AIA Global Campus for Architecture & Design
The AIA headquarters building renewal is a once-in-a-generation project that addresses the urgent need for climate action and will dramatically transform the user experience for staff, members, and visitors. Through the building renewal, the association is launching the AIA Global Campus for Architecture & Design where members, staff, collaborators, leaders, and the public come together to create a vibrant community for real-world problem solving.
Embodying AIA values
The efforts to update the Washington, D.C., headquarters and create the Global Campus is a substantial undertaking. This is the first significant renovation since the building was dedicated in 1973. Led by San Francisco-based architecture firm EHDD, with Hood Design Studio, Hartman-Cox Architects, and Point Energy Innovations as consultants, and Turner Construction overseeing construction management, the renovation seeks to restore and upgrade the 50-year-old building and its original, antiquated systems to maximize cost-effective energy efficiency and to decarbonize the campus in accordance with the goals of the AIA 2030 Commitment.
The new Global Campus for Architecture & Design will leverage forward-looking architecture and design to enhance and foster AIA’s connection to the community, and serve as a model of stewardship and sustainability while offering inspired, collaborative work environments for staff, members, peer organizations, and coworking and event space for the public.
A Framework for Design Excellence approach
The campus renewal follows AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence, which seeks to inform progress toward a zero-carbon, equitable, resilient, and healthy built environment. The design electrifies all building systems, while incorporating on and offsite renewable energy to fully decarbonize the campus.
Educational opportunity with HBCUs
Since 2021, AIA has offered architecture students summer internships and will do so again in 2024. Students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) participate in the design process and collaborate with the design team to help to envision a sustainable, modern workplace.
The internships provide AIA and the design team with new, creative, and innovative ideas for the renewal project, while exposing the students to a real-world sustainable project led by licensed architects and informed by clients, contractors, other students.
AIA’s internship program is an example other firms can emulate, with the goal of improving diversity in the profession through increased engagement, broader network support, and access to employment opportunities for future architecture graduates.
Get your questions answered about this once-in-a-generation project that will serve as a model of sustainability and stewardship for our profession and the public.
Updated: March 9, 2022
Building in accordance with the AIA Framework for Design Excellence and the AIA 2030 Commitment, the AIA headquarters renewal project will set a benchmark for sustainability