Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to attend the AIA Conference on Architecture 2025 (AIA25) in Boston—an inspiring whirlwind of learning, connection, and celebration. From representing Lake Flato and cheering on our three project awards at the gala, to participating in our in-person AIA COTE Leadership Group meeting and co-chairing a full-day symposium within the main conference, the week was packed with meaningful moments. I even kicked things off with a special event the day before the official start—setting the tone for a truly unforgettable experience.
I will recap it all from my perspective here. Also, photos are in chronological order.
Photo: Lake Flato team at the AIA Awards Gala, where we received three project awards! <-- Also, click the link to check out our new website:).
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The conference was held at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC). AIA25’s themes of design innovation, resilient urbanism, and equity in the built environment found a natural home in Boston—a city steeped in architectural legacy yet actively pushing boundaries in sustainable and inclusive development.
13k architects gathered in one place three times for keynotes...
and an Expo Hall that expanded further than the eye could see (well, almost)...
Monday
The conference officially began on Wednesday, but I arrived Monday evening because I had two pre-conference events to attend on Tuesday.
Tuesday
The day before the official start of AIA25...
2025 Esri AEC Meetup
I attended the 2025 Esri AEC Meetup at Gillette Stadium. Lake Flato has an Urban Planning studio that uses ArcGIS, and we have also been testing the Esri integration into Autodesk Forma.
Fun fact: I will be presenting at Autodesk University later this year with Erica Bocian from Esri on the Forma integration!
Motif Reception
I made a quick pitstop at the Motif Reception. A new startup that is described as "a collaboration platform designed for the AEC industry."
TAP + COTE Symposium Speakers Dinner
We hosted a lovely dinner at Tuscan Kitchen Seaport for the speakers of our joint AIA Tap and COTE Symposium (this was the night before the symposium). What an amazing lineup of experts and thought leadership. We had so much fun, the restaurant staff had a hard time getting us to leave:)
Fun fact: this spark of this entire symposium started with a text message from Ryan Cameron, AIA TAP Chair at the time, asking is COTE was interested in joining forces for a daylong symposium!
Thanks so much to Emma Tucker, AIA Staffer, who organized the dinner and the symposium!
Wednesday
I co-chaired an all-day symposium that was embedded within the AIA Conference on Architecture, where people could add it to their schedule when registering.
For more on the sessions and speakers, please visit this previous post I wrote: AIA25 TAP + COTE Symposium - Advancing a Sustainable Future through Technology Innovation
A special thanks to Autodesk for supporting the speaker dinner and symposium (including attendee lunch)!
TAP + COTE Symposium
Cesar Escalante and I gave the opening remarks, representing TAP and COTE, at 9 am.
Corey Squire gave a great keynote, nicely dovetailing technology into design performance for a well-rounded presentation.
I moderated a panel titled Regulatory Compliance and Sustainable Building Certification Strategies, with the amazing panelists: Alejandra Menchaca, Jessica Zofchak, Kjell Anderson, Z Smith. We did not end up talking much about green building certifications, but the discussion around architects and engineers' agency in moving good design forward was off the charts! :)
Autodesk was giving Forma demo's during the breaks...
AIA Conference "Proper" Session
Here is the other session I had to leave the symposium for... I presented on Lake Flato's journey with Autodesk Forma. I presented with my colleague Miguel Elizardo and Liza Biba from the Autodesk Forma team.
TAP + COTE Symposium
Back to the symposium...
Closing remarks at 4:30 pm by the 2026 AIA TAP Chair, Vickie Patel.
Chaos Reception
Then, Miguel, Ryan Cameron, and I shared an Uber to the Chaos reception at their Boston office.
Ana Lyubenova was giving demos of their new product Envision (think Lumion competition with moving people and vehicles).
Green Commons Reception
After about an hour at the Chaos event, I headed over to Elkus Manfredi Architects, where the Green Commons sustainable design leaders had a meetup. Several of us gave a short presentation to the group... rapid fire, with a strick 5-minute timer. Thanks to Nadav Malin for organizing this and all the work he does for Green Commons (previously BuildingGreen).
Aïda Ayuk, sustainable design coordinator at EDR presented with Z Smith. Exciting to see the talent and passion coming up the ranks in the design performance lane!
Corey Squire again...
Jesse Walton from Mahlum...
