As the wildfires continued to rage throughout southern California in January 2025, the AIA in CALIFORNIA banded together to help their communities. AIA Los Angeles, AIA Pasadena & Foothill, AIA San Fernando Valley, AIA Long Beach/South Bay, and AIA California gathered not only to lend immediate support to the thousands of neighbors and friends impacted by the disaster, but also to create a unified plan for response, recovery and rebuilding. Bolstered by hundreds of members and allied professionals who quickly volunteered to assist, the goal of this coordination effort was to develop a plan to help the AIA – at every level - provide meaningful, actionable, and sustainable contributions to this recovery effort.
Underscoring the vital importance of uniting architects to create a more just, equitable, and resilient future, while also recognizing the constraints of time, resources, and member capacity within AIA components, collectively, we’ve been able to make significant impacts:
1. Advocacy: from outreach to the Governor’s office about release of building plans to connection with the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Office about expedited permit review, to support a professional certification initiative, the AIA in CALIFORNIA has engaged with elected officials to advocate for policy solutions that positively impact the built environment.
2. Professional Development: AIA Los Angeles has developed a six-part series to help architects and design professionals understand the rapidly changing policy environment, the complex insurance landscape, while also sharing best practices about resilient design strategies, home hardening techniques, and sensitivity to the diverse of needs of each community.
3. Public Outreach for Property Owners: AIA Pasadena & Foothill launched “Ask an Architect,” connecting individuals who had lost their homes with a team of architects who could provide an overview of a pathway forward, supplying volunteers with a thirty page manual on relevant material It held a series of events to connect with the public, provide useful and actionable information for homeowners navigating the complex rebuilding process, and launched a landing page. The chapter was also featured in the news about their “Ask an Architect Program.”
AIA California launched - “Here to Help” a FB & IG social media campaign featuring short videos of architects providing, real, useful, actionable information for targeted home and property owners impacted by the disasters. The campaign was intended to develop relationships and community members and architects, and shared a link to the Ask an Architect page.
This update was provided by AIA in CALIFORNIA. The AIA in CALIFORNIA leadership group meets biweekly to continue to coordinate efforts to ensure meaningful, sustainable contributions to the recovery process across the region.