AIA Shanghai Elections 2021

Jason HOLLAND, AIA
Founding Partner/Architect, Studio Doho

The future of architecture is bigger than architecture.

The future of architecture will be a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary endeavor that involves diverse teams of creatives cooperating to elevate design thinking and solve complex problems. Collaborations between unlikely counterparts will be commonplace, including: marketing, advertising, futurists, statisticians, data scientists, tech, fashion, artists, graphics designers and, of course, architects.

It is apparent that AIA National recognizes this future from their selection of keynote speakers at the annual Conference on Architecture, which has recently included: Ryan Coolgler (co-writer and director of the film Black Panther), Reshma Saujani (founder of Girls Who Code) and, scheduled for 2020, Virgil Abloh (artistic director for Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection).

These non-traditional speakers are, of course, balanced with traditional and innovatative architects, which will always have a key role in the industry, yet these speakers were selected specifically for their dynamic perspective and approach to design thinking in diverse industries. These conversations are the future and it is critical that architects approach this reality as an open dialogue with other industry innovators and leaders.

I am excited to be considered as a candidate for the AIA Shanghai 2021 VP/2022 President and, if elected, would work to grow our chapter with this future in mind. Creating an energized membership base that is rooted in traditional architecture, but fueled by innovative thinking would be my key objective. This would be achieved through regularly leveraging speakers that are working in non-traditional architecture industries to provide fresh design perspective at our lectures and events, while still balancing dialogue with architecture industry leaders and Emerging Professionals.

During my five years as a business owner in China and 2.5 years of active involvement with AIA Shanghai, I have learned the needed processes to be an effective leader for our chapter and how to continue the work of previous presidents, while offering my own knowledge and insights. In addition, collaborations with AIA IR and AIA National have allowed me to establish a network of key AIA colleagues to assist with moving our chapter forward.

My role of VP to the 2021 would consist of active involvement to assist the current President. My own agenda for 2022 would include a mix of idealistic and operational goals as listed below:

• Host multi-disciplinary lectures and talks that engage a broader network of the Shanghai design community, including artist, graphic designers, futurists, marketing and advertising companies, UI/UX

• Leverage our rich membership base to allow opportunities and platforms for member sharing

• Focus on the growing the momentum behind the Emerging Professionals platform

• Build an active social and professional network with monthly meet-ups

• Grow our overall member numbers to 250-300 people

• Continue work on a strategic long term vision for China

• Develop a long term plan for Sponsorship that meets the current needs of our chapter and sponsors

• Collaborate and develop relationships with key complimentary groups (ULI, ASSC, RIBA, etc)

• Consider long term planning for the current cash funds in the AIA Shanghai bank account

• Establish systems and processes to optimize our volunteer’s time

What better way for an architect to understand and influence the future than to design for it?

Jason Holland, AIA

Carlos Gomez, AIA international associate
Architecture Design Director, Gensler Beijing & Shanghai, China

As you all know, this year, due to the pandemic that plagues the world, we have received the largest blast, both socially and professionally speaking, since our creation as a chapter of AIA. Over the months we have been able to see how the difficulties increased progressively, making it almost impossible to operate the chapter in the same terms as in previous years. In turn, the aggressive irruption, both in social networks and in the online events, by other professional organizations (ULI and RIBA), make a regeneration and restart of the chapter totally necessary, to give the impetus that the new generations demand.

This candidacy gives us the opportunity for the chapter’s refoundation. We must once again be a benchmark for the profession, both in Shanghai and Beijing, and in China in general; for both foreign and local architects. We must establish collaborative links with local professional organizations and thus increase our radius of public visibility. We should not simply be an event organizing entity. We must be a professional, collaborative and exemplary organization, leading the service that our members expect and deserve, but also being a professional benchmark for those who have not joined us yet, playing a key role in a profession that is constantly transforming and evolving. We must not fall into the immobility typical of a traditional organization that still weighs too much and prevents us from being dynamic and malleable.

We must establish, during the first term of the mandate, an internal debate, giving voice to each and every one of our members, to ask ourselves what do we want to be as a professional entity, where do we want to go and what kind of services do we want to offer to our members . This is an essential part to be able to increase the number of affiliates, and thus have a greater capacity of representation in our profession.

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics should be the goal to show other cities and professional entities our ability to bring together and organize a chapter located in different cities. Including Beijing as part of a two-headed chapter is essential to the survival of both Shanghai and Beijing itself. One cannot exist without the other, and as such, our professional organization must show that duality.

