AIA recognized for Materials Pledge by professional society

AIA was recently recognized by The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) with ASAE’s 2022 Summit Award for the development and implementation of the Architecture & Design Materials Pledge.

AIA developed the Architecture & Design Materials Pledge to inspire a shift in how the profession evaluates the products and finishes that  it specifies  on a daily basis. The Materials Pledge was designed to codify AIA’s values related to sustainability, climate action, economic opportunity, and equity into actionable goals for all participating firms.

“By considering all aspects of building products, the Materials Pledge will help architects create designs that improve the health of people, ecosystems, and climate; contribute to social equity; and support a circular economy,” said AIA EVP/Chief Executive Officer Lakisha Ann Woods, CAE.

The pledge calls for participating firms to do the following:

• support human health by preferring products that support and foster life throughout their life cycles and seek to eliminate the use of hazardous substances
• support social health & equity by preferring products from manufacturers that secure human rights in their own operations and in their supply chains, positively impacting their workers and the communities where they operate
• support ecosystem health by preferring products that support and regenerate the natural air, water, and biological cycles of life through thoughtful supply chain management and restorative company practices
• support climate health by preferring products that reduce carbon emissions and ultimately sequester more carbon than emitted
• support a circular economy by reusing and improving buildings and by designing for resiliency, adaptability, disassembly, and reuse, aspiring to a zero-waste goal for global construction activities

The Summit Awards, developed by ASAE, showcase the unique and indispensable role associations play around the world in bettering communities, fostering volunteer efforts, and harnessing the collective will and expertise of their members to ensure a better quality of life. AIA was one of six recipients of the 2022 Summit Awards.

Additionally, AIA was one of 15 associations to be honored with Power of Associations Gold Awards for the Disaster Assistance Program, which equips architects with the knowledge and skills to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from a disaster.

AIA was one of 27 organizations that received Power of Associations Silver Awards for Blueprint for Better, a grassroots campaign that shows how architects are designing the change our world needs, working alongside mayors, civic leaders, clients, communities, and the public to achieve it.

AIA New York State and AIA New York Chapter were also selected as a 2022 Power of Associations Gold Award recipient for the “AIA Unified Task Force.”

The Unified Task Force, comprised of members of AIA New York State and AIA New York Chapter was founded in the early days of the pandemic in response to New York City’s staggering number of COVID-19 cases. The Governor’s office contacted AIA New York State to help identify buildings to expand hospital bed capacity, alleviating overwhelmed hospitals. The Task Force came together in the critical hours of March 20; architects at the epicenter of the pandemic worked tirelessly to respond, laying the foundation for what became the Task Force’s network of volunteers.

The Task Force was made up of several working groups, each leveraging architects and designers with diverse backgrounds and expertise. The groups met regularly to extend collaboration efforts, troubleshoot, build support for initiatives, and share resources. As the pandemic landscape shifted, working groups sunsetted, and members shifted towards new initiatives—enhancing impact, allocating technical expertise and problem-solving skills across projects that addressed the needs of healthcare professionals, building owners and occupants, vulnerable populations, small businesses, and community organizations.

“The association community continues to experience rapid change and disruption, and association leaders continue to be quite agile and innovative in serving the needs of their members as a result,” said Mark A. Vasquez, CAE, senior program manager, IEEE TechEthics, and Chair of the Power of Associations Awards Committee. “The committee was impressed by the scope of the activities recognized in this year’s Power of Associations Awards, which illustrate how associations continue to lead in challenging times and frequently go above and beyond their missions to benefit society and improve our quality of life.”