AIA Continental Europe Update - July 2022

São Bento Station, Porto. Photo credit: Sergio Accatino

The Porto Conference, April 21 – 24, 2022 was a great success. Thanks to the Planning Team for the superb experience: Ray Spano, Pedro Balonas, Teresa Vasconcelos Bento, Pedro Petracchi and Elizabeth Heudebourg! More than 65 AIA members and guests attended the conference from all over Europe and North America including Honolulu. More than 30 speakers, guides and local professionals were involved in the conference, delivering 22.5 AIA Approved Learning Units. 

We reinitiated the AIA Student Scholarship after taking a pause in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  This offers a €5000 award for an American student enrolled in an accredited architecture program in Europe. In parallel, we are pursuing additional opportunities for U.S. students and European students to work collaboratively.

Michelle Montgomery, AIA is our new Emerging Professionals Chair and has organized a series of events with speakers and professionals. This included a session on Mentorship on June 23 from Gensler International Leadership, featuring leaders from three different international offices within the powerhouse group we all know and love - Tariq Shaikh, Rob Edwards and Philip Tidd!

Looking ahead, our next big event is the London 2022 Conference: Transformations, Sept. 29 – Oct. 2. Registration is open so you can reserve your place today! This conference is a joint AIA CE/ AIA UK/ AIA International hosted event. AIA CE contributions will include the following speakers:  Ascanio Vitale, CEO of Stop CO2, and Fiona McLachlan, Professor of Architectural Practice and specialist in Color Theory in a talk entitled “Potential Transformation with Color and Light”.

Finally, our 2023 AIA CE Conference sites will include:

  • Spring 2023: Noto, Sicily, with Sergio Danese AIA and Barbara DiGregorio AIA

  • Fall 2023:  Chinon, France, guided by Carsten Hannsen, Intl Assoc. AIA.