AIACNY

The year is almost over and this is my last President's Message and the first one completed early or I should say on time. 2008 has been a little crazy with extreme rise and fall of the stock market and gas prices, a recession and an exceptionally long and historic election. Looking back I would have to say we at AIACNY got a lot done this year. The reason we did is simple, we have a handful of dedicated volunteers. It takes a commitment to your profession to volunteer your time, and time is so precious, to sit on a board in a professional organization. Our chapter has a few working committees so the work tends to fall back on the board members. I would like to thank the entire board and all our hard working committee members for all the success of this year.

I wish Julia or should I say Madam President and the entire new board the best of luck next year. I will still be hanging around as Past President. There were a few committees that never did get off the ground that I would like to see come to fruition. Also, I would like to stay active in our Government Affairs Committee.

Thank You all again for a great year and please have a safe and Happy Holiday Season.

American Institute of Architects Central New York Chapter
2008 Design Awards Program
Tomorrow’s Skyline Begins Today

It is safe to say that once again a good time was had by all at our 2008 AIACNY Annual Design Awards Celebration of Architecture – “Tomorrow’s Skyline Begins Today” held at the spacious Gordon Student Center on the campus of Onondaga Community College and one of last year’s design award winning entries from King & King Architects. Speaking of King and King, it would be a great disservice to not acknowledge their willingness to take over the role Lake Architectural has provided these past four years and take on the majority of the tasks required to put this show together. The bulk of this work was handled by King & King’s able body group of young ladies led by Lisa Maynard. When I asked for volunteers to take over the “nitty gritty” details of this affair, Lisa stepped forward and volunteered with great enthusiasm. Helping Lisa from King & King was Sarah Loele, Jennifer Wells and Aislinn Brackman and lending a hand from Lake Architectural was Jessica Haas and Diane Tracy. Thank you all ladies for a very wonderful evening. To the membership, when you next see one of these ladies please thank them in person and encourage them to take on this event again for 2009. We all need the encouragement to volunteer our precious time, especially for a good cause like the AIA/CNY Chapter. See you all at next year’s “Celebration of Architecture”.

The resolution to put us into the USA

(Prayer, News Clipping, Story and "US”)

Opening prayer by Reverend Billy Graham’s “Prayer For Our Nation”.

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good”, but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Some things to think about!

The clipping, Sunday November 9, 2008 The Post Standard President's To Do List:
Stimulus
Autos
Regulation
Taxes
Housing
Trade
Energy
Health Care

We hope the priories are not in the order presented. The reverse would seem to be wiser.

Something to observe!

Story the College Professor and a bowl.

When the class was assembled, the professor started to fill the large clear bowl with golf balls. When he reached the top of the bowl, he asked the class, "Is the bowl filled?"

The class answered, "Yes."

He then poured in gravel that filled in between the voids left between the golf balls. When he reached the top again, he asked again, "Is it full?" Again the answer was, “Yes”.

He then took sand and proceeded to fill the voids between the golf balls and gravel to the brim and asked, "Is the bowl full now?", and the answer came back "Yes!"

He than proceeded to pop two cans of beer and poured them into the bowl until the beer reached the rim. "Now the bowl was full!", he stated.

The professor explained that the golf balls were the most important things in life like family, friends and loving relationships. The gravel represented the next most important things like a house, a car, a boat, etc. The sand represented all the other miscellaneous things in life like clothes, and other small possessions.

The moral of the story is that you should fill the bowl first with the most important things in life as illustrated by the golf balls. If you fill the bowl first with the gravel of life (house, car, boat etc.) or with the sand of life (clothes, computers, cells phones etc.) there will be no room for the most important things (family, friends and loving relationships).

When asked what the beer represented, he said, “You always have time for a couple of beers”.

Some things to act upon.

“ US ” Continuous education has an emphasis on HWS hours and then others.

Health
Welfare
Safety
Miscellaneous

Architects seem to have life’s priorities in proper order. When asked what do you do, pull out your transcript and ask the questioner to show what they do!

Educate the sophisticated client, the politicians and public.

Another theologian states that two important ingredients for a happy life are hope and faith. The coming year has the promise of hope but shall require a lot of faith.

So here is a salute to a happy and prosperous New Year with the beverage of your choice!

Opening of the Meeting: This meeting of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects Central New York Chapter was held Thursday, October 9, 2008 at the AIACNY Resource Center . Joseph Piraino, AIA called the meeting to order at 12:11pm.

By Dean A. Biancavilla, AIA, LEED AP, Holmes King Kallquist & Associates, Architects, Syracuse, NY dab@hkkarchitects.com

We have written in previous articles about the AIA’s endorsement of the 2030 Challenge as posited by Edward Mazria, AIA. But what hasn’t been clarified before is the ultimate goal of all this activity to reduce the climate changing effects of greenhouse gases.

This ‘350’ number is not the total number of wildfires in California this year, not the number of major species to go extinct this year, nor is it the number of square miles of Arctic Ice pack left this summer.

We are please to announce that the Central New York Chapter has posted a new web site at www.aiacny.org.

In an effort to better serve and inform our membership, we have included information about the Chapter, the Officers and Committees, and contacts for Membership, Committee interests and new Chapter events.

Many related links are also provided included the National and New York State AIA organizations, links to “Green or Sustainable” organizations and information, and links to Architectural education in the area and licensing.

This newsletter will also be posted monthly on the website, and is accessible by clicking the “Newsletter” box on at the bottom of the page. We hope this website will provide another way of informing, serving and involving all those interested in the broad and important role of Architecture and Design in our world today.

NY Office, Marcellus, NY - Lake architectural is pleased to announce new staff addition.

Diane Tracy, Office Administrator. Diane received her BA in Speech Communications from SUNY Cortland.

Aaron Maller, Architectural Designer. Aaron received his BS in Architecture from The University of Buffalo.

Your local AIA chapter is hard at work rounding up product representatives for luncheons and organizing educational events and seminars. Currently we are holding review seminars in preparation for the ARE structures exams. Anyone who missed the registration deadline can count on another series of seminars next year.

AIA volunteers and architectural interns have met to kick-off this year’s AIA Architectural Explorer Post that will run from October 13th until December 1st. Architects and Interns are welcome to join anytime and you may contact me for the schedule of workshops or for more information.

In the month of October, we will be offering a 4-hour class on Basic Commercial HVAC Systems. An announcement and registration form have been sent.

In November, Eileen Clinton and a guest speaker will introduce risk management to LEED design from the insurance point of view, Wednesday, November 5th. The AIA is also hosting the all encompassing Design Awards on Saturday, November 8th. On November 15 and 16 Rochester is offering an ARE 4.0 format Building Systems Exam workshop. Registration deadline is October 31st. Keep an eye out for the registration form to be e-mailed soon.

For the month of December, you can look forward to another all day event of continuing education credits from our friends up North. The Canadian Consulate General will be introducing a new slate of presentations. We plan to meet in the same location and provide lunch.

In the hopper for next year, we are coordinating with CSI to bring to you a special educational presentation on masonry, presented by Michael Gurevich. We are also coordinating with Robinson Concrete for a plant tour and possible social event. And keep an eye out for another learning seminar to unravel the complexities of Doors, Frames and Hardware.

AIA CNY is working to fulfill the requests of its members, and we are always happy to hear from you to influence what programs are made available. Volunteers will always help to make any program better. If you are interested, please contact me, and we can find a way that can help both you and the AIA.

AIA New York Chapter’s public calendar is also a great place to promote both this Chapter’s events and other outside events: http://www.aiany.org/calendar/index.php

The President's Message