International Practice

Join Us

We are currently recruiting new members with some leadership positions still open! Active members meet every month on the third Wednesday at noon and we typically have one event per month. You can also join us as a subscribing member for the latest updates on our exciting upcoming events. Please reach out to us today for detailed information at aiasfipc@gmail.com.

About Us

The IPC is the hub for all international traffic in the realm of architecture, the International Practice Committee's mission is: "To provide the broad local architect community with easy access to comprehensive international practice expertise that best promotes excellence in global architectural practice."

The International Practice Committee of the AIASF stands in support of the minority communities in condemning systemic racism.

Meetings

Third Wednesday of the month, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (PST)

Leadership

Shuojin (Shawn) Yang
Chair

Alonso Toledo, Intl. Assoc. AIA
Co-Chair

Noushin Javadi, Assoc. AIA
Director of Communications

Active Member Roster

Bill Higgins, FAIA
Dan Hogman, AIA
Sahil Shah
Ashutosh Singhal

 
Mariana Barrios
Director of Research & Development

Manuel Torres
Director of Intl. PARK(ing) Day

Peter M. Mueller, AIA
Past chair

 

 
Maryam Miri, AIA
Editor-in-Chief

Fai Chong, AIA
Director of Public Relations

 

Ongoing/Upcoming Events

 

Past Events

 

Career Strategies for International Professionals
October 28, 2021 | AIASF Zoom

This panel discussion will focus on best practices for international professionals new to the US; opportunities and challenges for Design and Engineering firms when recruiting international talent; and best practices around career advancement (networking, community involvement, mentorship, membership in industry organization, and other tactics).

EVENT DETAILS VIEW RECORDING

 


International Architect Talk 2: International Competitions in Asia - Effective Strategies + Case Study
August 13, 2021 | AIASF Zoom

This talk will focus on business development strategies and project management best practices for firms interested in joining international design competitions in Asia. The speaker will share his expertise on identifying potential competition opportunities, forming teams, schedules, and deliverables. In addition, he will present a recent first-place master planning competition entry to illustrate how the strategies were successfully applied.

EVENT DETAILS VIEW RECORDING

 


International Architect Talk 1: Residential Architectural Practice in Iran
April 30, 2021 | AIASF Zoom

This event will be a moderated discussion regarding how residential architectural practice has evolved in Iran through the lens of culture, economy, and constraints. The discussion will extract lessons about broad urban topics, such as density, that could be applied in San Francisco and beyond.

EVENT DETAILS VIEW RECORDING

 

 


2021 AIASF International Waterfronts Symposium
February 18-19, 2021 | AIASF Zoom

This Symposium synthesizes a series of waterfronts panel discussions earlier in 2020 that explored specific international recommendations for future consideration within the context of current and developing regulatory and project delivery frameworks in San Francisco. The event brought speakers from local jurisdictions, owners, and developers together with designers, planners and waterfront visionaries to find ways to put innovation to work for San Francisco and share waterfront perspectives with the world.

EVENT DETAILS

 


International Waterfronts Panel 6: Oslo Opera House + San Francisco Waterfront Resilience
November 19, 2020 | AIASF Zoom

The speakers will discuss their experiences working on projects in Oregon City, Oslo, and San Francisco, with a focus on economic, ecological, and social resilience. These three city waterfronts share industrial pasts, but as they enter a new phase of life, they must address uncertain climate futures and changing urban interests.

EVENT DETAILS AIAU COURSE

 

 


Dedalo Minosse International Prize: A Collaboration of Architect + Client
November 12, 2020 | AIASF Zoom

Join us as we launch the eponymous virtual exhibition and discuss the Dedalo Minosse International Prize and the decades-long partnership between the American Institute of Architects/San Francisco (AIASF) and ALA Assoarchitetti. The global roster of presenters will explore its historical context, selection process, retrospective of past winners, the significance of the Dedalo Minosse International Prize and will include a special presentation of the Regione Veneto Special Prize and the Dedalo Minosse Under 40 Prize.

