Message from the AIA Oregon Architect License Advisor

Chris Lewis, Assoc. AIA
AIA Oregon Architect License Advisor

My name is Chris Lewis and I’m the AIA Oregon State License Advisor, as well as a Senior Associate at Ankrom Moisan Architects. I love architecture, and I love helping people find their path in the profession. Sometimes this path includes licensure, and sometimes it doesn’t, but the great thing about what we do is that there’s room for everyone.

You may be wondering what an “architect license advisor” does. I had the same question when I was offered the position. We are a group of local professionals, educators and students who volunteer our time to help others pursue licensure and reciprocity. Every National Architectural Accredited Board (NAAB) - accredited program has an educational advisor, and most AIA state chapters have an advisor. The Architect License Advisor role is defined by National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), however AIA makes the appointment in each state.  I was recently reappointed for another term by AIA Oregon.

To provide additional support to emerging professionals in our field, student advisors from AIAS chapters across the country have been added, as well as firm appointed advisors to act as resources for individual firms. The reason we need all of these resources is to support the 55 unique jurisdictions that issue a License to practice Architecture in the United States. Each of these jurisdictions has its own way of setting the standard for who can practice as and call themselves an Architect with defined requirements for Education, Experience and Examination. NCARB has worked with these jurisdictions to create a baseline qualification through model codes, which many states have adopted. However, distinction remain between jurisdictions, and in an effort to provide good advice to candidates, the license advisor position was created. NCARB and the AIA wanted to offer someone local to help candidates navigate the process. We aren’t the final answer to your questions, but we are good resources to point you in the right direction.

What advice can I give candidates on their path to their initial license that is timely? Right now, take care of yourself and your job - in that order. At the moment, things are rough, and it’s okay to admit that. I’m sitting here writing this to you at midnight, after putting in a full day of work trying to hit 3 deadlines on Friday, and I know not all of you have that privilege. I also spent another 8 hours helping my 6-year-old son with his distance learning and making sure my family is healthy. So, if you were on the path to licensure and the pandemic has slowed you down, it is completely understandable. Even if you have studied, the Prometric testing centers have been closed for over a month, and they aren’t planning on reopening until at LEAST May 31st. If you had an exam scheduled you will have to reschedule once Prometric opens again, and even then you might get bumped because they will only be running at 50 percent capacity.  If you have the capacity to take on studying, I’d say do it and be ready when the world opens back up. But if you don’t have the bandwidth, that’s okay, testing right now is going to be more difficult than it normally is. Give yourself some grace.

NCARB tips for AXP Candidates:

1)     Your AXP hours won’t expire. Once you’ve submitted your qualifying hours to your supervisor the reporting timeline is no longer a concern.

2)     Only submit reports when there is experience to report. You are not required to report if there are no experience hours to report. You can also look into the Setting O experiences for opportunities to get AXP hours.

3)     Work performed remotely that your AXP supervisor has direct knowledge of and control over counts for experience hours.

4)     Report in shorter time frames to avoid complications that could arise from a change of employment or illness for you or your supervisor.

5)      You may qualify for a reporting requirement extension if you are experiencing extenuating life circumstances. You will need to contact NCARB and provide documentation of the hardship.

NCARB tips for Testing Candidates:

1)     NCARB has added a 9 month extension to all valid passing scores as of March 1, 2020. This is an automatic extension that should be reflected in your NCARB record.

2)     All rescheduling fees have been waived until further notice.

3)     They are encouraging candidates to schedule or reschedule tests for the fall or winter to avoid conflicts or having to reschedule because of closure extensions into June and beyond.

ARE Study materials:

1)     The AIA Archiprep study program is being offered FREE through August

2)     Look for other ARE Prep material providers offering discounts or free access such as Amberbooks

I’m glad I got the chance to introduce myself to the larger architectural community, and to the broader sections of AIA Oregon. Please do not hesitate to reach out with your questions. I may not have the answer, but I’ll be able to help you navigate the path to getting to an answer. Stay safe out there, and do what you can to help each other out.

