The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has laid off 16% of its national staff, as reported by Architectural Record, amounting to 28 staff members. This follows months of internal controversy, including misconduct claims against CEO Lakisha Woods, which outside investigators cleared, as previously covered by Archinect:
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From the article:
"The week after the layoffs, from September 11–13, the AIA’s board and senior leadership decamped to the Salamander Resort and Spa in Middleburg, Virginia, for a board meeting, according to an AIA staffer who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their job. Rooms at the resort cost between $600 and $1,100 a night. Woods, who began at the AIA in January of 2022, earned $586,112 in 2022, according to publicly available tax forms. In 2022, the AIA spent $28,868,971 on all employee salaries, 11.6 percent of which went to the top 10 most well compensated employees among a staff of approximately 175. The top echelons of AIA leadership (the senior vice president and chief levels) were not affected by the layoffs."
Sounds like pretty typical behaviour for those in leadership positions in this profession.
It's hard to square this combo of staff layoffs and the luxury being enjoyed by the board and executives with AIA's endless "equity" rhetoric. The f*ckers should have had the retreat on Zoom or maybe an in-person where everyone goes dutch at the local Waffle House. I guarantee there's no poor folks on the AIA board. They need to pay for their own sh*t.
I'm certainly not paying for their shit anymore with my dues! AIA offers nothing in exchange for them.
Too good for a ham sammy and some Lays potato chips I suppose. That's for us.
The guys who decides who gets fired never fires themselves. Sounds like typical bullshit.
This entire organization needs to be shut down. I worked for AIA and it is ridiculous. Everybody seems to have some sort of leadership title (Manager, Sr. Director, Director) and there is barely any support staff. Everyone just passes the buck to someone else because they "can't be bothered with actual work."
That's horrible.
Its time for AIA leadership to be removed from their roles. The AIA has been made obsolete over the past decade and no longer fulfills its role as the leading voice in our profession. At this point all we can do is refuse to pay dues and hope that as it is starved of funding the organization is restructured. We need a voice to stand for architects if their is any future in this country for the profession. I hope changes comes swiftly.
This is one of many reasons why I did not renew my AIA membership last year.
On a related note: eight months ago I was called by a person with AIA asking me to renew my membership. I told them that I wouldn't because I saw no value in the group for the price. I was informed that AIA is working with NCARB to create a dual memberships at reduced prices. It seems like AIA may be working with NCARB to require dual membership.
I hope both organizations whither into nothing.
I don't mind NCARB. At this time, I think they still provide value for the membership fee being charged.
I agree with Chad. I know the cost can be somewhat high but that NCARB Record has some value. A CPBD certification is more valuable than the AIA membership, as far as I am concerned but not a whole lot but merely having a membership with the AIA is no certification credential. It's just a membership in a club. A certification credential has some value to clients when I am assessed by a third-party and its not just my word. Similarly, that is what a license is, too. Just different bodies that administers it but it involves some tests. There is value in that. This is my perspective as a building designer (and been active as an associate AIA member in the past). If I have enough money coming in, maybe I wouldn't worry about the membership fees with the clubs. If money isn't super abundant, I may have to prioritize so I would do that.
The renovation plan for the AIA HQ building is bonkers considering that the organization is financially stressed.
Online here: https://www.costar.com/article...
The place was 100% leased as it was and only needed the routine regimen that any commercial landlord would do on a 50 year-old commercial office building. Whatever narrative the AIA hoped to generate with "a model sustainable renovation/flexible workplace, blah blah blah" goes out the window when the public knows you had to lay off staff to pay for it.
The AIA should really align AIA spending and salaries to no more than that of the median architect practicing privately in the USA. That might give them some incentive to improve today's crap economics of practice and the resulting shi*tty salaries. If we start doing better, only then should the AIA get to live so high on the hog.
That decision was made four years ago under previous leadership.
If AIA is supposed to be representing architects then it should function like a union. The members should be able to vote on the budgets for the AIA. This includes salaries of those running it.
The building renovation, whenever it was approved by whomever, is but one example of the profligate spending over there. Did you know that the AIA paid a design firm to make its very own AIA font?
Buying a font online like us poors isn't good enough for the fancy AIA.
https://www.pentagram.com/work/american-institute-of-architects/story
If AIA did, there would be some value. I'm more incline to join such a union than merely a club membership. I can see the benefits of a union but I would have to evaluate its pros and cons based on how it is implemented.
as I said in the comment below, reallynot, I LOVE the AIA font. I think it's fantastic. Worth it, IMO.
OddArch, I'm totally open to the AIA turning into a true architects' union! Can you imagine?! We could get pensions! And affordable health care!
That would be great Donna!
The AIA logo makes the Harvard "H" logo look inspired. Wonder what the AIA paid for this logo, but, hey, it's only members' dues.
I thought you designed it.
I think anyone posting here could have done a better job for free.
OK. Show us your design.
I love the AIA font. I've thought it was cool since the moment they first announced it.
A little-known design studio named Pentagram. https://www.pentagram.com/work/american-institute-of-architects/story
Just to be clear, I don't have any problem whatsoever with the choice of Pentagram as the font designer or what they came up with for the AIA. My criticism here begins and ends with the expenditure of AIA money and time on things that I believe are, at best, tangential to executing the core mission of the institute.
Just remember, the important thing is that Volunteer could do better. ;)
I would have had an elegant chrome Riefler six-inch divider standing vertical with the arms spread and part of an oval at the bottom front of the legs representing a circle being inscribed by the divider. The representation of the divider could be accurate or idealized. Then I would have the words either under the divider or stacked along one side of the legs. A third version would just have the AIA letters stacked in capital letters between the arms of the divider.
A red dot is meaningless blah with no relation to architecture or building or design. Any halfway intelligent layman could look at the proposal I made and realize it has to do with designing or constructing buildings, even if he couldn't read English. And how much money from members was thrown away designing a totally unnecessary, and quite ugly, font when so many existing available fonts are quite elegant and suitable.
So you tell me, OddArchitect, how would the red dot with the letters A I A tell the viewer anything at all about the organization?
It doesn't. Then again, your concepts don't either. Most logos are about brand recognition and not conveying what the organization does.
So you are OK to have a blob with letters on it without a clue as to what the organization does. You have your opinion and i have mine. The idea of the head of the organization pissing away money on this nonsense while laying off staff and staying in $1,000 a night retreats is also quite repulsive. But maybe not to you.
Volunteer -
I didn't say any of that.
I said that most logos don't describe what an organization dose. Your proposed logos certainty don't.
I also never said that I was OK with what AIA has done regarding their spending. In fact if you bothered to read any of my posts in this discussion you'd see that I'm against it.
You're being disingenuous using a strawman in your response. This make you look like a petulant child who's throwing a temper tantrum. Stop it.
OK. if you don't think a divider widely used in architecture and engineering doesn't impart a clue lets see a description or likeness of your proposed AIA logo.
I never said I could design a better logo. You did though.
Volunteer wrote:
"I think anyone posting here could have done a better job for free."
Also, dividers where used in architecture and engineering 30 years ago. Then again, that's architecture AND engineering. Not very descriptive of what an architect does.
Let me guess. Your firm logo has a divider in it? Yeah, I did that in my student intern portfolio 24 year ago.
I did say that anyone posting here could design a better logo. Obviously you can't so I was mistaken.
Volunteer -
You said 'for free' I'm not willing to do that.
The best I'll do for free is a google search.
Maybe show us your firms logo? It must be a great example of an architectural logo.
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