A couple of weeks ago I attended the AIA Arkansas Convention in Hot Springs, AR. The AIA is the American Institute of Architects. Just like most conventions there were lectures about our profession. The convention started off on Wednesday with a golf tournament. This year it was held at Diamante Country Club in Hot Springs Village (just north of Hot Springs). Diamante is a really exclusive golf course and it was beautiful and a great course (not that I know a lot about or have played a lot of courses, but this one was really fun and had some great landscapes). It was a four man scramble; my teammates were Dalton Smith, Derek Owens, and Clint. Dalton got us into the Tournament through his company, Curtis H. Stout Inc. We had a great time and did pretty well, we shot 6 under par.
The next day was the start of the lectures or seminars. I went to a couple that day, none very interesting. That afternoon we had some free time so we walked down bathhouse row to check out some of the recently renovated bathhouses. We came upon one and asked if we could look inside. A nice lady, the manager, took us on a tour of the place and told us about it, its history, its renovations, etc. She took us down below to where the hot spring comes in. It was pretty cool (actually very hot a humid) but it was a small, ticket, stone cavern looking place. Very cool though. That night was the welcome reception which basically means we walked around the convention hall to all the booths and received information on new products and such. That night we went out to a bar and had a really good time.
Woke up at some point Friday and went to the Associates luncheon. This is for Associates (interns pretty much) to discuss how we can further our careers and get licensed. After this we had some free time so we headed back to the hotel to relax before the last lecture and the awards banquet. The last lecture was by Jonathan Segal. He is an Architect / Developer in San Diego, California. He is unique in that he cut out the contractor and client; he is the contractor and client. He designs and buildings multi-use and multi-family housing complexes. He then rents out the units so that he has a continuous income. These are fantastically designed buildings, they are not some shithole Jim Lindsey type apartment buildings. He makes great use of sustainable materials, natural light, energy systems, and functionality. That was a very inspirational lecture.
That night was a cocktail reception and awards banquet. Basically it was free drinks, food, and cigars. The food kind of sucked but the awards ceremony was pretty good. My firm did not win any design awards but one of our principals received an award, the Fay Jones Gold Medal, it’s the highest award for an Architect in Arkansas. Basically it’s a lifetime achievement award for Architects in the state.
After the awards ceremony a huge group of us headed out to a bar or two in Hot Springs. Long story short it was a long night and an early morning. Another post about the morning to come.
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