Emerging Professionals: Fairfax Hall Tour

Emerging professionals toured the historic Fairfax Hall property last Friday. Completed in 1890, this building has served Waynesboro in various capacities, including as a hotel, finishing school, and training facility. Today, architect Carter Greene is leading efforts to transform the building into 54 affordable apartments and an event facility, utilizing VHDA and Historic Tax Credits. Notable architectural features—such as the Queen Anne shingles, cupola, viewing porches, and original hardwood floors—will be preserved and refinished, ensuring that the community will continue to cherish this landmark for years to come.

For more information about this project and/or requests for future EP Tours, please contact our EP Liaison Danielle (Danielle@dgparchitects.com)

Small Firm Exchange Kickoff Meeting

The Small Firm Exchange kickoff meeting was a major success last night! Dan’s shuffleboard court was a perfect setting for a beautiful evening outside.

Our chairs, C.J. LaMora and Dan Zimmerman, welcomed members and discussed their aspirations with the new group. A few rounds of shuffleboard rounded the evening and Sidney was able to present our final award of merit trophy, to Dan who was out of town for our Awards Gala. Congrats Dan! 

Chapter Honors + Awards Gala!

Congratulations to our 2024 Chapter Honors + Design Awards recipients!! 🌟💫 

We had a wonderful time celebrating on Oct. 23rd in Charlottesville, thank you all for attending! Thankful we can celebrate beautiful work and talented members in Central Virginia. 

Special thank you to our Honors Committee lead by W. Douglas Gilpin Jr., FAIA, Hayley Owens, Assoc. AIA, Fred Wolf, AIA, Ed Ford, FAIA, and Elizabeth “Jo” Lawson, FAIA. And to our Guest Jury lead by, Marika Snider, PhD, AIA, NCARB, NCIDQ, who joined us from Memphis - big thank you! 

Full details on our Chapter Awards and recipients here.

Photos courtesy of Tom Daly Photography.

Announcing the 2024 AIA Central Virginia Honor + Awards Recipients!

It is our pleasure to announce the winners of the 2024 AIA Central Virginia Honors + Awards! We will celebrate these distinguished individuals and project designers on October 23rd at our 2024 Honors + Awards Gala. Congratulations to all!


Honor Awards:


The Milton Latour Grigg FAIA Award
David M. Oakland, FAIA, LEED AP


Chapter Honors
Karim Habbab, Assoc. AIA
Caitlin Morgan, Assoc. AIA


Community Service Award
The Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review
The County of Albemarle Architectural Review Board


The Young Activist in Architecture Award
William H. Abrahamson, AIA


Design Awards:


Student Projects
Award of Merit - ‘Folding Chair’, Ethan Edds and Amanda Nordwall, UVA School of Architecture


Architecture

Award of Excellence - Sylvan Scrapple, After Architecture

Award of Excellence - Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Cunningham | Quill Architects

Award of Merit - Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Virginia, Bushman Dreyfus Architects

Award of Merit - Stead Park Recreation Center , VMDO Architects


Interiors

Award of Excellence -- Tribeca Loft, Two Street Studio

Award of Merit - Legends Sports, Alloy Workshop

Award of Merit - McKinnon and Harris NYC Flagship, Two Street Studio


Historic Preservation

Award of Excellence - Antler House Restoration, Two Street Studio


Residential Design

Award of Excellence - Night Song Bridge House, HEDS Architects

Award of Merit - Colonial Renovation & Modern Addition, Bushman Dreyfus Architects



AIA Central Virginia Launches the AIA CV Small Firms Exchange!

AIA Central Virginia is excited to bring community and resources to our small firm community with the launch of a local AIA CV Small Firms Exchange (SFx). Following the mission and vision of the AIA National Small Firms Exchange, The AIA CV SFx will look to advance the mutual interests of architects practicing in small firms.

From the national SFx description, the objectives of the AIA SFx are as follows:

1. Advocate the value of small firms, the national SFx, and local SFx groups, both within the AIA and to the public.

2. Curate and disseminate the most pertinent resources and information, from the AIA & elsewhere, that benefit small firms.

3. Inform the AIA of current issues facing small firms and areas in which current resources/information are lacking.

Our local Small Firms Exchange will be co-chaired by C.J. LaMora, AIA, Principal at Circle Square Cross Architecture and Dan Zimmerman, AIA , Co-Founder and Principal at Alloy Workshop. Dan is also the AIA National Small Firms Exchange Representative for Virginia.

