|
Dear Academy of Architecture for Justice (AAJ)
members:
As the 2008 chair, I would like to take this opportunity to bring
you up to speed on AAJs many accomplishments for 2007 and to
inform you of our plans for this year:
Justice Facility Review 2007, published in
September, showcases 27 examples of both good design and good
function. JFR07 built upon JFR06's improved print
quality to provide our best JFR ever. Also included this
year, on CD, was a searchable PDF version of JFR07. Extra
copies are available, upon request, to provide to colleagues and
clients. We encourage you to use these as a teaching tool and
resource.
Sustainable Justice: 6th International Conference on
Courthouse Design, held September 26-28th 2007 in New
York, NY, brought together over 300 individuals and companies
working in the realm of Justice Architecture. This event provided
access to 24 sessions and tours each dealing with different aspects
of justice architecture today. Visit the Correctional News
Conference Report
online. Also keep checking the
AAJ Web site for newly posted content from this event.
In 2007 we built upon the two Local Component Knowledge
Communities already in existence (NYC and San Francisco)
and have started programming with AIA Chicago, Los Angeles and
Atlanta. If you are interested in the prospect of a local KC in
your area, let us know. We can provide some resources to help with
this process.
We are very proud of the AAJ Journal, our
quarterly e-newsletter which was a new project for 2007. We are
pleased to report that we met our goals of quarterly issues, each
with content on the variety of building types relevant to justice
architecture. The Journal provided access to over 16 articles and
16 featured projects. Click here for the
latest version.
The AAJ Advisory Group is very cognizant of the importance of
closer relationships with our Allied Organizations
and the benefit that collaboration can bring to our industry. We
have made a strong commitment to reach out, through our membership,
to the American Correctional Association, American Jail
Association, International Association of Chiefs of Police, the
Access Board and the National Association for Courts Management. In
2007 the AAJ and NACM singed a Memorandum of Understanding to
support each other and to look for collaborative efforts and
projects.
As the Advisory Group continues to increase member value and
resources we continue to lean on our Committees.
Committees currently exist for the following projects: Fall
Conference; JFR; Allied Organization; Local Component; Sponsorship;
Research; Communications. If you have any interest in
participating, please let us know.
As you can see 2007 was a year full of success, and we hope the
value you received as a member of the AAJ was just as exciting. I
would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Beverly
Prior, AIA of Beverly Prior Architects, for her past 5 years of
service on the AAJ Advisory Group. We will miss her enthusiasm and
insights and thank her for her integral role in not only our
accomplishments last year, but for the past 5 years.
As we begin 2008, I welcome our newest member, Rick Macia, AIA of
Spillis Candela DMJM to the AAJ Advisory Group.
2008 will provide AAJ members with the same value as last
year:
The JFR submissions have been received and publication set for
September 2008. Our 2008 Fall Conference will be
November 5-8 in San Francisco. Please make your calendars and save
the date. Look for the Call for Presentations in early March
we encourage everyone to submit.
The first issue of the AAJ Journal is under review
and will be distributed in the first quarter. If you would like to
submit an article or content please do not hesitate to contact aaj@aia.org.
The AAJ has formed a new committee for 2008: Sustainable
Justice Committee. Keep your eyes and ears open for new
content and resources dealing with sustainability issues.
I hope you can tell by this email how excited I am to build upon
the past success of the AAJ. The Advisory Group can-not do this
alone and we encourage everyone to become engaged in some
fashion.
If you have any questions or comments or wish to become more
involved in AAJ please email aaj@aia.org.
Sincerely,
Charles Drulis, AIA - 2008 AAJ Chair
RossDrulisCusenbery Architecture, Inc.

|