Here’s a wrap-up of activities during our first full day at the AIA SD 2025 Annual Convention:
Opening Keynote — An Evolving Practice: Substance Architecture — Joshua Hemberger, AIA, LEED AP, and Leah Rudolphi, AIA, Substance Architecture
AIA South Dakota 2025 Design Awards juror co-chairs Joshua Hemberger, AIA, LEED AP, and Leah Rudolphi, AIA, presented a two-part opening keynote this morning as the first educational session in the AIA SD Annual Conference. We thank Raker Rhodes Engineering for sponsoring Leah and Josh’s keynote. In Part 1, they shared insights from their firm’s recent transition to multiple levels of ownership as well as leadership-succession planning. The two are Associate Principals and Owners at substance Architecture in Des Moines, Iowa. In Part 2, they discussed how they transformed collaborative listening into opportunities for their clients’ highly specialized buildings—from work with the NDN Collective at Pine Ridge to a company that manufactures robots for the dairy industry. Together, the two components gave attendees a full picture of Substance’s evolution.
Unbuilt: Best Lessons From Projects That Didn’t Cross the Finish Line — Chase Kramer, AIA, Robin Miller, AIA, Shawn Crowley, AIA and Jonathan Meendering
Not every great design makes it through to construction. Client timetables, funding setbacks, and political issues are just a few of the reasons some ideas remain “Unbuilt: Projects That Didn’t Cross the Finish Line”. We thank EAPC Architects Engineers for sponsoring this #AIASD2025 panel discussion with Moderator Jonathan Meendering, Campus Planning Director for South Dakota State University (far right), and three AIA SD members: (Left to right) Shawn Crowley, AIA, of EAPC Architects Engineers; Chase Kramer, AIA, of TSP, Inc.; and Robin Miller, AIA, of Schemmer. After presenting projects from their own portfolios, panelists engaged in conversation with one another about the known and unknown risks going into each opportunity, the design and negotiation considerations among partners, why each project ultimately did not get built, and how the experience has affected their perspective and professional practice.
A conversation with James Cramer, Hon. AIA, Hon. IIDA, the 2025 AIA South Dakota Champion of Architecture
Attendees got to hear from AIA SD 2025 Champion of Architecture James Cramer during a special one-on-one conversation ahead of lunch. Cramer, a native of Aberdeen, South Dakota, now resides in Dunwoody, Georgia and teaches at Georgia Institute of Technology in the Program on Entrepreneurship. He is Hon. Distinguished Professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design and has long been active in the AIA. Tom Hurlbert, AIA, Principal Architect at CO-OP Architecture and an AIA SD Past President, moderated. The session was sponsored by Van Buskirk Construction.
Luncheon Keynote — Leadership Can’t Wait: Expanding the Role of Architects
AIA South Dakota 2025 attendees got the opportunity today to hear directly from the incoming national President of The American Institute of Architects. We thank West Plains Engineering for sponsoring this lunch keynote from Illya Azaroff, FAIA. In his talk, Azaroff—an expert in disaster mitigation, resilient adaptation, and regenerative design—brought urgency to his remarks for architects, designers, and students. “Leadership Can’t Wait: Expanding the Role of Architects in Times of Disruption” focused on how architects can lead change in communities and bring more hands to the work. “There’s not enough architects in the world to do the work that is necessary to secure the future,” Azaroff said. “We all must take this on.“ He is the founding principal of +lab Architect, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, dedicated to uplifting underserved communities globally. An architect and geographer, Azaroff also is a professor at New York City College of Technology (CUNY), a minority-serving institution.
AIA SD Exhibit Hall
Attendees at this afternoon’s AIA South Dakota Exhibit Hall had their own version of “how it started … how it’s going”—Plingo style. They filled in their bingo cards by visiting booths to connect in-person with the people who know about the latest products, technology, and building systems. A full card or a five-in-a-line qualified them for a chance to drop a Plinko chip for a prize or be entered in a drawing.
AIA SD Exhibitor Party
We closed out today with the AIA SD Exhibitor Party—a break between Exhibit Hall and tear-down for all the industry partners who came to connect with our member architects, designers, and students. We’re grateful to Associated Consulting Engineering, Inc. and McGough for sponsoring the event. Good food and good conversation made for a great end to this first full day.
