Recognizing the large and growing number of architects and related professionals engaged in healthcare design in the Phoenix area, the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH) was initiated in AIA Phoenix Metro in May 2024. Still a new initiative, more members are welcome as we further build AAH in 2025.
Serving the needs of this community specializing in healthcare architecture, the AAH is off to a solid beginning here with the purpose of supporting each other and celebrating the work. Clients that have spoken at our events have challenged us to see ourselves as healthcare providers and view our work from that lens and embrace that responsibility. Our work serves the most vulnerable of our communities at times of life’s greatest joys and despair.
As healthcare architecture professionals, we design environments that serve people from birth through childhood, working adulthood, and transition. The cycles of life happen within the walls of our projects, enabling medical providers to work at their best. That is a humble and sacred responsibility.
Many of us see our work as community building in service of the greater good.
As we kicked off this committee, our AAH community identified what they would love to see over the next three years. Many want to be the epicenter of leadership in healthcare architecture with national impact.
From those goals and desires, we distilled down to the following three pillars:
- Learning
- Community + Networking
- Growing the Next Generation
Learning leads us to becoming better designers, in part, by gaining the perspective of healthcare providers and clients to deepen our knowledge and bring our best work forward.
Community and networking includes advocacy at the state and local levels, creating quality events that have impact locally and potentially national recognition, and hosting tours of healthcare facilities. AAH is a home for all AIA Phoenix Metro members with an interest in healthcare design.
Growing the next generation focuses on mentorship and collaborating with Arizona State University.
This culminated in the development of the following mission statement:
AIA Phoenix Metro Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH) is a community of healthcare design professionals committed to fostering knowledge through learning and networking, as well as supporting the growth of its next generation.
The AAH will be holding quarterly events in 2025, each of which will be focused on one of the three pillars. All members are welcome to all AAH events, as well as quarterly open AAH meetings for networking and idea sharing.
The next AAH meeting will be Thursday, January 30 at the AIA Arizona office.
And the next AAH event will be a panel discussion focused on the specialized design needs for rural healthcare, on Wednesday, February 19.
Join us at our next meeting or event!
Warmly,
Tara Brown, AIA, NOMA
AIA Phoenix Metro AAH Chair