November 2023 Chapter President’s letter

Nov 20

A personal letter from Angela Mazzi, FAIA, FACHA, EDAC about how you and AIA Cincinnati can work together

This month, I’m asking you a question: If not you, then who?

It’s easy when you are part of a large organization like AIA Cincinnati to assume that someone else is figuring it all out. That your participation isn’t all that important. To let all the other things that you are busy with take precedence. Let this be your wake-up call. This chapter is what you make it. The committees we have, the programs we offer, the leadership opportunities and ability to grow or leverage your subject matter expertise are all in your hands. The Board of Directors just completed our annual retreat and 2024 is going to focus on membership. How can we work with you to position our profession and your career? In case you weren’t sure of all that we are up to – here are some recent ways we helped members expand their horizons.

We celebrated the official founding of the Ohio Valley NOMA chapter. Many thanks to our AIA Cincinnati Executive Director Julie Carpenter for lending her wisdom and administrative help to this effort. Please support this newest NOMA chapter by attending their events and welcoming them to AIA gatherings. Our JEDI Committee will coordinate closely with NOMA in 2024.

On November 1, we had a general meeting for Chapter Elections. Those who attended got to hear updates from each of our committees and learn more about how to get involved. If you didn’t make it, please learn more about our Committees. Please also welcome our 2024 Board of Directors:

Zoe Gizara, President
Paul Shirley, President Elect
Rob Busch, Secretary
Monica Lowry, Treasurer
Angela Mazzi, Past President

Directors:
Chris Bartell
Ross Battoclette
Alberto Gomez
Christopher Hernandez
Amber Wasinski
Jen Choto, Associate Director
Allison McKenzie, AIA Ohio Representative
Karen Planet, AIA Ohio Alternate representative

We also continued the celebration of the legacy of Zaha Hadid with a tour of the anniversary exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center with custom installations by artists that respond to the architectural features of the building. Afterwards, the Early Professionals Committee gathered for dinner. Art, culture, and networking all in one great event!

On a national scale, AIA Cincinnati was represented at the Healthcare Design Conference in New Orleans with members from several local firms in attendance. Four of our members spoke at the conference and GBBN’s project for the University of Cincinnati won a national design award. The Academy of Architecture for Health (an AIA knowledge community) is a partner for this conference, and Lakisha Ann Woods, AIA’s CEO even stopped by. Big takeaways from the event were the emergence of AI in design, an increased focus on health equity (I got to deliver a talk on equity and resilience), the importance of showing evidence of how design will impact outcomes, and a focus on user experience. Maybe you’re not an architect who specializes in healthcare, but health is an issue that impacts us all and we’ve all been a patient at some point in our lives and are impacted by the design of these spaces. If you’d like to be a part of a bigger network of healthcare architects, please let me know and I can plug you into some great resources at the state and national level!

As we close out 2023, I want to challenge you to attend at least one of the incredible events that are planned. Bonus points if you bring a friend.

Angela Mazzi, FAIA, FACHA, EDAC
2023 AIA Cincinnati President