The AIA is making it easy for you to connect with your colleagues—like-minded professionals who share your same interests.

Knowledge Communities | International Program | Career Stages | Communities on the Web

Knowledge Communities

Customize your membership with the AIA Knowledge Communities in your specific professional interest areas by updating your AIA member profile. Joining these communities will help the AIA provide you with timely information on awards, research, industry news, programs and opportunities to network both in-person and online in your specific areas of interest. To learn more, visit a community home page:

Academy of Architecture for Health
The Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH) improves the quality of healthcare through design by developing, documenting, and disseminating knowledge; educating healthcare architects and other related constituencies; advancing the practice of healthcare architecture; improving the design of healthcare environments; affiliating and advocating with others that share our vision and promoting research.

Academy of Architecture for Justice
The Academy of Architecture for Justice (AAJ) promotes and fosters the exchange of information and knowledge between members, professional organizations, and the public for high-quality planning, design, and delivery of justice architecture.

Committee on Architecture for Education
The Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) is a large and active group of architects and allied professionals concerned with the quality and design of all types of educational, cultural, and recreational facilities.

Committee on Design
The Committee on Design (COD) was founded to promote design excellence among members of the AIA, the broader design community, and the public at large, both nationally and internationally.

Committee on the Environment
The Committee on the Environment (COTE) works to advance, disseminate, and advocate—to the profession, the building industry, the academy, and the public—design practices that integrate built and natural systems and enhance both the design quality and environmental performance of the built environment.

Corporate Architects and Facility Management
The Committee of Corporate Architects and Facility Management (CAFM) facilitates the generation and exchange of knowledge valuable to AIA members working for, or within, corporations or other client organizations.

Design-Build Knowledge Community
The Design-Build (DB) Knowledge Community is the recognized voice for the advancement of best practices related to the architect's role in the design-build process.

Design for Aging Knowledge Community
The mission of the Design for Aging Knowledge Community (DFA) is to foster design innovation and disseminate knowledge necessary to enhance the built environment and quality of life for an aging society.

Historic Resources Committee
The mission of the Historic Resources Committee (HRC) Knowledge Community is to identify, understand, and preserve architectural heritage, both nationally and internationally.

Housing and Custom Residential Knowledge Community
The Housing and Custom Residential Knowledge Community tracks housing issues and develops relationships with industry stakeholders to encourage and promote safe, attractive, accessible, and affordable housing for all Americans.

Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art, and Architecture
The Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture (IFRAA) Knowledge Community encourages and supports excellence in the design of worship spaces and their accoutrements. The IFRAA Knowledge Community is an association of professionals whose primary interest is religious facilities in a broad array of traditions.

Interior Architecture Knowledge Community
The Interior Architecture Knowledge Community provides leadership and expertise to practitioners of interior architecture and design.

Practice Management Knowledge Community
The Practice Management Knowledge Community is charged with identifying and developing information on the business of architecture for use by the profession to maintain and improve the quality of the professional and business environment.

Public Architects Committee
The Public Architects Committee promotes excellence in public architecture and enhances the role of the public architect as an essential element in the planning, design, construction, and management of public facilities.

Retail and Entertainment Knowledge Community
The Retail and Entertainment Knowledge Community (REC) fosters the creation, discussion, and dissemination of knowledge about the retail and entertainment environments among practitioners, clients, retailers, and the general public to advance the practice and improve the quality of retail and entertainment environments.

Small Project Practitioners
The Small Project Practitioners (SPP) Knowledge Community generates, collects and disseminates knowledge and wisdom on how to profitably run a small firm and how to carry out small projects that do not fit into the model of departmental production that characterizes many larger firms

Technology in Architectural Practice
The AIA Technology in Architectural Practice (TAP) Knowledge Community serves as a resource for AIA members, the profession, and the public in the deployment of computer technology in the practice of architecture.

Supporting our Members in the Global Community

To help members with international practices and members living abroad, the AIA provides you with timely information and opportunities to network with colleagues across the globe.

International Program
Find news of AIA and international events of interest to professionals with an international practice and a global awareness of the architecture and the construction industry. Find links to the AIA overseas chapters; information on foreign markets, trade, practice issues; as well as conferences, awards and project opportunities.

Supporting the Architect through each Career Stage

To provide a seamless transition from education to practice, the AIA develops, coordinates, disseminates and provides support events and activities for students, Associate AIA members, Young Architects, IDP Coordinators, and Fellows of the AIA.

Associates
Connect with your peers who are on the pathway to licensure or exploring non-traditional careers. The National Associates Committee is dedicated to representing and advocating for Associates, both mainstream and non-traditional, in the national, regional, state, and local components of the AIA.

Young Architects Forum
Network with your newly licensed colleagues (licensed fewer than 10 years). The Young Architects Forum (YAF), a program of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the College of Fellows (COF), is organized to address issues of particular importance to recently licensed architects.

College of Fellows
If you’ve been elevated to Fellowship, network with your COF colleagues. The AIA College of Fellows seeks to stimulate a sharing of interests among Fellows, promote the purposes of the Institute, advance the profession of architecture, and be of ever-increasing service to society.

AIA Communities on the Web

To help you get connected and enhance your personal and professional goals, the AIA has created several open networking groups to put you in touch with other professionals. Learn more about
Social Networking with the AIA including:

• Share inspiring architecture images in flickr
• Develop professional contacts in LinkedIn and Facebook
• See what your colleagues are watching on the AIA channel in YouTube
• Get the latest updates on Twitter

You can also explore each knowledge community’s home page (listed above) to learn about in-person and online networking opportunities in your specific area of interest.