Blogs

RUDC Letter from the Chair (December, 2025)

By Alison Karfeld posted 2 days ago
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As many of us review our year-end “wrapped” summaries—whether from our music, reading, or even transit apps—we thought it fitting to offer an RUDC Wrapped for 2025 . It has been a transformative year across the AIA, and throughout this period of change, one constant has stood out: the remarkable consistency and depth of engagement from our members. This year, RUDC surpassed 10,300 active participants on the AIA Community Hub . If you are not yet connected there, we encourage you to join the conversation—subscribe, share your thoughts, and tell us how RUDC can better support your practice and your city. RUDC now connects 22 state and local ...
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AIA Interfaith Design Knowledge Community Project Spotlight: St. Patrick Catholic Church

By Alison Karfeld posted 2 days ago
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Project Name: St. Patrick Catholic Church, Firm: RDG Planning & Design What and where is this project? In the heart of Elkhorn, Nebraska—where suburban growth has transformed once-rural farmland into flourishing neighborhoods — St. Patrick Catholic Church has served its community for more than 150 years. But as the number of parish families surged to nearly 3,000, it became clear that the original church campus could no longer support the vitality and diversity of the parish’s ministries. So, the parish set out to reimagine its entire campus, and, working alongside RDG Planning & Design, began to envision a place simultaneously rooted ...
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December Letter from the 2025 IDKC Chair, Elisabeth Bakker Johnson, AIA

By Alison Karfeld posted 2 days ago
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Dear Colleagues and Friends, As my term as Chair of the AIA Interfaith Design Knowledge Community (IDKC) comes to a close, I write with deep gratitude, reflecting on a year rich in dialogue, shared learning, and spiritual depth. It has been an honor to serve this remarkable community of architects, designers, scholars, and seekers who believe in the power of design to connect, heal, and inspire. This year, we explored the sacred through a variety of lenses—cultural, architectural, and spiritual. In March, our Town Hall brought together voices from across the country to discuss the IDKC’s 2025 theme of adaptive reuse and to share visions for the future of ...
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December Member Spotlight: Dave Robar, AIA

By Alison Karfeld posted 4 days ago
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Dave Robar, AIA, grew up in rural Michigan, developing a love of the outdoors, fishing in ponds and wading in swamps to capture and play with every creature possible. With the freedom to experiment with building things outdoors, including tree forts and hidden underground dens in what seemed like far-away places at the time, in retrospect he was developing a keen sense of nature and our interwoven relationship to it. At the same time, coupled with a love of making art, Dave’s first exposure to architecture was watching father/architect Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch , using his built-in problem solving skills to help every challenging situation have a better ...
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RUDC Letter from the Chair (November, 2025)

By Alison Karfeld posted 19 days ago
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RUDC Letter from the Chair (November 2025) For those who joined us in Dallas for the 2025 RUDC Symposium, a two-day event filled with fast-paced presentations and tours, I hope you left as energized as I did by the enthusiasm, optimism, and problem-solving spirit that defined this year’s symposium. We explored a remarkable range of ideas, leaving both inspired and invigorated by the collective energy brought from cities across the United States and into Canada—looking at you, Toronto contingent! We owe immense gratitude to our speakers and tour leaders for curating such compelling content. Across scales and contexts, discussions spanned community-led ...
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Traditional Building Raphael Awards

By Alison Karfeld posted 24 days ago
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In August 2025, Traditional Building held its third annual Raphael Awards. Named in honor of Raffaello Sanzio da Urbina (1483-1520), a leading painter of the Italian Renaissance who was a renowned draftsman as well, the Raphael Awards are an architectural drawing competition. The Raphael Awards seek to encourage the study of classical and neoclassical architecture through the practice of drawing and painting by hand. The inaugural Raphael Awards took place in 2023. This year’s entries were judged by designer Christie Franck, architect Steve Rugo of Rugo Raff, and Traditional Building art director Mary Connolly. Nine entries were chosen as winners—see illustrations ...
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Peterson Prize Winners Announced

By Alison Karfeld posted 24 days ago
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The AIA Historic Resources Committee is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 Charles E. Peterson Prize Competition. A student competition of measured drawings, the Charles E. Peterson Prize is presented jointly by the Heritage Documentation Programs (Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record / Historic American Landscapes Survey), a division of the National Park Service, by the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, by the American Institute of Architects, and by the Association for Preservation Technology. The annual competition, currently in its 42nd year, honors Charles E. Peterson, FAIA (1906-2004), a founder of the HABS program, ...
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Q4 COTE Network Reminder

By Sean Costello, AIA posted 30 days ago
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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 ...
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November Member Spotlight: Kitty Yuen, AIA

By Alison Karfeld posted 11-04-2025
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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 ...
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November 2025 AIA Corporate Partners COTE Newsletter Article: ROCKWOOL

By Ellie Falcon posted 11-03-2025
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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 ...
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AIA Practice Management Digest - October 2025

By Rebecca Edmunds, AIA posted 10-30-2025
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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 ...
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Collecting, recording and integrating systems and standards into your firm’s culture

By Matthew Szymanski, AIA posted 10-30-2025
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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 ...
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The undeniable value of client feedback

By Rebecca Edmunds, AIA posted 10-30-2025
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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 ...
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Why AI adoption remains a work in progress

By Rebecca Edmunds, AIA posted 10-30-2025
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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, ...
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My experience in CCA: An interview with Diane Bragoni

By Emma Tucker posted 10-30-2025
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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, ...
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Letter from the Chair: October 2025

By Alison Karfeld posted 10-27-2025
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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. ...
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In Memory of Ganesh Nayak, AIA

By Ellen Mitchell, AIA posted 10-27-2025
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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 ...
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