Inflection Point

by Anna Pravinata, AIA, NOMA, AIA Minnesota President

This is my last Matrix column – yes, it has been a year! 
2021 seems to be a busy year for the architecture profession with Architecture Billings Index (ABI) remaining strong in the last few months. There are lots of job openings in our profession that are hard to fill, and there are lots of architects leaving the profession the profession as part of the Great Resignation, which increases the challenge of unfilled positions in many firms.
The pandemic has shaken up our view of what work means in our life, what kind of work is worth doing, and what kinds are not. Architects and designers who grind through long hours or are fed up with a culture of bullying are calling it quits to find their passions elsewhere. 
The architecture profession is definitely at an inflection point. How will we shape the future of our profession to remain relevant in an increasingly complex world?
As an organization, we are preparing ourselves for a changing future and will continue to make the profession relevant. In March, the Board of Directors refined our core values to be Integrity, Authenticity, Equity, and Collaboration. We also revised our strategic priorities to align more with 2021-2025 AIA Strategic Plan.  
In August and September, each of the board members checked in with 20-30 randomly selected AIA Minnesota members to see how they or their firms are doing and gathered their insights related to AIA Minnesota’s four strategic priorities. We are compiling the results, and they will inform our board retreat early next year.
The A’21 MN Conference on Architecture is one way to inspire our design thinking to go beyond designing buildings and be part of the conversations from racial equity, equity in the built-environment, to climate change. These conversations make our profession relevant and valuable to a larger constituency, and we hope you will join us for the remaining conference days.
I thank the AIA MN staff team for supporting me and all of the members who reached out and offered words of encouragement to me throughout this year. Serving as your president has allowed me to grow in my personal journey as a leader and I thank all of you for the opportunity. 

View the November 2021 edition of Matrix.