Message from the AIA Portland Director-Elect

Ben Arico, AIA
AIA Portland Director-Elect

I grew up in Corvallis, Oregon and went to film school for my undergraduate degree at the College of Santa Fe, in New Mexico.  While studying film, I learned how the cultural identity of the time and place manifests itself into the film medium.  In many ways these messages are subconscious.  As I was completing my master’s degree in architecture at the University of New Mexico, I could see striking similarities in the way that architecture speaks to us through the boundaries and facades of our environment.  I appreciate how our environment is not just designed by architects, but that our community creates architecture as an expression of itself physically, economically, and socially.  We get to see who we are by what we make space for.

When I started working at Bora Architects a little over five years ago, I was overwhelmed with the scale and complexity of the firm’s projects. My focus was on my work, and I didn’t lift my head up for a few years. One of my favorite aspects of working at Bora is the collaborative dialogue that happens as the project develops. There is an opportunity for everyone to contribute and engage. Through this process of listening, learning, and communicating, I gained knowledge and confidence. It became clear to me that sharing experiences is a key factor in the professional development of members of the design community.

With my comfort level increasing, I began to see how the design community extends beyond the office. Our offices are not separate objects, but part of a porous matrix that connects us all together. In March of 2019 I started coordinating the AIA Oregon InProcess Lecture Series with a goal of integrating my interests with the larger design community of Portland. It has opened my eyes to the incredible depth and richness of design cultivation that occurs in the fabric of our city. InProcess creates a positive exchange of ideas and learning experiences that strengthen the community as a whole. 

InProcess is a lecture series based on design professionals sharing the process of how they work. What makes the series so successful is that in every lecture there are two presenters: and architect and a trade partner. The trade partner can be from any profession. We’ve spoken with photographers, fabricators, furniture makers, sound designers, ceramic and fabric artists; just to name a few. 

Each presenter gets 20 minutes to share aspects of how they work. InProcess isn’t so much about showing the finished product as it is about showing the steps of progression. We get to see the iterations of the work and talk about the tools used to study the design. We get to hear about team structures, office dynamics, and how budgets, schedules, and client relationships influence the project.

InProcess exposes us to the huge variety of design work that takes place in Portland and throughout the Northwest. There are so many different ways to accomplish good design, and so many different scales of work in various disciplines. For example. the type of thinking required to mass-produce an object is extremely different than the creation of a one-off installation for a specific environment. We can learn so much by applying lessons from one situation into another. Hearing about how designers have navigated the constraints of their work field is incredibly valuable. The architect and the trade partner are often thematically related, and we have seen some fantastic dialogues generated through these juxtapositions.

The final 20 minutes of an InProcess Lecture is where the community gets to participate in the dialogue. Questions are taken from the audience and often morph into additional dialogues between the presenters or influence additional questions. This exchange of ideas, perspectives, and insights is where our community builds collective knowledge.

InProcess acts as a framework that invigorates and empowers all of our designers to better serve the people of Oregon.

As we continue our transition to a single state chapter, the Programs Committee began planning for the Portland-based InProcess series to be broadcast to all sections, and to encourage other communities to develop their own version.  Our current situation with only virtual events accelerated the process, and for the foreseeable future, InProcess will be broadcast through Zoom as part of the AIA Oregon Digital Design Series.  I would encourage all of you to attend as many of these events as you can.

The next InProcess event is  Wednesday, May 13 at 5pm.  You can email me at arico@bora.co if you would like more information on the series, if you are interested in sharing your work, or if you have suggestions for future lectures.

Message from the AIAO Public Policy Consultant

Cindy Robert
AIAO Public Policy Consultant

A Different Kind of Resiliency…

I remember when we first introduced our State Resilience Officer bill at the 2015 legislative assembly. HB 2270 caused confusion as we did not define “resilience” and found that it meant something different to each legislator we spoke to. While in the body of the bill, we made it clear that the role of the Officer was to “implement and coordinate seismic safety and resilience goal setting and state agency planning and preparation to improve seismic safety and resilience” as the bill passed each body, legislators were still not drilling down on that focus. They wanted “resilience” to encompass so much more: emergency preparedness, active shooter, diseases, weather hazards…both natural and human-caused events.

