College of Fellows Liason Message:

One of my responsibilities as the most recent member of the COF Executive Committee has been serving as the COF liaison to the Young Architects Forum. Not surprisingly, this has been a pleasurable duty, getting to better know these young, current and future leaders of the profession. Our profession will be in good hands with these ambitious, dedicated, and creative architects in charge. The Young Architects Forum (YAF), a program of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the College of Fellows (COF), is organized to address issues of particular importance to recently licensed architects. The YAF is the voice of recently licensed architects and a catalyst for progress within the Institute.

2022 marks the final year under the 5-year YAF Strategic Initiative of “Practice Innovation, Redefining Purpose”. Through this 5-year period the priority areas of the YAF have been 1) Climate Action; 2) Career Evolution; and 3) Belonging + J.E.D.I. Visit their Connections newsletter, and their KnowledgeNet page to access many YAF resources. The content of their publications and events makes obvious the depth and clarity of their focus on the future success of the profession and their participation in that future.

The highlight thus far of my YAF liaison experience was participating in Summit30: Mission 2130, in August in Pittsburgh. Every five years the YAF organizes a summit to help determine their strategic initiatives for the next five years. Mission 2130 was an application-based in-person event organized by the Young Architects Forum to celebrate its 30th anniversary, and more importantly to respond to critical issues in the next 100 years that early career architects are uniquely poised to answer

• What will the world look like in 100 years?

• How has the profession of architecture evolved to meet the demands of our future communities and climate?

• What technology has been invented to support these efforts and provide for both planetary and human health?

• What comes after the 2030 Challenge ends? Is it a new 2130 Challenge? An AIA 200 Challenge to coincide with the bicentennial of AIA?

• What do architects need to start doing today to proactively address these upcoming changes instead of reacting once there is no other choice?

This is Mission 2130.

The YAF Mission 2130 leadership team started the process by organizing Team Red Charrettes in April, to obtain a diverse range of input and ideas under the overarching topics of:

Architecture, Society, and Planet. Applications were then sought for Mission 2130 participants, who were required to submit a brief personal essay about their vision of and priorities for the future. These essays helped the organizing team to not only review applications, but to sort accepted participants into eight “Mission Crews”. These crews then started meeting via Zoom, at least weekly, to complete pre-summit assignments. Each crew was provided with an individual Google drive folder, which included a Crew Manual, Additional Links, and Crew Member CVs. Each crew also had a separate Miro Board, which the crews used through the conclusion of the event. The quality of the organization of this ambitious undertaking was exceptional. Kudos to the organizing committee, (also known as “Mission Control”).

Mission 2130, the event, hosted 50 architects from across the nation to address challenges the profession will face in the next 100 years, focusing on Architecture, Society, and our Planet. Selected individuals participated in 2-day plenary sessions and facilitated workshops as teams to ideate and develop potential solutions to the profession’s problems of tomorrow. Keynote speakers Dr. Chris Luebkeman, PhD and Christian Benimana, RA, challenged participants to critically look forward and to engage with communities. An afternoon panel discussion with Janki Vyas, Kendra Wiley, and Elizabeth Resenic gave insight to the Summit attendees on what society would look like if we don’t change our patterns now. Emcee Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA, 2022 AIA President-Elect, 2023 AIA President, kept the Mission Crews on track, ably assisted by YAF Chair Jessica O’Donnell, AIA.

At the end of the event, each team presented their work, a “pitch”, building a tapestry of solutions that will inform existing and future work done by the YAF, building positive conversations around potential visions for the future to ideate and drive change by developing actions to counteract the problems of tomorrow. Since the summit’s conclusion, the YAF leadership team has been reviewing the crews’ presentations to develop actionable steps and resources for the YAF to prioritize for the next 1015 years. These new strategic initiatives will be formatted and shared in the coming months. The COF was proud to help sponsor this event, and looks forward to its outcomes.

Kate Schwennsen, FAIA

Kate is a Professor Emeritus + Director Emeritus at Clemson University School of Architecture.