AIAS’ first national conference of the year took place at headquarters in Washington DC. This year our student advocated we were able to be a part of the first ever Student Capitol Hill Day! Here, we met with representatives, took tours around Washington DC, and met other architecture students across the country! The National Board Members were sworn in, as well as our local chapter board!

To get our spring semester started we had a social gathering where we provided the chicken, and FBD provided the waffles! The event was a great turnout and people were happy to relax, socialize, and enjoy their food!

The biggest conference of the year is AIAS’ National Forum conference! Each year a different chapter across the country and parts of Canada hosts the event and this year it took place in Toronto, CA. At the conference we heard from cutting-edge keynote speakers, attended workshops, met with architecture students across the nation, and participated in the Nationals elections. The conference even had a New Years Eve Party that everyone had a great time at!

YAF (Young Architects Forum) was nice enough to come to our studio for a Crit Night to give students a chance to hear more feedback from any project of their choosing! The night was filled with discussions, constructive critiques, and of course, pizza. We love working with architects in Pittsburgh, and can’t wait till our next event together!

This year’s Northeast Quad was hosted from Philadelphia, PA by Temple University. We met with architecture students across our own Northeast Region and had fun seeing the architecture Philly has to offer. We ended the conference with a great time at Cherry Street Pier before heading back to our side of PA.

This fall, we were fortunate enough to tour two Pittsburgh firms, IKM and Perkins Eastman. Both firms were extremely welcoming and we had a great time hearing about the work they do and seeing their beautiful work spaces.

After being paired up with our mentor-mentee pairs, we invited everyone to attend an Ice Cream Social with Pittsburgh’s very own Dave & Andy’s Homemade Ice Cream! The event was a great time to meet everyone in the school and was a real treat after studio. We also sold succulents and toppings provided by our friends at AIAS Pitt, YAF Pittsburgh, and ACSA.

The AIAS Quad Conference invites some of the most engaged and enthusiastic students from around the United States and parts of Canada to attend a 3-day conference full of interactive workshops, city tours, seminars, and keynotes. This year, Wentworth Institute of Technology was selected to host the 2019 AIAS Northeast Quad Conference. The Northeast Quad Conference is an annual regional conference that takes place in a different city in the Northeast each year. One American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) chapter from each quadrant of the United States is selected to host and organize a conference for their quad.

This year at Forum 2018 (Seattle), AIAS CMU brings home two Honor Awards; the AIAS Chapter President Award (Zain Islam-Hashmi), and the AIAS Chapter Award (2017-2018)! 

Every year, the AIAS collects in one city over the winter holiday to network, hear from our sponsors, learn from other leaders, discuss issues relevant to architecture and design education, and conduct official AIAS business. In addition to the energy of being surrounded by others with the same interests, the new Board of Directors is elected from a pool of incredibly inspiring candidates as they have speeches, debates and networking opportunities with AIAS members!

Original Description: Take your mind off studio and come relieve your stress with love and cuddles from the cutest/sweetest/most wholesome creatures on the planet.

Our second annual Thanksgiving dinner, held in studio! Description:$10 presale, $12 at door!

Description: Studio d'ARC Firm Tour with Gerard Damiani We will be continuing our fall firm tours with a visit to Gerard Damiani’s Studio d'ARC. “The firm has a body of work that responds to the unique qualities of region, site, program, budget, construction and environment. Their sensitivity to the found conditions of place, design process, use of humble materials, and cost effective solutions set them apart from other offices.” The tour will focus on Studio d'ARC relationship with material and place, as well as investigate the link between academia and practice.

Our fall Membership Dinner! Welcoming all new members, old members, and interested individuals to a night of fun conversation and great food.

A relaxing slime-making event after our Chapter Updates GBM.

Original Description: We will be kicking off our fall firm tours with a visit to Pittsburgh based office Strada Architects. “Strada is a cross-disciplinary design firm where architects and interior designers regularly collaborate with urban designers, landscape architects, and graphic designers to create places that people truly enjoy.” The tour will focus on Strada’s recent emphasis on the importance of healthy studio culture which you can read about on their website.

Come join AIAS CMU at our Silent Auction for Puerto Rico. We will be auctioning a wide range of donated items including baked goods, books, artwork and student commissions! All proceeds will be donated to ACSA's Puerto Rico Fund. This event is being hosted in conjunction with the SoA Spring 2018 Lecture Series. Amount Raised: $700

Spring Semester Members Dinner at Stack'd

We follow exhibition designer, Emily Rice, AIAS + SOA alum, through the different departments to better understand how the museum functions and how different disciplines can begin to have a relationship with Architecture.

Original Description: Take your mind off studio and come relieve your stress with love and cuddles from the cutest/sweetest/most wholesome creatures on the planet.

