When we say we have learned a lot from this year, we mean we learned A LOT. Not only because that is what we are supposed to be doing in school, but because of everything that has been going on. As you all know, it is difficult to make plans when you do not know…
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These days, we all know our way around a zoom call (for the most part). When classes shifted online last spring, it seemed like our routine had been turned upside down. This year however, the virtual world of classes has been easier to navigate as we have come to know what to expect. While virtual…
DetailsWhat is Open House Chicago (OHC)? It is an annual citywide festival, with sites and events distributed throughout multiple neighborhoods, areas, and select Chicago suburbs that each provide free and open access to the public at the participating locations. The festival itself is produced by the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) which is one of the…
DetailsWe can’t learn everything in school. What’s the missing bridge of a student to a professional? Experience? Sure. Age? Sure. More than likely though, that development happens years after graduation. Why not before? Why not start the process of acclimation during school? AIAS SD has recently paired with AIA SD in a mentorship opportunity to…
Details‘Palimpsest’. What does that mean to you? Adaptive reuse? Reinhabitation? Rebuilding? Transformation? Layering histories? Sustainability? AIAS FORUM 2021 revolved around the word ‘palimpsest’. In architecture, that word refers to reusing an object for a different purpose than its previous life. The virtual conference in early January covered many topics through inspiring speakers and their definition…
DetailsPart 4 | Outreach The fourth and final part of the Passive House Series is about outreach and our ongoing mission to educate our community. As we began our work on PH03, we as a class identified our primary and secondary goals for the semester. Our primary goal was to complete a high performance, retrofit…
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Part 3 | Envelope The Passive House 3.0 series continues with talk about the envelope of the structure. Beginning the retrofit, we as a team needed to take a deep dive into the detailing it takes to meet the standards of a Passive House envelope. Other than the normal construction of a building, there are…
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As the designs and plans for our Passive House retrofit came along, so did our knowledge of how materials and their construction would impact the operational and embodied energy of the house. We quickly found ourselves immersed in powerful new programs, which we had never heard of before, but which would leverage the large section…
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Introduction The first passive house, or PH01, was a venture taken by South Dakota State University department of Architecture students and faculty in Brookings, SD. Two passive houses have been designed to meet the Passive House Institute of the United States (PHIUS) standards since then. PH02 is a single-family residence that utilizes a detached garage…
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Cover image by AIA National Day 2: Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging – Stacey Abrams This session was one I was looking forward to the most during this convention. It was an honor to listen to this wonderful woman, a personal hero of mine, inspire and encourage leaders in this industry to fight for social…
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