|  Welcome
to the New AIArchitect
We hope you enjoy the new look of the Institute’s
electronic
news service and find it more interesting and easier to use
as well.
Designed to complement the AIA’s new Web site,
www.aia.org,
the new AIArchitect This Week
will bring you fresher news, incorporate more interactive
features,
and offer new services, such as exclusive access to stories
from
the Kiplinger Letter (available
the week of February 10). Simply click on the
“go” button
to read a story. Check it out and
let us know what you think via e-mail.
Changes in Fenestration Standards Open
to Public Review
Performance classification for commercial-grade windows may
change
soon as a consortium of U.S. and Canadian groups complete
their
recommendations for a new version of the North American
Fenestration
Specifications. The public review period for the NAFS-2
(aka, 101/I.S.
2/A440-XX) ends February 28, and the AIA is accepting
comments from
members. 
 President
Bush Sees Advantages for Small Businesses in His Tax Plan
President Bush reasserted his economic proposal January 28
in his
state of the union address, insisting that cutting taxes
will spur
investment, promote growth, boost investor confidence, and
jump
start the American economy. However, the state of the states
may
more directly affect architects.
 AIA
Columbus Discovers a New World of
Award-Winning Designs
Five high-profile buildings top list of
selected projects
A children’s hospital, major-league sports stadium,
passive-solar
spec office building, historically renovated office
building, and
former warehouse-now-science-technology center make up the
winning
projects of the AIA Columbus annual design competition
honoring
outstanding architecture designed by Ohio architects.
 PROJECT
OF NOTE
Healing Garden Soothes Small Patients’
Souls
Perfecting the trend of creating a healing garden, defined
as “an antidote to unavoidable stress in the
health-care environment,”
Mitchell Mackey Associates infused delights to all the
senses into
their design of the Olson Family Garden at St. Louis
Children’s
Hospital in their hometown. The 7,500-square-foot space
provides
a respite from hospital-white sterility through warm color
and a
wide variety of texture and form. The architects connected
outdoors
and interior via a curved screen wall that offers insiders
“moon
windows” within which to sit and contemplate the
garden and
the city beyond. (Photo © Dixie Carillo.)
 An
Honor Carved in Stone
Committing the honor to posterity, Kevin Conley from
Architectural
Stone Services, Baltimore, carves the 2003 Firm Award
recipient,
Miller | Hull, into the Firm-Award wall at the AIA national
component
headquarters building in Washington, D.C. Presentation of
the award
will be one of the highlights of the Accent on Architecture
Gala
March 8, cosponsored by the American Architectural
Foundation and
the AIA at the National Building Museum. The gala is the
capstone
event at the Grassroots
Leadership and Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.,
March
5–8. (Photo by Douglas E. Gordon, Hon. AIA.)
Need to catch up on recent editions of AIArchitect
This Week?
January
6 | January
13 | January
20 | January
27
See the complete table of contents for AIArchitect.
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