The Intersection Series aims to explore the intersectionality of equity and issues confronting architects today.

The first event, Equity + Resilience, will dive into the complexities of resiliency and its many facets including community, economic, and disaster resilience. In a round-table format, we will discuss how we can build resilience into our communities via the built environment, what is being done in the region, and strategies for ensuring equitable distribution of resiliency efforts.

Learning Objectives:

• Define the different types of resiliency.
• Explore the intersection of resiliency and equity; how can both be incorporated into design or how might resilience efforts (e.g. hardening buildings against disaster) counteract equitable design?
• Investigate how resiliency can benefit from community engagement.
• Identify different strategies that are being implemented to provide equitable resiliency in the area.

Presented by:

Lindsay Brugger

Vice President, Urban Land Institute
Lindsay Brugger is Vice President of ULI’s Urban Resilience Program. She leads strategy and project development to advance the real estate industry’s understanding of resilience, catalyze action to reduce vulnerability, and support communities in becoming more climate resilient. A licensed architect and certified passive house consultant, Lindsay has worked for over a decade at the intersection of resilience, adaptation, and the built environment to turn the negative impacts of climate change into opportunities where all can thrive.

Scott Matties

Executive VP, Wiencek + Associates Architects + Planners
Scott Matties holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Michigan and has more than 30 years of experience in architectural design and master planning for award winning institutional, academic, commercial, and residential projects. His career has encompassed all aspects of residential design. Mr. Matties has led numerous community engagement sessions leading to approvals by jurisdictions throughout the DMV area and has extensive experience in community-based architecture and managing diverse stakeholder expectations. He has served in the AIA Northern Virginia chapter as a Board member and chaired many design award committees such as AIA NOVA, Fairfax County
Design Excellence Awards, and California Central Valley Design Awards.

Leila Finucane

President & CEO, Victory Housing
Since 2017, Leila Finucane has led Victory Housing, Inc., a regional nonprofit focused on affordable housing development and the provision of assisted living, as president and chief executive officer. Ms. Finucane, an attorney, has over 25 years of experience in real estate, affordable housing, and community development in the private, nonprofit and government sectors. Prior to Victory Housing, Ms. Finucane worked on
affordable housing and risk mitigation strategies at Capital One, as a director at NeighborWorks America, and as the appointed director of the DHCD for the District of Columbia, where she led the District’s affordable housing and community development efforts.

Jeff Blackwell

Senior Vice President, Real Estate Development, Victory Housing
Jeff Blackwell joined Victory Housing in 2005. His primary leadership responsibilities include overseeing the financing, design, construction, and lease-up of both existing buildings and new communities. Mr. Blackwell manages architects and engineers, general contractors, and consultants. In addition, he develops and/or coordinates often complex, multi-layered financing strategies to fund Victory Housing's communities. He has a background in taxable and tax-exempt bond financing as well as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, HUD Section 202 program, and other funding sources.
Prior to joining Victory Housing, Mr. Blackwell was a Vice President for Bank of America's Community Development Banking in their lending and historic tax credit equity groups. Responsibilities included providing first mortgage financing, both taxable and tax-exempt, to clients who were building affordable and mixed-income housing. As an Equity Manager, he worked with clients to fund Bank investments in historic properties. Experience also includes working for the Community Preservation and Development Corporation, a nonprofit developer of affordable and mixed-income housing, and the Housing Research Foundation, a research and technical assistance provider for HOPE VI Public Housing Authorities.
Mr. Blackwell earned a Masters of Regional Planning with a specialization in Housing and Community Development from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Affairs and Planning from Virginia Tech. He has been instrumental in several awards received by Victory Housing, including the Financial Innovation Award received from the Maryland CDA in 2018.

Rick Schneider

Principal, ISTUDIO
As a board member with the VT’s Washington Alexandria Architecture Center, Rick addresses issues on design education in the 21st century. He served as a board member with the USGBC, the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, and GreenHOME. Rick is a Virginia Tech alumnus with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Architecture. He resides with his wife, a DCPS teacher, and his three daughters in the nation’s capital. Rick is an urbanist, a musician, and avid outdoor enthusiast who enjoys live music, mountain biking, and trips to National Parks.

