April is Earthquake Preparedness Month
Make a plan to attend AIA San Francisco's educational outreach programs

• Building Disaster Resilient Communities (1 HSW)
  April 12, 9:00 - 10:00 am
  AIA San Francisco, 130 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco
  Free, RSVP@AIASF.ORG
• Post Earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings and Safety Assessment Training (7 HSWs)
  April 23, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm
  AIA San Francisco, 130 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco
  $65 AIA Members | $85 Nonmembers
  Register at http://saptraining.eventbrite.com/
• We Are Not Ready – Lessons from the Chile Earthquake (2 HSWs)
  April 28, 5:30 - 7:30 pm
  AIA San Francisco, 130 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco
  Free, RSVP@AIASF.ORG

2010 Architecture and the City Festival
Call for Submissions

Architecture and the City provides an opportunity for individuals, design practices, companies and cultural institutions to celebrate San Francisco's unique built environment and their contribution towards it.

The 2010 festival theme “Investigating Urban Metabolisms” takes an in-depth look at hidden and emergent systems that generate form, movement, growth and entropy in the city. Program ideas that explore the way architects or projects thoughtfully impact community and reflect issues of sustainability within San Francisco and Marin counties will be given first preference.

Submissions may explore architectural or urban treasures that reveal the city in new ways and which engage the public imagination. Specifically, we seek ideas for exhibitions, lectures, behind-the-scenes tours, walking tours, hands-on workshops, venue ideas, and more. Submission deadline has been extended to April 9, 2010.

The official festival takes place September 1-30, 2010. Visit www.aiasf.org/archandcity for more information.

2010 San Francisco Living: Home Tours
Call for Submissions

AIA San Francisco’s popular San Francisco Living: Home Tours weekend is the first tour series of its kind in the Bay Area to promote a wide variety of architectural styles, neighborhoods, and residences—all from the architect's point of view.

For the San Francisco Living: Home Tours weekend, projects must be located in San Francisco county. Projects are judged on quality of design, location, innovation, and thoughtful integration into the neighborhood context. The committee is interested in seeing projects that exhibit sustainable features. Submissions are due by April 15.

SAVE THE DATE!
Marin Living: Home Tours
May 15, 2010

AIA San Francisco’s popular Home Tours program expands to Marin, where a select number of private, modern residences will be open to the public for one day only. The tour program, which has taken place for the last seven years every September in San Francisco, is the first of its kind in the Bay Area to promote a wide variety of architectural styles, neighborhoods, and residences all from the architect's point of view. Projects are showcased with the designer(s) via an open house format, and tour participants have the opportunity to see some of Marin's latest residential projects from the inside out, meet design teams, explore housing trends, and discover design solutions that inspire unique Bay Area living.

Visit www.aiasf.org/hometours for more information.

Architecture and the City Monthly Programs

The popular Architecture and the City festival is expanding its programming and now takes place every month! The new monthly programming series showcases the best of the annual festival celebrating architectural tours, films, exhibitions, lectures and more.

This month's programming further explores some of the pieces featured in our Vertical Gardens Exhibition (extended through May 14th). In case you missed it, check out some of the recent press hits in our newsroom! And be sure to sign up early for our upcoming events.

April Events

See our calendar for detailed information on our April events, or call 415.362.7397. All events take place at AIA San Francisco, 130 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, and are free, unless otherwise noted.

Andrea Ponsi Cityscapes- drawing analogies: An evening with Andrea Ponsi (1.5 LUs)
April 8, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Building Disaster Resilient Communities (1 HSW)
April 12, 9:00 - 10:00 am

Supportive Housing Service Spaces for Affordable Housing in San Francisco (1 LU)
April 13, 12:00 pm

Sam Davis: Social Housing - Bay Area (1.5 LUs)
April 13, 6:30 - 8:00 pm

Finding Your Way Around Shared Coordinates
April 14, 11:30 am - 1:30 pm

A Discussion with the California Deputy State Fire Marshall for Justice Facilities (1 HSW)
April 14, 5:00 - 6:30 pm

ARCH+CITY: Vertical Garden DIY Workshop
April 14, 5:30 pm
Flora Grubb Gardens, 1634 Jerrold Avenue, San Francisco

Strategic Marketing for Small Firm Success (1 LU)
April 15, 9:00 am

Advances in Living Architecture: An Integrated Ecological Approach to Design (1.5 SDs)
April 15, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Going Beyond ADA in Healthcare Settings (1 HSW; 1 MCE)
April 16, 8:30 - 10:00 am

