Blogs

Q4 COTE Network Reminder

By Sean Costello, AIA posted 4 days ago
Dear COTE Chapter Leaders, Happy Friday! This is a friendly reminder that our Q4 AIA COTE Network Call is scheduled for Tuesday, November 18th at 2:00 PM ET . We’re looking forward to connecting and hearing updates from your chapter! Action Required: Please update your chapter’s slide in the shared Google Slides deck with the following: Highlights from 2025 : Key accomplishments, initiatives, or events. Goals for 2026 : What your chapter is planning or aiming to achieve. Google slide Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OB5zhFl2_fo5MdPLadWR6M1nUB919RqO/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=117172739344110297076&rtpof=true&sd=true ...

November Member Spotlight: Kitty Yuen, AIA

By Alison Karfeld posted 7 days ago
Kitty Yuen, AIA, NCIDQ, NCARB Denver Office Director | Cuningham Born in Hong Kong and shaped by a lifetime of global travel, Kitty Yuen’s passion for architecture is deeply rooted in her curiosity about cultures and people. Guided by the belief that design is a form of cultural anthropology, Kitty approaches each project as a journey of exploration—deeply engaging with her clients’ business, work styles, and environments to craft spaces that resonate. With over 30 years of experience, Kitty brings a visionary approach to concept design for corporate campuses, headquarters, academic institutions, and civic spaces. Her leadership has helped ...

November 2025 AIA Corporate Partners COTE Newsletter Article: ROCKWOOL

By Ellie Falcon posted 8 days ago
A systemic approach to retrofits: The benefits of incorporating stone wool How to choose the right approach and materials for retrofits, from AIA partner Rockwool. ROCKWOOL North America Each retrofit project is a unique and complex undertaking with its own history, conditions, and performance challenges. Taking a holistic approach that accounts for not only the project's goals, but also how all building systems will work together over the long term, will ensure it meets and exceeds modern energy efficiency and fire performance standards, and offers durability for decades. And choosing the right materials, like stone wool insulation, is a critical ...

AIA Practice Management Digest - October 2025

By Rebecca Edmunds, AIA posted 12 days ago
Notes from the field Perhaps you’ve noticed that despite market uncertainties, everyone is busy. Pulling together the latest issue of PM Digest relied on tried and true writers who shared insights from the field on the value of client feedback, establishing a hub of process resources, growth through giving, and lagging adoption of AI in small- and medium-size firms. Letter from the editor By Rebecca W.E. Edmunds, AIA, MFA What aspects of practice management haven’t we touched in the last few issues? Many, I’m sure. This issue provides insight into a few ‘odd ball’ topics. But first, my brain was swimming with information after AIA25 ...

Collecting, recording and integrating systems and standards into your firm’s culture

By Matthew Szymanski, AIA posted 12 days ago
By Matthew Szymanski, AIA AIA North Carolina Small Firm Exchange Representative AIA North Carolina Advanced Leadership Program, Steering Committee “Get things in writing” is classic advice for dealing with customers. Our firm recently learned this advice can be just as helpful regarding the firm’s internal systems and standards. At Arx Design Collaborative/Armature Design Build, a 20-person design-build partnership, we invested time into documenting our processes for new team members. Our initial goal was simple: improve our onboarding experience and for onboarding materials to be “clear and effective enough that new team members could contribute ...

The undeniable value of client feedback

By Rebecca Edmunds, AIA posted 12 days ago
By Richard Friedman, Founder & President at Friedman & Partners Client feedback is one of the most important and underutilized tools an AEC firm can employ. At my March 2025 presentation to AIA’s Large Firm Round Table Marketing Forum , I shared how a good client feedback process benefits most practice management areas. When done sincerely and strategically, client feedback can reshape a firm’s internal practices, reinforce long-term relationships, drive smart growth and inform strategic planning. The value of the ask A critical takeaway is simply asking for feedback is itself an act of value. It tells your client: “Your opinion ...

Why AI adoption remains a work in progress

By Rebecca Edmunds, AIA posted 12 days ago
By Rebecca W.E. Edmunds, AIA, MFA, 2026 PMKC Chair, with Google Gemini “ AI is less about automation and more about amplification. Done well, AI does not replace people, it empowers them to do their best work .” – Evelyn Lee, FAIA, NOMA, 2025 AIA President, "Amplification, not automation," AIA Architect, September 4, 2025 Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping industries worldwide. News of unprecedented efficiencies and innovation are everywhere. Many AIA25 sessions highlighted AI’s uses and value. Yet, in architecture, full AI adoption in business functions--I’ll leave the project design side to others--like finance, human resources, ...

