2024 Annual General Meeting Review

The 2024 Annual General Meeting. Photo by Adelina Koleva, AIA.

The AIA UK proudly kicked off 2024 with its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Herman Miller Showroom in London on Thursday, January 17. The meeting underscored the Chapter’s commitment to transparent governance and marked a pivotal moment not only to reflect on the accomplishments of 2023, but also to outline the Chapter’s plans for 2024 and beyond.

The 2023 AIA UK President, Gregory Fonseca, AIA, commenced the meeting with a welcome and thank you to Chapter sponsors, followed by an engaging presentation entitled, ‘Design with Impact,’ led by Miller Knoll representative Bertie van Wyck. The audience gained fascinating insights on the latest in workplace design research in the era of remote, office, and hybrid work culture.

Gregory Fonseca, AIA, resumed the podium with a ‘Year in Review’ presentation, which summarised the Chapter's mission and activities in 2023. The year showcased a full calendar of initiatives, including flagship events like the Design Awards and Student Charette. Lunchtime Sustainability Lectures and Movie Nights continued, organised by Mark Breeze and Christopher Musangi, respectively.

Other noteworthy moments of 2023 included a ‘super’ successful ‘Super Saturday’ in Canterbury, organised by Brianne Hamilton, which offered substantial continuing education credits to attendees. The signing ceremony for the US-UK Mutual Recognition Agreement was another important highlight which fostered important relationships between AIA National, NCARB, RIBA, and ARB representatives.

The next portion of the evening focused on 2023 chapter operations in greater detail. The financial health of the chapter was presented by 2023 Treasurer, Alex Miller, AIA. The Treasurer reported that the 2023 budget was closely adhered to and included key sponsorship contributions from Beale & Co. and Iris Ceramica. 

The 2023 membership chair, Taylor Rogers, AIA, followed up with the membership highlights. Membership growth was high in 2023 as the AIA UK welcomed 64 new members, bringing the total to 326. Rogers emphasized the importance of updating website directory details for demographic analysis.

A subsequent presentation led by 2022 Secretary Lorraine King, AIA, was conducted in preparation for a vote to approve revisions to the Chapter Bylaws. The initiative to revise the Bylaws was previously approved at the 2023 AGM by vote in response to a memorandum issued by the AIA General Counsel in 2022. The revisions were mainly to organise and clarify the language of the Bylaws and bring them into genuine alignment with the practical ethos of the AIA UK Chapter. The proposed revisions were approved by majority vote.

At the behest of the 2023 President, the AGM then voted to approve the proposed 2024 board slate to ensure AIA UK leadership continuity. Following the vote, the new President, Taylor Rogers, AIA, was officially welcomed into office. Notably, his unique efforts last year led to HMRC approval for tax relief on AIA UK dues, a testament to his proactive approach to enhance member benefits and wider acceptance of the AIA in the UK.

The 2024 President gives the ‘Year Ahead’ presentation. Photo by Adelina Koleva, AIA.

Looking ahead, the new President outlined the focus areas for 2024, emphasizing Membership, Sustainability, and JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion). The agenda for the coming year includes diverse board meetings, continuing education events, and participation in national and international conferences. As the AIA UK embarks on a new year, President Taylor Rogers urged members to get involved, highlighting that the chapter's success relies on the dedication of volunteers. Subscribe and stay tuned for more information on future AIA UK activities!

Overall, the 2024 Annual General Meeting provided a comprehensive snapshot of the Chapter's achievements, financial standing, and strategic initiatives, setting the stage for an exciting and impactful year ahead. Members are encouraged to stay engaged with the AIA UK community and continue to contribute actively to an organisation which allows us to stay connected worldwide.

Written by Adelina Koleva, AIA

Beale & Co News: Market Trends in the Construction Industry in 2023 and how to Tackle Them in 2024

As the first two months of 2024 draws to a close, we feel it is an opportune time to reflect on some of the trends we saw in the construction industry in 2023 and hopefully look with some positivity at what is to come in 2024.

2023 was, in lots of ways, a difficult year for the construction industry. It was plagued by inflation, increased cost of materials, skilled labour shortages, a cost-of-living crisis and the ongoing effects of the Russo-Ukrainian war. It was not all doom and gloom though. We saw a real increase in the focus on climate change and decarbonisation in construction projects globally and in the use of digital technologies to improve efficiencies. We also saw the introduction of secondary legislation under the Building Safety Act which reflected a hugely important step towards a safer built environment.

This article will reflect on these important trends.