With an eye on that horizon of events, and public acts in 2022, I want to express my intention to increase the collaboration with local public entities, with the aim of having a presence in the possible architectural debates that take place around them.

The inclusion of Shanghai as part of that debate in Beijing should be something natural and necessary, not as a foray, but as an added value. The existence of a greater number of international architecture studios and corporations in Shanghai, compared to the greater number of local architecture studios and corporations in Beijing, make this dialogue and inclusion necessary. Both cities must be one voice in our profession in this country.

The increase in the online activity due to the pandemic makes a double duality necessary more than ever: a digital / analog duality, and a duality in the physical location of the chapter, expanding the borders of the chapter, encompassing both Shanghai and Beijing at the same level, and strengthening ties of collaboration with the South (Shenzhen + Guangzhou) and the Center of the country (Chengdu + Chongqing). Our presence in the social networks must be expanded and reinforced, recording on video all our face-to-face events, and creating a new digital channel of presence in the cloud, in order to further disseminate our efforts to reach the maximum number of attendees.

Cooperation with entities directly related to the world of architecture in the field of education, must be, inescapably, a pillar of our new foundation. We must establish close connections, both with local architecture universities, as well as with student organizations belonging to universities abroad, which are a great focal point for organizing interesting events and master lectures, attracting the great figures of international architecture, cooperating and organizing events together, for the benefit of the entire architectural community linked to AIA in China.

Finally, we must not forget an essential part of our chapter. The one that really makes our operation possible. Sponsors are the spearhead of our financing, and there is a long and complex way to go to reach a situation of economic stability and efficiency in working together with these companies. We must not forget at any time that the companies that grant us their funds do so because they want to get something in return, they are not charitable organizations, but that these funds are part of their marketing strategy to have more visibility in the market. Therefore, on the one hand, we must reconsider the sponsorship options, offering different benefit packages to companies that open up to continue collaborating with us, and on the other, we must open new paths towards different types of future sponsors, such as, for example , large real estate companies that operate in the country, which are an essential part of the profession of which we are all part.

Thank you very much to you all for reading this text, in which I have tried to establish the different ideas and intentions for a better future in our community.

Carlos Gomez

Kathy Zhu SCHLEISS, Assoc. aia
General Manager, Gerber Architekten, China

As a board member and member of executive committee of Shanghai Chapter since 2015, I had witnessed the growth of the chapter over the past presidential periods. I had worked with the previous chapter presidents by serving as Chairs of outreach (during Greg Yager and Chris Chan’s duration), woman in architecture (during Silas Chiow’s duration), and membership committees (during Jason Briscoe’s duration).

If I’m elected to the the VP of 2021, I will continuously assist and support Hugh Whitmore in his duration 2021, and get prepared for the my presidential period in 2022. I will continuously dedicate to the chapter that I’m to strengthen the chapter as the professional platform to share, to learn, and to grow; and to serve the members, to strengthen connections with the local design community and universities to upscale interaction and cooperations;

As a woman professional, I will be fully support woman in architecture in alignment with woman leadership; ASSC, and other associations, to embrace diversities and grow together;

As a native mandarin speaker, I will support and encourage Chinese members to anticipate, involve and contribute to the chapter committees and activities.

I will continuously support membership and design award, in alignment with universities for student membership, to strengthen cultural exchange, career growth, and mentorship.

I’m looking forward to it.

Kathy Zhu Schleiss

JOHNNY CHEN, aia

As an architect registered both in China and USA, my 14 years professional experience from both Chinese and American Company has enriched my career life in many different dimensions. This unique background and experience will make me as the link between the local chapter and AIA National.

For the past 14 years I have done various projects from conceptual design to construction drawings on Commercial, Residential, Academic, Hotel and Industrial buildings.  I am senior PM and VP in HKS shanghai office, I always finished project on time with a good quality and the budget under control.

It will be a great honor if I can help this Chapter to keep running efficiently, and to assist the Chapter in handling financial matters.

MAxine Hu, aia

I have been actively attending AIA events both in U.S. and China, and I am decently familiar with the event focuses and organizations. I also have plenty of experience of organizing company activities (including annual holiday parties), arranging workload meetings, planning project budgets and managing communications between multiple parties. Besides that, I’m a very outgoing person and love to work in a team environment. I believe I will be a great fit for the position, and I’m very excited to be able to work with the AIA Shanghai Chapter.