My experience in CCA: An interview with Diane Bragoni

By Emma Tucker posted 12 days ago
By Diane Bragoni, responding to questions shared by CCA leadership Name / Title / Years in the profession: Diane Bragoni / Founder & Principal Consultant, CPM Schedule Solutions LLC / 20 years What gets you up in the morning to go to work? What are you passionate about? What gets me up in the morning and fuels me is showing up fully and being present, whether it’s in work, my family, or personal life. I love the challenge of running my own business, learning new things and solving complex problems, and supporting our military clients on projects that really matter. But I also love the feeling after a hard workout, ...

Letter from the Chair: October 2025

By Alison Karfeld posted 15 days ago
By Craig D. Brandt, FAIA Human-Centered Modernism: Finnish Architecture of Culture, Craft, and Care AIA Knowledge Communities are an opportunity for you to experience learning in an immersive way – in place. When you explore a city or region in a deep and meaningful way, you find out there is a sense of tradition and cohesion as well as new ideas. This is what we try to find in our programs. Several of our committee members participated in a Design Study Group in Finland this August with Peter MacKeith, AIA and in collaboration with the University of Arkansas School of Architecture. Watch the video of the amazing projects. ...

In Memory of Ganesh Nayak, AIA

By Margaret Mitchell, AIA posted 15 days ago
If we’re lucky, we have people who come into our lives in big and small ways that leave deep and lasting imprints on who we are and how we view the world. Ganesh Nayak, AIA was one such person for me. I will be forever grateful for the time we spent together on the COTE Climate Action–Climate Justice working group, which was the force behind Climate Justice in Architecture . To this effort, Ganesh brought a spirit of generosity, a clarity of purpose, and an infectious joy. He could see the big picture, recognizing that good design must not only be sustainable but also equitable and just. Going into this, I thought I knew what terms like justice and equity ...

RUDC Letter from the Chair (October 2025)

By Alison Karfeld posted 20 days ago
RUDC has long been one of AIA’s Knowledge Communities most deeply connected to our allied professions. We take pride in that — our events, and especially the annual RUDC Symposium, consistently draw more non-architects than architects. That’s exactly as it should be. Urban design is inherently interdisciplinary; it thrives on many voices. As I write this, just ahead of the RUDC Symposium in October (although you may be reading this after the symposium has wrapped), I’m looking at the registration list with real enthusiasm. It’s a vibrant mix of urban designers, architects, landscape architects, planners, academics, and city officials, among others — ...

Letter from the Chair: November / December 2025

By Robin Puttock, AIA posted 21 days ago
The 2025 COTE goals that we drafted back in January are strikingly similar to the goals I have for my students. Collaboration. Transformation. Excellence. It has been my distinct honor and privilege to lead this remarkable group of professionals this year and to amplify the voices at the local level and those in academia. As I look forward to the inspirational and astute leadership of COTE’s incoming chair, Ellen Mitchell, I would like to take a moment and reflect on what we all have achieved this season, which coincidentally, is also a practice that I try to instill in my students. At COTE , our mission is simple: to leverage design to improve life for current ...

Share Your Stories – COTE Network Spotlight Program

By Lindsey Falasca, AIA posted 26 days ago
COTE is excited to launch a new COTE Network Spotlight Program and is seeking compelling examples of programs, initiatives, and advocacy efforts led by local, regional, or state COTE groups that have made a meaningful impact in advancing sustainable design excellence. We want to hear from you! Share your stories HERE . Submissions should highlight tangible results from programs implemented during calendar year 2025 and clearly demonstrate how these efforts align with one or more of the Framework for Design Excellence measures. This initiative aims to elevate and amplify the impactful work of local COTE groups. Submissions will be featured throughout ...

