Integrating interior design in the AIA community.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and, as 2007 President of the AIA New York Chapter (AIANY), I have the opportunity to help foster programs and events that relate to my own personal interests and passions.

As an interior designer focusing on the workplace, for many years I did not participate in the programs and initiatives at the AIA, or in any discussions about how architects can help improve the public realm.

Like many others, September 11, 2001 changed all of that, bringing many architects into a public dialog that transcended notions of practice or specialties, and that united us all in our belief in the power of design to bring us better communities and cities. It is this activist notion of the role of architects and the AIA that has motivated me and my peers here at the Center for Architecture.

As an architect who became an interior designer, I would like to bring that same activism to address some of the issues and problems specifically relating to its practice.

Interior design has evolved into a complex and nuanced profession, particularly in the area of workplace design.

It is a profession very much like urban design in that it confronts the field, rather than the object, requiring the consensus of many stakeholders.

Circulation patterns, use and adjacencies, sociologies of hierarchy and networks, sustainability all are thrown in to the mix required for design excellence.

And yet, for a large portion of both the architectural profession and the public, there is still a misconception of the profession of interior design as "decoration".

This attitude translates into an unintentional lack of concern for interior design excellence at every level. The workplace is where we spend most of our waking hours, and it is where productivity is of primary importance.

Every year, millions of square feet of office space are built or renovated for workers with little regard for improving the way they work together, or for best practices in terms of creating humane, sustainable, and functional environments.

There are endemic problems in the designs of these spaces:

Outdated and overly complex space planning standards for workstations and offices; lack of provision for flexibility to respond to change without disruption or major cost; high workstation panels and many individual offices that can deter teamwork; lack of daylight for those in workstations, due to perimeter offices and high panels; procurement methods for design services based on low bid or turnkey packages; product procurement based on single, outmoded or inappropriate sources, limiting creativity of solution, competitive bidding, and aesthetic considerations; program development based on status quo, limiting creative thinking about functional needs or reevaluation of methods of working.

Over the next year, I hope to work with the 2007 Chapter Board and with the Center for Architecture Foundation to raise awareness about many of these issues, while firmly maintaining the focus of the Chapter on its mission respecting design excellence, advocacy and professional practice.

JOAN BLUMENFIELD, PRESIDENT, AIA NEW YORK CHAPTER