Page 26 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— October 21-November 3, 2015
Construction, Design & Engineering
A
s I watch raindrops
temporarily relieve
Colorado’s overly
dry grasses, I am reminded of
the wildfires our region has
experienced in recent years, as
well as the devastating floods. I
am reminded, too, of the archi-
tects’ role in creating resilient
communities.
Last year the American Insti-
tute of Architects launched
the Architects Foundation to
advance excellence in design
for the benefit of the public.
As a philanthropic extension
of the AIA, the foundation is
dedicated to the belief that
good design is good for all
and plays an essential role in
transforming lives and build-
ing a better world. With this
objective in mind, the founda-
tion developed the National
Resilience Initiative to create
a network of design studios
throughout the country dedi-
cated to informing and educat-
ing local stakeholders about
resilient building and planning
practices – all designed to help
local communities prepare for
the next disaster, whether natu-
ral or systemic.
In September, at the Clinton
Global Initiative's annual meet-
ing in New York, the Architects
Foundation unveiled its first
report: In Flux: Community
Design for Change, Chance and
Opportunity, a compendium of
NRI activities for the past year.
This report
includes the
work of the
three char-
ter members:
New Jersey
Institute of
T e c h n o l -
ogy's Center
for
Resil-
ient Design,
A r k a n s a s
University's
Community
Design Cen-
ter at the Fay
Jones School of Architecture
and Mississippi State Univer-
sity's Gulf Coast Community
Design Studio.
The foundation’s ultimate
goal is for the NRI to be part
of a growing system of resil-
ience enterprises taking aim
at the many challenges com-
munities face at this impor-
tant juncture in human history.
The Architects Foundation
intends for the NRI’s design-
thinking, problem-solving and
networking between studios
and local, regional, federal and
international stake-holders to
offer a fresh and collaborative
model for mitigating social and
disaster-related risks across the
globe.
At CGI, the foundation’s
executive director, Sherry-Lee
Bloodworth-Botop, is mount-
ing a major effort to move the
NRI forward. Three additional
design studios will be selected
in 2016 for the West Coast,
the Upper Midwest and Mid-
Atlantic regions – via a nation-
al search process that will kick
off later this year. The network
of regional resilience design
studios will extend across all
10 standard federal regions. In
36 months, the foundation will
have approximately 20 inter-
connected regional resilience
design studios as part of the
largest network of resilient
design spanning across mul-
tiple sectors, industries and
communities.
The goal for each local resil-
ient design studio will be as
follows:
• Serve as a central, go-to
community resource on resil-
ience activities and design
solutions;
• Elevate and inform archi-
tectural practice, and diffuse
resilience strategies and design
solutions;
• Provide research, techni-
cal information and project
case studies to municipal lead-
ers that showcase the role of
design and the built environ-
ment in community resilience
to help move their communi-
ties from awareness to action;
• Offer architects, land use
planners, government officials
and funders opportunities to
work directly with commu-
nities to develop, refine and
implement resilience strategies;
• Build an archive of com-
munity demonstration projects
to benefit other communities
at the regional, national and
global scale; and
• Have a dedicated studio
director manage each design
studio’s projects and staff, and
be responsible for key regional
relationships and securing stu-
dio/project funding. Design
studios will retain support
from university professors,
administrators and students
for the delivery of design,
research and training.
The Architects Foundation
aims to secure investments
from corporate partners and
foundations to support the
launch of the three additional
studios as well as key train-
ing, fellowship and construc-
tion programs. In three years,
the goal is for communities
to appreciate the importance
of resilient design approaches,
and for the studios to serve as
a conduit providing resilient
design services and informa-
tion to improve and strength-
en their response to weather
disasters and systemic chal-
lenges, as well as effects of
climate change.
Given the tremendous loss
and disruption caused by
increasingly more frequent
natural disasters of all types,
the NRI is an investment with
a big payback.
For more information, see
Angela M.T. Van
Do, AIA
2015 president,
AIA Colorado
The Architects
Foundation intends
for the NRI’s
design-thinking,
problem-solving
and networking
between studios
and local, regional,
federal and
international
stake-holders to
offer a fresh and
collaborative model
for mitigating
social and disaster-
related risks
across the globe.
