Appalachian SBA Students Place 7th in the Nation

A 14,000 sq ft House in Blowing Rock?

We Met the President!

AIAS National President Je'Nen Chastain graced us with her presence one of the last meetings of our first semester here at Appalachian. She enlightened us on the many benefits AIAS offers schools and students and on her own trip through design and the position she holds now. One of her goals as President is to provide more opportunities for chapters to get involved on regional and local levels, specifically with regional and local AIA chapters, which would provide us with more learning outlets and relationship and career opportunities.
Je'Nen also said she was impressed with us as a new chapter; comparatively we have come very far and done very well in such a short period and she looks forward to watching us grow and hearing more from us on the regional and national levels.
In light of this, we have a great potential here at Appalachian State with our diverse programs and beginning AIAS group, as well as a regional AIA Chapter President (Professor Chad Everhart). Lets get the fun started, get the word out, and get known!

UNC CHARLOTTE TRIP

On October 23 we attended UNC Charlotte's School of Architecture Open House for graduate school information!

WE'RE OFFICIAL!

Who's finally an officially recognized chapter of AIAS? WE ARE! After having elected officers, a minimum of 10 paid members, and tons of paper work, President Lawrence Lippard received a phone call on November 3, 2009 from the AIAS office saying we can now carry on as an official chapter. Moving on with 21 paid members, our next step is to become a certified club at App State, which will allow us to have an initial budget. The officers have already met, hashed out a constitution, and sent it in to be reviewed. We have also decided on an official meeting time (more info at the bottom) based on a "best time for you" poll sent out to all the members. We've been brainstorming meeting ideas as well, such as potential guests, promotional activities, and architect of the week studies.

• Officers Kevin, John, Tyler, Anna, Emily, Miles, and Lawrence working diligently to agree on a constitution that best suits our organization

• We would love for anyone interested to come out to a meeting, and new members are always welcome, it's not too late! Meetings are held every Thursday at 6 pm in room 167 of Katherine Harper Hall. For more information on membership please see Lawrence Lippard or Tyler Stein!

OUR FIRST GUEST

Please take a moment to recognize this moment in Appalachian State history as we, the newly formed chapter of AIAS, hosted our first guest, Professor Chad Everhart, on October 22, 2009! Everhart graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Environmental

Design in Architecture from NC State and went on to get his Master's degree in Architecture from NC State as well. He moved to Boone and began teaching at App in 2006, since then teaching such courses as Residential Architecture, Commercial Building Design, and the Senior Architecture Studio classes. Everhart also has his own well known firm here in Boone, is a chapter president of the AIA, had his own residence that he re-designed and re-built featured in Dwell Magazine, and designed a disaster relief house being built and studied by graduate students on the App State campus.

We were very privileged to have such a guest straight from our very own campus! At the meeting, Everhart gave a presentation geared towards preparing us for graduate school. One piece of advice he gave, through his wisdom, was to take time to work and gain experience before devoting your life to grad school. Although the information was slightly daunting ($500 a month for supplies, models being stomped on by professors, etc...) we're fortunate to have insight from someone who has invested time and effort into our futures.

• Professor Chad Everhart giving his presentation to the App State AIAS on October 22, 2009

Here's a look at Professor Chad Everhart's teaching and firm profiles:

• Chad Everhart, Dept of Technology
• Chad Everhart, Architect

Everhart's article in Dwell:

• Farmhouse Redux

ASU E3 House, designed for disaster relief situations:

• ASU E3 House

GETTING STARTED

On September 15, 2009 we had our first interest meeting! Fliers were hung up through out the technology department inviting any student from any major with an interest in architecture to join us. Appalachian State does not have a certified Architecture program, but we do, however, host a distinguished Building Science program that offers degree concentrations in both Architectural Technology and Design and Construction Management (named one of the top 10 in the country by News Weekly). Our turn out was about 20 students from the architecture and interior design majors, which is about what we expected. Most of the architecture students are already members of the construction management organization known as Student Builder's Association (SBA). The Technology Department has grown impressively in the last couple years, and as a part of that we wanted to have an organization geared specifically toward architecture for the growing number of architecture students to have an outlet and for others interested in architecture as a possible graduate program or degree-overlapping studies. During the first two meetings we talked about what was involved in becoming an official club both through AIAS and Appalachian State, such as officer positions, constitutions, budget/dues, and possible future trips and activities. On September 29, at our third meeting, we held elections for the positions of President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Event Coordinator, Historian, and Freedom By Design Leader and it is my pleasure to recognize the following members holding these positions:

Lawrence Lippard (Senior)-President and club initiator

Kevin Diamond (Junior)-Vice President

Anna Leonard (Senior)-Secretary

Tyler Stein (Senior)-Treasurer

John Arnaud (Junior)-Event Coordinator

Emily Ryba (Senior)-Historian

Miles Smith (Junior)-Freedom By Design Leader