AIA Chicago Foundation
ABOUT
The AIA Chicago Foundation is an independent not-for-profit, charitable organization dedicated to supporting activities that benefit the Chicago-area architecture community.
The Foundation provides grants, travel scholarships and awards for activities that promote the profession and the larger architecture and design community.
With its own Board of Directors, the AIA Chicago Foundation operates separately from AIA Chicago.
Contributions made to the AIA Chicago Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization, are fully tax deductible.
aia chicago foundation diversity scholarships
As a part of AIA Chicago’s anniversary celebration, the AIA Chicago Foundation has launched the AIA Chicago Foundation Diversity Scholarship Initiative: An opportunity to attract and retain diverse, talented young professionals in Chicago, recognizing the value of new and unique voices to the profession. One $10,000 graduate scholarship and one $10,000 undergraduate scholarship will be awarded each year. The first recipients will be awarded in 2019. The scholarship program stipulates:
- Each $10,000 scholarship will be awarded over two years, $5000 per year, per recipient
- Eligible students include those enrolling in or enrolled at the Illinois Institute of Technology, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, or the University of Illinois at Chicago
- Each awardee will also receive guidance and ongoing mentorship from AIA Chicago throughout their educational tenure
Learn more about the scholarship here
ARCHITECTS IN SCHOOLS
Architects in Schools is an initiative, managed through AIA Chicago's Community Interface Committee, that focuses on bringing architecture professionals into classrooms to introduce middle school students to the field of architecture and to discuss the broader theme of architecture as a changemaker. Volunteers engage the students in critically analyzing their neighborhood for opportunities to create positive change and utilizing architecture as a means for implementing solutions. Funded, in part, by a grant from the Society of Architectural Historians. Currently we have programs in Cameron Elementary (Humbolt Park), Chavez Multicultural Academic Academy (Back of the Yards), George M. Pullman Elementary (Pullman), Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy (Brighton Park), Sidney Sawyer Elementary School (Gage Park), Whittier Dual Language Academy (Pilsen).
Learn more and sign up here
chicago architecture + design College and career day
October 3, 2020; location TBA
Chicago Architecture + Design College Day is a free event open to high school and college students, parents, teachers, and counselors interested in learning more about careers in:
architecture
interior design
construction management
landscape architecture
More than 60 colleges and universities will be present from all over the United States. Representatives will be available to provide information and answer questions on their respective degree programs.
For more information and to register visit chicagocareerday.org. Schools interested in recieving information about participating should contact Allison Garwood Freedland: afreedland@aiachicago.org.
DUBIN FAMILY YOUNG ARCHITECT AWARD
AIA Chicago’s Young Architect Award was established in 1983 to recognize excellence in ability and exceptional contributions by Chicago area architects between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-nine. In 2003, the Young Architect Award was renamed the Dubin Family Young Architect Award, due to the generosity of the late M. David Dubin, FAIA, his family and friends, who have endowed the honor with a cash prize. See a list of previous winners here.
Submissions open in the summer 2020. 2020 guidelines.
Congratulations to the 2019 Dubin Family Young Architect Award winner, Jennifer Park, AIA
MARTIN ROCHE TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIP
Established in 1926 by architect Martin Roche, and administered by the AIA Chicago Foundation, the Martin Roche Travel Scholarship gives a student the opportunity to independently study architecture abroad.
Past awards have been granted to students who studied a diverse group of subjects, such as the transformation of brownfield sites in Germany; the relationship between design and crime in Medellin, Colombia; and modernist religious architecture in Italy. Read more about previous winners here.
A grant of $6000 is available to students enrolled in a NAAB accredited architecture program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Illinois Institute of Technology or the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
SUBMISSONS OPEN JANUARY 24, 2020. MORE INFORMATION. - Regrettably, the travel scholarship is cancelled for 2020.
2019 Roche Scholar, Andrea Hunt (SAIC) and AIA Chicago Foundation board president, Gina Paradowicz, AIA.
CHICAGO STUDENT AWARD IN ARCHITECTURE
The Chicago Award in Architecture is an annual juried competition of student projects.
Recognition is given, at the jury's discretion, for First, Second, and Third Place and for Honorable Mentions. The project awarded First Place is honored with the the Benn-Johnck Award, in the amount of $500, Second Place is awarded $300, and Third Place is award $200.
Image from 1st Place Benn-Johnck Award winner. Fields + Fabrics, a proposal from Bryan Samuel and Shweta Krishnan of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
2020 winners
1st Place Benn-Johnck Award winner, Fields + Fabrics, a proposal from Bryan Samuel and Shweta Krishnan of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2nd Place winner, Intentional Community for Riverwest: Patterns for Resiliency, a proposal from Robin King of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
3rd Place winner, పరము (TRUST), a proposal from Jansen Van Grinsven of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
DESIGN COMPETITIONS
The AIA Chicago Foundation organizes and oversees design competitions intended to engage the design community and general public.
The View Chicago program arose from an idea sparked by the 2009 Burnham Plan Centennial — to create a tribute to Daniel Burnham’s visionary spirit.
A Burnham Memorial Committee was formed to discuss the lasting legacy and impact of the plan. The AIA Chicago Foundation soon launched a design competition, sponsored by Richard H. Driehaus.
The winning design, submitted by Chicago architect David Woodhouse of Woodhouse Tinucci Architects, is now being implemented.
Stay up-to-date via View Chicago.
PUBLICATION SUPPORT
The AIA Chicago Foundation has supported the publication of important published resources, including the AIA Guide to Chicago, and an upcoming monograph of the career and work of John Vinci, FAIA, recipient of the 2014 AIA Chicago Lifetime Achievement Award.
AIA Chicago Foundation BOARD
President
Fred Brandstrader, AIA
Vice President
Chris-Annemarie Spencer, AIA
Treasurer
Gracia Maria Shiffrin, FAIA
Secretary
Christopher Chwedyk, AIA
Trustees
Gina (JinHwa) Paradowicz, AIA
Walter D. Street III, AIA, NOMA
Danielle J. Tillman, AIA, NOMA
P.K. VanderBeke, AIA
Grant Uhlir, FAIA
Public Trustees
Lisa DiChiera
Roberta Feldman, PhD
Mary K. Woolever
Ex-officio members
Jessica Figenholtz, AIA, First Vice President/President-elect, AIA Chicago
Zurich Esposito, Hon. AIA, Executive Vice President, AIA Chicago
All contributions to the AIA Chicago Foundation are fully tax-deductible.
If you would like to know more about how you can help or to pledge your support, please contact AIA Chicago Executive Vice President Zurich Esposito or call (312) 670-7770.
