4 April, 2016
Opportunity. As the new ACT Chapter President, l have an opportunity to empower members to illustrate how critical this profession is for the future of our built environment.
Our choice is to either lament to ourselves about the diminishing role of an architect within the industry OR unify and communicate our message as one powerful body. We are a member driven organisation and therefore the Australian Institute of Architects needs you to be vocal. Your voice will make our message louder. You have the opportunity to get involved. Please take up this opportunity. Any contribution, small or large, will benefit the profession and as the saying goes… many hands make light work.
Every new President brings to the table a fresh direction for the chapter. My direction is going to revolve around collaboration. I don’t wish to issue you with my platform statement and then spend two years achieving my goals. I want our membership, and our representative chapter council, to develop the agenda and work in collaboration to achieve our goals. Please join me at the upcoming ‘Meet the President’ event to discuss our future direction of our chapter.
It would be fair to say that the year has started with a bang. The ACT Chapter Women in Architecture collective recently aligned with NAWIC to host an Internal Women’s Day breakfast, attended by over 200 people. Last month EmAGN hosted the National Emerging Architect Prize Winner, Nic Brunsdon from WA, in a discussion forum on personal stories about ‘Pride and Vulnerability’ within the profession. Many members, young and old(er), shared their stories including Jesus Garcia whom discussed the faceless immigrant’s pursuit for work in a new city, and Alisa Moss whom provided optimism that women can rise to directorship in a company whilst having flexible part-time employment and juggling family commitments. Also on last month was an event run by CMAG titled ‘Canberra’s next 100 Houses’ in which members Alanna King and Philip Leeson were asked to predict advancements in housing.
Finally, and before you fall asleep reading this, we are going to be progressively changing the format of the e-news into a more enjoyable read. We will be introducing a few new segments such as ‘Archi-Rewind’: articles reviewing things from the past, ‘Archi-Projects’: articles showcasing the entries in the ACT Architecture Awards, and ‘Archi-Chat’: articles written by members. If you’ve got any other ideas, or would like to guest edit one week, please send me an email.
Rob Henry
ACT Chapter President