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Embodying Values Through Practice
2023 Biennial AIA State Conference
September 22 and 23, 2023
EVENT PROGRAM
Conference Schedule
Saturday, September 23 at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center
11:45am – 12:45 pm AIA New Mexico Membership Meeting
1:00 pm - 2:00pm Sustainability Trends in New Mexico Practice presented by the AIA New Mexico Committee on the Environment
2:15 pm -3:15pm AI in Architecture and Design presented by University of Arizona Senior Lecturer and AIA Arizona President
Damon Leverett, AIA, NCARB, NOMA
3:30 – 4:30 pm Presentation by AIA National President
Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm Dinner catered by Cowgirl Santa Fe
6:30 - 8:00pm Feature Presentation by MASS Design Group
Peralta / Lamy Rooms
Coronado / DeVargas Rooms
Coronado / DeVargas Rooms
Coronado / DeVargas Rooms
Peralta / Lamy Rooms
Coronado / DeVargas Rooms
AIA New Mexico Membership Meeting
Agenda
1. Meeting Requirements
1.1 Call to Order
1.2 Determination of Quorum
1.3 Approval of Agenda
1.4 Antitrust Statement - It is the practice of the American Institute of Architects and its members to comply strictly with all laws, including federal and state antitrust laws that apply to AIA operations and activities. Accordingly, this meeting will be conducted in full compliance with those laws.
2. Treasurer’s Report
3. Presidents Report
3.1 The state of the chapter
3.2 elevAte Design + Honor Awards, April 2024 at location TBD
3.3 Legislative Update + Look Ahead
4. Other Business
4.1 Strategic Plan Review
4.2 Update on 2023 Election of Board Officers
5. Adjournment
Sustainability Trends in New Mexico Practice
presented by the AIA New Mexico Committee on the Environment
Panel Members
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Laura Stamatkin, RA
Laura Stamatkin is a Project Architect for Design Plus and has been a core member of numerous projects across New Mexico. She has experience in renovations, tenant improvements, and ground-up construction. Laura possesses technical expertise in innovative design solutions, sustainable design practices, building life-safety and fire codes, children’s ADA regulations, and universal accessibility standards. She implements all of these elements during the construction management phase to deliver a successful project.


Faye Rogers, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Faye has been a staff architect for Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) since 2016. Prior to joining APS, she worked for architecture and planning firms in the private sector. She enjoys using design and problem solving to positively impact students, teachers, and the larger community. Faye received a Master of Architecture from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture, with a minor in environmental science, from the University of Virginia.

Theresa Lujan, CXA & Victoriano Ceballos, CEM, CxA
Theresa Lujan is a lifelong NM resident and Project Manager with EEA Consulting Engineers. In 2009, she graduated with honors from CNM with an Associate's Degree in Architectural/Engineering Drafting Technology. After nearly 10 years of industry experience as a Mechanical & Plumbing Drafter and BIM Modeler, as well as an estimator for a general contractor and subcontractor, she returned to the classroom to earn her Bachelor of Science in Construction Management from the UNM School of Engineering.
While attending college and employed with Vibrantcy, an MEP firm in Albuquerque with a focus on sustainability, she broadened her experience in photovoltaic (PV) system drafting and design, building energy modeling, and MEP systems commissioning. With more and more projects now requiring sustainable design and construction practices, Theresa’s industry experience, education, and interest in a sustainable environment for future generations led her to pursue a career in commissioning, an engineering process used to test the operation of a building’s MEP & PV systems resulting in optimized building performance.
In her current role at EEA, Theresa is a Commissioning Agent and Energy Manager in Training. She leads and manages all Commissioning and Energy Auditing projects for EEA's Albuquerque office.
Mr. Ceballos has over nine years of experience in energy efficiency, working on improving building performance and occupant comfort. Proficient in building energy auditing, energy modeling, and new/existing building commissioning. He started as an inspector and Building Tune-Up engineer for local utility (PNM); performed hundreds of lighting audits and installation inspections for Direct Install and Large Business Retrofit programs. He managed retro-commissioning and AC tune-up program for two years; reviewing and processing applications, energy savings verification, conducting field inspections, controls commissioning, and contractor training. As a Building Energy Modeler, he has been involved in over 30 LEED certification applications, with many reaching their certification target. As a Commissioning Agent, he has been involved in dozens of projects that required New Building Commissioning, some as part of LEED or Green Globes certifications, and has experience performing energy audits for Existing Building Commissioning (retro-commissioning). He is a certified Commissioning Authority (CxA) and a Certified Energy Manager (CEM).
Huang Banh, AIA Assoc., LEED AP BD+C
Huang is Verdacity’s Director of Design Services. His expertise in green building project management, green criteria for rating systems, and developing strategies for meeting high-performance benchmarks provides a solid foundation for clients working towards sustainability goals. Huang is passionate about design education and environmental advocacy. He is a former instructor at the University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico Community college and currently serves as co-chair of the AIA Albuquerque’s Committee on the Environment and AIA New Mexico’s Christopher Kelly Leadership Development Program.

