Tidings from the Windy City: The AIA Convention of 2004
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Two highlights were the keynote talks, one by Jahn (noted above), and the other by author Eric Larson. Seattle-based Larson wrote The Devil in the White City, a sharp, often cynical profile of Chicago at the time of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The work features two experts in their fields who made no little plans -Daniel H Burnham, chief planner of the fair, and Dr. H H Holmes, a famous local mass murderer of that era. Larson defines the flavor of 1893 Chicago by its smells - horses, stockyards, and cigars.

Larson also sought to squelch the widely held truism that the classical style of the fair set back the cause of architecture by 100 years. He argued that for most of the 28 million fair visitors (out of a total U. S. population of 65 million, or 43% of all Americans-that includes multiple visits) this was the first time they saw great architecture and urban design, and that only the classical style, with its orders and rules and white paint (hence White City) could deliver on a fast tracked construction schedule the needed quality control. The fair paved the way for Modernism and "set cities forward by 100 years," he claimed. The jury is still out.

As a portend of the current Bill Clinton-related book signing frenzy, Larson shared an incident: at one of his own book signings, the last woman in line, still worried about Dr. Holmes, came up and whispered in his ear that "my husband is trying to kill me." Tough decisions.

The practical heart of all AIA conventions is the series of workshops (29 of them this time, all on the first day and each charging $85) and the free seminars-234 all told, on topics ranging from good management and leadership practices to codes to housing to competitions as a way to select architects.

One of several diversity panels heard speakers from some of the major minorities (African American, Hispanic, and women) focus on issues of access. San Francisco architect and panelist Michael Willis, FAIA, stressed individual initiative and perseverance, traits that have helped him establish a highly successful multi-office practice. Another panelist, Stephen Kliment, FAIA, identified the three groups that, at the end of the day, must make access possible: firm principals, private clients, and school deans. All diversity efforts must focus on those three target groups, he argued.

A panel that included Mark Ginsberg, AIA, and Rick Bell, FAIA, showed how the design professions, working through New York New Visions, have shaped the design process at the World Trade Center site, especially the Libeskind plan.

Most of the professional activity took place across the vast stretches of Miesian McCormick Place, its distances so enormous that one resourceful attendee was found negotiating the miles on a scooter. By contrast, the hotels, sites of many parties, boasted grand classical spaces dating back to the Chicago of the 1920s, above all the grand atrium at the Palmer House and the monumental ballroom at the Chicago Hilton. Especially lively were parties thrown by Detroit-based SmithGroup to toast Gene Hopkins, FAIA, as 2004 AIA president at the Intercontinental, the African American AIA Fellows' reception, and the New York State Chapter (also at the Intercontinental). New York State celebrated in an ominous King Arthur-like space where the only thing missing was an Excalibur to slice the cheese.

Most popular targets among the dozens of tours were the new McCormick student center (Koolhaas/OMA) and the student dorms (Jahn) at IIT. Each project straddled or lined the CTA train tracks in a heroic move to knit the hitherto split halves of the IIT campus into one whole. Also a target was Frank Gehry's Pritzker music shell situated at the north end of Grant Park. Not yet completed, the structure has all the generic Gehry earmark blobs (buildable thanks to CATIA) so familiar to Gehry devotees and detractors.

Last not least were the grand old Chicago chestnuts-the Monadnock Block, the Marquette Building, the Rookery, the Reliance Building, the Carson Pirie Scott store. The walkabout down and around South Dearborn Street still has to be the highlight of any Chicago visit. Unhappily, the trip to Mies' 1951 Farnsworth House was cancelled due to a flooded site.

Attendance beat all records- some 22,230 souls, compared to 20,025 in San Diego 2003. In three floor resolutions, the delegates voted to increase annual dues by $50 ($10 for associate members) in support of the national AIA annual advertising campaign, despite efforts by some chapters, including New York, to reduce the hike on the grounds that the stated benefits of the advertising campaign did not justify it.

The convention also voted almost unanimously to build up the demographic diversity of the design profession through a stern effort to collect and analyze data about minorities, as a key start to opening up minority access to the profession.

A plan to enhance the Intern Development Program (IDP) jointly with NCARB also passed. The aim was "a more meaningful role for all stakeholders in IDP governance."

Spotted about the floor of the convention were Chapter members Bell, Chin, Czarnecki, Dixon, Eastman, Edmunds, Fleischer, Ginsberg, Ivy, Kiill, Kliment, Lerner, Linn, Miller, Perkins, Richards, Steinglass, Strauss, Travis, Washington, Norbert Young.

Elected to national office were Kate Schwennsen, first vice president and 2006 president-elect; Shannon Kraus, R.K.Stewart and Thomas Mathison, vice presidents in 2005; and John Senhauser, secretary.

--Stephen A. Kliment, FAIA

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