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President's Message
By Kevin S. Fleming, AIA
Keeping in mind that we, as the AIA Orange County Board of Directors, are setting a course to make this chapter a model for the AIA organization, I would like to take to moment to point out some rather remarkable accomplishments.
AIAOC has been host to the Student Design Competition for quite some time. Students from local community colleges have participated and benefited from our guidance and involvement. I am very pleased that this event has found its way to the present event chair, Art Danielian, FAIA. This year’s event will be hosted by Dr. Robert Schuller, Hon. AIA and held at the International Center for Possibility Thinking, designed by Richard Meier, FAIA on the campus of the Crystal Cathedral. In addition, Michael Palladino, lead architect for this project from Richard Meier’s office, will be one of the guest jurors. Already, there are nearly 80 students interested in participating. I hope as many of you as possible can join us for this event on Saturday, May 22, 2004.
Every year AIA chapters throughout the United States host various awards events to recognize the talent within each community. Due to the dedication of the design community, we have seen our own Design Awards Gala grow from just a few hundred participants not too long ago to over 600 attendees in 2003. This chapter is fortunate to have a venue such as Noguchi’s California Garden Scenario in Costa Mesa as a unique location for this much-anticipated evening. This year’s event chair is AIAOC’s director of design, Bobby Brooks, AIA, creative director of concept architecture for Walt Disney Imagineering. With the assistance of Karin Carlson, executive architectural specialist of McGraw Hill and Jerry Allison, FAIA, principle of WATG, I’m confident the 2004 gala will again set the standard for similar celebrations nationwide.
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AIAOC will be continuing our tradition of hosting the increasingly popular golf tournament. The 2004 tournament will again be chaired by Larry Maes, Hon. AIACC, of Southern Concrete Ready Mixed Concrete Association. While Orange County is the home of many award winning golf courses, this year’s event will be held at Strawberry Farms Golf Club in Irvine. We encourage everyone’s continued participation and support.
This chapter is committed to providing a myriad of opportunities for our members to acquire the necessary yearly continuing education credits required that keep us well informed regarding this ever changing profession. The interest in AIAOC’s CES programs expands beyond our membership to include many whom are interested in increasing their knowledge of architectural issues as they relate to their own fields.
AIAOC had six of our eleven board members travel to Washington D.C. this year to participate in the AIA Grassroots Conference; participating with one-to-one communications with our elected officials. I hope this interest will only expand to future political opportunities.
These illustrate just some of the accomplishments AIAOC has achieved. To lead this architectural community will always require the participation of our members and the support of our community. I believe Orange County has much to share with the profession as well as the realm of architecture at large. Let’s continue in our efforts to develop our leadership potential.
Kevin S. Fleming, AIAOC President
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