Grass Roots Green: The Indian Perspective on a Sustainable Environment (1 SD)
April 16, 12:00 - 1:00 pm

Career Strategy Roundtable: Informal peer-to-peer discussion
April 19, 12:00 - 1:00 pm

Green to Codes: Integrating Building Analysis into BIM (1.5 HSWs)
April 20, 3:00 - 5:00 pm

Building Materials You Wish You’d Never Used: And What to Do About it Now (1.5 HSWs)
April 20, 6:30 - 9:00 pm

Post Earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings and Safety Assessment Training (7 HSWs)
April 23, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm

Mentorship Speedmatch
April 27, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

We Are Not Ready – Lessons from the Chile Earthquake
April 28, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Vertical Gardens
On View February 18 - April 30, 2010 (Extended through May 14, 2010)

The past decade has seen an overwhelming emergence of green roofs and vertical gardens, designed to combat the lack of flora in the city. Buildings around the world—from the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco—have embraced green walls or roofs for their economical, environmental, and aesthetic values. Vertical farms and gardens are also being envisioned as new ways to feed local and organic foods to city dwellers. Largely based on the principles of hydro-ponics, vertical gardens are mostly self-sustaining because they capture large amounts of natural sunlight and water, and use wind as an energy source. In a country where cities are suffocated by high rises, cement and industrial materials, where can green space exist? As this exhibition demonstrates, one possible answer is “up.”

Vertical Gardens features over two dozen projects, both imaginary and real by an international array of artists and architectural practitioners, including local studios Rael San Fratello Architects, Min Day, Boor Bridges Architecture, GLS Landscape | Architecture, environmental designer Lisa Lee Benjamin, and local nursery Flora Grubb Gardens. Additional pieces by Abruzzo Bodziak Architects; ATOPIA with The Harrison Studio; Bob Bingham and Claire Hoch; Patrick Blanc; Bohn & Viljoen Architects; Dickson Despommier, Eric Ellingsen, SOA Architects, Blake Kurasek; Evo Design with Mica Gross and Rogers Design Group; Todd Haiman; Haus-Rucker-Inc.; Edmundo Ortega and Dianne Rohrer (Co-Founders, Mundo Verde Ortega); Claude Boullevraye de Passillé; Oda Projesi;; Naomi Reis; Roomservices (Evren Uzer and Otto Von Busch); and SITE (Denise MC Lee, Sara Stracey and James Wines). Extensive photographic documentation of existing buildings containing vertical farms, gardens or green roofs by Hundertwasser; Renzo Piano with Chong Partners and Stantec; Emilio Ambasz & Associates; Humpert Wolnitzek; Chad Oppenheim Architecture and Design; Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership, Downs/Archambault & Partners, LMN Architects; Scandinavian Green Roof Institute; Conservation Design Forum of Chicago and Atelier Dreieitl of Germany; Enrique Browne and Borja Huidobro with Ricardo Judson and Rodrigo Iturriaga; and others.

Check out the latest reviews from the media:

AIA San Francisco: For Architects, By Architects (JetBlue San Francisco)

Vertical Gardens Exhibit Takes Root Downtown (7x7)

Here's the Plan (Daily Candy)

Green walls are the new green roof. (Curbed SF)

AIA San Francisco Hosts Vertical Gardens Exhibition (Contract Magazine)

AIA San Francisco Chapter Hosts Vertical Gardens Exhibition (California Construction)

"Vertical Gardens": Up a Wall (SF Weekly)

AIA San Francisco’s Vertical Gardens Exhibition (The Dirt)

• Co-chair and committee memebers sought for San Francisco's first CANstruction event!
  CANstruction is an event where teams of architects, engineers, contractors, designers and students compete to design and build giant structures made entirely from full cans of food. It takes 8-12 weeks and thousands of cans of food to create a structure. The results are displayed to the public as an exhibit of fabulous sculptures. Those who attend are invited to donate cans of food at the time of the exhibition. When the exhibition closes down, all canned food used for the structures is donated to local food banks for distribution to emergency feeding programs that include food pantries, soup kitchens, senior assistance and day care centers. Since its inception, more than ten million pounds of food have been donated to aid in the fight against hunger. If you are interested in organizing, sponsoring or participating in the event please contact Lauren Sherman at Lauren.Sherman@fulcrumse.com.

