The AIA Headquarters Renewal: Advocating for a Healthy Built Environment
Included in subscription
Description
A major transformation is underway at the American Institute of Architects’ national headquarters in Washington, DC. Scheduled to open in late 2024, the new headquarters will be a physical manifestation of the Institute’s values, demonstrating the power of design to advocate for a zero-carbon, equitable, resilient, and healthy built environment. This session will explore the major renovation of a 1973 Brutalist building into a place of high performance and high impact—an engaging and inclusive new campus that reflects the diversity of the profession and a reimagined workplace landscape that enhances collaboration, ideation, belonging, and wellness.
Course expires 06/05/2026
Learning Objectives
Demonstrate a cost-effective path for achieving the AIA 2030 Commitment target with a fully decarbonized and climate-neutral major building renovation, one of the first of its kind in the United States.
Explore how the Institute is pivoting toward a new workplace destination and culture designed around collaboration, ideation, belonging, and wellness.
Investigate approaches to transforming existing Brutalist buildings into welcoming places of high performance, sensory experiences, and innovation.
Learn how the new headquarters will become a physical resource and meaningful destination for AIA members; a new community hub; and place to share, inspire, and explore the power of design to create positive impact.
Rebecca Sharkey is a Principal at EHDD, a West Coast Architecture and Interiors firm based in San Francisco and Seattle. Through projects including the recent transformation of KQED’s Headquarters in San Francisco and the AIA Headquarters Renewal in Washington DC, Rebecca prioritizes climate action through design with a focus on reimagining existing buildings and strengthening the ecological, cultural, and financial resilience of our communities. With additional expertise in community, cultural, and higher education facilities, she leads with an eye towards creating places that inspire and engage, and designing welcoming and nurturing environments where people and organizations thrive.
A licensed architect with over seven years of professional experience, Patricia believes in the ethical responsibility of designers to create healthy human habitats that exist in harmony with their surrounding natural context. She seeks unique design solutions for every project, integrating ecological aesthetics and sustainable techniques with considerations for wellbeing and equity into visions that will positively impact people and nature. She prioritizes research and evidence-based approaches, leveraging measurable information to ensure the very best possible building performance and environments for all the people that inhabit them. Patricia’s work spans many different project types, including higher education facilities, non-profits, interior office & event space renovations, high-end residences, and museums. She is enjoying her role as a project architect and sustainable design specialist with EHDD in Seattle, WA.