CHAPTER VICE-PRESIDENT

Effective January 2nd 2013 the Roger Williams University chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students will be restructuring its executive board, leaving the Vice-President position vacant. This letter serves as both the notice of the vacant position as well as the application for members interested in serving in the position. The application will be due on January 15th, at 5:00pm, and the chosen member will be notified no later than January 22th, at 5:00pm. 

PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE NOTICE AND THE APPLICATION

Member Since: Fall 2011
Reason for joining: Joined to be able to attend trips like Forum in Savannah!
Chapter Involvement: Freedom by Design, Forum
Birthday: April 9, 1992
Hometown: Hamden, CT
Weird fact: Tom has a pet mouse named Colby

Week of 11/05/12

AIAS RWU Member since Fall 2009, Chapter Vice President, Spring 2011-Spring 2012

Birthday: 3/21/91

Year: Senior

Hometown: Tinton Falls, NJ

Weird Fact: Has in the past been referred to as “Mr. Forum”.

What he loves about studying abroad in Florence Italy with RWU: ”I love traveling and seeing all the buildings and art works from class in person, to experience the architecture in person in the specific culture, and to get lost in new cities and see unexpected things.”

The second day was more involved and hands on.  The design charrette, working with an abandoned lot in Newark’s historic district was one of the most beneficial activities of the weekend. As part of the charrette’s prompt we were given an unlimited supply of one recycled material, two metal storage boxes, and local builders and volunteers of varying skill and knowledge. This proved a complicated task, as you were thinking about incorporating a recycled element, creating a good park, as well as completing a design that volunteers could build almost on their own. First year and thesis students alike found this challenge difficult, and it was a great way to meet students from other schools. During the afternoon was a lecture series, with two particularly interesting lectures. One by Karen Kubey of NJIT talked about low-rise, high-density housing projects, and those types of projects are about. The second was by Georgeen Theodore of Interboro Partners of Brooklyn. She offered a fascinating lecture that seems to apply anthropological studies to architecture interventions. On Saturday evening was the traditional AIAS event of the Beau Arts Ball.

On Sunday we went into NYC to visit the Highline, the Meatpacking District, and the Chelsea Piers. On our way, we rant into a great exhibition at the Center for Architecture (AIANY’s home space), called The Edgeless School, about education spaces.  We had a great time, and we cannot wait for Forum in Savannah and Quad at Pennsylvania State!

-David Mistretta and Brittany Reed

Week of 10/15/12

AIAS RWU Member since Fall 2011, Workshop Mentor, Fall 2012.

Birthday: 8/26/93

Year: Sophmore

Hometown: Chelmsford, MA

Weird Fact: ”I got all four of my wisdom teeth removed when I was only eight years old.”

Why I joined AIAS: ”I joined AIAS because I love architecture (obviously) but also because I enjoy being a workshop mentor by helping others through something that I have already been through, to hopefully better their experience.”

On Saturday, October 20th at 2:00 PM, the second meeting of the Women’s Leadership Network is going to take place, featuring Beverly Willis, FAIA. Widely recognized and celebrated for her design achievements, development of new technology, and her philanthropy and activism on behalf of architects, urban planning and public policy, Ms. Willis is credited with having played a major role in authoring concepts of pivotal importance to American cities and American architecture.  A true pioneer and champion of women’s contributions to the built environment, she founded the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation dedicated to improving the advancement of women leaders in the building industry and ensuring that women’s work is acknowledged, respected and valued.

In March of 2012, Dean Stephen White received an Inclusive Excellence Grant from RWU to establish a Women’s Leadership Network to connect pre-college and college students as well as alumni with leading faculty and practitioners to advance educational and career potentials for woman students in the SAAHP and related disciplines at Roger William’s University.

If you would like to join in on this conversation, please email aias@g.rwu.edu  ASAP, so that we can pass your name onto Dean White. 

What is MI?

All of the SAAHP gets together to brain storm by sharing projects, ideas, thoughts, dreams!

Format?

4 minute slide-shows per presenter (can be shorter). Name of presenter and title of slide show must be on the first slide of each ppt. Slide shows will be calibrated to 4 seconds per slide. Presenters may talk while slides roll.

Content?

All ideas that are of keen interest to you, that you feel motivate, inspire, and/or annoy your thinking and making, are most welcome, and give evidence to the beauty and complexity of looking, thinking, making.

“Mutual relationship, influence, interdependence, is the rule of the Universe, and is one from we cannot possibly escape. Moreover, it is not one from which is desirable that we should escape”

“Things are never in isolation”

Francis Younghusband 1929

Dear SAAHP Community,

The fifth session of the Mutual Influences (MI) series, will take place on Wednesday, April the 11^th 2012. This is a forum for communication and intellectual exchange designed to bring together the four areas of the SAAHP and enable all of its members to assemble and share ideas, brainstorm and debate. This initiative was based on the understanding, that educational environments, which foster mutually supportive relationships among its members, can have significant generative and inspirational impact on creativity. This platform of Mutual Influence offers a means to find ways to work together, and to balance creation and conservation, individuality and community, through mutual influence.

MI was initiated in 2002, and the first four sessions of the series fostered twenty-minute presentations of the work of three or four presenters. In the upcoming session, which will last about an hour and a half from 6:30-8:00 pm, BREVITY is the key word for the format of the presentations. Slide shows may not be longer than four minutes in duration (they may be shorter). In four minutes, one can show up to 24 slides for a length of 10 seconds per slide. This format will not only promote the streamlining of ideas, and a more rapid tempo, but it will also allow for more presenters to share their projects and ideas with the community.

*Please send to Nermin Kura or Jeffrey Silverthorne your slide shows by April the 4^th. Image sizes must not be greater then 72 dpi. All ideas that are of keen interest to you, that you feel motivate, inspire, and/or annoy your thinking and making, are most welcome and give evidence to the beauty and complexity of looking, thinking, making. The location for the event will be announced shortly.

The American Institute of Architecture Students is proud to announce the 2012 Spring Membership Drive! We lowered National Dues to $23 for the rest of the membership year. You will be an AIAS member from the day you join until August 31, 2012 and be eligible for a renewal discount for the 2012-2013 year!

The AIAS chapter that has the largest membership percentage increase from December 31, 2011 to June 1, 2012 will receive one complimentary registration to AIAS Grassroots in July.

Join today to add your voice to the architectural community and take full advantage of your AIAS membership. You will receive the Spring issue of Crit: Journal of the AIAS, you will receive the AIAS e-newsletter Cross Sections, and you will receive many additional benefits.