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This Thursday at Three
You have just a couple of weeks left to take family and friends to see the People's Choice Awards show at OPUS VII. (Tomorrow night's First Friday Gallery Walk would be an especially good time.) Here's a second reason to consider that trip to downtown Eugene. We have the gallery space reserved for next spring and we'll be looking for feedback on how we can best celebrate the art and craft of our profession in that space. So go see the show, but also blink and look past what's there and imagine what could be there next March.

What Would You Like a Gala to Be?
AIA-SWO is considering putting on an event to raise awareness of Architecture and Architects in the area, raise money, give something to the community, and have some fun as a chapter. This may occur March 1-April 11, 2012 with some kind of exhibit/displays at OPUS VII and another event possibly in the later Spring. We will need your support as members by volunteering and attending. Some of the ideas are indicated below thru some questions that will help us make some decisions. Please respond to the questions to linn@awjarchitects.com within the next week.

1. If we were to have a Design Competition of a small structure of some sort that will be built would you be interested in participating? Y____N____
2. If we were to display the ‘Art’ of Architects……what else you do besides buildings…sculpture, painting, paper making, furniture design /building, model building, free hand drawing/renderings, etc….at OPUS VII.
Would you have something(s) you would be interested in displaying? Y___N___
Would someone from your office be interested in displaying something? Y___N___
Would you be interested in donating an item of your special interest for an auction? Y___N___
3. If we were to have a big GALA type event of AIA-SWO, community awards, auction, public recognition of supporters in architecture, dinner, dance, maybe formal, maybe funky…?
Would you help work on the event? Y___N___
Would you attend? Y___N___
Would you encourage other office people to attend? Y___N___
4. In lieu of an event or two, in order to raise some money, where we would need your volunteer time to put it on and attend, would you prefer to pay a one time assessment? Y___N___

Please copy and paste an e-mail response to Linn West.

The Business Case for Green
Yancy Wright: Director, Sellen Sustainability

Speaking from the perspective of a native Oregonian aware of the economic challenges facing the region, Yancy plans to share his experience with changing construction business practices around sustainable initiatives that improve the bottom line. He will share how he created a focus on sustainability and the journey of initiating cultural change within Sellen construction, one of the largest and greenest general contractors in the state of Washington. Working more recently as a sustainability consultant with great clients like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he will reflect on their evolution to adopt sustainable best management practices and share lessons learned. Yancy holds a master’s degree in architecture, has worked in the commercial construction industry for 9 years and is extremely passionate about finding innovative solutions to design & build sustainably for less money.

October 11, 2011
Jaqua Academic Center, 1615 E. 13th St., University of Oregon

Doors open at 5PM; lecture from 5:30 - 6:30PM
Light appetizers will be provided.
We encourage you to bike, walk, carpool or take the bus (several bus routes will get you there). Parking is available at the Matthew Knight Arena garage as well as at metered spots around campus.

For details, click here.

This event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required. To RSVP, go to http://tls2011yreugene.eventbrite.com/

Sponsorship opportunities available! Contact Katy Garlington at katy@living-future.org

Interested in Co-Housing?
Cohousing lecture/slideshow with Chuck Durrett
Saturday, October 15th, 7:00-9:00pm
River Road Annex (1055 River Road)

What is cohousing? Cohousing combines privacy and community in a clustered, pedestrian-oriented neighborhood with cars on the periphery. You own your own home, as well as a share of the common facilities. Common facilities may include garden, kitchen, dining room, laundry, childcare facilities, offices, guest rooms, chickens. Okay, chickens aren’t facilities but you get the idea. Cohousing facilitates interaction among neighbors for social, practical, economic and environmental benefits.

Oakleigh Meadow History: After two years of meditations in the meadow Joan and David have decided to create a cohousing community on their deeply special 2.7 acre property on the river in Eugene. If you have not been here already you must see it to believe it: on the bike path, just down stream from Blair/Whiteaker, close to nature, rich soil, beautiful views in all directions, borrowed landscape of the green way, community-minded long-time neighbors, a wonderland for children.

For details, click here or here.

Oct. Chapter Meeting
Our October meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 19 will focus on the Oregon Reach Code. Or should we say, the award-winning Oregon Reach Code? Look for your invitation via socializr tomorrow!

The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services Building Codes Division received a national honor for its work in energy efficiency. The U.S. Department of Energy recognized the division with the sixth annual Jeffrey A. Johnson Award for “Excellence in the Advancement of Building Energy Codes and Performance.”

Oregon has long been recognized as a national leader in energy efficiency. The Oregon energy code has consistently been one of the strongest in the nation, spearheaded for more than two decades by the Oregon Department of Energy. Two years ago, official state support for the energy code moved to the Building Codes Division, which immediately began to aggressively pursue further improvements to the code.