C.J. and Dan know about running small firms. Circle Square Cross - a small 3-person firm first formed in 2021 during the pandemic with projects in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. - was founded on the concept of remote work and making sure that each member is happy and healthy in their personal lives before they come to work.  CSC focuses on residential architecture of all scales from bathroom renovations up to custom single-family homes and 40-unit apartment buildings.  Alloy Workshop - a design-build architecture & construction firm specializing in residential and commercial remodeling and custom homes - has been a staple in the Albemarle-Charlottesville Architecture practice space. Testimonials show how much Alloy Workshop cares about their clients and their employees. Each member of the Alloy team gets the service of the entire company for a day to work on personal projects!

Some thoughts from our co-chairs:

“The Small Firm Exchange has been a place for me to find community, resources, and sound advice as I was starting my firm.  In moving to Charlottesville and noting that new firms didn’t have the same resource, it was important to me to find a way to create that space.  It is my hope that we can create a forum in which we thrive together as a community and highlights the creativity and insight that Small Firms possess. “ C.J. LaMora, AIA

“I am interested in helping C.J.'s efforts to link resources at the National level to our local members and vice versa. I am a big fan of small firms and have been amazed by the breadth of work and expertise I've been exposed to during my involvement with SFx. “ Dan Zimmerman, AIA

JOIN US for our inaugural AIA Central Virginia Small Firms Exchange meeting - AND SHUFFLEBOARD!

Join us for the Kickoff meeting of the CENTRAL VIRGINIA SMALL FIRM EXCHANGE

Come compete in the Shuffleboard Showdown and get to know other CVA small firm members
WED October 30th, 5:30-7:30pm.
Hosted by Dan Zimmerman of Alloy Architecture and Construction  (1101 Sherwood Road, Charlottesville VA)

Light fare and drinks curtesy of AIA Central Virginia!

*This event was originally the 16th, but now reschedule to October 30th.

Technology In Architecture Practice Committee talks AI

the AIA Central Virginia Technology in Architecture Practice Committee, in conjunction with the UVA AIAS, held a special event on September 24 at the School of Architecture to tap into perspectives from subject matter experts in 4 corners of the design industry. Titled ‘Is AI/Not AI: Dispelling myths and deciphering hype vs. practical applications of AI in the design industry’, the presentation looked to bring an honest perspective to the trajectory of AI in the architecture industry and how we can best prepare architecture students to work with the technology. Our panel included:

Onur Yüce Gün, PhD., Director of Computational Design at New Balance

Andrew John Wit, Associate professor and director of graduate studies within Temple Universities Tyler School of Art and Architecture

Steven Campbell, Lake|Flato Design Performance, BIM Manager

Altaf Ganihar, Founder, CEO at Snaptrude

In front of a live audience of 30+ students and professionals along with an equal number of virtual attendees, Bethany Pritchard and Sidney Griffin moderated the hybrid panel discussion around topics of best practices for AI’s integration into the practice of Architecture, AI’s role in education and workplace, and AI’s impact on Employment. If you missed out on this conversation, be sure to join us in our redux at Arch Ex on November 7th in Richmond! We will have 4 new panelists and questions geared towards architecture professionals!

Emerging Professionals go on Tour!

This summer has been full of showroom and supplier visits for the Emerging Professionals. EP Liaison Danielle Granger has curated a list of visits and tours that did not disappoint! Sites included…

  • Virginia Metalcrafters Marketplace Tour in Waynesboro

  • Pella Showroom Tour in Charlottesville

  • Better Living Millshop Tour in Zions Crossroads

Be sure to join us for upcoming tours at Heartpine Co. on October 17th and Amherst Millshop on November 6th!

Summer Valley Happy Hour!

Thanks to our Valley Liaison, Charles Hendricks, we were able to secure a great location to gather and listen to Everyday Everybody at the Harrisonburg Music Series from under the grand farmers market canopy! Members from LDD Blueline, Gaines Group, and Balzer & Associates were there to soak up some great evening weather and good tunes. Thanks for the party, Harrisonburg!

Summer Architecture Camp

Charles Hendricks, AIA (Central Virginia Valley Liaison) taught a week-long architectural summer camp at Massanutten Technical Center in July. This is the 5th time Charles has taken on this exciting challenge to encourage middle school students to think about our built environment. The students learn about defining space, scale, proportions, symmetry, style, significant historical architects, and even get to build a Lego City. Through the process of hand drafting a dream house they apply all these learned skills to build a 3D foam core model of their creation.