Feeling Lucky?

AIA | DC invites you to test your luck and join us for an evening of fun at our fundraising Casino Night! Each ticket includes a $25 donation to the Washington Architectural Foundation, 300,000 "DAC Bucks" for blackjack, poker, and craps tables, hors d’oeuvres, and celebratory libations!

We are celebrating our members and affiliates with this event benefitting the Washington Architectural Foundation.

Camp Schedule:

Monday - Thursday: 9am - 3pm

Friday: 9am - 12pm

Does your child love buildings – drawing houses, building structures, designing a pillow fort? Architecture is one of the most exciting fields that not only uses all of the STEM skills (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) but also encourages creative thinking through art and design skills.

Our 5-day summer camp will help children explore the environment, both built and natural, through hands-on activities, including drawing, photography, model building and at least one field trip within walking distance of the District Architecture Center.  Great for ages 8-13.

This is a hybrid event. You may attend in person at the offices of Torti Gallas + Partners or via Zoom - contact Ian Walker for Zoom details.

The AIA|DC Emerging Architects Committee (EAC) promotes education, leadership development, and community involvement among emerging architects, Associate AIA members, and architects licensed 10 years or less. We encourage the next generation of architects to start leading our community by heading committees, organizing events, participating in workshops, and attending our events.

The EAC has four major objectives: ADVOCATE for emerging architects, PROVOKE and talk about the future of the profession, MENTOR the next generation of architects, and perform OUTREACH to other AIA members, associated disciplines, and the community.

Join us for a special preview of the soon-to-be-released, 300-page exhibition catalogue produced as a companion to Sforzina: Designs for a Modern America, 1924–1941. While the exhibition—currently on view at the District Architecture Center—features many of Edgard Sforzina’s Art Deco era designs, it is only a fraction of total output from his brief but prolific career in the United States.

Jim Linz and Denise Allen will give an illustrated talk highlighting additional works from the nearly 700 of Sforzina’s designs for furniture, decorative and functional objects, buildings, and interiors. Attendees will be able to pre-order the book, which will be available a few weeks after this program.

The galleries will be open 12pm–4pm for exhibition viewing.

Presented by:

Jim Linz—President Emeritus, Art Deco Society of Washington

Denise Allen—Grand-daughter of Edgard Sforzina

Organized by:

Art Deco Society of Washington in partnership with Washington Architectural Foundation

The Art Deco Society of Washington is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization incorporated to foster awareness, preservation, and appreciation of the Art Deco period in the Washington, DC area.

This free program is presented in association with Sforzina: Designs for a Modern America, 1924–1941, on view at the District Architecture Center through January 25, 2023.

A representative from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) will present on a range of licensure topics relevant to students, aspiring architects, foreign-educated and/or licensed professionals, supervisors, and architects. The presentation will review the steps necessary to achieve licensure to become an architect and other programs to get the most out of your career in architecture.

Topics will include:

• Background of NCARB
• The entities involved in the licensure process
• How to establish an NCARB Record
• How to progress successfully through the Architectural Experience Program® (AXP®)
• What to expect with the Architect Registration Examination® (ARE®)
• Recent changes to NCARB programs
• Value of the NCARB Certificate

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the requirements for completing the AXP and the ARE.
• Utilize resources available to identify the proper person or organization to contact for answers to specific questions.
• Recognize the importance of career planning, and options for reciprocity.
• Outline the process of becoming licensed.

Presented by:

Patricia Ramallo, AIA, NCARB, CAE, LEED AP BD+C & HOMES

Assistant Vice President, Innovation, NCARB

Patricia Ramallo started working at the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) in 2015 as part of the Experience + Education team. In her current role as Assistant Vice President of Innovation, she leads the design and implementation of innovative strategies throughout the Council, supports transformational initiatives, and advances international relations efforts.