Moderator
AI in Architecture and Design
Damon Leverett AIA, NCARB, NOMA is an architect and artist working in the southwest region of the United States. He is senior lecturer at the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture and lecturer in the School of Information at the University of Arizona. A graduate of Lawrence Technological University, he served as adjunct instructor for its School of Architecture and Design from 1990 to 2001 and as visiting lecturer of architectural design at the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign. He also holds a Master of Fine Arts in Web Design and New Media from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Damon is in active support of the profession as a director of the National Architectural Accrediting Board and as the 2022 president-elect of the American Institute of Architecture Arizona.
This presentation will focus on the basics of machine learning, leading AI modalities in design, and prompt development for designers. Architects will understand the workflow of design imagery using AI, and how to get started with image-to-text tools.
In the field of architecture and design, the ethical considerations surrounding the use of AI as a tool will be explored. Specifically, the focus will be on how individuals can vary in their approach to leveraging its capabilities while taking potential obstacles into consideration.
How AI will affect architects and the architecture profession will be discussed with parallels drawn toward other postindustrial advancements and technology shifts. The presentation will include AI architecture examples and their corresponding prompts, and a discussion on image development limitations.
AIA National President's Address
Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA, is a senior project manager/senior associate at Perkins&Will. As an architect, her portfolio includes work for a wide range of clients. Her most recent projects focus on K-12 and higher education learning environments; she is drawn to them for their ability to change students’ lives and prepare them for the future. Emily has demonstrated continued and significant service to AIA, including leading the national equity, diversity, and inclusion conversation and serving as the 2014 president of the Boston Society of Architects/AIA. As a former chair of AIA’s Equity in Architecture Commission, she was instrumental in creating the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice. She will use her national platform to advance equity and climate action and effect widespread positive change in the industry.
Keynote Lecture
Presented by MASS Design Group
Join leaders from MASS Design Group as they share the work of their diverse teams across the globe - from Santa Fe to Rwanda. Learn about the fundamental pillars that help build a transformative practice. MASS is a
mission-driven organization founded to support partners in delivering innovative capital projects that fundamentally improve lives and act as enablers of shared prosperity. This work focuses on leveraging
architecture, as well as inclusive design and construction processes, to create better health, justice, equity, and long-term sustainability. Since 2008, MASS has supported partners in over 21 countries and have served over 500,000 people through their multi-disciplinary work. MASS commits to long term partnerships with mission-aligned organizations to advance justice and human dignity within schools, housing, health, education, agriculture, and the public realm in the communities they serve.
Approaching architecture as a purpose-built process requires a simple but fundamental shift: to think not about what buildings are, but what they do and who they impact. It requires a mindset shift from one of scarcity to one of abundance. As designers, we have a social and environmental responsibility to leverage the design and building process to seek abundance, to heal and nourish our communities, and imagine a more just and more equitable future where everyone flourishes. This talk will serve as a call-to-action for all in attendance, and recommend actionable approaches for purpose-built design that can be adopted at all scales of practice.
MASS Design Group was founded in 2008 on the understanding that architecture’s influence reaches beyond individual buildings. MASS (Model of Architecture Serving Society) believes that architecture has a critical role to play in supporting communities to confront history, shape new narratives, collectively heal and project new possibilities for the future.
Presenters

Joseph Kunkel, Principal & Director of Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab
Joseph Kunkel, Principal & Director of Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab: Joseph, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, is the Director of MASS's Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab. As a
community designer and educator, his work explores how architecture, planning, and construction can be leveraged to positively impact the built and unbuilt environments within Indian Country. In 2019, Joseph was
awarded an Obama Fellowship for his work with Indigenous communities. He also received a 2018 Rauschenberg SEED grant from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and a 2019 Creative Capital Award. Most recently, Joseph was awarded the 2021 inaugural Elaine Johnson Coates Award, by the University of Maryland’s Alumni Association.

Shawn Evans, AIA, APT-RP, Principal
Shawn joined MASS Design Group as a Principal in 2022 through
MASS’s strategic partnership with AOS Architects. He was the Principal-in-Charge of the Santa Fe office of AOS Architects as well as the firm’s Director of Preservation and Cultural Projects. Shawn has taught architectural design at Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of New Mexico. Nationally recognized as a leader in historic preservation, he has spoken at numerous regional and national preservation, museum, and tribal conferences. His work at Ohkay Owingeh and Eastern State Penitentiary was exhibited during the 2018 Venice Biennale. Shawn studied architecture at Texas A&M University and holds a Master of
Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

Patricia Gruits, AIA, LEED AP, Co-Executive Director and Senior Principal
Architect and researcher, Patricia joined MASS in 2013 and, working in both Boston and Kigali, has led design teams on critically acclaimed
projects, including the African Leadership University, the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, the Mubuga Primary School, Maternity Waiting Village in Malawi, the headquarters for Children’s Services of Roxbury, and numerous affordable housing projects, for older adults and vulnerable populations, with 2Life Communities and North Shore CDCs. Her contributions to The Role of Architecture in Fighting COVID-19 on
Designing Senior Housing for Safe Interaction has been featured by Leading Age, the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.
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