60 Years of Design Excellence: AIA Birmingham 2025 a Year in Review
Farewell 2025,
What a year celebrating 60 years of AIA Birmingham! You each have made a difference in the community through design, volunteering, serving on design reviews, nonprofit boards, committees, pro-bono work for good causes and disaster relief. I have learned architects are always serving the community and giving back, architecture (YOU) is such a caring profession.
I celebrated 20 years working with you this year and have witnessed your acts of kindness and giving. One of the most meaningful projects was the Compassion Project for the World Games, a place for our street friends to relocate and have wrap-around services in one place. It was a successful case study for the City of Birmingham. And led the Homes for All program to select Faith Chapel; the Compassion Project site as one of the locations for fifteen sleeping shelters, bathhouses, and community space. It took 4 years, but it happened. I also learned architects are patient. I can learn from you!
Take the tour at the January 22nd chapter meeting site tour at the Faith Chapel location 8:15 a.m. and see the long-term impact the Compassion Project had on the city. One of the many impacts architects have made in the community. I know some of you are working on affordable housing, ADA projects, food banks, community gardens, clean water, disaster relief here and abroad, shelters, mentoring, and so many other impactful programs. This is why I have enjoyed the last twenty years, I get to work with such good-hearted people. It never feels like work.
Let’s carry all the good things into 2026 and leave the negative in 2025!! I am excited about 2026 and what good things you will do. 😊
Peace & AIA Love
Rhea Williams, Hon. ASLA, AIA BHM Executive Director
Join us at the Homes For All Meeting January 22nd | 1.5 HSW (Pending)
$5 Members | $10 Non-Members
Click Here to Register!
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2025 marked a milestone year as AIA Birmingham celebrated 60 Years of Design and Excellence. Throughout this anniversary year, our chapter continued to grow through meaningful programs, engaging events, and strong collaboration across our community. The commitment of our members and the support of our Partners and Sponsors made this a truly impactful year. As we look ahead, the momentum built in 2025 sets the foundation for an exciting 2026.
Thank you to our 2025 Partners & Sponsors!
We are grateful for the continued support of our Partners and Sponsors. AIA Birmingham’s success would not be possible without each of you. Your commitment has helped elevate design and strengthen our community for 60 years.
Ready to get involved next year? Check out the 2026 sponsor brochure here!
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Mark Your Calendars!
Check out all the upcoming events for 2026 here!
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Recap of 2025 Events:
This year AIA Birmingham offered 21 HSW opportunities to our members.
Click each link to view photo galleries from our events.
2025 Executive Planning Meeting
Chapter Meeting: Bar Design at Continental Drift with Mixologist Eric Bennett
Emerging Professionals Sip & Snap
Chapter Meeting: Colored Masonic Temple Tour
Platinum + Holcombe Doors & Windows Pop-Up Event
Coffee with Executive Committee and Past Presidents
Disaster Assistance (April Chapter Meeting)
Young Professionals A/E/C Spring Mixer
Platinum + SESCO Pop-Up Event
Proactive Education
Platinum + AMA Lighting Pop-Up Event
Emerging Professionals BPA Firm Tour
4th Annual Healthcare Symposium
Newly Licensed Architects Ceremony
Residential Architecture Symposium
Platinum + MBA Pop-Up Event
Fright Night With Bell & McCoy Lighting & Controls
Member & Sponsor Appreciation Trade Show
Young Professionals A/E/C Fall Mixer
2025 Holiday Party
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We want to hear from you!
Thank you for a wonderful year with AIA Birmingham! 2025 has been a great one, and we’d love to hear your feedback.
Please take a few minutes to complete our short survey and help us continue tailoring AIA Birmingham to better serve our members’ needs.
Take the survey here:
https://bit.ly/AIABHAM2025
Cheers to our Newly Licensed Architects!!!
We are proud to recognize our newly licensed members on this significant milestone. Their dedication and achievement reflect the high standards of the profession, and AIA Birmingham is honored to celebrate their success.
- Charles Abram, Birchfield Penuel Architects
- Charles Allen, Williams Blackstock Architect
- Connor Ansley, Ward Scott Morris
- Dylan Braziel, Creature, LLC
- Asian Burgin, Williams Blackstock Architect
- Daniel Burton, Seay Seay & Litchfield
- Samuel Carpenter, Ward Scott Morris
- Adam Grigsby, Barrett | Kent Studio
- Addie Harchelroad, Chambless King Architects
- Fouad Khalil, Moody LLC.