Ryan Moody

Founding Principal, Moody Graham

Ryan Moody is a registered landscape architect and founding principal of Moody Graham, a design firm based in Washington, DC focused on Garden Design, Landscape Architecture, and Ecological Planning. Ryan holds master’s degrees in architecture and landscape architecture from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Bold in design, thoughtful in approach, Moody Graham uses the power of nature and the craft of architecture to compose vibrant landscapes that promote healthy living, working, and being. Recently completed and ongoing projects by Moody Graham include the Ward 5 Short Term Family Housing Facility and Ward 8 Senior Wellness Center with the DC Department of General Services, the Rock Creek Golf Course with National Links Trust and the National Park Service, and the Southwest-Buzzard Point Flood Resilience Strategy with Ramboll and the DC Department of Energy and Environment.

Organized by:

AIA|DC Advocacy Committee

AIA|DC Resiliency & Disaster Relief Committee

Workshop (verb): present a performance of (a dramatic work), using intensive group discussion and improvisation in order to explore aspects of the production before formal staging.

Have a sticky design problem that’s posing a stumbling block on a project? Or the feeling that your usual design process isn’t helping identify all the factors needed to form an effective solution? Or maybe just the feeling that you really need some outside feedback? One of the potential pitfalls of small-firm practice is spending too much time in your own echo-chamber. To tackle this, AIA DC SFx is proposing a peer-peer design ‘workshop’ night:

Format: Four ‘volu-firms’ pin up the work of their choosing in a round-robin review for productive peer input.

Spirit: informal and supportive - to ‘workshop’ our designs like actors testing out a new script!

On Thursday, March 23, the National Building Museum will host Wonder on the Wire, a beautiful event featuring French high-wire artist, Philippe Petit. Best known for his walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, Philippe will perform on a high wire approximately sixty feet above the magnificent Great Hall, accompanied by jazz clarinetist Anat Cohen with Tal Mashiach on guitar.

The evening will begin with cocktails on the second floor of the Museum where guests will be able to view photographs and videos of some of Philippe’s past performances at landmarks around the world. Dinner will be served in the center court of the Great Hall, from which guests will then watch Philippe’s performance on the wire. All will then adjourn to the west court for dessert and the opportunity to meet Philippe.

The open discussion meetings are scheduled for the second Wednesday of each month. All current members and interested newcomers are encouraged to attend the EAC open discussions, these meetings are free and open to all, and friends and colleagues are welcome.

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 open discussion meetings are scheduled for the second Wednesday of each month. All current members and interested newcomers are encouraged to attend the EAC open discussions, these meetings are free and open to all, and friends and colleagues are welcome.

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 open discussion meetings are scheduled for the second Wednesday of each month. All current members and interested newcomers are encouraged to attend the EAC open discussions, these meetings are free and open to all, and friends and colleagues are welcome.

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 open discussion meetings are scheduled for the second Wednesday of each month. All current members and interested newcomers are encouraged to attend the EAC open discussions, these meetings are free and open to all, and friends and colleagues are welcome.

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 DC government’s 2019 Housing Initiative set forth a goal of building 36,000 housing units by 2025, a third of which are to be affordable to households earning 80% below Median Family Income. This Order directs District agencies to investigate and implement a variety of approaches to accelerate the design, construction, adaptation, and creation of housing across the city—all while considering the needs of families, an aging population, and other residents with special needs.

Progress toward meeting this goal is well underway, and architects play a significant role in bringing these targets to fruition in a way that best serves people and communities in our city’s built environment.

DesignDC’s Fall conference will focus on the designer’s role, and expertise, in solving DC’s housing crisis.

DesignDC is a 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:

DesignDC Day One - In Person 

5:30 – 6:00 pm: Welcome Reception

6:00 – 7:00 pm: Keynote Presentation

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

DesignDC Day Two - Virtual

All sessions qualify for 1.0 HSW|LU

8:45 am: Opening Remarks by AIA|DC Executive Director Mary Fitch

9:00 – 10:00 am: "ADDification®" without Gentrification: Neighborhood Revitalization without Displacement

10:15 – 11:15 am: Beyond Mandatory: Leveraging Affordable Housing to Create Truly Inclusionary Development

11:30 am – 12:30 pm: Advancing Housing Equity Through Design West of Rock Creek Park

1:00 – 2:00 pm: The Seeds of Sustainability, Presented by Sierra Pacific

2:15 – 3:15 pm: Smaller Scale Density: The Challenges in Providing More Housing in Low Density Zones 

3:30 – 4:30 pm: From Blackboards to Balconies: Adaptive Reuse in the Shaw Neighborhood

Keynote Speaker:

Yesim Sayin

Executive Director, D.C. Policy Center

The DC government’s 2019 Housing Initiative set forth a goal of building 36,000 housing units by 2025, a third of which are to be affordable to households earning 80% below Median Family Income. This Order directs District agencies to investigate and implement a variety of approaches to accelerate the design, construction, adaptation, and creation of housing across the city—all while considering the needs of families, an aging population, and other residents with special needs.

