Pittsburgh Architecture Foundation

The Pittsburgh Architecture Foundation (PAF) focused on two main areas in 2022:

1. Strengthening the Next Generation: With the completion of its fifth cohort in May, the Leadership Institute (LI) graduated a total of 98 participants from 32 firms over five years.

Since 2016, the Pittsburgh Architecture Foundation has been teaching leadership skills to young and mid-career architects. In 2019 LI expanded to include participants from allied fields. In 202021 LI offered its first full scholarship to the program, funded by Syl Damianos, FAIA. In 2021-22 a second scholarship was offered, funded by Gwen Dakis, AIA.

The Foundation and Chapter together supported MAPS – Minority Architects of Pittsburgh Scholarship with a matching $500 donation to support the next generation of minority architects. The donation and matching challenge was announced at the MAPS gathering to award scholarships to the first five high school and college recipients, hosted at IKM in June 2022.

Mission: Our mission is to advance architects’ meaningful and collaborative involvement throughout the Pittsburgh region by fostering civic engagement and leadership, sustainability, and the well-being of our communities.

2. Public Outreach: AIA Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Architecture Foundation launched Pittsburgh Architecture Week this year, with a Mayoral Proclamation and ceremony in the Mayor’s Conference Room. We partnered with 14 local organizations to bring 16 architecture / built environment events to the public and attracted extensive media coverage.

The Foundation also supported Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh (RTP) with a $500 donation. RTP was started with the support of The Master Builders Association of Western Pennsylvania and the Greater Pennsylvania Regional Council of Carpenters to do rehabilitation projects for low-income homeowners in Allegheny County.