The Committee on Design was founded to promote design excellence among members of the AIA, the broader design community, and the public at large, both nationally and internationally. In realizing this mission, the committee promotes a range of activities intended to encourage a dialogue on the art of building. The goals of the committee are: to examine and promote knowledge of contemporary design issues; to compare current design and historic precedents, and to learn from the contrast or progression of ideas; to advocate leadership roles for architects within the field of design and planning.
Join the Committee on Design by updating your AIA member profile.
Contact | Advisory Group and Adjunct Leadership | History: Chairs and Programs by Year
Highlights
What COD is Doing for You: A Letter from the Chair
The Committee on Design’s Fall Conference in Berlin has been cancelled. Please see the conference Web page for more information.
2009 Ideas Competition: Listening to the Past, Looking to the Future: A House for Today
Each year the Committee on Design invites architects, students, and allied design professionals to submit sketches to this unique sketch competition. See the 2009 recipients and past recipients.
COD Offering Local Continuing Education Courses
The COD has begun to develop continuing education programs based on past COD conferences. COD leaders are available to come to your region or state conferences and to present lessons learned. Please contact cod@aia.org to request more information.
Conference Resources
Committee on Design City Guides
The Committee on Design creates city guides of not-to-miss architecture in the cities they visit.
Denver | Copenhagen | Detroit | Boston | Phoenix
Roots of Modernism – Boston
This conference held in May 2009 gave attendees a chance to visit early modern work in the Boston area as well as a number of exciting new works. Presentations and tours centered on the origins and implications of modernism in America.
- Interact with conference attendees through blogs and discussion groups, see pictures from the event, post your own comments, and react to the knowledge that is being shared on the COD networking Web site.
- See the Committee on Design Guide to Boston: conference brochure.
- Read the conference report by Hugh Hochberg.
Danish Modern Then and Now – Copenhagen
This conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in September 2008, jointly sponsored by the AIA Committee on Design and the AIA Historic Resources Committee.
• View, share, comment on artifacts on the COD networking Web site.
• Read the conference report which is printed under an agreement between Places/Design History Foundation and The American Institute of Architects and additional coverage in ChicagoArchitect.
• See the Committee on Design Guide to Copenhagen: conference brochure.
Design Parallels – Detroit
This AIA Committee on Design conference explored design analogies and parallels through architecture, the automotive industry, industrial design, and other design professions. Attendees had an opportunity to tour sites that serve as case studies in Detroit's legacy of design.
• Read the conference report by John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press.
• See the Committee on Design Guide to Detroit: conference brochure.
• Read the article “Design Perpendicularities” by Mike Mense, FAIA featured YAF Connection.
On the Waterfront: Renaissance through Design Excellence - Minneapolis
Commensurate with 2007's AIA 150 celebration, the AIA Committee On Design continued its focus for 2007: "The Rejuvenation of American Cities on the Water." The Committee on Design visited Minneapolis as a second study of urban design and architecture at the water's edge.
Our first exploration of this started in Miami, Florida and the Fall Conference continues in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Both cities experienced a boom in the early 20th century, a decline in the later part of the century, followed by a total renaissance at the start of the 21st century.
Conference reports printed in Places:
• "River Renaissance and Waterfront Awareness," by Michael Ross, FAIA
• "Thoughts on Place-Making After a Visit to Minneapolis," by Mike Mense, FAIA
The Rejuvenation of American Cities on the Water - Miami
Miami has become the hot topic in the news for a myriad of reasons: its renewed interest in downtown development, an international focus on art collections, and its new focus and identity as one of the most important emerging cultural centers in the world, with world class architecture as its showpiece. Appropriately titled, the AIA Committee on Design's spring conference, The Rejuvenation of American Cities on the Water, was planned to address these topics in depth by leading experts in their fields. This conference was held April 12–15, 2007.
See the conference report.
Pacific Crossings - Hong Kong/Shanghai
Pacific Crossings, the AIA Northwest and Pacific Region conference and the AIA Committee on Design fall conference, took place in Hong Kong and Shanghai in September 2006. The joint conference was hosted by AIA Hong Kong in collaboration with the AIA Committee on Design and featured an entire week of educational, cultural, and inspirational activities. The program commenced in Hong Kong on Sunday, October 15, with several city tours, a golf outing, and an evening welcome reception. The conference started Monday, October 16, and ended with a grand finale in Shanghai on Sunday, October 22. Distinguished key speakers at Pacific Crossings included AIA President Kate Schwennsen, FAIA, as well as Christine Loh, Hon. AIA, and Rocco S. K. Yim, Hon. AIA, and Ken Yeang.
- The Pacific Crossings Travelogue includes personal journals from: Robert Ivy, FAIA, Mike Mense, FAIA as well as personal photos.
- See the conference proceedings.
The Architecture of Sustainability – Washington, D.C.
This conference was held in May 2006 in partnership with AIA Committee on the Environment. See the conference Web site.
20th-Century Architecture in Transition – Prague
In the Czech Republic in September 2005, some 100 participants spent six days examining, hearing about, and discussing a remarkable variety of architectural phenomena, focusing on the Czechs’ brief but prolific “Golden Age of Modernism” (the interwar period 1919 to 1938) and covering interesting work of other periods up to the present. Wide-ranging examples seen and discussed included office buildings, hotels, retail arcades, churches, houses, and exhibition buildings. Read the conference proceedings by John Morris Dixon, FAIA.