AIA Intl - AIA Fellowship - A Conversation
Event Description
Learn from Seven Fellows and Honorary Fellows why and how to become a member of the College of Fellows.
They will provide:
An outline of the requirements
Different categories and what they mean
How the Jury determines the selected new Fellows, and
The experiences and values realized by each member.
The presenters represent AIA International and reside in Japan, Hong Kong, South Asia, Middle East, Europe, United Kingdom, and Central America.
CES: Estimated 1 LU for AIA Members
Speakers
Sherif W. Anis, FAIA, NCARB, RIBA, Executive Director & Past President, AIA Middle East, AIA International Council of Fellows representative
Steven W. Miller, FAIA, RIBA, AIA International Council of Fellows representative
George Kunihiro, FAIA, FJIA, AIA International Council of Fellows representative
José Luis Salinas Ollé, Hon. FAIA, Treasurer, AIA International
Nela de Zoysa, Hon. FAIA, Sri Lanka Country Representative, AIA International
Lester Korzilius, FAIA, RIBA, AIA Strategic Council Representative and Immediate Past President, AIA International
Nelson K Chen, FAIA, FRIBA, FHKIA, Founding Principal, Nelson Chen Architects Ltd, Founding President, AIA Hong Kong
Sherif Anis is an architectural generalist with 32 years’ diverse experience in the USA, UK and the GCC. Since 2007 Sherif has been actively involved in projects in both Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. With a keen focus on design and design management, Sherif has a proven track record of developing innovative, cost effective designs in architecture, interior design and urban planning. His high-profile project portfolio consists of large, mixed-use commercial/residential projects, corporate headquarters, hotels, university campuses and buildings, extensive multi-use developments, major educational projects and contemporary residences; all of which incorporate qualities that make projects successful, attractive, sustainable, and livable.
An award-winning and published designer, Sherif is a regular speaker, panelist and chairperson at regional conferences and for design award juries. He has been ranked #68 in the ‘Power 100 most influential people in the GCC’s construction industry. A founding member of the American Institute of Architects’ Middle East Board of Directors, Sherif is the chapter’s Executive Director and has served as Treasurer, Secretary, Vice President and President and is a registered architect in the State of Massachusetts.
Sherif holds a Bachelor of Architecture from New York’s Syracuse University School of Architecture.
Steven Miller had his international planning and architectural firm since 1987 in Prague, London, Dubai, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. From 2005 he has worked with Kohn Pedersen Fox, Perkins Eastman, and FXCollaborative as their Middle East and North African Manager as well as Business Development Sr. Vice President for Shapooji Pallonji International a billion dollar design-build Indian company.
He is a member of the International division of (NAAB) National Architectural Accreditation Board for International University Certification, present and past 2016-2018, 2022-2024 Representative to the College of Fellows for AIA International, Past Regional Representative for AIA International to the Strategic Council of the AIA, Past Chairman of the Honorary Fellows jury, past President and member of the Continental Europe Chapter of the AIA, Founder and past Board member of the Middle East Chapter of the AIA, a Founder and past Board member of the International Region of the AIA, and past Chairman of the International Professional Committee Advisory Group to the AIA.
His educational activities include Adjunct Professor at University of Miami’s School of Architecture’s Graduate Real Estate Development + Urbanism, lecturer on World Hotel Design and Development, University of Rome (historical and sustainable adaptive re-use of structures and urbanism as well as Hospitality planning), Charles University, Prague (contemporary design in a historical context), Cornell University (hotel and resort development, planning and design), and the Colorado University (leisure design using existing unique land opportunities).
A noted American architect/educator., George Kunihiro graduated from University of California/Berkeley and received M. Arch from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He has completed a Ph.D course at the University of Tokyo.
