Last Friday the SA Chapter held a Distinguished Members’ function. These events provide an opportunity to present certificates to those members who have been elevated to Fellow or Life Fellow and for this section of the membership to get together. They are always lively thanks to the animated conversation between associates and friends who share a history of professional practice, which often reaches back to university.
They are also a valuable reminder of how much some members contribute to the profession and the broader community through practice, education, membership and community involvement. People are motivated to contribute in these ways for many reasons – a desire to give back, to share knowledge, to improve our environment and society, to build the capacity of profession and improving public awareness. Regardless of the reason these members really do make the world a better place through their role as architects.
This year two important avenues for architects to engage beyond their day to day practice have emerged. This first is through the ArchiED program, which was developed last year to support architects presenting in schools. The task group of Sally Bolton, Tracey Roughana, Anthea Perkas Chantelle Fry and Deborah Auckland have prepared resources including a flier to provide initial information, a template for the presentation and a list of suggested topics and useful facts.
This program provides an ideal platform to extend the value of the STEM projects that many practices are engaged in or to connect with your child’s/grandchild’s/friend’s school. If you don’t have an association with a school in some way we can make the connection for you. If you are interested in being involved please contact Zaf – Zafiro.papanikitas@architecture.com.au – at the SA Chapter, who will be assisting with delivery of this important initiative.
The second opportunity to broaden the reach of architectural practice and improve understanding of the value that architects provide is through the new planning system. Council Assessment Panels are required to operate under new Planning Development and Infrastructure Act 2016 as of 1 October 2017. Councils will be seeking accredited professionals to sit on these panels and architects, through their registrations requirements and professional practice, meet the accreditation criteria.
The Institute strongly advocated for the inclusion of design in assessment criteria within the new planning system and is currently promoting the fact that architects are the best qualified to make design based assessments within the new system. We are not arguing that architects should replace planners but that we should be involved with planners and other built environment specialists in the assessment process, with a specific focus on performance based design assessment. What we need now is for practitioners to put their names forward for selection, as they have in the past for DAP and design review panels.
ArchiED and involvement in planning assessment are both effective mechanisms for starting conversations about architecture, showcasing the profession’s expertise and making people aware of our relevance and importance in the shaping of the built environment. We look forward to working with our members to maximise these opportunities.
Nicolette Di Lernia, SA Chapter Executive Director