AIA Wyoming Spring Conference Building on the Past, Designing for the Future BY KATELYNN LARSEN, ASSOCIATE AIA, AND ELLEN MARTIN, ASSOCIATE AIA AIA Wyoming hosted its Spring Conference in Laramie at the Wildcatter Suites in the War Memorial Stadium on April 25-27. The theme of this conference was Palimpsest (noun, something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form), which aimed to analyze the transformation of Wyoming’s built environment and the evolution that has led to our current landscape. The conference kicked off Thursday evening with a welcome reception and tour of Bond’s Brewing Company, led by Jay and Malory Bond. The reception was well attended by our members and speakers and was a great opportunity to connect. Friday’s conference was hosted at the Wildcatter Suites in the War Memorial Stadium on the University of Wyoming campus. Despite the mostly overcast day, the windows allowed plenty of daylight into the space as well as a beautiful view of the mountains to the east and the football field to the west. AIA Wyoming President Dale Buckingham, AIA, welcomed everyone to the start of the conference. Casey Woster of SHPO (Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office) started the conference with her presentation on “Adaptive Reuse: Preserving Historic Integrity While Providing for Future Use.” She walked us through several projects to show that, when done with careful planning and thought, adaptive reuse can enhance the integrity of historic buildings. Lewis Matthew Miller, AIA, was the next to present with “BIM as Digital Twin,” where he showed how the aggregation of building information models into digital twin portfolios provides data for the better whole lifecycle management of facilities. The Chapter Business Meeting was held before lunch where AIA Wyoming’s new executive director, Jessica Howard, was introduced. During lunch, Steve Broadwater, Assoc. AIA, from AIA National joined us to present about the updated membership tiers. The presentation brought into question how much weight the AIA title carries, and further discussion will need to continue with AIA National on the membership tiers. Jason Griffiths, ARB, an architecture professor from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, presented “The Mizer’s Ruin: Material Explorations of Underused Lumber on a Design-Build Micro-Dwelling.” The presentation followed the design and construction of Mizer’s Ruin, a 190-square-foot micro-dwelling that provides accommodation for researchers, visiting faculty and staff at UNL’s Cedar Point Bio Station in Ogallala, Nebraska. 23
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