Meet the city architect of Kansas City, Missouri! 🎉
#FutureFocused presents Rukhsana A. Reyes, AIA ⤵️
Prior to joining Kansas City in April 2023, Rukhsana was a Capital Project Manager for Los Angeles County, Department of Public Works, overseeing multi-million-dollar capital projects. She has 20 years of experience in the field and has worked on commercial, residential, education, health care, and public projects.
We ❤️ city architects.
That's why we have AIA's City Architect initiative! 🎉 Architects can provide sustainable solutions for complex issues, like affordable housing, that mayors face.
For the last several years, we've partnered with the United States Conference of Mayors to strengthen our relationship with local civic leaders. Last weekend at #Mayors24, AIA EVP/CEO Lakisha Ann Woods, CAE, and 2024 President Kimberly Dowdell, AIA, NOMAC, met with over 15 mayors to encourage the hiring or appointment of architects in their cities.
📢❗ We encourage local AIA chapters and members to meet with their mayors and civic leaders to discuss community needs and hire or appoint a city architect to address those needs.
#AIA#Architecture#PublicPolicyAIA Kansas City
Thank you for this leadership initiative from your fellow public architects! As a gentle reminder, public architects also serve important roles in county and state governments, in public colleges and universities, in the federal government and the military!
I'm honored to be part of AIA CA Housing Steering Committee that drafted this housing policy. Adequate housing for all!
1. People should have access to housing or living facilities which are safe, functional, sustainable and supportive of their activities and aspirations.
2. Investments in housing and living facilities should be made with consideration of emergency preparedness, development of sustainable long-term infrastructure, and the shaping of functional, sustainable, enriching, and supportive city making. The architectural design process can balance all dimensions of success, including equity and shared civic values.
3. Regulatory and code change must carefully consider potential unintended consequences, such as increased costs of delivering housing solutions. Architects can assist in ensuring that local context, site conditions, environmental goals, planning processes, design considerations, and construction methods are included in the formation of rules and processes so that well-intended goals and objectives can be made more efficient and cost effective while also maintaining adequate health, safety and welfare.
4. California communities must work to address the housing needs of their residents, including but not limited to affordable, supportive, missing middle, and market rate sectors. A community’s housing should include provisions for current and emerging issues such as different work modes, differing family and cohabitation needs, and those who have special needs or care. It should also address both emergency living facilities as well as permanent supportive architecture.
5. Architects often embrace collaboration and work with stakeholders in problem-solving discussions because open dialogue usually leads to the most inclusive form of functional, cost effective, climate responsive, enriching, supportive and durable solutions. The best design solutions promote effective stewardship of our environment as well as our communities.
6. The most successful housing design contributes to the enhancement of our communities in all dimensions: function, social equity, resource management, aesthetic enrichment, natural environment, health & wellness, and economic vitality. Architectural professionals are an essential part of shaping comprehensive housing solutions, especially when done in partnership with other types of housing advocates.
🌇 AIA California recognizes the increasingly complex challenges facing communities in developing housing solutions. As design professionals, we accept that stewardship of our communities and our environment is part of our mission, and we stand ready to focus and support the architectural profession in addressing the state’s multidimensional housing crisis.
In March, the AIA California Board of Directors approved a 💡Housing Policy to serve as a foundation for our next steps👣. Read the policy here: https://loom.ly/ULbtnGw
🖼️ Featured Project: Sister Lillian Murphy Community. 📐Paulett Taggart Architects with Associate Architect StudioVARA.📸 Bruce Damonte
There are numerous aspects that contribute to quality of life in a community, many of which local leaders play a critical role in providing.
Whether focusing on infrastructure development, healthcare, education, recreational opportunities or other facets, thoughtful planning and design can significantly enhance these areas not only to meet needs, but also to accomplish a community’s vision.
Our team of architects, engineers, planners, landscape architects and more, strives to serve the community through considerate design that pairs with the vision of what leaders and their communities want and need. Through collaboration and thoughtful planning, community leaders and professionals play a pivotal role in crafting communities that go beyond mere structures, aiming instead to enhance the quality of life for all residents.
🔗 Learn more in our article featured in Association County Commissioners of Georgia's Georgia County Government Spring 2024 Issue: https://bit.ly/3WJuQ48#buildingcommunties#gmcnetwork#GMCGeorgia#planning#design
Conversations around the dire need to update the now 30-year-old Chicago Historic Resources Survey (CHRS) - fieldwork completed 1994, published in 1996 - have been going on for years.
Since we use this important tool daily at JLK, we are also often discussing its shortcomings. Historic Modern and Postmodern buildings across the city are not captured by CHRS, which only reviewed properties built through 1940. There are also major gaps throughout neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and West sides.
Most recently I was struck by the impending demolition of two properties at 720 N Wells and 207 W Superior in River North, neither of which are recognized for potential historic or architectural significance by the survey. The properties anchor the corner along adjacent blocks where late nineteenth and early twentieth century commercial properties remain intact, an increasingly rare condition in the neighborhood which has seen a surge in new development over the last few decades.
It will require significant funding and effort to update CHRS, but investing in the protection of the diverse architectural heritage that conveys the city’s cultural significance also plays an important role in building a more equitable and sustainable Chicago.
https://lnkd.in/g2jz2Hps
The construction industry is a pivotal force in the quest to mitigate the housing shortage, a challenge that has become increasingly complex in Canada. As a primary provider of new housing solutions, the industry’s role is crucial in erecting structures and shaping the future of urban and suburban landscapes. However, this task is not without formidable obstacles.
The theme of the upcoming Ontario Association of Architects Conference in Niagara Falls (May 22-24, 2024), “Housing: Pushing the Envelope,” aligns with RForm’s mission and resonates with the critical need for creative solutions in today’s housing landscape.
A recent RForm post, The Housing Affordability Debate: An Architect’s View, discusses how Architects can be essential allies in solving the affordability crisis.
Article and conference link in comments.
Since 2021, the London Legacy Development Corporation has implemented gender-informed urban design and planning. In dedication to EQN founding member, the late Pam Alexander OBE, LLDC has compiled this knowledge and best practice into a comprehensive handbook. This guide offers practical steps for urban planners, developers, architects, and other stakeholders to incorporate a gender-informed approach from the beginning of any project through to its completion and long-term management.
To read and download a copy of the handbook, click here - https://lnkd.in/ettcTY6N
Creative story-teller and strategic communicator. I deliver expert PR support to achieve client’s organisational goals. Currently specialising in built environment. Runner, foodie and amateur Munro bagger ⛰️
"If I could share one lesson it would be not to underestimate the power of early creative dialogue between architects and housing developers."
This #NewHomesWeek, George Buchanan discusses the importance of getting architects, developers and other stakeholders around the table as early as possible to foster the very best results for new housing developments.
Read his column in this week's The Scotsman 👇🏘
https://lnkd.in/e2JkwhE5
The 2023 Placemaker of the Year Award, Wexford Science & Technology, LLC was hosted by the Urban Land Institute Pittsburgh (ULI) event at The Assembly. Event Chair, Robin R Zoufalik, CPSM, Associate with Pieper O'Brien Herr Architects, presented at the annual banquet which honors projects in the Pittsburgh region. Also in attendance, Danielle DuCoeur Maritzer, Associate with Pieper O’Brien Herr Architects, was among the many leaders in development, design, real estate, and construction.
AIA 2020 Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture
1moThank you for this leadership initiative from your fellow public architects! As a gentle reminder, public architects also serve important roles in county and state governments, in public colleges and universities, in the federal government and the military!