AFFORDABLE HOUSING | A cyclic conversation without resolution  

  With rapid population growth developers, designers, contractors, and finance are at work to provide adequate housing supply. Housing is required to facilitate the recruitment and retention of the influx of the workforce. Yes, housing is in high demand. Yes, we need to accommodate the influx. But – are we planning for the long-term impact…

Sioux Falls Homeless Study | A Naïve Perspective

In reality, we are paying a price for homelessness and the cost saving alone should influence decisions for those who are unable to recognize the complexities of the different factors that can shape a human life.  Reflecting on six years of academia at SDSU brings back many memories of spending long hours on campus, only…

Cities We Love: Aberdeen

by Spencer Sommers, CO-OP Architecture The third largest city in South Dakota is Aberdeen, located near the north state border.  Incorporated in 1881, Aberdeen was known as the “Hub City of the Dakotas” due to the four railroads that crossed there. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe line still runs through the city.  Aberdeen is home…

AIASD Award Winner: McVicker Plaza

This post was written and submitted by Koch Hazard Architects. McVicker Plaza The Vermillion Chamber & Development Corporation needed their own office space after years of leasing around downtown.  When a prominent location on a corner of Main Street became available, they leapt at the chance to create a meaningful improvement to the historic streetscape…

Going Metro – Call for Art Proposals

With funding support from the National Endowment for the Arts and South Dakota Community Foundation, the Sioux Falls Design Center (SFDC) is hosting Going Metro, a program series designed to facilitate creative conversations about transportation as the City of Sioux Falls seeks to innovate its transit system. The Sioux Falls Design Center is seeking art…

Blueprint for Better: Mayoral Panel at AIASD ’20

Back by popular demand, the second annual mayoral panel at this year’s AIA South Dakota Convention included four leaders representing communities across the state. While their cities vary greatly in geography, economy, diversity and population, the mayors found common ground in the challenges they are all facing in planning for a better future. Moderated by…

How Architecture Firms can Apply for an SBA COVID-19 Disaster Relief Loan

Initially published on March 20, 2020 Republished with permissions from April Hughes, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, Board President, AIA Chicago Board of Directors at AIA Chicago Cover image credit: HPZS Office Headquarters, Chicago, Illinois By: April Marie Hughes, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C Dear Architectural Firm Owners, Like many of you, I could never have…

The Cost of Change

As cities and countries continue to declare climate emergency, they are now faced with the economic burden that it takes to switch over to more energy efficient systems. However, in their article, Climate change: real estate worth billions could become obsolete – unless owners act now, Kevin Muldoon-Smith and Paul Michael Greenhalgh, professors at Northumbria…