Commensurate with this year's AIA150 celebration, the AIA Committee on Design is focusing on waterfront cities. Two design conferences and an ideas competition comprise its focus. The COD's spring conference was held in Miami, and now the COD moves to Minneapolis for its fall conference, On the Waterfront: Renaissance Through Design Excellence. Both cities experienced a boom in the early 20th century, a decline in the later part of the century, and a total renaissance at the start of the 21st century.

Minneapolis, and its sister city, St. Paul, sit on the water's edge flanking the shores of the Mississippi River. Historically the Mississippi River was a liquid highway of American commerce, carrying people, goods, and services from the heartland to the Gulf of Mexico and to the world. At the turn of the century Minneapolis-St. Paul was the world's largest exporter of grain. One hundred years later grain is no longer exported from Minneapolis.

The river, once the linear soul of business, became a wasteland. It has taken vision, a plan, design talent, and community courage to give it new meaning. We will explore the "rejuvenation of American cities on the water" through the development of projects along the water's edge, including the Guthrie Theater by Jean Nouvel and the Mill City Museum by Meyer Scherer & Rockcastle among others.

Explore how America's top designers are embracing the interface of the urban environment and the water and experience how design excellence can be a catalyst for the rejuvenation of our cities.

Click here to learn more about our distinguished speakers.

Presented by
The American Institute of Architects
Committee on Design

USG Corporation

Target

Arch Aluminum & Glass

E. Tim Carl, AIA, LEED AP
2007 AIA Committee on Design Conference Chair

Michael Ross, FAIA
2007 AIA Committee on Design Chair

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30

Note: Online registration and advance registration for this event are now closed. The print  registration form may be used for on-site registration only.

Registration Fees

One-Day Registration/Individual Event Fees
(Please note that all events are included with full registration rates above.)

Special Needs
The AIA is committed to making meetings and conferences accessible to all. Please notify us at the time of registration if you have special accessibility needs or specific dietary requirements. Contact Chris Capistrant, 202-626-7355.

Guests
In recognition that many professionals enjoy traveling and sharing experiences with their significant others, the AIA offers a guest rate for its conferences.

• Depending on the event, guests are those attending for personal reasons.

• Guests do not include people attending for professional reasons.

• Guests are not eligible to report continuing education learning units from an event.

• Also subject to space and other limitations, guests may register for optional events that are ticketed separately.

The AIA reserves the right to change the terms governing guest registration at any time. For registration questions, please contact AIA Information Central, 800-242-3837.

Registration Confirmations
Registration confirmations are mailed weekly. If you do not receive a registration confirmation within 10 business days after you register, please contact AIA Meetings. If you fax the registration form, please keep the fax transmittal confirmation for your records.

Registration Policy
Registrations postmarked after September 14 will not be processed in time to be included on the attendee roster. Registration and nametags will be produced on site. All registrants will receive a registration confirmation by mail within 10 business days of sending your registration.

Cancellation Policy
Refunds, less a $100 cancellation fee, will be made for cancellations received in writing by Friday, September 14. No cancellation refund is available after September 14. Please fax your cancellation requests to AIA Registrar, 202-626-7365.

The AIA is pleased to offer discounted airline and car rentals for this conference. To make your reservations, log on to www.aia.org/conferences and click on the Travel Information link or contact the AIA’s official travel agency, Travel Technology Group, 800-388-8814 (or 312-527-7300 for international callers).

Air
American Airlines offers special rates and numerous discounts on roundtrip fares in the United States. Attendees will receive a 5 percent discount off coach and first-class fares by using discount code A2727SS.

You can book your flight in one of three ways:

• Contact your travel agent and advise them to call the American Airlines Meeting Services Desk toll-free, 800-433-1790, and refer to discount code A2727SS. The hours of operation are 5 a.m. to midnight Central Time every day of the year
• Reservations for the hearing- and speech-impaired are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 800-543-1586.
• Call the American Airlines Meeting Services desk directly toll-free, 800-433-1790, and refer to discount code A2727SS
• Reservations may also be made directly through TTG or by logging on to www.aia.org/conferences

Train
Amtrak offers a 10 percent discount off the lowest available rail fare to Minneapolis between September 24 and October 3. Although convention travel cannot be booked through the Internet, you can make your reservation through the AIA’s official travel agency, Travel Technology Group, 800-866-8845 (or 312-527-7300 for international callers). Please be sure to refer to convention fare code X58P-918 when making your reservation. The fare is valid on Amtrak Regional and Acela service for all departures seven days a week, except for holiday blackouts. This offer is not valid on Auto Train but it is valid with sleepers, business class, and first-class seats with payment of the full applicable accommodation charges.

Car Rental
Hertz: Special meeting rates are yours with Hertz. Hertz operates in more than 150 countries with almost 1,800 locations in the United States alone, including more than 1,000 suburban locations. Call 800-654-2200 to make a reservation. To receive the special meeting rates, use code CV#022Q3545.