Market trends in the construction industry in 2023 and how to tackle them in 2024 | Beale & Co (beale-law.com)

Written by Andrew Croft & Ellie Eastwood

AIA Members Attend London Art Fair

19 January 2024

Our friends at the London Art Fair invited AIA UK members to the annual mega art event held at The Business Design Centre in Islington.  The Fair took place from the 16th of January through the 21st.  The London Art Fair connects the best art galleries from around the world with seasoned and aspiring collectors.  Over 120 galleries were in attendance and there was a full programme of talks and tours.

The Fair was an impressive sight and was teaming with visitors.  There was a wide variety of art on display, all for sale with a broad rage of prices to suit everyone’s budget.  It was a very enjoyable evening help in part by the free glasses of Bubbly!

The Fair was founded 36 years ago with the aim of showcasing Modern and Contemporary art.  The Fair has grown steadily over the years and now, is an important event in the global world of art.  Over 25,000 visitors attended last year.

As this is an annual event, we hope to be invited back and to see you there in 2025!

The US Embassy & the Keynote Lecture - Connections from the Past

In 2002, AIA UK’s 1st Keynote Lecture featured Rick Mather RIBA– the American architect working in London who had earned an exceptional international reputation.  It was held in the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square and offered a rare opportunity for a capacity AIA audience to circumvent the iconic, listed façade and US security guards and to visit the interior of the Eero Saarinen designed building.    

The 2003 Newsletter article extracted below gave an abbreviated, low key summary of Rick Mather’s illustrious career.  He is perhaps best known for his adaptations of four British Museums - the Dulwich Picture Gallery, National Maritime Museum, the Wallace Collection and the Ashmolean in Oxford – the latter celebrated as 2010 Building of the Year and shortlisted for the Stirling Prize. 

Although it is not listed in the extensive online references to his career, Rick Mather was not only RIBA but also International Associate AIA and a bona fide, active member of the AIA UK Chapter. 

Stephan Reinke FAIA – the UK Chapter’s 1st President - recalls him as a Chapter friend who participated in AIA UK’s Design Awards as both juror and winner; served as juror at the 1st AIA UK Charette; and spoke at an early AIA International Conference. 

In 2002, getting the US Embassy to open up – particularly in the post 9/11 atmosphere - was a major achievement for lecture organiser, Lester Korzilius FAIA.  After his first success, Korzilius  continued in cooperation with other AIA UK members to organise subsequent Keynote Lectures. Whenever possible, speakers were selected with America, preferably Anglo-American, connections but the selections were always subject to availability.  

2002 Rick Mather, @ US Embassy

2003 Cesar Pelli, @ Canary Wharf Winter Garden

2005 William Pedersen

2006 Rafael Vinoly

2007 Antoine Predock

2008 Peter Eisenman

2012 Ricardo Legoreta

2015 Tod Williams & Billie Tsien

2016 Thomas Phifer

2017 Steven Holl

2018 James Timberlake & Stephen Kieran

2020 Francis Kéré, @ Virtual Lecture

2021 Tatiana Bilbao

2022 Annabelle Selldorf

In 2005, the AIA Keynote lectures were moved to the welcoming, venerable venue of the RIBA Jarvis Hall where they continue to this day.  They remain a lasting symbol of cooperation and collaboration between two, likeminded institutions. 
In 2018, AIA UK invited the designers of the recently completed US Embassy in London - James Timberlake FAIA and Stephen Kieran FAIA - to be the Keynote speakers.  As per the AIA UK Newsletter,  “Kieran and Timberlake spoke eloquently of the conceptual ambitions of the scheme, to embody ideals of transparency and openness, while balancing the strict security requirements of an embassy and the firm’s quest for pushing the boundaries of building technology”.

Timberlake and Kieran from AIA UK Newsletter at the RIBA (see Here).

As ‘strict security requirements’ remain an issue with US Embassies around the world, it was with great surprise and pleasure that the current Chapter President, Gregory Fonseca AIA, achieved clearance for an AIA UK building tour to the new US Embassy with its own iconic façade in late 2023 (see Here). 

Although the evening was stormy, the Embassy’s welcome was warm, with the AIA group enjoying the hospitality of the Embassy’s private nightspot at the tour’s end.

Written by Lorraine D King, AIA

US Embassy Tour

AIA Members in the Ground Floor Consular Lobby below the Great Seal of the United States of America 

On 16 Nov 2023, the US Embassy hosted the AIA UK in a private tour of their latest home in Nine Elms, Battersea.  There has been an official American presence in London since John Adams, the first US minister, in 1785.  Since then, the US “Embassy” -  or more properly referred to as a “Legation” in the early days of this long standing international relationship - has had a variety of homes in London, including Great Cumberland Place; Piccadilly; 98 Portland Place; and 123 Victoria Street in Westminster.  

