President’s Letter

Dear friends, colleagues and leaders; And what long strange trip it’s been… Wow that’s a great song…apropos for 2021. Rather than reflecting on this past year, I would like to, in my last letter as your AIA New York State President, reflect forward in the vein of “Return to the Future.” We are always in the state of becoming, and disruption of any kind affects our growth and evolution. In fact, disruption means that traditional rules no longer apply. Think about that for a moment—rules of society, work and commerce in upheaval. That is exactly what we have been experiencing, informing our current state of becoming. What are we to become as we look to “Return to the Future?” As we approach “tomorrow,” let’s view disruption as an opportunity to define new rules that can, and will, shape our destination as a society. A world with healthy, sustainable, equitable communities that ecologically regenerate the world. Transformative “rules” that inform our role as architects; embracing science, and leading innovative approaches to create a true blueprint for better. In 2022, we continue to confront many of the challenges that we encountered in 2021 with a slow return to school, office life, and travel. The future of society, and all we do, has been forever altered. I am proud of how we, as AIA New York State, responded. We did not sit idly by and wait for change. We worked to shape the future through the AIA Unified Task Force City and State; the on-going efforts of the Task Force continue to chart an immediate path forward demonstrating the power of one AIA. However, “Returning to the Future” has a much greater set of far reaching challenges we must face on the horizon. In light of COP-26, we have a true target destination and choices to make to arrive safely. We have 11 years to chart our path, and architects are key in defining that destination through our work, advocacy and innovative thinking. In my mind, “Returning to the Future” calls for an intense focus and commitment by the design community to lead us to a positive future. The work that we have near term may be addressing the pandemic, however, our true ethical charge lies in addressing the impacts of climate change on our communities. As systems thinkers, we cannot get caught “debating” how to design a better bucket when the world is on fire. We need to recognize that resilience is action, the science is clear, and we need to use every “bucket” and resource we have. We have the ability to lead positive change every day—in our lives, in our practices and hand-in-hand with our communities. The New York governor’s plans for climate action explicitly reaches out to the AIA to partner and lead on these issues. So let’s write the rules for the future, manage the change, and be explicit in how transformation can happen. We need subject matter experts to step forward (that is YOU the member), to join me and the state board as we engage in returning to the future, a BETTER future. Sincerely,

Illya Azaroff, FAIA 2021 President | AIA New York State