• Letter Campaign to CA Supreme Court (UDC vs. CH2M Hill)
  The California Court of Appeal issued a decision holding that a consultant's duty to defend a developer against a homeowners association's negligence action arises despite the lack of underlying claim of negligence against the consultant. Please click on this message and request for assistance from legal counsel seeking support to help them to overturn the result of the recent, very adverse, decision in the case of UDC vs. CH2MHill.

For information on competitions/RFPs visit our website at www.aiasf.org/Job_Resources/CompetitionsRFPs.htm.

• Northern California based shelter magazine California Home + Design launches www.chdresource.com, an interactive directory of design services, vendors and retail shops to help California homeowners.

• Auerbach Pollock Friedlander, Performing Arts/Media Facilities Planning and Design is pleased to name four new associates, Kevin Auses, Matthew Ezold, Howard Glickman and Robert Hill.

• HOK is honored as one of the Best AEC Firms to work for by Building Design + Construction Magazine.

• Kudos to Anshen+Allen who is providing pro-bono design services to Containers 2 Clinics and helping to develop the prototype for a portable health clinic constructed from old shipping containers.

Want to be IN THE NEWS? Email here for consideration.

On March 16, 2010 the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed legislation introduced by Mayor Newsom to support property owners throughout the City who act immediately to voluntarily retrofit and strengthen wood-framed, soft story homes and multi-unit buildings to help protect them from collapse due to a major earthquake. The new legislation, which takes effect on April 19, 2010:

• Waives Building and Planning Department Plan Review fees - saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars per project.
• Expedites the processing, review and approval of permits for voluntary seismic retrofit upgrades of soft-story, wood-frame buildings - buildings identified as likely to collapse during the next major earthquake in a January 2009 study by the Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety (CAPSS); and
• Enables those who retrofit voluntarily now, and who meet the building performance standard established by the Building Department for these voluntary retrofits, to be exempt for 15 years from any requirements that may be adopted in the near future as mandatory retrofitting legislation is enacted.

  Please read the CAPSS study, available on the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) web site, www.sfdbi.org, for more details.
  

  
  

Mandatory Continuing Education on Disabled Access Requirements

Specifically, how many CE hours is required?
To renew a license in 2011 and beyond, all California architects must take 5 hours of CE.

Going Beyond ADA in Healthcare Settings (1 HSW; 1 MCE)
April 16, 8:30 - 10:00 am

This presentation will review how the environment impacts patients with different medical diagnosis, from neurological impairments to orthopedic rehabilitation. The focus will be on those environments the patient touches, from the hospital bedroom to the outpatient clinic. The takeaway will be a matrix you can develop with your client to find solutions that will meet the right needs for their patients.

Fulfill these requirements with online courses available through AIA California Council. Click here for more information.

AIA Miami Volunteer Opportunities

The 2010 Convention theme, Design for the New Decade, will highlight, for architects and for others, how design, knowledge, vision, and leadership are essential in making a lasting, positive future in creating buildings and cities across the globe.

Join our distinguished keynote speakers, some of our nation’s most provocative thought leaders, who will share their knowledge, experience, and wisdom about a variety of topics related to design.

If you are interested in volunteering at the AIA 2010 Convention in Miami, Florida (June 9th - June 12th), visit www.aiamiami.com/2010_conv_volunteer.php or contact Beverly Holton at bholton@aia.org.

AIA San Francisco welcomes the following new members:
Zephyr Albright | Michael Anglisano | James Blomquist | Clemence Clemence | Thomas Faulders | Lisa Gallego | Lillian Good | Karl Joerger | Joseph O'Neill | Mark Rowlands | Bassel Samaha | Bradley Skipton | Kim Sykes | Tuong Vi Tran | joel villalon | Wolfgang Wagener | Karolina Walichiewicz | Victor Warren

Architects: Build On Your Career

Build on your foundation in architecture with courses from UC Berkeley Extension. Meet the growing demands of clients by integrating sustainability into your area of expertise. Learn from instructors who are leading the industry. With flexible evening and weekend hours, courses and programs are designed for working professionals. Click for more information and to enroll.

An international engineering and consulting firm, WALTER P MOORE has built a reputation for design solutions that help clients turn their ideas into structures that work. The company has been recognized throughout its long history for superb client service, engineering excellence and innovation, and in recent years has been consistently rated as one of the industry's best places to work.

Interested in placing a classified? Reach thousands of readers and get your message out. Call 415.362.7397 or email sponsorship@aiasf.org to find out more.

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