Dear Members,

With May upon us and the Holy Month of Ramadan just beginning, Dubai prepares to adopt a distinct change of pace. The city slows down by day while fasting is respected, and then comes alive again in the evenings with family and friends in celebration. It’s a lovely time to be in Dubai, but in order to beat the Ramadan slow-down, Chapter Councillor Annelise Tiller and I have been meeting with all stakeholders to set up the upcoming International Chapter’s annual ‘Face-to-Face’ meeting. The meetings will be held in Dubai 28 – 30 June and incoming National President Helen Lochhead and Chief Executive Julia Cambage will be in attendance.

As part of an exciting three-day programme including architectural networking, tours and Institute meetings, on 29 June, a cocktail event will be held to host this year’s International Chapter Architecture Awards. You will have noticed that we have begun to share images and information about the 39 entries on our social media pages – be sure to take a tour on Facebook and Instagram.

At the Awards night, we will also be announcing the winners of the inaugural International Chapter Emerging Architects Prize. There is still a window of opportunity to visit our website and take action to nominate an emerging architect member.

With such a full programme planned, if you are in the region at this time, please make sure to stop-over in Dubai and come along for the fun!! If you would like further information, please email us at international@architecture.com.au – we look forward to welcoming you!

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, our Chapter Council member Vui Choong has been working around the clock to set up our Boarding Pass event – don’t miss it! It will be held from 6.30pm on Thursday 9 May at Ronald Lu & Partners Studio in Wanchai. This member engagement event will feature a Pecha-Kucha style presentation with an impressive list of speakers. Please send your RSVP to international@architecture.com.au.

And then… in Baku, 7 – 9 June, the International Union of Architects (UIA) is holding an International Forum on Mass Tourism in Historic Cities, followed by an Extraordinary General Assembly meeting on 11 June. If you would like to learn more about the UIA, please visit our web page.

Events, events, events!

Hong Kong, Baku, Dubai… where to next?

Our Chapter Councillors have been so busy working behind the scenes to continue to grow our newly ‘officially’ formed International Chapter and to make it engaging and meaningful for more and more members! We hope that you are joining in the events and we hope that you are seeing a difference and reaping the benefits of our efforts!

Happy Travelling!

Kind Regards,
Samantha