AIA Seattle welcomes all colleagues to join in a knowledge-seeking quest – a multi-national conference of AIA local and state components and other groups within and beyond the territory of the AIA Northwest + Pacific Region. Extending an internationalist tradition, AIA Seattle plans a learning voyage among the diverse practice and design cultures of the vast and various Region. The 111th anniverary of the establishment of AIA in Seattle (Daniel Burnham, then serving as AIA's Secretary, signed the charter on August 3, 1894) offers a natural moment for reflection as well as celebration.

Using geographic diversity as a laboratory for learning, conference attendees will focus on knowledge from case study submittals based on significant projects from around the AIA Northwest + Pacific Region, chosen for both design excellence and a range of achievements required for design success:
. design team formation and project delivery
. effective client relationships
. materials research and application
• design processes reflecting distinct regional and cultural values

According to Conference Chair Rena M. Klein AIA, the conference will open the experience of a regional gathering to design professionals from an extended territory, using these means:
• partnership with schools of architecture and AIA Knowledge Communities as well as AIA components within the NW + Pacific Region
• use of case study/story-telling/lesson-sharing approaches for interactive learning, and
• amplification of exchange by use of online technology.

Other highlights (details below):
• 'Visionary' speakers including
   – Jim Glymph FAIA of Gehry Partners/Gehry Technologies
   – Gordon Chong FAIA of Chong Partners, San Francisco, a chief crafter of futurist thinking for the profession
• Knowledge Sessions: a rich program of continuing education events in areas of Design, Practice, and Technology, featuring a range of expert speakers
• AIA Seattle Case Study Prize: Call for Entries: Preliminary case study submittals due 1/31/05
• Trans-Pacific Trends, Processes, and Products Trade Show
• Tours of significant projects in the greater Seattle area
• Book Fair, a feast of knowledge publications
• 111th Birthday Party and other social gatherings

On September 22, 2004, AIA Seattle welcomed attendees to Becoming Knowledgeable/Scholarship in Practice Case Study Workshop, with options for participation by webcast or live in
Seattle. AIA 'knowledge initiators' Richard Green FAIA and Laura Lee FAIA offered an introduction to case study concepts and uses, intended to introduce the Knowledge by Design program as well as to inform participants about producing case studies for submittal for the AIA Seattle Case Study Prize and consideration for presentation at the 8/05 Conference.

Designing the Conference Concepts
Q: How can architects, as a learning community, harvest knowledge demonstrated in projects recognized for design excellence in AIA component awards programs?

A: By developing case studies – prepared collaboratively by those involved in the process and scholarly observers (especially design students and interns) – that identify, document, and assess a range of achievements required for design success, e.g.:
• design team formation and process management
• effective client relationships
• materials research and application

As an experiment in learning extending over the year preceding the August 2005 gathering, Conference program planners will assemble data from architectural practices serially, via AIA components in the NW + Pacific Region in partnership with the seven schools of architecture. The use of case study/story-telling approaches for interactive learning, extending the case study development and assessment process to a broad range of design and construction-related disciplines, and amplification of exchange by use of online technology, will open the experience of a regional gathering and design community to design professionals from an extended territory, activating a "Gestalt of Inclusiveness."

Elements
· Invitation to submit case studies for consideration to receive the AIA Seattle Case Study Prize and for presentation at the Conference (entry/preliminary submittal deadline 1/31/05): AIA Seattle will invite architects from throughout the AIA NW+Pacific region, including recipients of design awards in components through the region, to submit narrative case studies for review by a jury of experts, who will chose projects for case study development, help direct case study preparation, select case studies for presentation, and oversee knowledge development at the Conference.
· AIA Seattle Case Study Prize: the jury will select four to six projects for award, scheduled for presentation at the Conference. Collaboration with AIA Knowledge Communities and the AIA Case Study Initiative enriches the program.
· Knowledge Sessions: AIA Seattle Continuing Education will develop a "best-of" program of knowledge presentations and workshops, some based on Case Study Prize finalists, addressing pragmatic topics in design, technology, and practice.
· World-class keynote speaker(s), possibly for webcast presentation
· Book Fair: invitational book-signing event, featuring works by regionally, nationally, and internationally known academic and practice-based authors
· Trans-Pacific Trends, Processes, and Products Trade Show, featuring demonstrations of new products and cutting-edge technical assistance.
· 111th Birthday Party, honoring the anniversary of the signing (August 3, 1894 by Daniel Burnham, then-Secretary of The American Institute of Architects) of the charter establishing AIA in Seattle

Location(s):
* Highlight events in locations throughout the Region, including campuses of the 7 schools of architecture within the AIA NW+Pacific Region
* Washington State Convention & Trade Center (Knowledge Sessions, Trade Show, Conversation Café
* In Seattle, the newest design laboratory sites, e.g.:
� Seattle Central Library
· Consolidated Works
� White River Amphitheatre
� South Lake Union
· etc. ...

Sponsors/exhibitors:
Attractions, incentives, opportunities, mutually valuable partnerships TBD ... for possibilities, please review information here, and/or contact Era Schrepfer at AIA Seattle.

Partners (preliminary list):
*AIA local and state components throughout the NW+Pacific Region
*Schools of Architecture throughout the NW+Pacific Region:
University of Hawaii School of Architecture
University of Idaho School of Architecture
Montana State University School of Architecture
Portland State University School of Urban Studies & Planning
University of Oregon School of Architecture & Allied Arts
University of Washington College of Architecture & Urban Planning
Washington State University School of Architecture & Construction Management
*AIAS components in schools of the Region
*AIA Educator/Practitioner Network/Case Study Initiative
*AIA Knowledge Enterprise
*Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture/ACSA
*APA of Washington, ASLA of WA, IIDA of WA, ASID of WA

Committee & Knowledge Contributors:
Rena M. Klein AIA, Chair
Bruce E. Blackmer FAIA
Marilyn Brockman AIA
Don Carlson FAIA
Clair Enlow
Ben Gist Assoc. AIA
Peter David Greaves AIA
Richard Green FAIA
Thea Habersetzer
Lisa Johnson AIA
Greg Kessler AIA
Clarence C. Kwan AIA
Laura Lee FAIA
Bill LaPatra AIA
Clark Llewellyn AIA
W. Mike Martin FAIA
Jerry McDevitt AIA
Wolf Saar AIA
Ellen Southard
Norman Strong FAIA
James M. Suehiro AIA
Jennifer Varner
Roger B. Williams FAIA

Note: The AIA Seattle Membership Conference 9/17/03, "The Future of Design Education in WA/the World" provides a point of origination for the Conference.