AIAISC’23 - AIA International Spring Conference
Detail and Storytelling
March 9 - 11 2023
Welcome to the Conference!
We tell stories to share what we imagine for the future and what we have learned through our efforts. Each architectural project begins with the telling of a story. This story transitions to drawings and details as we communicate in the best medium for conveying an idea. Please join us for three days of Detail & Storytelling. We invite attendees to join the live presentations and ask questions, participating in our global architectural dialogue.
Our presenters have responded to the theme Detail & Storytelling, which are the fundamental communication tools of an architect. Among other topics the responses from the presenters include how we as architects are addressing Equity and Sustainability in varying contexts around the globe.
Sustainability
You will hear how architects position themselves as community leaders to drive widescale adoption of practical design solutions that will rapidly address and mitigate the impacts of climate change. You will hear the struggles and victories of individual projects pursuing a sustainable agenda and balancing the requirements.
On the first day, you will hear several approaches to restoring or refurbishing existing buildings and facilities including the Innovation House in Brazil and the refurbishment and new dome of the Reichstag German Parliament Building in Berlin.
On the second day, you’ll hear from Tokyo on designing for resilience, Singapore on a project that derives its generative form from light and bicycle mobility, a keynote from Hong Kong from COP27 attendees on UN Climate Conference discussions, measuring decarbonization, and an award-winning case study. Those presentations will be followed by a talk from Uruguay on reversible architecture in a remote environment and the Anthropocene age.
On the third day, you will hear from an AIA Upjohn Fellow on quantitative analysis and how designers can approach façade performance and carbon quantification to optimize operational and embodied carbon from a whole life carbon perspective.
Equity
Our talks will advance equity by promoting intercultural competence, engaging communities, and advance the health, safety, and welfare of our communities through design and advocacy for lasting solutions in our built environments.
On the first day we will hear from Vietnam about a public school for children from three villages in Tú Nang-Yên Châu serves as an open suggestion, and a prototype for future community projects by charitable and non-profit organization followed by a talk from Canada about the Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN) Youth Centre, a community/athletic centre for young people and their families, as an architectural retelling of ancient cultural histories combined with a modern treaty. On the second day, we will hear from the Middle East about the power of storytelling in a heritage context and how a successful restoration will evoke the sense of how our ancestors used to live, as reflected in the environments they created.
On the third day we will hear from Taipei on the competition-winning entry for the Kinmen Public Library & Arts Museum, Uganda on how architects can use African architectural semiotics to turn their building designs into storytellers and orchestras of Afrocentricity. Our concluding talk by the former City Planning Commissioner of Rio de Janeiro will describe the Revive Plan that establishes an obligation of paying back on affordable housing, historic preservation, and public space maintenance or redesign of downtown.
Symbology
You will see in the graphic logo for the conference two symbols expressing the theme of Detail & Storytelling. An open book represents storytelling, one page has the AIA Equity imperative, and the facing page has the AIA Sustainability imperative. The equity page also includes the depiction of a flower from Kew Gardens, a symbol of Spring renewal, the preservation and study of nature, and sharing of knowledge. The detail symbol includes the well-known drafting tools of the profession, and on the page a drawing of flowers and a floor plan representing an organic architecture capturing a range of drawing as a communication tool. The GMT clock represents the 7 chapters around the globe and separate time zones from which our speakers are sharing their stories.
Please join us as we advance knowledge by providing free access to this International conference.
Alex Miller, AIA
Conference Chair,
Adjunct Director, AIA International
alex.miller@aiainternational.org
This event is organised by AIA International and we reserve the right based on reasonable assessment of the circumstances to exclude individuals who display unprofessional or disruptive behaviour. AIA International, its programmers and moderators can and will select those questions and comments they deem pertinent to the talk and program.
