AIA Announces Practice Academy Grants

Washington, DC, July 24, 2006--The American Institute of Architects (AIA) announces the recipient of a new grant program to develop Practice Academy pilot programs. The Practice Academy is a new collaboration among the AIA, the architectural academy, and architecture firms to provide a framework for a rigorous internship for students and architectural interns. The intent of the Practice Academy is to stimulate life long learning for architectural professionals, beginning with interns, through the partnership of academics and practitioners. The grant program totals $90,000 and each of the selected schools of architecture will receive a total of $30,000 over the next three years to support the development of their proposed program. The selected programs are from the Boston Architectural College, Iowa State University, and the University of Cincinnati. “The expectation is high for the three selected programs as the future of the practice academy programs will be determined by the success of these pilot programs. We look forward to working with them over the next three years to help them achieve excellent results,” said Andrew Pressman, FAIA, Practice Academy advisory committee member. The BAC was selected to undertake a Practice Academy devoted to understanding and teaching current developments in computer-aided design technologies, also known as Building Information Modeling (BIM). As stated by Len Charney, director of Practice at the BAC, “Building Information Modeling is much more than simply technology; it lies at the heart of a fundamental cultural shift involving an ability to lead the AEC industry in a highly-integrated design and project environment…The incorporation of BIM as a powerful digital simulation tool not only validates the design program and intent; moreover, it confirms the architect’s role as the single party in the entire building process who most broadly understands the needs and linkage between all constituencies.” Because the BAC already supports a program which integrates practice and education, the advisory committee was confident that this was the right forum for such an exploration. Practice Academy advisory committee member, Ann Chaintreuil, FAIA, stated, “Not only will we be able to see the development of a robust program which integrates practice and education, but we will also get an idea of how BIM may affect the academy and how architecture is taught in schools across the country.” It is intended that the reports from the BAC will be distributed to other schools of architecture so that they can follow the BAC’s lead in this initiative. "The BAC has historically built long-term mutual understandings between educators and practitioners about how students can be best educated by combining academic and practice-based learning. This AIA grant enables us to assess how emerging BIM technologies can enhance three-dimensional learning as professional design education evolves for the 21st century," said Ted Landsmark, Assoc. AIA, president, BAC; president, ACSA. The proposal from Iowa State University seeks to engage practitioners and students and faculty to contribute to projects in the local community. Jason Alread, assistant professor at Iowa State University and Nadia Anderson, lecturer at Iowa State University stated, “To become successful architectural practitioners, emerging professionals must do more than master a set of skills…The goal of the Iowa State University Practice Academy is therefore not simply to incorporate elements of architectural practice into architecture education, but rather to develop a model that moves in both directions between education and practice to create a network of understanding that will become a foundation for future growth and learning in its graduates.”

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