EVENT DETAILS

 


International Waterfronts Panel 5: Penang South Islands + India Basin
October 2, 2020 | AIASF Zoom

This session offers an exchange of ideas around very complex and multi-phased project typologies. We present this at a time when reduced Port activity, underutilized land and sea-level rise present unique development opportunities and challenges to San Francisco’s waterfronts. San Francisco is one of the world’s most well-known and storied global waterfront cities, but it now faces significant challenges in protecting its historic assets, improving resilience, activating and improving access along its diverse waterfront edge. International cities can offer lessons learned through their successful waterfront planning, design and development. This event aims to showcase some of these projects to the AIA community in San Francisco by featuring multidisciplinary teams from major waterfront developments.

EVENT DETAILS AIAU COURSE

 


International Waterfronts Panel 4: Vancouver, Canada + San Francisco Waterfront Edges
August 27, 2020 | AIASF Zoom

This session offers an exchange of ideas around very complex and multi-phased project typologies. We present this at a time when reduced Port activity, underutilized land and sea-level rise present unique development opportunities and challenges to San Francisco’s waterfronts. San Francisco is one of the world’s most well-known and storied global waterfront cities, but it now faces significant challenges in protecting its historic assets, improving resilience, activating and improving access along its diverse waterfront edge. International cities can offer lessons learned through their successful waterfront planning, design and development. This event aims to showcase some of these projects to the AIA community in San Francisco by featuring multidisciplinary teams from major waterfront developments.

EVENT DETAILS AIAU COURSE

 


International Waterfronts Panel 3: Marseille Vieux Port, France + The Exploratorium, San Francisco
July 31, 2020 | AIASF Zoom

This session offers an exchange of ideas around very complex and multi-phased project typologies. We present this at a time when reduced Port activity, underutilized land and sea-level rise present unique development opportunities and challenges to San Francisco’s waterfronts. San Francisco is one of the world’s most well-known and storied global waterfront cities, but it now faces significant challenges in protecting its historic assets, improving resilience, activating and improving access along its diverse waterfront edge. International cities can offer lessons learned through their successful waterfront planning, design and development. This event aims to showcase some of these projects to the AIA community in San Francisco by featuring multidisciplinary teams from major waterfront developments.

EVENT DETAILS AIAU COURSE

 


Government Solutions for Architecture / Design Firms Doing International Work
July 23, 2020 | AIASF Zoom

This presentation is targeted to any design professional service firms operating internationally in or from California with each agency having its own emphasis on different business resources relevant to international work.

EVENT DETAILS

 

 


International Waterfronts Panel 2: Ayia Napa Marina & Resort, Cyprus + Lustica Bay Marina Village, Montenegro
June 24, 2020 | AIASF Zoom

This session offers an exchange of ideas around very complex and multi-phased project typologies. We present this at a time when reduced Port activity, underutilized land and sea-level rise present unique development opportunities and challenges to San Francisco’s waterfronts. San Francisco is one of the world’s most well-known and storied global waterfront cities, but it now faces significant challenges in protecting its historic assets, improving resilience, activating and improving access along its diverse waterfront edge. International cities can offer lessons learned through their successful waterfront planning, design and development. This event aims to showcase some of these projects to the AIA community in San Francisco by featuring multidisciplinary teams from major waterfront developments.

AIAU COURSE

 


International Waterfronts Panel 1: Darling Harbor, Sydney + Pier 70
May 19, 2020 | AIASF Zoom

This session offers an exchange of ideas around very complex and multi-phased project typologies. We present this at a time when reduced Port activity, underutilized land and sea-level rise present unique development opportunities and challenges to San Francisco’s waterfronts. San Francisco is one of the world’s most well-known and storied global waterfront cities, but it now faces significant challenges in protecting its historic assets, improving resilience, activating and improving access along its diverse waterfront edge. International cities can offer lessons learned through their successful waterfront planning, design and development. This event aims to showcase some of these projects to the AIA community in San Francisco by featuring multidisciplinary teams from major waterfront developments.

