The AIANY Committee on Residential Architecture, formerly known as the Custom Residential Architects Network, concluded its first five years with an anniversary party at DOM Interiors, and had reason to celebrate!

In those first five years, and with the participation of AIA Brooklyn CRAN and CRAN affiliated organizations from coast to coast, the Committee on Residential Architecture has been documenting their diverse, wide-ranging and innovative programs, which included CRAN Res Arch Now, Res Arch Lab Part One and Part Two, CRAN House Tours, CRAN Storytelling Workshop, and The Howl: An Open Mic and Film Forum. At the anniversary celebration, AIANY Assistant Director of Member Services, Joseph Corbin, commended this emerging knowledge committee for the programs, films, house tours, social gatherings and Center for Architecture installations that it has produced during those pre-COVID, COVID, and post-COVID years.

The committee’s founding Co-chairs Namita Modi and Dennis Wedlick covered and continue to cover a wide range of topics relevant to professional development in all sectors of the design industry. Exceptional examples include: Work/Family Crisis, AI, AR, Mycelium, and The Next Generation Green House, and Shakers Architecture: Did Diversity Drive Innovation?. All the programming produced by the Committee on Residential Architecture is made possible thanks to all the participating multi-discipline architecture, planning, and engineering firms that understand the unique experiences shared when designing the places people call home. Past partners in programming have included Aetlier Ten, AiF, AW—Arch, BarlisWedlick Architects, Guerin Glass, Messana O’ Roke, Mad + Fab, MQ Architecture, NADAA, Paik Architecture, Peter Rose and Partners, Slade Architecture, Silman, Studio Sielern, SHOP, Terrapin Bright Green, Tod Williams Billie Tsien, Viñoly, and Zimmerman Workshop Architecture.

What sets the history, designs, and uses of privately held homes apart from all other architectural typologies is the influence that the personal narrative has on its practical results, architectural inventions, and cultural evolution. This is why storytelling has been and continues to be at the heart of all the presentations, gathering, and tours that the Committee on Residential Architecture organizes. Continually seeking out opportunities to bring the narrative to the forefront of architectural discussions, this knowledge committee invites all to join their mission. To learn how, please contact AIANY at membership@aiany.org. To learn what programs are coming up, please explore calendar.aiany.org.

The Center for Architecture and AIANY Committee on Residential Architecture are continually offering diverse learning experiences and inclusive opportunities for people from all professions and walks of life to gather to share ideas and find empowerment. With five years under their belt, all those who made the first AIANY knowledge committee focused on residential architecture possible now look forward to what will be possible in the years ahead.