The Building Codes Division developed and adopted the Oregon Reach Code on July 1, 2011. This optional code provides a 15 percent to 20 percent energy efficiency improvement over Oregon’s mandatory commercial energy code. The residential provisions, scheduled for adoption Oct. 1, 2011, are anticipated to provide another 5 percent improvement over mandatory residential code standards.

“Our new mandatory residential energy code will save Oregon families over $165 in energy costs per year. The Residential Reach Code will save $250 above that, and energy savings in commercial buildings will be even bigger,” said Patrick Allen, acting administrator of the Oregon Building Codes Division.

2011 Craftsmanship Awards
Last week we celebrated the People’s Choice Award winners. The success of these projects was based on the hard work and talent of the individuals in the construction industry who turned our designs into well crafted, beautiful buildings and spaces.

In November our chapter will be hosting the 2011 Craftsmanship Awards. The awards are an opportunity for architects and designers to let the construction industry know that we value their craftsmanship, and recognize their outstanding work.

To make the 2011 Craftsmanship Awards successful, we encourage each of you to think back on your projects and nominated individuals within the construction industry that have demonstrate exceptional craftsmanship and/or have taken then extra step to ensure an outstanding final product. The AIA-SWO considers anyone in the construction industry, from the cost estimator to a job site superintendent worthy of this recognition. Nomination forms are available in both PDF and word formats and are to be submitted to Kurt Albrecht AIA by October 20, 2011.

Nomination Forms: here (pdf) or here (docx).
List of past winners: AIA-SWO Craftsmanship Awards 1956-2006 here.

Inquires and submissions to:
Kurt Albrecht AIA – AIA-SWO, President Elect
Chuck Bailey Architect AIA LLC
1740 Willamette Street, Eugene OR 97401
Kurt@cba-aia.com
541-485-3315 (phone & fax)

Thank you in advance for supporting this great program!

Grassroots Scholarships Available
The AIA Northwest & Pacific Region is offering airfare and registration scholarship to attend the annual AIA Grassroots and Leadership Conference. The conference is in Washington DC, March 7-10, 2012. This is an excellent opportunity to learn about the role the AIA plays and to learn about relevant issues.

Past participants have returned from this conference to take leadership positions and contribute their energy and enthusiasm to improve the profession.

This year the AIA NW & Pacific Region will award between three and five scholarship for the conference. Candidates can fit into any of the three categories listed below. We hope to send one or more candidate(s) from each group listed. The requirements for each division are as follows:
• Young AIA architect members who have been licensed for less than 10 years; who would like to learn about AIA initiatives and leadership opportunities and how they can actively participate on a local and/or national level.
• Any AIA member of any experience level who is interested in developing their leadership skills and becoming more involved with the AIA.
• Associate AIA members who would like to learn about the AIA's role on the national level and what they can do to develop their leadership role in their local AIA component.

Interested candidates are asked to submit:
• A one page letter of nomination from a chapter of the AIA Northwest & Pacific Region
• A one page resume
• A one page essay from the nominee focusing on what he or she hopes to gain from the experience both personally and professionally.

Candidates may also be self-nominated. Self-nominated candidates are asked to provide two references from AIA members in good standing affirming their ambition and potential.

Deadline: Friday, October 21, 2011 (Must be a PDF file.)

If you know someone in your chapter who could benefit from this infusion of enthusiasm for the AIA, please send your nomination by email.

If you would like to participate self-nominations are welcome. Please send your nomination by email.

Send to: Stephanie Davenport, AIA NW & Pacific Region at: stephanie@aiawa.org

If you have any questions please contact Clark Lewellyn, Chair, AIA NW & Pacific Region Leadership Dev. Team, clarklle@arch.hawaii.edu

Affiliates Wanted
The membership committee started the year with a lofty goal: 90 new affiliate members in 2011. You've probably seen an email or two from Heidi Peschel. A few of you have replied, and she's grateful. The rest of you should expect a phone call from Heidi pretty soon. (If you've worked with Rubensteins Contract Carpet, you know that no one successfully hides from Heidi and her cohorts.)

She's looking for leads, candidates, referrals. Who would you like to see join AIA-SWO as an affiliate? You could save yourself (and Heidi) a little trouble by clicking here. (Thanks.)

NWPR Conference
Crafting the Future, is a conference in two parts. The first portion will be held in Tokyo and serves as the AIA NW&P Regional conference. The second portion will consist of travel south and west of Tokyo over a four day period and is hosted by AIA COD. You may register for each conference independently or may select both conferences. The discounted rate ends this week!

Following the devastating earthquake in northern Japan, members of AIA Japan, AIA Committee on Design and the AIA Northwest & Pacific Region have been working to refine a dynamic program for the conference. Risks have been carefully assessed regarding travel to Japan. Colleagues in Tokyo have counseled the AIA regarding contributions architects can make to their fragile economy by visiting their country. In addition, significant and unique learning opportunities exist for this conference directly following the event of the recent earthquake. It is therefore with great care and a sense of responsibility that the AIA NW&P Region is moving forward with the Region Conference in Japan.