AIAU COURSE

 

Social Media

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News

Press kits and updates on past and pending events:

A Side by Side Comparison between Pier 70 and Darling Harbor

A Retrospect of the First Waterfronts Panel Presentation Event on 2 Waterfront Revitalizations across the Pacific
Author: Shawn Yang | Editors: Mariana Barrios, Maryam Miri, Peter Mueller

On May 21, 2020, breaking through the difficulties introduced by COVID-19, the AIASF-International Practice Committee and AIASF Urban Design & Infrastructure Committee hosted the Waterfronts Panel Presentation through an online webinar on Pier 70 and Darling Harbor revitalizations, with Eri Suzuki and Guneet Anand from Sitelab, David Tickle and Jon Hazelwood from Hassell joining the panel. This webinar is the first event after the reboot of the International Practice Committee. It also serves as an introduction for the upcoming monthly Waterfronts Panel Presentation Program as well as other exciting future events.

During the event, the panelists presented Pier 70 and Darling Harbor projects side by side, with a focus on design strategies, delivery methods, and public engagement processes, which formed an interesting comparison between the two projects that are similar in site area and period of design. Despite being far apart, with Pier 70 located in San Francisco, California, and Darling Harbor located in Sydney, Australia, both projects embody advanced modern planning strategies, such as an emphasis on connectivity, grounding into context, and endeavor for activation and long-term success. In the meantime, the two projects are facing their own challenges posted by complicated site history and demanding future needs. They also went through quite different public engagement processes.

When the original panelists for an international Cyprus marina project were deferred to a second event this marked the start of a panel series and ongoing waterfront program described on the IPC website.

Research + Development

White papers, thesis concepts for future collaborative research and more:

Thesis concepts extracted from Waterfronts Panel #1 - Pier 70 and Darling Harbor

A detailed analysis of the First Waterfronts Panel Presentation Event on two Waterfront Revitalizations across the Pacific
Author: Shawn Yang | Editors: Mariana Barrios, Maryam Miri, Peter Mueller

On May 21, 2020, AIASF-International Practice Committee and AIASF Urban Design & Infrastructure Committee hosted the first Waterfronts Panel Presentation through an online webinar on Pier 70 and Darling Harbor revitalizations, with Eri Suzuki and Guneet Anand from Sitelab, David Tickle and Jon Hazelwood from Hassell joining the panel.

During the event, the panelists presented Pier 70 and Darling Harbor projects side by side, with a focus on design strategies, delivery methods, and public engagement processes, which formed an interesting comparison between the two projects that are similar in site area and period of design. Despite being far apart, with Pier 70 located in San Francisco, California, and Darling Harbor located in Sydney, Australia, both projects embody advanced modern planning strategies, such as an emphasis on connectivity, grounding into context, and endeavor for activation and long-term success. In the meantime, the two projects are facing their own challenges posted by complicated site history and demanding future needs. They also went through quite different public engagement processes. Let us discuss this in detail below:

  • Emphasis on connectivity
  • Grounding into context
  • Endeavor for activation and long-term success
  • Public Engagement Process

Through the comparison between Pier 70 and Darling Harbor, on one hand, we are incredibly happy to see that, as two significant recent waterfront developments, their planning schemes are both successful by implementing a long-term focus and a tremendous amount of attention to the human experience. On the other hand, the success of overseas projects such as Darling Harbor which went through much simpler and shorter public engagement process shows San Francisco another possibility, inspiring future design teams to actively guide relevant departments and local people towards a better balance between schedule time and outcome.

Although, as newly formed and soon to be formed urban area, it is too soon to tell whether Darling Harbor and Pier 70 are successful or not. We strongly believe that the thorough implementation of the spirit of science and optimism at the very beginning of both project’s life cycle will positively impact their future growth. All in all, aside from providing numerous design techniques, this presentation achieved the established goals of AIASF International Practice Committee by leading SF designers to reconsider some stereotypes and to affirm some effective directions. We are confident that the success of this first Waterfronts Panel presentation will form a solid foundation for a series of future events organized by the International Practice Committee.