Hertz Green Collection: Now you can reserve fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly cars that are easy on the wallet and suitable for families and small groups traveling together. Reservable by specific make and model, the Hertz Green Collection offers the following features:

• Toyota Camry, Ford Fusion, Buick LaCrosse, Hyundai Sonata, and Subaru Outback models are available
• Cars may be reserved at more than 50 major airport locations in the United States.
• Cars get an EPA Highway Fuel Efficiency rating of 28 miles or more per gallon

Please note the Green Collection is available in select cities and based on availability.

AVIS: AVIS is pleased to offer special discounts to all AIA meeting attendees. Reservations can be made directly with AVIS by calling 800-331-1600 (refer to Discount Code A991499, visiting the AIA Web site and clicking on the Travel Information link, contacting TTG directly, or visiting the AVIS Web site.

For driving directions to the hotel, please visit www.marquettehotel.com/location2.htm.

Hotel Parking
Valet: $24 overnight

Self Park: $12 (Friday–Saturday); $20 (Sunday–Thursday)—Recommended in he IDS Parking Lot on Marquette Avenue. The entrance is on the left between 8th and 7th streets.

Airport Ground Transportation
Taxi fare between the Marquette Hotel and Minneapolis/St.Paul International Airport is approximately $30 per person and takes about 20 minutes.

The Marquette Hotel is also served by Super Shuttle. The one-way fare is $15 per person. Reservations are not required in advance but you can contact Super Shuttle at 612-827-7777, ext. 2, or 800-BLUE VAN (800-258-3826).

The hotel is also accessible by light rail from the Airport-Lindbergh Terminal to Nicollet Mall Station. The hotel is approximately two blocks from the station, and the fare is $2 and takes 20 minutes.

Please click here for a map of the Hiawatha Line (Route 55).  

Continuing Education
Participants may earn up to an estimated 17.5 AIA Continuing Education System (CES) learning units (LUs) for attending the entire conference. A participant will not be eligible to receive credit for LUs unless we have received a completed registration form and payment.

Greening the Meeting
To help create an environmentally sustainable conference and reduce waste, the AIA will not distribute printed handouts and attendee rosters. Instead, you will receive the advance attendee roster via e-mail a week prior to the meeting if you register by the September 14 deadline.

You are encouraged to do your part as well to assist in the greening efforts. For example, offset travel emission by participating in a "carbon balanced traveler” program such as www.my-climate.com or www.greentagusa.org.

Force Majeure
The performance of this agreement by either party may be affected by force majeure (including, but not limited to, acts of God, acts of war or other acts of enemies, government regulation, disaster, strikes, floods, civil disorder, curtailment of transportation facilities, or other emergency or event beyond the control of the parties), thus making it inadvisable, unsafe, illegal, or impossible to provide required accommodations and/or meeting facilities, hold the meeting, or travel to the meeting. In event of force majeure, either party to this agreement may terminate the agreement upon providing written notice to the other party without penalty or obligation. Such right of termination shall not be unreasonably exercised.

In addition, the AIA reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel this meeting. In that event, the AIA shall refund to you all registration fees that it has received from you for this meeting but shall have no further obligation to you of any type, whether monetary or otherwise. Accordingly, the AIA shall in no event have any liability to you based on claims for indirect, special, or consequential damages of any type whatsoever and shall have no other obligation to you of any type except as expressly stated in the preceding sentence.

The following items may be of pre-conference interest:

Riverfront Redevelopment articles from Places Journal


Dayton House, Minneapolis Public Radio


Mill City Museum, AIA 2005 Honor Award for Architecture


Mill City Museum, Architectural Record


Guthrie Theatre, NPR


Guthrie Theatre, Architectural Record Project overview


Guthrie Theater Spurs Development of Minneapolis Riverfront, Architectural Record


AIA Minnesota

Walker Art Center

Guthrie Theater

Mill City Museum


Minneapolis Central Library


University of Minnesota, College of Design   


Humboldt Lofts


Dayton House

Bigelow Chapel, United Theological Seminary



Marquette Hotel

Greater Minneapolis Convention and Visitors Association

Maps

Dining: http://www.minneapolisattendee.com/dining/

http://www.minneapolis.org/media/pdf/NYT.pdf



The Waterfront Center

25-year old non-profit organization dedicated to helping communities make the wisest use of their waterfront resources.


Publications:

Waterfronts: Cities Reclaim Their Edge (McGraw-Hill), The New Waterfront: A Worldwide Urban Success Story (Thames & Hudson)

Excellence on the Waterfront, booklets from 2004 and 2005

Intown Living: A Different American Dream (Island Press), which features Minneapolis as one of the case studies.


Conference:

Urban Waterfronts 25: The Next Wave, the Waterfront Center's annual international conference on waterfront planning, development and culture, will take place Nov. 1-3, 2007 in Boston at the Seaport Hotel, preceded by a pre-conference workshop focused on Boston's waterfronts.