In 1938, the Embassy was moved to 1 Grosvenor Square.  The next Embassy was designed by Finnish American, modernist architect Eero Saarinen, and constructed in the late 1950s at the same Grosvenor location.  This is the facility that many of us still relate to, having likely visited the iconic building in the past to renew passports and conduct other business as US citizens. It is now listed and is being converted into a luxury hotel. The latest Embassy, designed by KieranTimberlake, is no longer in well-established Mayfair but sits prominently in up-and-coming Nine Elms, overlooking the Thames. 

The Architect received the commission to design the new Embassy and surrounding water and green spaces via a competition.  Through the combination of the 100-foot set-back from the road and a series of water features, the site meets the State Department’s stringent security requirements at the same time it provides a fitting backdrop for a stately object building.  

The cube-shaped building has a laminated glazing envelop with a transparent framework of ETFE on three sides, giving a textured 3D effect against a tightly wrapped glazed wall system. The ETFE on the east, west and south facing facades controls excessive solar gain and mitigates glare. This allows daylight throughout the building, while reducing the energy required to cool and light it.

I admit I was initially sceptical of the move to Nine Elms; however, having had the opportunity to tour the new Embassy I am now delighted with the result.  On the evening of the tour, I approached the building from the northeast corner of the site, passing along curving pathways in the landscaped gardens to see the main building set on a large plinth above a protective pool.

Garden approach to the US Embassy London

Joining other waiting AIA visitors, we entered the Embassy through a pavilion on the eastern side into the main lobby where we were greeted by a large two storey space with a beautifully crafted US seal embossed on a limestone feature wall along with the engraved names of all previous ambassadors. We were then led through to the gallery, grand staircase, and events hall below.  

From the events hall, we were able to tour the “belly” of the Embassy and explore the mechanical spaces of the building, which boasts LEED Gold and BREAM Outstanding ratings. We were then escorted via a series of lifts to the functional parts of the Embassy where “processing facilities” allow citizens to renew passports and other government business. Here, the spaces and finishes were carefully detailed and crafted, offering an environment a far cry from the mere functionality the Grosvenor Square facility.  

The Embassy - with its emphasis on artwork and greenery - offers more than just traditional office interiors.  Art plays a significant role in the overall presentation of the Embassy with a total of 19 major pieces. One hanging sculpture, which occupies the entirety of the Embassy’s gallery atrium, is a three-storey structure comprised of 32 ten-foot square panels. A mural entitled “We the People” includes fragments and full articles quoted from the U.S. Constitution. Each of the interior gardens is inspired by a different region of the United States, including the Canyon Lands, the Gulf Coast, the Midwest, the Potomac River Valley, the Pacific Forest, and the Mid-Atlantic Region.  

Upon completion of the tour, the AIA guests were fortunate to partake of refreshments in the “Embassy Bar/ Restaurant”, enjoying a beverage while admiring stunning views of the London skyline north of the Thames. It is also noteworthy that American Embassy in London was funded entirely from proceeds of the sale of other U.S. government property in London. 

The tour was hugely impressive, an evening to remember!

Written by Gregory Fonseca, AIA

FROM THE DISTANT PAST / Two Design Charettes to Remember

AIA UK Newsletter Issue #01 - dated May 1994 – announced the formation of the 1st International AIA Chapter on 17 Jun 1993, ‘In the Beginning…’.  As there are several months left in this our 30th Anniversary year, we still have time to celebrate the past, to delve into the archives and see where and when the DESIGN CHARETTES started.   

From Newsletter Issue #04 dated Feb 1995 (extract below),  the first Design Charette with 75 students was held in Eero Saarinen’s previous US Embassy on Grosvenor Square in the days before security concerns prohibited general access to US government buildings.

LOOKING BACK AT THE 1994 DESIGN CHARETTE

The 1994 Participants / The Venue  One can only wonder where those first 75 students are now.  How many continued on a potentially glorious, potentially rocky career in architecture?  Given free student membership to the fledgling Chapter, how many ever became AIA members? How many of them thought about their own foray into embassy design when the replacement US Embassy was eventually opened years later?  Unlike one 1994 ‘fantasy solution’ mentioned in Newsletter #04, the new scheme does not include a baseball diamond… but it does have a fantasy façade…

The 1994 Team Leaders  Whereas the student participants are not named, some of the AIA UK team leaders were, and in later years they became increasingly important to London’s architectural community.  