Before joining NCARB, Patricia dedicated 14 years to the architecture field, fulfilling various design, management, and construction administration functions. She worked in Michigan, Kentucky, and New York on projects nationwide ranging from residential and multifamily to religious, commercial, and mixed-use buildings. Patricia also serves as an adjunct faculty instructor at the Boston Architectural College, where she teaches two graduate courses in professional practice.

Patricia holds a Master of Architecture degree from Lawrence Technological University and is licensed to practice architecture in Argentina, Kentucky, and New Jersey. She is a member of the American Institute of Architects, holds LEED AP® Homes & BD+C credentials, and the NCARB Certificate for national reciprocity. In 2019 she obtained a Diversity and Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University, and in 2021 she earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation.

Nicholas R. Respecki, AIA, NCARB

Senior Manager, Examination, NCARB

Nicholas Respecki is a Senior Manager of Examination at NCARB. In this position, he works primarily on development of the Architect Registration Examination® (ARE®).

Prior to joining NCARB, Respecki worked as an architect and designer for multiple firms in Washington, DC. He has experience in all phases of design and construction, with work primarily focused on large scale university, sports, healthcare, and cultural projects.

Respecki holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Architecture degree from Ball State University in Muncie, IN. He is licensed to practice architecture in the District of Columbia, is a member of the American Institute of Architects, and holds the NCARB Certificate for national reciprocity.

Bryan Vallejo, Assoc. AIA, NOMA, CSM, CSPO, MIS
Manager, Experience + Education, NCARB

Before joining NCARB as the Manager for Experience + Education, Bryan worked as the Executive Director of a DC-based real estate development firm. Prior to moving to the DC metro area, Bryan worked for the Florida House of Representatives, where he oversaw government and community relations for various public officials. At NCARB, Bryan manages several education alternative programs including the Foreign Architect Path to Certification and the NCARB Certificate Portfolio. In addition to this, he is responsible for helping expand NCARB’s International Relations initiatives.

Born in Armenia, Colombia, Bryan is fluent in Spanish. He received his Master of International Service from American University with a concentration in United States Foreign Policy and was a Social Innovation Fellow. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Florida State University, with a double major in Political Science and Religion. With a keen interest in the architectural profession and architectural design, he is an associate member of the American Institute of Architects, allied professional member of the National Organization of Minority Architects, a Certified Scrum Master, and a Certified Scrum Product Owner.

Organized by:

AIA|DC LA.IDEA Committee

Our current exhibition, Happy Hour Architecture, is ending soon. Join us in celebration with drinks, food, and live music from WAAC Band. Explore the exhibition, mingle with friends and colleagues, listen to sweet sounds, and even dance if you’d like. We look forward to welcoming you.

About the Exhibition

Wineries, breweries, and distilleries appeal to the senses by attracting patrons through storytelling and placemaking. In Happy Hour Architecture, we feature distinctive and award-winning projects—in and around our nation’s capital—whose design ingredients entice drink enthusiasts to raise a glass in style. For a complete list of the wineries, breweries, and distilleries featured in the exhibition, visit here.

About WAAC Band

WAAC Band is a band of faculty, alumni, and students of the Washington Alexandria Architecture Center. We play Rock & Roll. The WAAC Band agrees with Vitruvius: “The architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning. Music also the architect ought to understand so that he may have the knowledge of the canonical and mathematical theory, and besides be able to tune ballistae, catapultae, and scorpiones to the proper key.”

Organized by

Washington Architecture Foundation

Supported by

Generously supported, in part, by Right Proper Brewing Company

Back by popular demand, a night of speed mentoring will take place again, this time in person at the District Architecture Center.



What is Speed Mentoring? Speed Mentoring is like speed dating, but replace the regret and awkward silences with wisdom, opportunity, and a fresh perspective on your career and our industry. The evening is an efficient way to exchange strategies of success in the design profession.



This event provides networking opportunities for all architects, facilitating interaction across multiple professional levels. Attendees will meet in small groups with professional mentors of all levels in four 15-minute sessions for informal discussions.



