That value could be expressed, tongue-in-cheek, by noting that nearly 20% of all apps developed and 30% of all apps downloaded are for gaming. Admittedly, I don’t know much about Candy Crush, but my Sudoku app gets launched more than it probably should. On the other hand, my twenty-minute morning Metro ride to the office was tailor-made for drafting this very editorial on my Notes app. So the lesson of apps is in their ultimate application, their utility is in driving the engine forward; much, in the same way that each of us drives the engine of progress forward -- through our action and ingenuity. To see true change, and regardless of technology, we simply need to apply ourselves. ■
ON AIA GRASSROOTS I was honored to be among thousands of architect leaders from across the country who had convened to advocate on behalf of their components, firms, communities and the profession at this year’s AIA Grassroots Leadership and Legislative Conference in Washington DC (March 19-21). As in my past two visits to Grassroots, the conference was as advertised -- an opportunity to have one’s voice heard and, for the many attendees who climbed the steps to Capitol Hill to meet with their congressional and House representatives, to influence the political process on behalf of the profession. This May issue of CONNECTION includes a debrief of the Grassroots experience by Ian Merker and Ben Kasdan, California’s Young Architect Regional Directors (YARDs) in their joint report Change Through Advocacy. Similarly, Jason Adler and Laura Ondrich share their dual perspectives on the Emerging Professionals Design Competition, the exhibition opening reception of which took place at AIA DC during Grassroots. ■
Wyatt Frantom AIA Wyatt is the 2013-2014 Communications Director of the Young Architects National Advisory Committee of the AIA, the Editorin-Chief of YAF CONNECTION and a Senior Architectural Designer and Associate with Gensler Los Angeles.
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MAY 2014
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