It is that time of the year again where we clean our architectural shelves for a great cause!

Early this week, LiA member Leonardo Gonzalez Sangri, volunteered as guest speaker at the Latino Cultural Center, as part of Big Thought’s Summer Camp. A short panel discussion was held regarding careers and work in the Arts, the importance of creativity, education and the possibilities practicing in the field.
Leo, originally from Mexico City, attended the Architecture School at the Savannah College of Art and Design, has a Masters in Architecture and is currently a senior designer at HKS. After the panel, Leo led an Architecture activity with the students, approximately 80 middle school kids that benefited from a friendly competition using Keva planks, to build the tallest and most creative structure possible, while learning the importance of working as a team. Participating schools included Lang, Hill and Long Middle Schools.

“… in an ever connected world and with new technologies, the lines between visual artists, sculptors, photographers and architects are blurred and the opportunities for collaboration, learning experiences and growth seem limitless”
- Leo Gonzalez

LiA’s first happy hour of the year was a huge success! It showed the true diversity and open-source nature of the committee, with the presence not only of Architects, but also representatives from consultant disciplines, such as Interior Design, Structural, Civil, MEP and Landscape firms amongst others. With over 60 attendees, this event hosted by HDR Architecture was very well received. We cannot thank enough all the people that made this possible.

A raffle was held as part of the evening to collect funds for the Dallas Center for Architecture Minority Scholarship. LiA was able to get a good head start with $210! Don’t forget, we will be having an auction to be able to fund the scholarship on September 14th, as part of the reception for our annual traveling exhibit ENLACES, at the Dallas Center for Architecture.

A group of LiA volunteers led by Gina Sierra is participating as instructors in the 2012 Thriving Minds Summer Youth Camp presented by the Latino Cultural Center: Ordinary Heroes of Dallas - A Multimedia Exploration of our Community. On Wednesday June 20th. the group took a tour to the Trinity River Audubon Center, where they were able to explore sketching abilities with the help of Laura Quintero and Benjamin Lule Hurtado.


“Being part of this event, along with LiA and the LCC, was truly a circulation of apprenticeship and application in trying to help these particular middle school students into understanding a building and a space and also some aspects of Design. Rewarding as it was, this event also allowed a sense that younger minds and talents are being unattended, by not providing more programs like these abundantly through a public education curriculum.” Benjamin Lule Hurtado

Save the date: This Saturday June 30th at 7pm at the Latino Cultural Center for the final performance!

Be a Part of ENLACES, LiA's annual Traveling Exhibition Celebrating the Work of Latino Architects and Designers in Dallas!

The AIA Dallas Latinos in Architecture is pleased to announce ENLACES, an opportunity to showcase your built and un built design work to the Dallas Community at large! Individuals will have the opportunity to display their work at the Dallas Center for Architecture, the Latino Cultural Center and at the Texas Architect Convention in Austin.

In Celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, ENLACES has the purpose of bringing awareness and providing recognition to our Latino Architects and Designers in Dallas. This is the platform where their work can be recognized by their peers for their innovative and emerging practices that continue to shape our community.
For more information and to register click here. Exhibition eligibility and guidelines can be found here. 

Come join us for a very special networking summer happy hour, sponsored by HDR!

Among others, we will have a raffle to raise funds benefitting our Dallas Center for Architecture Minority Scholarship, and we will kick off our 2012 From an Architect's Bookshelf Program!

Thursday, June 28th, 6-8 pm
at the offices of HDR:
17111 Preston Rd, Ste 150
Dallas, Texas 75248
Please RSVP to liacommittee@gmail.com or to Lorena.Toffer@corgan.com

Please see attach map for parking and directions.

 

LiA Co-founders Yesenia Blandon, Assoc. AIA and Jimmy Castellanos, AIA, were joined by LiA 2012 Co-chairs Lorena Toffer, AIA and Celi Sims, Assoc. AIA, to represent LiA and receive the 2012 AIA National Diversity Recognition Award on Saturday May 19th at the 2012 AIA National Convention, in Washington D.C. Sharing this moment with LiA were Jan Blackmon, FAIA – AIA Dallas Executive Director, Greg Brown – DCFA Programs Director, LiA member David Treviño – City of Dallas. Here are some of the highlights from the panel discussion in which Yesenia and Lorena took part:

CONNECTING DIVERSITY AND DESIGN
Started by crafting a series of programs to somehow remedy a list of “reality red flags”, this was what would eventually lead us into becoming a committee of the AIA. Facts like a growing Hispanic population in our communities, along with current voids in leadership, lack of connectivity/network between Latino architects in Dallas, the current interest by Architecture firms in reorienting their practices and expanding to the Latin American Market. LiA decided to focus on Professional Networking, Community Involvement and Educational Outreach.

