Volunteer Chair Positions Available

AIA San Diego is recruiting candidates interested in volunteer committee/knowledge community leadership positions with the Chapter for 2018 & beyond. Chairs are required to be AIA Chapter members (Architect, Associate, Emeritus or Corporate Allied).  Three committee-chair positions are currently vacant. Contact Bastiaan Bouma if you are interested in learning more!

Committee on the Environment (COTE) AIA|San Diego & AIA|Palomar Chapters

Part of a national network of local committees dedicated to advancing the goal of sustainable design.  Note: this is a joint AIA|SD & AIA|Palomar Committee (about 1,000 members all told, across various categories)

Committee Chair Duties

• Recruit members from the AIA|San Diego & AIA|Palomar Chapters;
• Lead a quarterly meeting of committee members;
• Lead the committee to provide programs that support the COTE mission and provide AIA members with the tools they need to meet sustainability goals in their projects and practices;
• Post information to the website that is useful for practitioners;
• Develop and maintain more alignment between the local COTE chapter, other chapters, and the national COTE Advisory Group; act as the liaison and primary point of contact between these groups;
• Support the AIA-SD Design Awards team with regards to the COTE design award.

Women in Architecture (WIA) San Diego Chapter

WIA is an informal AIA networking organization dedicated to supporting women in the San Diego architecture and design community. WIA recognizes that there are gender diversity issues within the architectural profession and strives to increase awareness of women’s contributions to the built environment.

Committee Chair Duties

• Organize regular committee meetings, happy hours, professional development events, lectures, films, tours, volunteering/community building, and book clubs that focus on enhancing the career experience, networking, professional development and employment opportunities for female architects;
• WIA has typically gathered every 2nd Tuesday of the month from 6pm to 8pm, at various locations throughout San Diego;
• The 2018 Chair is permitted flexibility in organizing and running the WIA|SD Committee;
• AIA|Palomar also has a WIA Committee. Cooperation/coordination between the two entities is encouraged;

Custom Residential Architects Network (CRAN) AIA|San Diego & AIA|Palomar Chapters

The Custom Residential Architects Network (CRAN) Knowledge Community (part of a national network supported by AIA) develops knowledge and information to benefit architects who are engaged in, or who are interested in learning more about, custom residential practice including remodels, renovations, restorations, additions & new construction.

Committee Chair Duties

• Facilitate the exchange of knowledge and expertise to promote the professional development of its members via continuing education programs, discussion forums, national symposia and conventions, publications, and local activities;
• Guide the Chapter’s efforts to promote the residential design expertise of our members among selected consumer segments;
• Contribute to creating a strategy for advancing the interests of our members involved in residential design;
• Support an effective response for members of the public who contact the Chapter for information and recommendations, including assisting the Chapter with the development of suitable web-based tools for public-use;
• Contribute to supporting the Chapter when it is approached by media contacts for information or solicitations for design competitions;
• Assist with developing a member-recruitment strategy and outreach;
• Schedule and chair quarterly (or more frequent) gatherings of CRAN|SD-Palomar members.

Urban Design Committee: Summer 2014 Report

Download the report as a pdf here.

PB/MB EcoDistrict Community Workshop

Pacific Beach, Mission Beach: Redo model for the county?

Pacific Beach, Mission Beach: Redo model for the county?

Local architects paint future of less cars, more safety

By Roger Showley 5 P.M.FEB. 7, 2014Updated9:35 A.M.FEB. 10, 2014 (View the original UT-San Diego article here)

This rendering shows one idea for a pedestrian crossing over Interstate 5 from a trolley station into Pacific Beach. — AIA/SDAT

Local architects moved forward Friday with big thoughts about Pacific Beach and Mission Beach as a possible model for all San Diego neighborhoods.

The American Institute of Architects' local urban design committee mulled over ideas as simple as artistic crosswalks and roundabout intersections and as a ambitious as a major transit-oriented, mixed-use development around the coming trolley station at Interstate 5 and Balboa Avenue.

"This is an opportunity that has popped up immediately," said Dan Stewart, the committee chairman. "It would be nice if we take advantage of this."