Both Lee Polisano FAIA (who heads PLP Architects) and Pierre Baillargeon AIA (who is now MD of Mixity and has been an active Charette Team Leader on and off since 1994) remain in London as AIA UK Members. David Walker RIBA (who heads David Walker Architects) also remains in the UK, whereas Yann Weymouth FAIA returned to a very successful career in the US.  

The 1994 jurors   The 1994 Honorary Chairman was the US Ambassador to the UK, Admiral William Crowe; however, it is assumed that the actual jury work was conducted at least in part by the then Chief Architect of Foreign Building Operations, Patrick Collins AIA, who remained with the US State Department until at least 2015.

A distinguished group of new jurors are selected each year, with the Design Charette organisers keen for them to represent a diverse range of practitioners and educators.  However, one 1994 juror - Peter Finch OBE, then Editor of the Architect’s Journal - kept a keen interest in the Charette and continued in the Chief Juror role until 2012.  He remains Editorial Director of AR and AJ but is also now Programme Director of the World Architecture Festival and Deputy Chair of the Design Council.  

LOOKING BACK AT THE 2000 DESIGN CHARETTE

The Sponsors The 6th Design Charette - ‘High Dense + City Living’ - was held in 2000, based on the highly trafficked West Kensington Underground Station. The focused environs were near the Olympia warehouse of Call Print, the Charette’s (and the Chapter’s) long term sponsor and the Charette was held under the auspices of its enthusiastic and ever popular Manager, Steve Jolly.   

The AIA UK Board Member and event organiser, Yasin Visram (who now lives in Canada), prepared an excellent, comprehensive summary of the event, which was published as a bound brochure courtesy of Call Print (see HERE). Unfortunately, the format has been difficult to copy, but it remains a remarkable souvenir. 

The 2000 Jurors and Team Leaders For the 2000 Design Charette jury, Peter Finch and Steve Jolly, were joined by several distinguished practitioners, including the then up and coming architect Zaha Hadid.  The 2000 Team leaders were Christopher Stead, Michael Morgan, Paul Wellings-Longmore, Lester Korzilius FAIA, Martin Hall, Matthew Farrell, Peter Seidel AIA, Charlie Baker and Mike Hardiman AIA – several of whom are still familiar to AIA UK members after all these years.  One student participant – Amy Kaspar AIA – is now an AIA Board Member in Columbus Ohio and still in contact with AIA UK. 

Newsletter Issue #34 - dated Jan 2001 (see HERE) – devoted an entire page to the Event.  In the extract below, Peter Finch likened the arrival of the jurors to the excitement of the Stirling Prize.  It was not quite that important an event but was certainly still newsworthy as was the main topic of the day – ‘environmental sustainability’. 

The 2000 Star Attraction Zaha Hadid visited the warehouse  during the day and soundly chided the students - from Sheffield, Portsmouth, Greenwich, Westminster, Cardiff, Kingston, RCA, the Bartlett, Southbank, and North and East London (plus exchange students from Milan, Durban, Halifax and the US) – for not taking DESIGN seriously enough.   

Thanks to Yasin Visram and Steve Jolly an exclusive record of Zaha Hadid’s unique thought process remains.   Whereas other jurors kept simple notes on their jury cards, she took the time to draw futuristic thumbnail sketches with cryptic titles – ‘sugar cubes’ for the first one; ‘calm chaos’ for the last one; and ‘shining city’ along the way…  Did any of the student’s  designs inspire her future work? Or vice versa?

For many years – up to 2019 - the Design Charette was sponsored by the Roca Gallery and held in a building fittingly designed by Zaha Hadid as an unintended but well received legacy of the event.  Hadid remained an honorary member of the AIA UK Chapter and, on 27 Sep 2007, was given the President’s Award by then Chapter President Kevin Flanagan AIA in recognition of, ‘your office’s contribution in promoting excellence in design; as well as your past contributions of time to the AIA/UK Chapter and the AIA internationally’.  See her AIA UK Newsletter obituary HERE.

For the past several years, the Design Charette has been organised by Nicholas Kehagias AIA, who was himself a student participant back in 2009.  Perhaps participation as Charette student, team leader or juror is a right of passage all should consider…
More on past Design Charettes can be found in the AIA Newsletter Archives, found HERE.  Look for issues covering the last months of the year.

Written by Lorraine King, AIA