LiA as an official committee of AIA Dallas was not a foregone conclusion. It took collaboration, determination and a positive attitude from Jimmy and Yesenia, as well as a few true visionaries and leaders of our chapter. We cannot thank enough to Perkins + Will for supporting the initial idea and hosting our first event, to Corgan Associates, for their support and mentorship for LiA to become part of AIA Dallas.

IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY
In only two years LiA’s impact has been tremendous: membership has grown to four times from first event, able to reach 340 potential AIA members; AIA Austin followed our lead and became our first sister committee; “From an Architect’s Bookshelf” collected over 1,200 books, at more than 20 A/E firms and helped establish architectural libraries at six high schools; jointly with the Dallas Architecture Forum and the Mexican Consulate, Architect Alberto Kalach from Mexico City gave a lecture on his work, at an event open to the design community and the public; jointly with Dallas CityDesign Studio, LiA documented over 330 homes in a West Dallas neighborhood facing future development adjacent to the Trinity River; LiA’s annual Exhibit and Reception, has celebrated the work of 31 Latino Architects and Designers, and has become one of the most sought after events of the year and provides for great exposure of our members work.

WORDS OF WISDOM
Have a Plan – Write your ideas down, develop goals, objectives, and an overall mission of your initiative. You may want to start with just one program, perhaps organize your own book drive, similar to what AIA San Diego did.
Find a Mentor – Once you have a better idea of “the plan”, reach out for support. You will be gladly surprised at the individuals already around you that have an open mind and willingness to help you carry out your idea.
Reach out to your Community. Forget about boundaries for a little bit. You will also be surprised at how many organizations, groups or neighborhoods could really use our help.

NEXT STEPS FOR LiA
Lorena and Celi, co-chairs of LiA this year, recognize the tremendous energy LiA already has. They have been by focusing on LiA’s core programs, where they see the value of partnerships, the value of being an open source group and the value of reaching out to the community. They share two overarching goals: Collaboration and Continuous Growth. Earlier this year, LiA collaborated with Big Thought, at a Family Day event at the Latino Cultural Center, where LiA engaged 300 kids and their parents in fun design activities to commemorate the recent opening of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, the latest work of Santiago Calatrava in Dallas. This partnership with Big Thought has helped open other doors for LiA, such as LiA participation in a series of Architecture workshops at the 2012 Thriving Minds Summer Youth Camp, by the Latino Cultural Center; the LCC will be hosting LiA’s annual exhibit this year at their galleries, with a reception during the holiday season. This will bring added exposure to our members, our committee, and AIA Dallas; a new initiative being spearheaded by Celi, is LiA’s first Scholarship Fund, to directly impact the life of a student with the dream of a career in Architecture; DISD Leadership group has approached LiA to take on a new program, the Architecture Club. This program will allow for a selected group of middle school kids to be part of an after school series of tours and talks related to Architecture and the City of Dallas.

LiA emphasized that while figures are important and they help measure our progress towards or beyond an initial goal, some of the most important reasons of why LiA started are beyond measure: fellowship amongst colleagues, being the inspiration and role models for our youth, motivating them to stay in school – to go to College, becoming a go-to resource within our community by providing our knowledge and expertise, to expand the role of an Architect, and bring this noble profession back to its community. LiA started and exists so that you can get involved, so that you can make a difference.

This past Monday, AIA Dallas hosted a very special reception at the Dallas Center for Architecture to celebrate such a unique recognition, with LiA being the first committee of this kind in the nation, it is helping demonstrate the value of collaboration, persistence, and the visionary leadership of the Dallas chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

The 2012 Thriving Minds Summer Youth Camp presented by the Latino Cultural Center (LCC) is an opportunity for middle school students to learn about themselves and the community through the arts.


Among classes in photography, dance, and research and performance, special workshops in architecture will be led by the AIA Dallas Latinos in Architecture Committee, which will contribute to the curriculum. All of these classes will culminate in a multimedia performance which will be open to the public.

This is a free program! More information about the camp AND the application can be found here:

http://lccsummerheroes.wordpress.com/