 So, here we are amid COVID and as we start to turn the corner, public policymakers are looking at immediate needs and long-term planning. The main question will eventually be what have we learned that we can use to be more prepared and resilient the next time an epidemic occurs? As the public policy pendulum swings and reaction to current events provides the energy and amplitude, the definition of “Resilience” has again shifted.

Reopening

We keep hearing “We don’t control the timeline; the virus controls the timeline” – but by nature we are time block thinkers. It is about to be summer which mean outside activities, vacations and picnics.  Fall is football and school. You pay rent/mortgage start of month. You pay taxes in April, or on a quarterly date if you are self-employed. Breakfast in am, dinner in pm. Meetings in one-hour blocks. Starts and stops, all predetermined. So it is hard as we plan for reopening to not be able to begin with a “start date.” Instead the Governor has looked to sectors (i.e. restaurants, recreation, higher ed) and regions to plan on three phases for moving toward our new normal, and we may see sectors and regions start phase 1 at different times.

One constant in the conversation is that the criteria for starting are benchmarks to be met:

Gating Criteria:

• Symptoms: Downward trajectory of influenza-like illnesses reported within 14-day period AND downward trajectory of COVID-like syndromic cases reported within 14-day period.

• Cases: Downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period OR downward trajectory of positive cases as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period.

• Capacity: Hospitals treat all patients without crisis care and robust testing program in place for at-risk healthcare workers.

Core State Preparedness Items:

• Testing and Contact Tracing: Screening/testing for symptomatic individuals, sentinel surveillance sites screening for asymptomatic individuals, contact tracing of all COVID+ cases.

• Healthcare System Capacity: Sufficient PPE, ability to surge ICU capacity.

• Plans: for health and safety of workers in critical industries, health and safety of those living and working in high-risk facilities, mass transit, general social distancing and face coverings protocols, monitor conditions and immediately take steps to mitigate any rebounds/outbreaks by restarting a phase or returning to a previous phase, depending on severity.

Once the above Gating and Core Preparedness items are met, the Governor will direct Phase 1 to start.

The 3 distinct phases have some government protocols and a waiting period of at least 14 days between each to make sure gating criteria numbers are not moving in the wrong direction:

Phase 1:

• Group size max: 10

• Vulnerable individuals stay-at-home

• Telework encouraged

• Elective surgeries resume

• Workplace common areas remain closed

• Minimize non-essential travel

• Schools and youth activities remain closed

• Large venues remain closed

Phase 2:

• Group size limit increased (perhaps to 50)

• Vulnerable populations remain at home

• Schools and gyms open with physical distancing

• Non-essential travel resumes

Phase 3:

• Mass gathering size increases

• Worksites have unrestricted staffing

• Visitors to nursing homes allowed

• Restaurants and bars have more seating

Special Session

Many people wonder why a Special Session of the legislature has not occurred. Simple: it is not needed nor advisable at this point! The Governor has successfully invoked executive orders to establish emergency procedures and disruption of normal statutory regulations. The Emergency Board has also met to allocate emergency fund dollars available to them to help with COVID-19 response. But all other fund disbursement will need legislative approval AFTER the quarterly Revenue Forecast is delivered May 20.  Remember, in short session we had a huge surplus to be spent but the walkout stopped any allocations from happening – now those extra dollars are highly unlikely anyway. Once this mid-biennium report happens, then the legislature can come in and make important decisions with real information. Not only information from Department of Revenue will be forthcoming and helpful to our state leaders, but also from the federal government.  Expect to see it in June.

Resources

The Oregon Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program is just now open and accepting applications for self-employed, contract, and gig workers who are not eligible for regular unemployment benefits. Application is at the top of the OED CARES Act Page.

Other Oregon Employment Department Resources can be found here: Q&A’s on employment issues related to COVID-19.

The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reports up-to-date information regarding testing statistics that can be found on their website. 

And what I consider the most comprehensive (aside from the AIAO Resources page) and well organized site is from the Governor’s Office:  COVID-19 Resources