Thursday
Surprisingly, each day had sessions starting at 7:30 am (this would be 4:30 am for the westcoasters)! I made it to a 7:30 am session Thursday, Friday, and Saturday... with one of them being one of my sessions (so I had to be there:)).
The first session was really good! It was titled Designing for the Future: Climate Risk, Legal Exposure, and a New Tool to Help Architects Lead.
Lake Flato recently published a white paper on designing for climate change, and using a resource like the one presented, which provides a report based on a specific address (a similar offering being First Street Foundation), can be highly impactful.
- You can read more about the Lake Flato research here: click here
Here is the handout provided in the session. Click the images to enlarge them, and point your camera at the QR code for more info on this service and to see an example report.
Keynote time...
Bryan C. Lee Jr. won the 2025 AIA Whitney M. Young Jr. Award.
LPA won the AIA 2025 Firm Award. I know a number of folks from LPA... I serve on the national AIA COTE LG with Ellen Mitchell and just presented at the conference with Keith Hempel, both pictures below:)
The keynote was on AI and presented by Allie K. Miller. She does not have any AEC industry experience, but the overall message was relevant and practical.
The end of the first keynote marked the opening of the massive Expo Hall...
In the afternoon, we had our COTE Open Forum. Each AIA Knowledge Community gets to host an Open Forum. Ours always starts with a share out of what we have done and are working on, and then we do small table-based breakout sessions.
Our fearless leader... AIA 2025 COTE LG Chair, Robin Puttock, addressing the audience!
A plug for a presentation that happened later in the Next Gen lounge on the Framework (with COTE originally created).
Two students presented on their COTE Top Ten Students award!
Our feature presenter was Barbra BatShalom with a great and sobering talk on the state of things, both in the world in general and related to materials:)
- By the way, Barbara and I were on a six-person team commissioned by the AIA a couple of years ago to write the AIA Climate Action Playbook.
Breakout table topics and discussion leaders...
Our three Building Reuse tables were consolidated into a single table, and we had some robust discussions. Led by me, Nakita Reed, and Z Smith.
I am saving the conference selfies for another post, but wanted to share this one with Autodesk EVP AEC Amy Bunszel, who sponsored and supported several aspects of the conference!
And finally, my Thursday session, Surviving & Thriving in the Design Data Desert, with:
- Keith Hempel, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, LPA Design Studios, President, Chief Design Officer
- Kevin Settlemyre, Moderator
- Vanessa Hostick, AIA, LEED AP EBOM, Fitwel, HOK, Sustainable Design Leader
AIA Climate Action by Design: Networking Reception
Illya Azaroff FAIA, 2026 AIA President-elect, addressed the audience...
AIA National Awards Gala
The national awards dinner is a fun event with a nice dinner and recognition of firms and projects. This year, Lake Flato won three project awards. We had 12 people at the conference, with representatives from each project team.
For more on the Lake Flato winning projects, check out this link:
The Lake Flato table...
Friday
Another early start, this time the 7:30 am session was one I delivered with Nakita Reed from Quinn Evans. Our session was titled Preservation, Adaptive Reuse, Design for Deconstruction for the Carbon Win!. It was amazing to hear the positive feedback, with one attendee even posting it as a highlight of her conference on LinkedIn!!!
Nakita and I were shocked at the large turnout for a 7:30 am session on a Friday morning...
COTE In-Person Meeting
And, last but not least... my final session titled AI: Architecture’s Climate Resilience Future (A 20-Year Hurricane Katrina Retrospective). I presented on two LF projects, our design for climate change paper, and generally on the advances in weather and catastrophe prediction/mitigation/response related to AI.
I presented with Hurricane Katrina experts:
- Amber Lombardo, AIA Memphis, Executive Director
- Mickey Howley, MFA, Woodville Main Street Association, director
Autodesk Reception at Autodesk Boston Office
Saturday
One last 7:30 am session I attended. All of my sessions and involvement are done at this point, and I can relax and be an attendee, although the conference is just hours away from concluding:)The AIA Materials Pledge folks had a nice turnout and gave a great presentation.
The last keynote presentation was by Dami Lee, an architect turned full-time storyteller. Of course, her message resonated with me since I, too, like to share the essence, talent, and value of the projects and people at Lake Flato:)
Saturday Lunch with San Antonio Friends
I had lunch with friends from San Antonio... including Miguel, AIA San Antonio Managing Director, Belinda Sanchez, Aline Yoldi, Stantec.
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