AIA 2019 NATIONAL CONVENTION

June 2019

A few weeks ago I excitedly boarded a plane in San Francisco with my colleague Bruno on our way to the American Institute of Architects National Convention titled A’19. The quick 70-minute flight took off in the cold foggy conditions of the Bay Area, the weather quickly opened up over the Central Valley with the view of the snow capped Sierras in the distance. Over the ridge the terrain quickly changed to a dry desert with the oasis of Las Vegas shimmering on the horizon. As the plane came into view of the strip and the manicured suburbs of Las Vegas it was clear that this mesmerising site would be a great host for three-day conference.

The theme of A’19 Convention was ‘Blueprint for a Better Future’, with the bold mission statement ‘designing a better future means taking on the critical challenges facing cities – and our world – today’. This was all chosen to take place in Las Vegas due to its pioneering design ideas and ability to transform quickly. This agenda had me excited to see if the Convention would live up to the hype.

I have attended several Australian National Architecture Conferences. These events were always something I really looked forward to as a way of finding new inspiration and networking with people of the industry. The format of the Australian Conference consisted of inspiring speakers, free food, interesting discussions and boozy evenings on repeat for two days. It aims to attract the keenest architectural minds from across Australia and mix them in a melting pot of new ideas and cross-pollination.

As I approached the Las Vegas Convention Center I instantly noticed a stark difference between the intimately scaled Australian conferences as hundreds of people spilled in and out of the entry. The enormous scale of the US convention only escalated as I made my way into the interior foyer that housed the thousands of people exploring the adjacent architecture expo, before most converged on the keynote hall for the Thursday evening address.

The big drawcard of the keynote series was not actually the speakers at all, but the MC, Roman Mars of 99% Invisible fame. The session opened with the 99% Invisible Podcast live episode on Las Vegas by Avery Truffleman. Mars then orchestrated the keynotes as an onstage podcast, cycling through a range of guests quickly and casually. The first evening speakers included David Rockwell, a series of AIA award winners (notably Norman Foster, the Gold Medal winner, did not attend) and Reshna Saujani the founder of Girls who Code. The speakers’ brief, but inspiring tones were like a series of Ted Talks. No speaker got into any great depth of discussion - which may have been a tactical decision given it was 6pm in Las Vegas.

Judging by several discussions I had with participants, the decision to attend the Convention had been influenced by its host Las Vegas. The city is one of the more unique places in the world. I personally have a love hate relationship with the city, as it only allows for a visit of about 2 nights before I am looking for the eject button. I always quickly embrace the vibrant and eccentric range of experiences that appear with every single step. This nightlife theme park declares war on boredom with great success. However, in the cold light of day the transient, superficial nature of the city can be soulless and honestly pretty depressing. 

We did our best to only see the good side of Las Vegas. Seeking refuge from the heat of the desert at the events of the Convention, then embracing the Strip in the evenings. In pursuit of an elusive reggae bar on the first night we explored a large chunk of the strip and most of Caesars before finally stumbling upon our destination. At the end of dinner we got a notification of an Emerging Professionals event under the Eiffel Tower. This was not far out of our way so we dropped by and were a little shocked to find that a $100 door charge was required. The cynic in me was a little infuriated by this. An excessive door charge for an ‘emerging professionals’ event? This industry is already hard enough for people without the luxury of privilege, without decisions like this accentuating the gap. We therefore went elsewhere and had a great evening, before regrouping in time to allow for the early start the next day feasible.

The list of speakers and seminars was pretty astronomical. To make selections I looked pretty deeply, mainly through the speaker lists to identify names and themes that I thought were the most interesting. Whilst the list was extensive there were only a few names that jumped off the page. Two of these happened to be in the same seminar, Carol Ross Barney and Tom Kundig. This particular session was titled ‘2+2 Achieving Outstanding Design’ which had two recent winners of the AIA Young Architects Award, James Garrett Jnr. and Julie Hiromoto, as well as Fellows of the AIA Carol Ross Barney and Tom Kundig, who spoke across a 90 minute session about how they achieve design excellence. This talk was one of the few design focused discussions and given the calibre of the speakers it was clearly my favourite session of the event. Barney focused on their recently completed McDonald’s Flagship Store in Downtown Chicago and Kundig spoke more broadly about the firm culture at Olson Kundig, which has allowed for a steady stream of industry leading projects to be produced.

As a whole I was pretty underwhelmed with the speakers and the themes. I approached the Convention hoping to be either inspired by the state of US architecture or inspired to move US architecture on a path towards designing a ‘better future’. Sadly I came away with neither. There seemed to be a distinct lack of conceptual design topics, which is where I am intrinsically drawn. The majority of the topics revolved around the technical aspects of design, which suited the huge focus that the Convention puts on the exhibition and the products all of the booths are trying to market. Whilst some of these were quite interesting, including a detailed presentation on laminated wood structure, it isn’t how I imagined the Convention would aim to inspire a cohort of architects to delve ‘into the critical challenges facing cities – and our world – today’.

My previous experiences at Australian conferences were grounded around a core experience. There were often a few breakout sessions where you could choose between several topics. However, at its essence all attendees would go to the same set of lectures and talks. These talks could be curated around a theme to make a statement or delve deeply into an idea. The subsequent discussions between the attendees who have all experienced the same sessions were vibrant and varied depending on their personal views on the themes.