George served as the Professor of Architecture at Kokushikan University in Tokyo from 1998 to 2022 and Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing since 2011. George has also held the position of Visiting Professor at the Kyoto University of Arts and Crafts and Special Invited Professor at Meiji University. In the U.S., he has taught at Yale University School of Architecture, Columbia GSAPP, Harvard GSD and New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Among many leadership positions he has held, George served as a President of the Architectural Regional Council Asia (ARCASIA) from 2011-2012 and on the National Board of Directors and the Strategic Council of the AIA, where he is a Member of the College of Fellows since 2009. George served as the President of AIA Japan in 2016 and on the Board of the AIA International in 2017 and 2022.
George has received numerous international recognitions including the Presidential Medals from the AIA and from Federacion de Colegios de Arquitectos de Mexico in recognition of significant contribution to the field of architecture. He is a Richard Upjohn Fellow of the A.I.A.
George has also served in numerous international architectural design juries including Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Turkey, Lebanon and Italy.
His practice is based in Japan and has projects throughout Asia and in the USA.
José Salinas has been a member of the AIA for more than 21 years and has attended close to 20 AIA National Conventions, always traveling from Costa Rica.
He was elected in 2017 as an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
His firm, Arquitectura y Diseño SCMTM, has benefited with the knowledge received from the lectures and trade shows in the Nationals Conventions that they have attended.
16 years ago, while Vice President of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Costa Rica, he managed to convince the Board of Directors of the Colegio that they should work with the AIA, to open the doors to the Costa Rican Architects to improve their professional knowledge. Since then, an agreement for mutual cooperation between both institutions has been signed and thanks to that, the Colegio has had the honor of receiving in our country 3 AIA Presidents in the last few years.
In the years 2007 and 2008, José worked to organize the AIA Costa Rican Chapter. I got support from the “Colegio” and the AIA´s Board of Directors. We hired an attorney who legally established the organization in San José. The AIA Preceding Costa Rican Chapter in that moment had more than fifty members during those years, with the inconvenience that we were only Associated Members.
The AIA Board of Directors in the San Francisco´s National Convention, proposed in the Business Meeting a change of the Bylaws, to allowed the Associated Members to have the possibility to be Full Members but restricted us to be able to work in the USA. This was during the financial crisis, and for a few votes the proposal was rejected.
Since then, José has been very active in the Colegio´s International Committee, participating always in the AIA National Conventions and working always for a long and very successful professional relationship between the AIA and the Colegio de Arquitectos de Costa Rica.
Nela de Zoysa is a practicing architect from Sri Lanka , an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (Hon. FAIA), a Fellow of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects (FIA (SL)), of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) & of the Royal Institute of Australian Architects (FRAIA). An International Associate of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (lnt'I. Assoc. RAIC), a Life Member of Indian Institute of Interior Designers (IIID) & holder of a Post Graduate Diploma in Architectural Conservation of Monuments & Sites: PG Dip Acomas.
She has the distinction of being the only living Architect in Sri Lanka to be a Hon. FAIA and FRIBA, the first Sri Lankan to win the ARCASIA Gold Medal in 2000 and also the First Woman in Sri Lanka to win the South Asian Architects Award in the same year. She won the Geoffrey Bawa Commendation Award for Excellence in Architecture in 2008.
Apart from the International Awards mentioned, she has won 18 National Awards from the SLIA under the categories of Excellence in Architecture, Merit, Honorable Mention and Color.
She was Awarded the Gold Award in 2016 for Best International Woman Leadership from IFC and Women in Management, a Platinum Award in 2009 for Architecture and the Zonta Int’l Woman of Achievement Award in the Category of Architecture in 1993.
She is the first Sri Lankan to be elected to the RIBA Council, which she served from 2011 to 2017. She initiated the RIBA Members Sri Lanka of which she is the Founder Chair since 2015 to date.
She has served on the Council of ARCASIA as an Office Bearer for 4 years.