Ideas included holding a spring workshop and fall symposium on innovative planning ideas, such as:

• Redesigning the acreage around the new trolley line that will connect UC San Diego with Old Town;
• Replacing unused parking spaces with wider sidewalks and green space; and,
• Beefing up activity at the Pacific Beach branch library park with more play equipment.

A roundabout is one idea for slowing traffic at busy intersections. Such an idea is being considered at the Grand/Garnet split off Interstate 5. — AIA/SDAT

Document

Pacific, Mission Beach design study

DOWNLOAD .PDF

The discussion grew out of a community workshop session last summer and a followup in December from a $10,000 sustainable design assessment team, sent by the national AIA, based in Washington, D.C., to look over the gritty details of living, working and visiting the beach areas.

The team in its analysis, to be followed up in the next few weeks by a formal set of recommendations, noticed that the two beach communities are too dependent on cars, spew too many green house gases into the air and need to think about an environmentally-oriented future.

Danielle Buttacavoli, who chairs the AIA's local Committee on the Environment, said the biggest threat -- sea level rise over the next generation -- does not yet figure into beach residents' and business owners' immediate priorities.

She called it a "hot potato" that the locals didn't want to face.

"The community would not be here in 20 years," she said, if global warming leads to higher sea levels that flood low-lying areas. "How do you say that? How do you approach that?"

[Buttacavoli emailed a note later to say she meant to say that Mission Beach may not be here by 2050 according to predictions by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.]

The intersection at Haines and Diamond streets would get new stop signs, crosswalk and student-inspired pavement mural under plans at Pacific Beach Middle School. — Google Maps Street View

Instead, short-term projects are in the works.

Ernest Remillard, principal of Pacific Beach Middle School where last summer's workshop was held, said an effort is under way to establish safe routes to local schools. By spring he hopes the city will install a set of stop signs and a new crosswalk, embellished by student-inspired murals in the pavement, at the intersection of Diamond and Haines streets, the main entrance to the 575-student school just west of Ingraham Street.

One example of a student mural idea at Pacific Beach Middle School. — Pacific Beach Middle School

Another example of an intersection mural at Pacific Beach Middle School. — Pacific Beach Middle School

"You'd be surprised how fast some of the people drive up and down Diamond there," he said.

Sara Berns, executive director of the Discover Pacific Beach business improvement district, said her group is installing specially designed bicycle racks and taking other steps to improve bike paths and signage.

"I think there's a lot of excitement," she said.

Stewart's committee saw the trolley station development possibilities as playing a key role in changing Pacific Beach and Mission Beach. They imagined beach goers riding the trolley to the Balboa and Morena Boulevard stations and taking shuttles to and from the beach.

Stewart added the idea of turning Fiesta Island into a sustainable parking lot from which beach goers could board water taxis across Mission Bay.

In attendance was Howard Blackson, a new member of the Civic Innovation Laboratory, a unit within the revived city Planning Department, which he said will be looking for ways to help the beaches and all other neighborhoods improve themselves through innovative planning and design.

Community Planning Groups: Upcoming Board Elections

Community Planning Groups: Upcoming Board Elections

As part of AIA San Diego’s on-going efforts to engage our communities, we are asking our members to join their local planning group this year!

An important way that members can affect real influence in their own communities is to be involved with their Community Planning Group. Many of our communities are at important stages of updating their community plans. Now is a great time to work alongside your friends and neighbors and contribute your training and experience as design professionals.

Time is of the essence!

Elections occur in March and the CPG bi-laws require that candidates must have attended at least one regular meeting within the last 12 months in order to be eligible for election, meaning attendance at your February meeting is critical. Details regarding the locations and meeting times for the various groups around the City can be found at www.sandiego.gov/planning/community . This site has a lot of information about the status of the community plan updates for your community.

AIA San Diego: Building for Life

COTE-SD: Community Town Hall Eco District Meeting on June 29, 2013

Join us to discover the possibilities of an Eco District inPacific/Mission Beach and Mission Bay Park.

Featuring Bob Berkebile, FAIA/ Principal BNIM

When: Saturday, June 29th, 10am – Noon Where: Mission Bay High School – 2475 Grand Ave, Pacific Beach After Party: 12pm – 2pm at MBHS Seaside Farmers Market. Please RSVP to dscheffler@san.rr.com  For more information, visit http://beautifulpb.com.