Each year, AIA members attending the AIA Conference on Architecture have the opportunity to vote for candidates to help lead the Institute's national office. Ahead of the June 6-8 event in Las Vegas this year, ARCHITECT asked each candidate running for elective office a set of questions about their qualifications, platform, and outlook on the profession.
Since 2014, the board has featured three at-large director positions that are filled on a staggered basis. (Three additional candidates are also selected by AIA's Strategic Council.) In this article you will meet the candidates running for 2020-2022 at-large director. Britt Lindberg, AIA, is a senior associate at Gensler in San Jose, Calif., and Verity Frizzell, FAIA, is a principal of Feltz & Frizzell Architects in Point Pleasant, N.J. One of the two will be elected.
Britt Lindberg
Why do you want to hold a leadership position at AIA, and what key issues do you hope to address in this role?
As architects, we design and create real places for all people. As a member-driven organization, AIA improves the profession as well as individuals' lives and communities more than is possible through project work alone.
There is no shortage of issues (or opportunities!)—including demanding project schedules and budgets, attainable housing for all, diverse practices, equitable work culture, resource scarcity, design resilience to devastating events—for the 94,000-plus AIA members, staff, and allies to address collaboratively. At the Grassroots conference, I spoke of addressing these through what I believe is AIA’s purpose—the measured, proven importance of design in helping people to better live, work, play, heal, and learn.
My own goal in running is to make a difference in three key areas: to empower members with tools and information tailored for success; to strengthen AIA's influence through increased teamwork, partnership, education, and advocacy; and to make AIA the premier public resource for data and case studies that prove design matters, for everyone.
How have your experiences prepared you for this role?
The board’s primary roles are to balance AIA’s strategic goals and fiduciary resources, serve all members, and be the voice of the profession. I have worked toward these ends for several years as a board member and ultimately as president of AIA Silicon Valley and AIA California (AIA CA). In these roles, I led strategic planning that condensed board and member input into key goals and actions, including the development of an AIA CA top 10 list. I also scrutinized budgets and operating plans, helped build consensus on adjustments, and added value through new programs, such as AIA Silicon Valley Home Tours, now in its fifth year.
I am forward-thinking, positive, and collaborative, known as "the glue" on teams. I have worked in firms with staff sizes ranging from five people up to several thousand like Gensler. I am a big picture thinker and an in-the-weeds doer.
What are the greatest challenges facing architects today? How can AIA respond to them?
In addition to those mentioned above, members often mention trouble finding talent for their firms. AIA has tools to help, including the salary survey, educational outreach, equitable practice guides, and a large peer network. Last year, I drafted a resolution for an AIA study on attracting and retaining emerging professionals to the organization and profession. That work is underway.
Changing technologies, demand for faster services and schedules, and disparate project approval processes also pose challenges for the profession. To address these, AIA can share more best practices from project teams successfully adopting new technologies and delivery models. City architect positions, for example, could help streamline and offer consistency across jurisdictions.
I will work with members on these and other issues. We can accomplish much more together than we can individually.
Verity Frizzell
Why do you want to hold a leadership position at AIA, and what key issues do you hope to address in this role?
I am fortunate to work in a field I love and have had great mentors and support from other architects, most of whom I met through AIA. As a result, I feel indebted to the organization that has given me so much. Over the last 15 years, I have served my local component, then the state, and finally on national committees or task forces. With each position, I found ways to improve the organization and help our members become better architects. I enjoy the work and want to continue serving members across the country.
Some issues that I am passionate about include sustainability and resilience; K-12 architecture education; promoting the value of the architect to the public and the value of AIA to our members; creating a more equitable profession; supporting and mentoring emerging professionals; and building relationships with elected leaders.
How have your experiences prepared you for this role?
As chair of the AIA New Jersey (AIA-NJ) Committee on the Environment, I organized our annual East Coast Green conference. As chair of the AIA-NJ Governance Task Force, I was instrumental in the repositioning of AIA-NJ’s governance model. While serving as president of AIA-NJ, I formed a K-12 education committee. As communications chair on the Culture Collective, I hosted monthly conference calls, managing over 60 participants, and curated the committee’s final report. I helped write the sustainability portion of the current AIA Strategic Plan, and participated in three AIA-NJ strategic planning sessions. I helped develop the equity, diversity, and inclusion guidelines produced by the Equity in Architecture Commission, and while serving on the Public Outreach Committee, I contributed to the AIA Film Challenge inspiration videos and public outreach campaigns of AIA National. In addition to my AIA service, I have served as the sole proprietor of a two-person firm for the last eight years.
What are the greatest challenges facing architects today? How can AIA respond to them?
The effects of climate change and sea-level rise and the perceived value of the architect are the greatest challenges facing architects today. The architect’s role is to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public, yet there is a general misconception that builders and interior designers are qualified to design structures, and that architects are expensive and unnecessary. Residential construction, which makes up approximately 94 percent of all buildings and two-thirds of the built floor area, is most greatly impacted by sea-level rise and flooding. And in most states, these projects do not require an architect, leaving millions of structures vulnerable.
To respond to these challenges, AIA can advocate for licensure, practice protections, and lobby for expanded requirements for an architect-of-record on all commercial and residential project types and sizes for reasons of life safety, especially in flood-prone areas. We can provide data that illustrates that projects designed by architects perform better than those that aren’t. We can provide advocacy assistance to components whose members are facing specific practice challenges from competing interest groups. We can provide model language and current data on qualifications-based selection, emphasizing value over cost. Our public messaging should stress that architects add value, protect the public, and make projects more successful. Finally, AIA can provide more resources and current data to architects designing in flood-prone areas to help make their projects resilient and sustainable, and promulgate information on the facts of climate change.
Meet the AIA members running for the elected offices of treasurer and president-elect.