The vast range of seminars, workshops, exhibitions and tours at the US Convention is quite remarkable. At any one point during the day there are hundreds of different places one could be. This while allowing for seeming endless possibilities depreciates the capability to act on a particular theme or agenda. I felt throughout the event that this impacted on the ability to have meaningful dialogue with fellow attendees. The event consequently came across as quite isolating, rather than the ‘band of brothers’ style mantra that motivates the attendees using the Australian model. This I feel impacts on the ability for the concepts to be maintained after the event has finished. I know this might seem trivial but I legitimately feel that the lack of free lunches and snack breaks has a big impact on this. The act of eating a sandwich with someone who has a different opinion on the topic you just attended can be a game changer. 

Wherever Roman Mars went throughout the Convention a crowd followed, and for good reason. He was clearly the best orator and provided the level of insight and design inspiration that was lacking in a lot of the other aspects of the event. On top of his MC role at the two keynotes he also did a Q&A session at the Architect Booth in the centre of the exhibition hall. Ned Cramer editor of Architect Magazine got to ask Mars a range of questions for half an hour. The discussion roamed around the origins of the podcast, his thoughts on design thinking and future endeavours. I went full fanboy during this exchange and soaked up everything he had to say.

The Architects Booth, which consisted of a quickly rotating series of speakers on varied topics, became one of my highlights throughout the second day. These twenty minute snapshots often included the rich design insights that was lacking in a lot of the main seminars. One such presentation was by Brian Zamora, a Senior Associate at Gehry Partners, who gave a really interesting insight into the design process of the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, which was opened in 2010 in Las Vegas. It was great to get a deeper understanding on how such a complicated building came to fruition. I often find Gehry’s building unnecessarily complicated, so it was interesting to hear what drove the design process. As the twenty minutes concluded I still wanted to hear more. With both keynote sessions reasonably devoid of architecture I couldn’t help but feel that the most marketable new building in Las Vegas could have been granted a greater presence.

As the second day came to an end the evening festivities were just beginning to warm up. A quick reshresher in the hotel pool and we were on our way to the ‘The Party’. The official Convention event was held at Brooklyn Bowl and it was sensational! I was a little curious where the $800 per attendee was going, but this became clearer as this evening ran its course. From DJ Run’s (of Run DMC fame) highly energetic set, to expedited entry into Omnia Nightclub (the most excessive experience imaginable), it was a memorable night that only Las Vegas can deliver.

Unsurprisingly attendance was very low for the final day of the conference – with the scheduled 8am start time of the second keynote session being questionably early.  The keynotes content was quite interesting and was able to keep the sore heads at bay for 90 minutes. Curiously the session, outside of a 99% Invisible episode on Paul R Williams, had no architectural content. The two key speakers were Keller Rinaudo, founder of Zipline, an amazing drone technology company that was developed an instant healthcare logistics in Rwanda and also Ryan Coogler, director of movies such as Black Panther and Fruitvale Station. Both were extremely interesting characters with inspiring stories. While I enjoyed the speakers I feel that one of the keynotes should have been a big architect. Someone who could convey the maximum potential of what architecture could achieve towards the Conventions mission statement.

After the final keynote session we attended several more seminars including one that included Jan Gehl, who spoke about his career and passions. Gehl an icon of urban planning policies and implementations would have been a perfect candidate for a larger position within the conference. I would have gladly shifted most other things on my agenda to get one hour of his thoughts on the state of US cities and potential paths forward. Instead he was in a back room with ten minutes to talk to a room of 30 people. A definite opportunity missed. Nevertheless Gehl’s talk was a great end to my Convention experience. 

With a spare afternoon before our evening flight we ticked off the final items on our Las Vegas bucket-list: Freemont Street in Downtown and the Paul R Williams designed La Concha Motel Lobby that now sits at the Neon Museum. At this point in the heat of the day, my Las Vegas threshold was reached and we retreated to the airport and back to San Francisco.

The Convention was a whirlwind few days that was an experience that I am glad to have attended. As a first year AIA member my event ticket was complimentary, making the threshold for the experience substantially different than the normal $800. There was a wide range of interesting speakers and topics. The exhibition and trade options were astronomical. For those interested in learning more about products, materials and construction options, there is potentially no better place to be. With the scale of the event, the admission prices and a captive audience I feel that an opportunity was missed to present an engaging architectural dialogue that inspired the attendees, and subsequently the people back in all their respective offices and lives. A passionate dialogue inspires all around it to strive for more.

A Convention that focuses on the technical and sales is fine; they are important aspects of the design and realisation process. However, these can only be allowed to reach their fullest potentials when paired with a rigorous dialogue of design innovation and excellence. I personally set my architectural inspiration threshold quite high, which may explain my desire for the Convention to have strived to be a little bit more. Nonetheless, I am glad to have attended and it has inspired me to continue my aggressive architectural exploration to the next corners of this amazing continent.

Image Sources:

1. Las Vegas Sign, Fine Art America

2. A’19 Marketing Poster, American Institute of Architects

3. Sawmill House by Olson Kundig, Gabe Border

4. Chicago McDonalds, Archdaily

5. Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Dream Idea Machine

6. Black Panther, Motion Picture Image

7. La Concha Motel, Heather David Flickr