When registering please provide preference for a role, either a mentor, a mentee, colleague, or either.

Learning Objectives:

• Meet architects at different stages in life and gain perspective on career choices and approaches.
• Improve interpersonal communication skills.
• Learn what it takes to be an effective mentor.
• Discover how to articulate your goals as a mentee.

Sponsored by:

Join AIA|DC's Design Excellence Committee for a film screening and panel discussion highlighting the profound contributions of South American women architects in the world of design, diversity, and creativity. Attendees will gain insight into new and innovative construction techniques, socio-cultural investigations focused on how women relate to their environments, and an overall view of women in the design and construction business in South America.

This program is part of a 4-part series exploring representation of diverse typologies of unseen architecture in South American countries—including agricultural pampas, the desert pacific beaches, and the amazon jungle, all seen from the eyes of local women architects. 

Learning Objectives:

• Identify new and innovative construction techniques authentic to South America; such as construction in the Argentinean pampas and the unique use of concrete in modern architecture. use of concrete in modern architecture.
• Illustrate socio-cultural investigations focused on how women relate to their environment through the architectural profession.
• Discuss the overall view of women in the design and construction business in South America and how they are dedicated to activities related to the profession and gender.
• Discover the challenges and opportunities the diminishing natural resources present to the design of planning communities.

Presented by:

ARCHITECTA Barbara Berson

Arquitecta Berson is the owner of the Estudio Berson Arquitectura, where she develops projects of various scales, both individually and together with associated colleagues. She actively participates in local and international competitions where she has won numerous awards. Among them the First Prize for the National Contest ̈La Casa Sustentable ̈, Argentine Pavilion of the Bicentennial, Urban Oasis Triumvirate, Faculty of Music of San Juan. She is a Counselor at CPAU; the Director of Notas Magazine; Professor at FADU UBA; Member of the Buenos Aires Biennial Committee; and received a Scholarship for the Creation of the National Fund for the Arts for the study of local vernacular architectures. Arquitecta Berson performs individual and collective art exhibitions. She is part of various groups such as La Raiz Rioplatense dedicated to concerns about exercising the profession from a citizenry. The book "Architecture sin Orillas (Shores)" has been the fruit of these meetings. I am an architect dedicated to developing activities related to the profession and gender.

ARCHITECTA Monica Bertolino

"I believe in architecture as a complex phenomenon, as an integrity in which different spheres of thought converge (art, craft, the conceptual, the philosophical, the everyday) questions of time and period, of place and also of personal concerns", says Bertolino in one of the last interviews that they conducted in the Voz del Interior. Authors of the Farm Pavilions in Capilla del Monte and the Central Building of the Botanical Garden of Córdoba, among works, Bertolino has received numerous awards and is also a renowned university professor. The impeccable trajectory of Mónica Bertolino, both in her academic activity and in her private practice, shows an entirely sensitive and reflective position. From her actions, she has questioned and put into crisis previously established and positioned concepts and criteria, producing an architecture that has managed to positively transform the reality in which it is implanted; an honest, human architecture, with a continuous and positive dialogue with the place and with the users, and at the same time very rigorous and powerful.

ARCHITECTA Paula Lavarello

Architecta Paula Lavarello is a partner of the studio ZAS LAVARELLO Arquitectos in Buenos Aires. She has a trajectory of 20 years of experience in design and directing built projects that include housing, offices and hotels. Architecta Lavarello was a Professor of Design at Universidad de Buenos Aires Design Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism; at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella University School of Architecture and Urban Studies; and a Visiting Professor The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture. She is also an Adviser of the Professional Council of Architecture to the Buenos Aires Consejo Profesional de Arquitectura y Urbanismo; a Member of SOY ARQUITECTA and her office has participated in numerous exhibitions and architecture biennials. Architecta Lavarello studied at the Universidad de Buenos Aires Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo and at Cornell and Columbia Universities. Recently her studio has received awards such as the 2021 VITRUVIAN Honors & Awards and the 2020 AFEX Award (France).