Currently, she is the first Sri Lankan to be elected to the Strategic Council of the AIA (2019-2021). She is also a Council Member & Chair of the Board of Architectural Education of the SLIA. Previously, she has served in Council for 3 years, 2 of which she served as Assistant Secretary.
Nela has Presented Papers at ARCASIA Forum 19 in Jaipur, India in May 2017 and at ARCASIA Forum 10 in Seoul, Korea in 1999.
She was invited to present the Keynote Address at the Green Building Conference in Pretoria in 2016 & at the WADe (Women in Architecture and Design) Conference in Delhi in 2017.
She presented the L. M. Chitale Memorial Lecture on invitation of the Indian Institute of Architects (IIA). She has spoken at the SAARCH Conference in 2004 in Karachi, Pakistan on invitation of the Institute of Architects Pakistan (IAP) and in Bangalore and Pune in 2003 and 2004 respectively on invitation of the Indian Institute of Interior Designers (IIID).
In Sri Lanka, she has Presented Papers at the First National Archaeology Conference in 1987 and at the International Seminar on "Town Planning of the Dutch Period Outside Europe".
Served on Jury at the Torsanlorenzo International Prize in 2005 in Rome, Italy invited by the International Union of Architects (UIA), at the "Ice Today" in 2009 in Dhaka on invitation of the Institute of Architects Bangladesh (IAB), at the South Asian Architect of the Year Award/ AYA 2009 in Mangalore, India and at the WADe Delhi in the years 2017, 2018 & 2019.
Lester Korzilius runs a concurrent arts and architecture practice based in London and the south coast of the United Kingdom.
From 2005 to 2017 Lester was a main board director and co-owner of EllisWilliams Architects with offices throughout the United Kingdom and in Germany. Lester was the project director for a range of education projects in the primary, secondary, further education, and special needs sectors. Additionally, Lester led EWA teams providing client-side estate strategies for their secondary school and primary school estates. Lester has also designed several cinema and leisure centre projects.
From 1997 to 2005 Lester was a project director with Foster & Partners and subsequently with YRM. Projects for which he was responsible included several university buildings in Qatar, office buildings in the City of London, and a hospital in Ireland.
From 1988 to 1997 Lester was in private practice in New York City concentrating on commercial and residential projects, several of which were internationally published.
From 1979 to 1988 Lester served as a project architect in the offices of John Lautner, Paul Rudolph, Herman Hertzberger, and Richard Rogers, working on projects throughout Europe, the Far East, and the United States.
Lester is a licensed architect in the United States (New York) and the United Kingdom and holds NCARB certification. He is a Fellow of the AIA and a member of the RIBA. Lester received his architectural training at UCLA and the California Polytechnic State University of San Luis Obispo. He additionally holds an MSc from the University of Reading, an MA from Kingston University, and an MFA from the University of Sussex. He is currently pursuing an MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art.
Professor Nelson Chen has been a member of the AIA since 1980 and was elevated to Fellowship in 2010. He was Founding President of AIA Hong Kong in 1997, receiving an Institute Component Excellence Award in 1999 and Chapter Distinguished Service Award in 2007. He is the only concurrent Fellow of the AIA, RIBA and HKIA.
Since 1987, he was Founding Principal of Nelson Chen Architects Ltd. His professional work has been recognized by over 40 major design awards including the Architecture Firm Award from both the AIA International Region (2020) and AIA Hong Kong Chapter (1999) as well as Architect of the Year Award from the Hong Kong Artists Guild (1999), among other distinctions.
Professor Chen has taught design at the Chinese University of Hong Kong since 1992 as the Professor of Practice in Architecture and Director of the School of Architecture (2014-19), He continues to serve as Honorary Professor and Honorary University Architect at CUHK.
Born in New York, he was educated at Harvard and Cambridge, receiving the BA degree summa cum laude and MArch degree with distinction as first-ranked graduate in architecture at Harvard, winning the AIA School Medal as well as the Knox Fellowship for postgraduate study at Cambridge.
