AIA Convention Expo

Architecture is history, so it's appropriate that David McCullough deliver the opening keynote address this week at the 2012 AIA National Convention in Washington, DC. The well-known historian and prize-winning author will examine the role of the architect through our nation's history. The speech should crystallize this year's convention theme that Design Connects.

From May 17-19, the AIA Convention provides opportunities for networking, continuing education through workshops and seminars, and a design expo with hundreds of exhibitors presenting new products. Historic local sites are always part of AIA program events, and this year's tours include visits to:

• Library of Congress
• U.S. Supreme Court
• Monticello
• Woodlawn
• Washington National Cathedral
• U.S. Capitol
• Arlington National Cemetery
• Union Station

On Saturday a special ceremony will honor many of the architects of 9/11 memorials. "Since September 11, it seems to me that never in our lifetime," McCullough has said, "has it been clearer that we have as a source of strength, a source of direction, a source of inspiration--our story....We have shown courage and determination, and skillful and inventive and courageous and committed responses to crisis before. We should draw on our story, we should draw on our history as we've never drawn before."

Learn more and register: AIA 2012 Convention

^{SOURCES: Keynote Presentations at AIA and David McCullough Interview at National Endowment for the Humanities [accessed May 3, 2012]. PHOTO: Historian David McCullough on November 14, 2007 in New York City. Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images for New York Historical Society, ©2007 Getty Images.}