lance Armstrong Foundation - 2201 E 6th St / Austin TX 78702
Details:   Attendance limit is 40, so reservations will be on first-come-first-served basis.
 
RSVP to William Massingill.

Members/Allied Members, send me your news!  News includes, new members, office moves, awards and honors, events, etc.

Cotera+Reed Architects is moving! As of this Friday, March 11th, 2011 our new address will be:
 
812 San Antonio St
Suite 406
Austin TX 78701
 
Our fax and phone numbers will remain the same.
 
Please bare with us as we move, our server will be down on Friday the 11th and Monday the 14th for the move.

Have you won an AIA Austin Design Award or had a home on the Homes Tour?  If so, we can tag those projects on the website to be included in your firm profile.  The projects must already be added to the website in order to tag.

Is your firm listed on the Firm Finder yet?  The Firm Finder is a great way for your firm to get exposure to potential clients.  In order to get listed on the Firm Finder page of our website, you must set up a username and password on the website.

Contact Elizabeth Humphrey for more information.

The following events and information is provided by other sources.  Please contact the company or firm directly for more information.

1.  Survey Says! 

Greetings AIA Austin Architects! YOU are NEEDED!
I invite you to participate in a brief survey. It has to do with the architectural profession, and will help inform my thesis research which is about the collaborative approach in sustainable design.  One piece of my research considers the relationship between architectural education and the profession; I have been surveying students as well. The results of this survey are SURE to be REALLY INTERESTING, so please consider participating, and the results will be shared with you at a later time when tallied!

Here is the link to the survey.

I thank you in advance,
Amy E. Jones
UT School of Architecture
MSCRP/ MSSD (Expected 2011)

 

2.  Discover biomimicry in your own backyard!

Learn about biomimicry in the context of your local ecosystem with the foremost leaders in the field and connect with others in your regional biomimicry network. In this Backyard Biomimicry Workshop offered by the Biomimicry Group, you'll co-learn with students and professionals of various disciplines about the foundations of biomimicry and equip yourself to approach your region's most pressing design challenges by drawing inspiration from the natural world - found right in your own backyard.

Register Now!
Registration Deadline: March 18, 2011
(Please note that registration is required for all events in the workshop sequence.)
March 31, 2011: Evening lecture with the latest news from the world of biomimicry - donations only
April 1, 2011: Intro to the Foundations of Biomimicry - $249
April 2 & 3, 2011: Hands-on Exploration of the Foundations of Biomimicry - $499
Click here for more information.

3.  Zero Waste Master Plan Public Meeting

Wednesday, March 30, 2011
City Hall, 301 West 2nd St.
Open House: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.*
Presentation: 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.*

FREE parking available in the parking garage. Please bring your parking pass into the meeting for validation.

*NOTE: Start and end times are approximate.

For more information, visit www.austinrecycles.com or e-mail swsmasterplan@ci.austin.tx.us.

4.  The City of Austin Brings You:  GoGreen '11 Austin

presented by Austin Convention Center
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6
Austin Convention Center | 500 East Cesar Chavez Street
8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
5 p.m. Networking Reception Featuring a Live Music Performance by Barbara Nesbitt
Register Now: Early Bird Rates End March 1st!

Check out our latest Green Line Series Interviews with GoGreen Austin Keynote Speaker Lucia Athens, Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Austin and Enviromedia's CEO Valerie Davis talks about Greenwashing + How to Plan For a More Sustainable Future.

5.  A.R.E. Structures Seminar by David Thaddeus, AIA, NCARB

March 18-20, 2011 8 am-7 pm each day
Seminar held @ Brinker International
6820 LBJ Freeway
Dallas, TX 75240
Registration and more info here.

6.  CowParade Call for Designs

Austin, TX is the next destination for the international phenomenon - CowParade. Architects are invited to submit their designs for this public-spirited project that benefits Dell Children's Hospital's SuperHero Kids Fund. Over 75 cities worldwide have sponsored this outdoor art event that invites artists/architects/designers to create a design on one of three life-size Fiberglas cows. London, New York, Paris, Bordeaux, Milan, and Houston are among the sponsoring cities. Architects such as Michael Graves, Lord Richard Rogers and Lord Norman Foster have all created imaginative CowParade designs. Entry deadline is APRIL 15. Entry information is at www.cowparadeaustin.com. Artists whose designs are chosen receive a $1,000 honorarium to produce their cow.  Finished cows will be on view for three months this summer in central Austin. The event culminates in October with a gala live auction of around 50 of the cows. Let's create a CowParade as iconic as Austin! For more information, contact Sandra Gregor.

7.  TBAE Legislative Web Page

The 2011 edition of the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners' legislative information Web page is now online. Feel free to use it and other information resources to stay up to date on all the latest legislative news of interest to design professionals and other stakeholders throughout Texas. Please note that this list is not intended to be exhaustive, and the inclusion or exclusion of a bill on the Web page is not, and should not be seen as, a statement favoring or opposing the adoption of any measure.

8.  AIA 2011 National Convention and Design Exposition

New Orleans | May 12-14
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

Join your fellow design professionals in New Orleans at the AIA 2011 National Convention, where we'll explore the theme Regional Design REVOLUTION: ecology matters. New challenges and insights are guaranteed.  More information here.