2026 AIA Policy Agenda Priorities Survey

By Lisa Ferretto, AIA posted 29 days ago
The AIA Government Affairs and Public Policy department is currently prioritizing the key policy issues that impact the architecture profession at every level. As we look toward developing the 2026 AIA Policy Agenda, we specifically need to ensure that the vital topics of climate action, resilience, and sustainability are given the prominence and strategic focus they deserve. Your expertise in these areas is absolutely critical to this process. To gather this input, the AIA Policy Survey has been created. We strongly encourage you to use this platform to articulate the policy needs, regulatory challenges, and legislative opportunities you see related ...

Call to Action: Shape the future of Building Codes - Applications for 2027-2029 Code Cycle.

By Lisa Ferretto, AIA posted 29 days ago
Subject: Call to Action: Shape the future of Building Codes - Applications for 2027-2029 Code Cycle. Good afternoon, The International Code Council (ICC) is currently seeking volunteers for its five Code Action Committees (CACs) and the Codes and Standards Council for the 2027-2029 code development cycle. This is a critical opportunity for AIA members to directly influence the future of building safety and performance. As architects, our expertise is fundamental to the codes and standards that ensure the safety, resilience, and sustainability of our built environment. It is crucial that our profession is at the table. Your insights are ...

Local COTE Spotlight: A Decade of Climate Dialogue in Western North Carolina

By Lindsey Falasca, AIA posted 29 days ago
Across the country, AIA COTE state and local chapters are driving meaningful climate action through advocacy, public education, and community-centered engagement—advancing local resilience and sustainability. This spotlight series showcases specific initiatives designed to inspire and empower COTE groups nationwide to take action and lead climate solutions in their own communities. — When AIA Western North Carolina (WNC) Committee on the Environment (COTE) launched its first Climate Symposium in 2014, it set out to answer a timely question: How can architects design in harmony with a changing climate ? The event’s tagline, Climate Adaptive Design: ...

Local COTE Spotlight: Advancing Building Energy Leadership in New Orleans

By Lindsey Falasca, AIA posted 29 days ago
Across the country, AIA COTE state and local chapters are driving meaningful climate action through advocacy, public education, and community-centered engagement—advancing local resilience and sustainability. This spotlight series showcases specific initiatives designed to inspire and empower COTE groups nationwide to take action and lead climate solutions in their own communities. — For more than a decade, the City of New Orleans has sought to strengthen its building energy policies, an effort long championed by members of the AIA New Orleans Committee on the Environment (COTE). In 2025, those efforts came to fruition with the passage of the city’s ...

AIA Materials Pledge Signatory manufacturers and other companies

By Melanie De Cola posted 29 days ago
The following is a list of Building product manufacturers and consultants who have signed onto and aligned with the AIA Architecture & Design Materials Pledge. Company Name Year signed on Allsteel 2021 Andalusia Design 2024 ARMATHERM Thermal Bridging Solutions 2022 Bentley Mills 2022 Carnegie Fabrics 2021 Corian - Hallmark Building Services Distributor 2023 dasso USA 2019 Ecological Environments, LLC 2023 Emser Tile 2024 ezoBord 2020 FERO Corporation 2021 Fiber Global 2024 GMX, Inc. 2024 HP 2021 KI 2025 Kimball ...

COTE Book Review: Architectural Epidemiology

By Kira Gould, Hon. AIA posted 10-07-2025
COTE Book Review: Architectural Epidemiology: Architecture as a Mechanism for Designing a Healthier, More Sustainable and Resilient World by Adele Houghton, FAIA, and Carlos Castillo-Salgado Review by Theresa Mark and Z Smith, FAIA Architects know that buildings can affect the health of those who spend time in them. Of course, good design always adapts to the particulars of each site and the needs of the occupants. But there's a whole field of study that looks at the impact of location, demographics, and policy on health and disease: "epidemiology." What if architects (and building owners and developers) spoke with public health experts ...

COTE Network Update: Q4 Call

By Sean Costello, AIA posted 10-07-2025
The COTE Network will host its last call of the year on November 18 th ! We’re excited to invite you to the final COTE Network call of 2025, taking place on November 18th . Following a similar format to last year, COTE group leaders will share key highlights and progress from their 2024 initiatives, along with plans for the year ahead. This Q4 call will spotlight half of the COTE components , with the remaining groups continuing the conversation during our Q1 2026 call . Cote Chapters to present: Q4 2025: AIA Arkansas – AIA Minnesota Q1 2026: AIA Monterey Bay – Texas Society of Architects We hope you’ll join us to celebrate ...