Happy New Year AIA Minnesota Community!
by Phillip Koski, AIA, AIA Minnesota President
As your new AIA Minnesota president, it is both thrilling and daunting to address you all as we stand on the threshold of another year. Over the last twelve months I’ve taken every opportunity to attend committee meetings, attend programs, and meet as many of you as I could to prepare for another consequential year for the organization. And like many of my predecessors, how I approach this temporary gig leading AIA Minnesota is shaped by my own past experiences, predilections and life pursuits. So, I may as well come out right away and let you all know… I am a gardener. Kind of a serious one, too.
A few years ago, I entered the University of Minnesota Extension volunteer master gardener program. Twelve full days of coursework provided the foundational knowledge needed to serve the program’s primary mission: to deliver researched horticultural advice to the public. While this injection of expert knowledge gave me greater confidence in my gardening decisions, it did not change this underlying maxim: regardless of how many plans you make and Latin names you memorize, plants are always going to do what THEY want to do.
Yet, gardeners are not bystanders. They do need to plan, and they do need to put in the work. But the mechanism for success does not involve brute force or coercion. Gardens are managed and complex ecosystems, involving multiple dynamic and reciprocating relationships; between the soil and its microbes, the plants and the critters that pollinate and/or eat them, the cycles of the sun, the wind, the rain, and so on. Really good gardeners strive to influence this dynamic system incrementally, drawing on a combination of soft skills to guide desired outcomes. Patience. Consistency. Adaptation. Nurturing.
Looking out to 2026, I see an advancing landscape already dotted with significant milestones as long-planned initiatives are set to take root. Within the first two months, we will be rolling out a new website, with simplified navigation and improved access to information for all members. By this spring, we will start implementing top priority goals of the NextGen Initiative, centering conversations and actions across the organization in support of our emerging professionals. And by this summer, our lease at the Crown Roller Mill will terminate and we will move into a new office space located across the falls at Riverplace, chosen as a convenient location for members and architecture students alike. Overlooking a bustling atrium and coffee shop, the new location comes with abundant amenities and options for member gatherings of all sizes.
What I also see ahead is a turbulent political, social, and economic climate that remains predictably unpredictable. Last winter we had no idea how proposed tariffs would impact construction costs and we watch guardedly as the new import customs regime ripples through the economy. Architecture school graduation rates that were once steady are trending downward along with demographic shifts and sudden declines in international student enrollment. Many federal grants and tax credits for sustainability efforts that once helped development projects pencil out are now indefinitely paused or on the executive order chopping block.
Patience. It would be a mistake, in my opinion, to rush immediately to combat each new threat. We need to take the time to fully understand the problem, to determine what is ours to do at the state level, what we can do collaboratively, and to put our energy and resources to best effect.
Consistency. AIA Minnesota undertakes literally hundreds of activities each year through over twenty committees, subcommittees, juries, and knowledge communities advocating and providing benefits and services to our members. To disrupt this valuable ongoing work every time there is a new ominous headline would be reactive and short-sighted.
Adaptation. Sometimes the right response to a new challenge is neither an about-face change in policy, nor starting up a new program from scratch. Very often, smaller changes can provide the course correction needed with minimal disruption. Evolution, not revolution.
Nurturing. This institution has been thriving for over 13 decades. Time is our greatest asset. Time to invest in our future, engaging and supporting our emerging professionals. Time to invest in students, collaborating with educators to envision what the architect of tomorrow will need to be. We have the time to achieve our goals – but only if we start by preparing the soil now.
Working in community gardens with other master gardener volunteers the last few years has reinforced two truisms for me – many hands make light work, and we are way smarter and more effective when we tackle problems together. We are all caretakers of this organization. I invite you to join me in this task: to nurture what we have here together from the individual place where you are, with the skills and knowledge you already have.
Together we can prosper, no matter how indifferent or threatening the environment around us. Together, we can make a thousand flowers bloom.