Progress toward meeting this goal is well underway, and architects play a significant role in bringing these targets to fruition in a way that best serves people and communities in our city’s built environment.

DesignDC’s Fall conference will focus on the designer’s role, and expertise, in solving DC’s housing crisis. 

You are welcome to submit multiple proposals. Please submit one proposal form for each presentation. Please save your proposal information for your own records in a separate document. 

Priority will be given to sessions that address the following:

• New and innovative technology and materials used for designing and constructing housing
• Integration of different housing typologies in neighborhoods across the city, including historic districts
• Adaptive use and conversions of existing buildings into housing
• Placemaking and planning to ensure housing is attractive and available to all residents of the city, with equal access to amenities and services
• Policy and design recommendations through case studies that illustrate solutions yet to become commonplace in the DC housing market

About DesignDC:

DesignDC is a 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.

Sessions selected from this Call for Proposals will be presented via our online platform on Thursday, September 21, 2023.

All virtual presentations must total 60 minutes in length, with ~50 minutes of instruction followed by ~10 minutes of Q&A.

All presenters will receive complimentary conference registration. Presenters are not required to be members of DesignDC host organizations.

Please save a copy of your proposal information for your records.

Proposals are due by Wednesday, March 15, at 5:00 pm.

Missed DesignDC: The New Historic Preservation? Catch up with on-demand courses!

“Preservation and progress aren’t just compatible, but integral to building stronger communities”

--National Trust for Historic Preservation

As the city and surrounding communities continue to reevaluate the use of and access to space in the built environment, architects and designers are at the forefront of fostering dynamic, equitable places where we live, work, and connect.

DesignDC’s Spring conference will focus on how architects work in historic buildings and neighborhoods in a way that promotes economic and social welfare for all residents, all with an eye on sustainability and resilience.

DesignDC is a 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: Keynote Presentation

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

Day Two - Virtual

8:45 am: Opening Remarks by AIA|DC Executive Director Mary Fitch

9:00 – 10:00 am: Designing for Equitable Communities

10:15 – 11:15 am: Changing Neighborhoods with Historic Preservation

11:30 am – 12:30 pm: Past, Present, Future of Langston Terrace: A Dialogue and Vision for the Preservation and Evolution of a Groundbreaking Public Housing Community

1:00 – 2:00 pm: Windows Solutions for Historic Buildings — Presented by Pella Mid-Atlantic

2:15 – 3:15 pm: High Performance, Resilient Construction & Retrofits in Historic Buildings & Districts

3:30 – 4:30 pm: Connecting to the Community

Keynote Speaker:

Nakita Reed, AIA, CPHC, LEED AP BD+C, NOMA

Associate, Quinn Evans

Nakita Reed, AIA, is a true leader at the innovative intersection of historic preservation, sustainability, diversity, and community equity. Through her many volunteer contributions and mentoring initiatives, she has helped dismantle silos between those important topics while demonstrating their deep connections to race and gender. Her work has been critical in encouraging her peers to make a difference in the communities they serve.

“As one of the few licensed Black female architects in the country who is a trained historic preservationist, Nakita is a vocal proponent of sharing knowledge and paving a path for young women of color in the design profession,” wrote Saundra Little, FAIA, in a letter supporting Reed’s nomination for the Young Architects Award. “Her leadership around JEDI [Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion] items within the office has helped shape the way Quinn Evans discusses and engages with these issues both internally and externally.”

Reed is eager to share her wealth of knowledge and regularly does so through emerging media, particularly podcasts. She has been interviewed and featured on nearly 15 podcast episodes throughout her young career, discussing preservation and sustainability in a way that is accessible to the general public. In 2020, as social justice became a prominent topic throughout the U.S., Reed launched her own podcast, Tangible Remnants, to explore the connections between architecture, preservation, sustainability, and race and gender. The title acknowledges the power the built environment has to tell the story of our ancestors. Reed centers her interviews on women and people of color, voices that are often missing from mainstream conversations about the built environment.

Throughout her career, Reed has served on a wide array of professional boards, including the Baltimore Architecture Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Historically Black Colleges and University’s Cultural Heritage Stewardship Initiative Advisory Committee, and the Zero Net Carbon Collaboration for Existing and Historic Buildings. She is a vocal advocate to everyone she meets, whether they are fellow architects or preservationists, or homeowners or contractors. As a vital connector, her efforts have forged new relationships among design professionals and have equipped preservationists with a stronger understanding of the importance of sustainability.