The American Institute of Architects (AIA), or rather AIA CEO Robert Ivy, spurred a wave of outrage and criticism by professionals, architecture firms, and others last week with the publication of a post-election statement in support of President-Elect Donald Trump’s planned multi-billion-dollar infrastructure program.Although Ivy offered an initial apology shortly after the criticism began, followed by a video apology for his “tone-deaf” remarks earlier this week (see below), many in the industry continue to express their fundamental disgust with the statement, with some members, like Maryland-based architect Fritz Read, resigning in protest, as the Architects Newspaper reports.The controversy was particularly fuelled by the AIA memo’s lack of criticism for the President-Elect’s “hateful and racist” tactics (as an editorial on the website Archinect put it), sexist slurs, and denial of climate change during his campaign, leaving many of the organization’s members feeling grossly misrepresented.“The timing of the AIA statement—without even allowing for the definition of ‘infrastructure’ to be determined is quite opportunistic—though just earlier this evening, the first ‘infrastructure’ has been the development of the Keystone Pipeline—a huge contributor to global warming,” Maryam Eskandari of MIIM Designs wrote in an open letter posted on Twitter on Sunday (see #NotMyAIA for more). “Furthermore, … the AIA aligning i[t]self so quickly with the president-elect [is] clearly a sign of a public declaration directly aimed at women, Muslims, Hispanics, LGBT community, people with disabilities and other groups,” Eskandari continued.Architect and critic Michael Sorkin voiced similar concerns in a statement made available on Archinect among other platforms, commenting that the AIA pledge was an “embarrassment to those of us who feel that the Trump presidency represents a clear and present danger to many values that are fundamental to both our nation and our profession.” See AIA CEO Robert Ivy’s and AIA 2016 President Russell Davidson’s video apology here:
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