ARQUITECTA Ines Moisset

Architecta Moisset was born in Córdoba. She studied Architecture at the Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Desino of the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and she completed the Dottorato di Ricerca in Composizione Architettonica at the Instituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia.

She is the founder and coordinator of the site Un Día | Una Arquitecta who since 2015 has been dedicated to making visible the work of women in the profession. She was the organizer of the opening event of the Buenos Aires Biennale 2015 (Meeting of Women and Architecture) and in 2016, the group won the Milka Bliznakov Prize awarded by the International Archive of Women in Architecture of Virginia Tech University. Arquitecta Moisset is a member of the CONICET Scientific Researcher Career Center. She obtained the Bernardo Houssay Award from the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation for Scientific and Technological Research in the Young Researcher category in the Architecture discipline in 2003. She was director of the Master in Design of Innovative Processes, UCC. She is the author of books, articles, blogs and a regular editor of Wikipedia where she participates in the Grupo Muj(lh)eres Latinoamericanas.

Organized by:

AIA|DC Design Excellence Committee

Soy Arquitecta / Argentina

Sponsored by:

AECOM

MOYA Design Partners

Perkins + Will

David Haresign, FAIA

Francesca Franchi, AIA

Hendrix Studio

HGA

Landdesign

RDC

Shalom Baranes Associates, Architects

Smith Group

Whiting Turner

Winstanley Architects & Planners

This Fall, The Washington Architectural Foundation continues its partnership with ArtReach GW to offer Digital Design for Teens.

Classes will be held at ArtReach GW’s studio at THEARC on Wednesdays from 6:00-7:00pm, September 14th through November 1st.

This session is meant for youth ages 14 to 18.

Digital Design for Teens teaches valuable CAD skills to high school students. Though many high-schools teach similar courses, the Washington Architectural Foundation provides introductory education on digital drawing and 3D modeling for architectural, interior design, landscape architecture, civil and mechanical engineering purposes. Students will learn simple techniques they can practice outside of the classroom and apply in internship and educational opportunities. Digital Design for Teens is an excellent asset for any college applicant or job-seeker to have on their resume, and provides insight into the work involved in a modern design career.

Thank you CADDmicrosystems

This program is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Missed DesignDC: Sustainability + Resilience? Catch up with on-demand courses!

Climate change is one of the most pressing existential challenges of our time, and architects in the District are in a unique position to lead the charge for positive change.

While the national average for carbon dioxide emissions hovers around 40% in the United States, our city's buildings account for close to 80% of the District’s emissions. Strengthening the way we practice architecture--and how we educate our clients on the value of that change--is a driving force behind making our cities healthier, sustainable, resilient, livable places.

DesignDC 2022 is a new hybrid experience for our members and design professionals throughout the region. Over two days of content, we will host a featured keynote speaker and a reception, followed by a day of virtual education with industry experts.

Schedule:

Day One - In Person 

5:30 – 6:00 pm: Welcome Reception

6:00 – 7:00 pm: Awards Presentations

7:00 – 8:00 pm: Cocktail Reception & Networking

Day Two - Virtual

8:45 am: Opening Remarks

9:00 – 10:00 am: Reducing Embodied Carbon: Strategies and Implementation

10:15 – 11:15 am: The DMV Design Community and Reuse Nonprofits: Partnering to Support Environmental Sustainability and Community Development

11:30 am – 12:30 pm: The Time is Now to Decarbonize Your Design!

1:00 – 2:00 pm: Understanding Thermally Modified Wood - Presented by CaraGreen

2:15 – 3:15 pm: How a government agency is reducing emissions: The DC DGS Energy Management Plan

3:30 – 4:30 pm:  Building Community Resilience from the Inside-Out and Outside-In