Every February, the AIA leadership from across the country (plus some international representatives) convenes in Washington, DC to discuss Institute strategic plans and trek to Capitol Hill for meetings with elected representatives. This year, in addition, I met with the new GSA director of the Design Excellence program, Casey Jones, and enjoyed the opening of the CONTEXT/CONTRAST exhibition at the AIA national headquarters.

Casey Jones, a former staff member of the Van Alen Institute, is busy working on expanding the design excellence format to other federal agencies, which can only mean that better, more sustainable buildings are in the offing.

Kieran Timberlake London Embassy

CONTEXT/CONTRAST
The opening of the exhibition was very well attended, with requests from architects from California to Puerto Rico asking about the possibility to move the exhibit to their cities and towns. On March 3rd I returned to DC to participate in a panel discussion with DC preservation leaders, Terish Boasberg and Anne Lewis, with NYC Chairman Robert Tierney and AIANY Executive Rick Bell. I presented some of the projects that were not included in the exhibition at the Institute and our own projects in the Gansevoort Market and Brooklyn Heights Historic Districts.

402 WEST 13TH STREET – RETAIL AND OFFICE SPACE, 20 HENRY STREET – CONDOMINIUM AND PLAZA

Look for the unveiling of our report on the Design Literacy Retreat in the next few weeks; it will be presented to the National Endowment for the Arts early in March.