- AC Priest, Williams Blackstock Architects
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Meet our 2026 President!
To the AIA Birmingham Community,
2025 was a year of important milestones and anniversaries, offering our chapter opportunities to both celebrate and reflect. AIA Birmingham marked its sixtieth birthday this year, and over the summer we celebrated our esteemed Executive Director Rhea Williams and her 20 years steering this chapter. At that gathering, I remarked to another attendee what an extraordinary group of people were gathered in that space together, and how grateful I was to be a part this profession, and more specifically, AIA Birmingham. The assemblage of talent, passion, creativity, civic responsibility, congeniality, and thoughtfulness was an impressive one. I am lucky enough to have literally grown up in this community: my father, Gray Plosser, was AIA Birmingham’s president in 1976, when I was in kindergarten. I am so honored to follow his footsteps, as well as those of the inspirational past presidents who have preceded me here.
Ilya Azaroff, AIA’s 2026 President, noted in 2024 that he sees the role of the AIA “as a catalyst, propelling each member forward, providing the resources crucial for success.” And, after this year of looking back on our history and celebrating the accomplishments of our members, it seems an opportune time to turn our attention to what comes next, and how our organization can continue to hold value for our members.
Understanding what resources would be valuable for our members here in Birmingham is an important undertaking. As professionals, we are trained to address the needs of our clients and their communities. As a professional organization, our offerings should address the needs of all our members. Whether you are a sole practitioner working on single family residential projects or a member of a large firm tackling institutional work, your professional needs and practice challenges guide our programming here at AIA Birmingham. If you have not filled out your member survey, please take a few minutes to do so: we need to hear from you.
As we move into 2026, our focus will be strengthening how AIA Birmingham supports architects in Birmingham and beyond: through education, advocacy and connection. That means creating relevantand compelling programming across practice types and career stages, advocating for our profession on a national and local level, and providing opportunities for our members to connect with our Birmingham community and with each other.
And we’ll continue what we know is working: providing quality continuing education, recognition of design excellence through awards programs, engaging with our larger community through chapter meetings and lecture series, and hosting social gatherings that help us know each other as colleagues and friends. But we’re also looking for the gaps and opportunities to do better.
I would be remiss if I didn’t thank our AIA sponsors. Not only do they provide financial support for our AIA initiatives and engagement, they provide us with the tools we need to help our clients realize their projects. They are invaluable partners in our work, and I encourage all of you to thank them for their generous investment in our profession.
Finally, on a personal note, I want to add that one of the absolute joys of the last six years of serving on the AIA Birmingham board has been sitting at the table once a month with committed professionals who care about architecture and this community. And while I have learned so much from them and certainly struggled through difficult issues and challenges, one of the best things about that time has been the laughter that we have shared. I don’t know if other chapters enjoy the same camaraderie as this group, but I have found such joy in gathering with my colleagues during our time together at AIA Birmingham. My hope for this year is that you will find similar opportunities to connect in both meaningful and joyful ways in 2026.
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Partnered Efforts
We loved partnering with the Alabama Center for Architecture (ACFA) this year on events that inspired students and supported the next generation of architects.
dreamARCHITECTURE
Our annual elementary school outreach program, dreamARCHITECTURE, is an art competition that inspires K-5 students to think about their built environment. Each year, the contest features a new theme, inviting children to unleash their creativity by drawing their dream house, mall, park, and more.
Thank you to our members and sponsors who supported dreamARCHITECTURE: Draw Your Dream Zoo this year!
- ArchitectureWorks
- KPFF Consulting Engineers
- B-Group
- Birchfield Penuel Architects
- Schoel Engineering
- KPS Group
- MBA Engineers Inc.
- Studio C Architecture
- Thompson Architecture
- David Brush Landscape Architect
Get involved with the dreamARCHITECTURE 2026 Program: Draw Your Dream Hotel!
Sponsorships available now!
Scholarship Luncheon
The Alabama Center for Architecture is committed to supporting the future of the profession by awarding scholarships to talented students across Alabama. Since the program began, ACFA has awarded more than $135,000 in scholarships to help aspiring architects pursue their education. This year alone, ACFA awarded $16,000 in scholarship funding to 10 Alabama students.
Each year, ACFA hosts its annual Scholarship Luncheon, a meaningful gathering that recognizes and celebrates outstanding architecture students. The event brings together supporters from across the state to honor the next generation of designers whose creativity and passion will shape the built environment.
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