AIA Rochester is going remote

As of November 1, 2024, AIA Rochester will no longer have a brick and mortar presence in the city. We will join the 94% of local chapters who operate remotely.

The decision to close our office doors was made after careful deliberation by our Board of Directors, who are financial stewards of the chapter.  Loss of income from AIA National’s sale of contract documents and subsequent loss of profit sharing resulted in a significant budget hit beginning several years ago. While we still receive dues sharing income from National on a membership per capita formula, that amount is much less than before. Next year there will be additional funding cuts as our parent organization works to close a large deficit. We are asked to make up this gap by scrutinizing our budget and increasing non-dues revenue. After thoughtful consideration we have concluded that we can operate without an office and reallocate those funds.

Thanks to responsible Boards under the guidance of longtime former Executive Director Linda Hewitt, AIA Rochester has not been in nor do we anticipate a budget crisis. We are acting to strengthen our chapter by using our resources to the best of our ability. For example, the money realized by the office closure can be used instead to invest in programming for our members. A nontangible benefit is the opportunity for AIA Rochester to become more visible and accessible to our members as we hope to hold meetings and events back in the firms instead of in our own location. In this time of Teams and Zooms it is more important than ever to create and maintain our personal relationships and presence in the architectural community.

We are grateful for the opportunity to work within The Landmark Society of Western New York’s historic Warner Castle which is set in a beautiful park facing Mount Hope Cemetery. We enjoyed getting to know Landmark’s staff and will continue to share resources, knowledge, and to partner for events.  We are a notably active intermediate sized chapter and we will still provide education, networking, and professional development for our members while always promoting architecture to the greater Rochester area.