As a catalyst for further research on Pier 70 and Darling Harbor, the Committee proposes an investigation of a thesis suggested by Darling Harbor: community participation process through engagement with local representatives saved time and money and gave the public a close enough proximation of what they need and want, especially when the project team is local who understood the site deeply. The Committee further proposes an antithesis suggested by Pier 70 that its extended and direct one on one public engagement process draws out much more comprehensive needs and desires of the community that will guide the design more accurately, which will be worth the cost from a long-term perspective.

Presenter Panel:

David Tickle
Principal / Sector Leader - Urban Design, Hassell

Working with the practice's global urban design team, David is responsible for ensuring HASSELL designs and delivers exceptional urban places. The team is committed to unlocking the full design, economic and social potential of our cities. David has experience leading a range of master planning and urban design projects.

Jon Hazelwood
Principal / Public Realm Sector Leader, Hassell

With 20 years’ experience, Jon is a Principal of HASSELL who joined the team in November 2006, following 12 years’ experience in private practice in both Australia and UK.
Jon is based in Sydney, following 4 years as Practice Leader for the UK Landscape studio. Jon is a design leader with considerable experience in the delivery of public realm projects of varying scales. His strength lies in his ability to take carriage of projects from broad scale strategic thinking to detailed resolution and on-site delivery. He has well developed skills in the building and mobilizing of multidisciplinary professional teams to deliver complex, high profile projects.

Eri Suzuki
Associate, Sitelab urban studio

With a notion that no site or community begins with tabula rasa, Eri takes a sensible approach to the collaborative and creative process of urban design: synthesizing the story of the place in improving the quality of public realm.

Eri originally came to urban design by the way of architecture and landscape architecture. Her previous professional experience varies in scale from civic and educational buildings, streets, parks, campuses to neighborhoods. Her works at McCann Adams Studio (Austin) and ROMA Design Group (San Francisco) focused on finding a new narrative for a site previously occupied by a single typology such as adaptive re-use of a deteriorated suburban mall to a community college campus in a mixed-use development (Highland Mall Redevelopment), infill mixed-use project for a former Austin airport site (Mueller Redevelopment) and improvements of public realm to the Santa Cruz Wharf.

Guneet Anand
Senior Associate, Sitelab urban studio

With a keen interest in contextual design, Guneet’s work reflects understanding the built environment as shaped by socio-cultural, political and economic processes. Her interest in studying diverse physical environments as manifestations of differing cultural and political forces led her to pursue work in the US. Guneet has previously worked at GSAPP (Columbia University), Frederic Schwartz Architects (NY) and MOAD (Chennai). Her work at MOAD on public realm design for transit infrastructure in Chennai was exhibited and published by Cooper-Hewitt in "Design with the Other 90%: Cities”. She has served as Teaching Associate at Columbia University, and visiting critic at NYIT, UDL and IIT (Madras).

Moderator:

Richard Mullane
Principal, Hassell

Richard regularly contributes to Hassell’s international work, playing key roles in award-winning projects in transport, education, and waterfronts – including the Resilient by Design challenge in San Francisco.
He is a strong believer in the power of architecture to combat emerging global challenges and prepare cities for the future, and he has an interest in China’s urbanization and resilience.
An insightful, articulate leader and a great facilitator for involving communities in the design process, he loves how combined, focused effort can unlock the greater potential of a place.

Readers are encouraged to present their development of these thesis for further posts by the International Practice Committee.

Programs

Waterfronts Program

Waterfronts Micro-Exhibit; images selected from the waterfronts programs. A collaboration with the Urban Design + Infrastructure Committee; curated by Dan Hogman:

Follow these links for more exhibits and map-based tours co-produced by the Urban Design + Infrastructure Committee and the International Practice Committee in collaboration with the Center for Architecture + Design:

2021 SF CA&D Architecture in the City Festival “Dogpatch neighborhood and waterfronts tour” map based virtual tour.

2022 Micro Tour for SF and International Waterfronts

Waterfronts Panel Series

Contact Us

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