From The American Galvanizer's Association: "The goal of this Showdown is to have fun, bond as a chapter, and maybe learn a little about hot-dip galvanized steel along the way. Videos will be submitted to the AGA's YouTube Channel for voting/viewing. Voting will be ongoing during November/December, and the top video of each Quad will be selected for the Final Showdown at Forum. The top video in each Quad will receive $500. One winner from each Quad will be chosen to be in the finals at Forum 2017 and the best video will win: $2,000 for your AIAS school chapter, Galvanized Trophy, Bragging rights as the best chapter and coolest quad at AIAS Forum."

AIAS FORUM is the signature architecture + design conference for students. Taking place over four days around New Year’s Eve, FORUM is jam-packed with keynotes, sessions, tours, meetups, workshops, night events, and much, much more! What separates FORUM from other student conferences is our emphasis on interaction and discussion. With so much young and bright talent from around the world convening in one place, we want to capitalize on the opportunity to discuss the major issues that face the profession. This means that there will be opportunities for all to learn and collaborate, including the speakers and professionals who attend. FORUM 2017 will also be opening its scope to discuss issues tangentially related to architecture. As design is a collective process, we’ll be bringing many perspectives and disciplines to the table. In all, FORUM leaves attendees feeling inspired and ready to continue these discussions in their chapters, classrooms, and workplaces.

Attendees: Amy Rosen, Zain Islam-Hashmi, Selena Zhen, Chitika Vasudeva, Bryan Trew, Alina Kramkova, Robert Rice, Matt Porter (CMU Alum).

Congratulations to Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture Alumna, Amy Rosen for earning the incredible position as AIAS's National President for the 2018-2019 term.

AIAS teams up with National Organization Of Minority Architects (NOMAS) and CMU School of Architecture's Architectural Peer Mentor Program (APM) to bring dinner to studio!

Annual Pie-A-Board-Member Event!!

Firm Tour at Moss Architects, founded by one of our first year professors, Andrew Moss.

We partnered with University of Pittsburgh's AIAS chapter to bring students on a joint trip to our two local Frank Lloyd Wright masterpieces, Falling Water and Kentuck Knob!

Every semester, AIAS CMU hosts a Crit Night with visiting professionals from YAF. Crit Night is a great place to get judgement free critique from industry professionals and peers.

This was an event geared towards upper-year and masters students that focused on the transition between being a full-time student and entering the workforce. A panel of young professionals was present to introduce themselves, their personal paths, and their career transitions. This panel also included professionals at multiple levels of experience and included recent alumni as well, who will be speaking about their personal networks, how they were gained, and how they have been utilized recently. After the introduction, the panel broke off into a networking session where students can talk with these professionals about their field, their network, or their transitions as they feel necessary.

CRIT Live (Northeast Quad 2017) was held at Cornell University, where AIAS hosts a research symposium. Each program consists of two professional keynotes, a research tutorial workshop, and a series of presentations, pecha kucha segments, and panels exhibiting student research projects. Our current and past presidents, Zain Islam-Hashmi and Amy Rosen, presented their projects.

As part of our initiative for improving student/faculty relations, students visit The Mattress Factory with faculty Mary-Lou Arscott and Annie Ranttila.

From our first GBM open only to registered members. We discussed our main plans for the year, exclusive benefits, voted on amendments to the GBM, and gave our membership gifts and membership cards!

Innovative and Informed Architecture that Positively Impacts the World. See our previous visit to IKM on September 13, 2017. IKM is a Pittsburgh based architecture firm that has worked on projects such as the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Annex, Chartiers Valley School District High School, and the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

This honor showcases the top 60 AIAS members and culminates in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to engage with Walt Disney Imagineers on May 19-21, 2017 in Orlando, Fla. The program seeks to identify the top AIAS students in all years of architecture school, including fifth year and graduate students. AIAS Imagine will kick off with a full day of strategic planning centered on how to position the AIAS for success in the next 60 years. On Friday evening, AIAS and Walt Disney Imagineering will co-host a weekend of design process exploration. Honorees will be able to participate in a series of lectures, workshops and tours that highlights Walt Disney Imagineering’s unique approach to design. Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) is the creative force that imagines, designs and builds all Disney theme parks, resorts, attractions and cruise ships worldwide. Imagineering’s unique strength comes from its diverse global team of creative and technical professionals who build on Disney’s legacy of storytelling to pioneer new forms of entertainment.

Selected Winners from Carnegie Mellon University: Zain Islam-Hashmi, Selena Zhen, Michael Powell, Alejandra Meza, Christoph Eckrich, Erin Fuller, Kayla Quinn, Thomas Sterling (Alumni)

Every year, the AIAS collects in one city over the winter holiday to network, hear from our sponsors, learn from other leaders, discuss issues relevant to architecture and design education, and conduct official AIAS business. All members are encouraged to attend and the location changes on a yearly basis. In addition to the energy of being surrounded by others with the same interests, the new Board of Directors is elected from a pool of incredibly inspiring candidates as they have speeches, debates and networking opportunities with AIAS members!

Honors: Amy Rosen wins Northeast Quad Director and 2016 Chapter President Honorable Mention Award. Chapter wins Chapter Honor Award