The American Institute of Architects (AIA) released a statement on the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, as well as the incoming 115th Congress. In January, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. What will a Trump White House mean for architects and the profession? As described in AIA's 2016 presidential candidate profiles, here are President-elect Trump's stated stances on energy, international trade, small businesses, and other issues that matter to architects.

Here is the full transcript of AIA statement from Chief Executive Officer Robert Ivy:

''The AIA and its 89,000 members are committed to working with President-elect Trump to address the issues our country faces, particularly strengthening the nation’s aging infrastructure. During the campaign, President-elect Trump called for committing at least $500 billion to infrastructure spending over five years. We stand ready to work with him and with the incoming 115th Congress to ensure that investments in schools, hospitals and other public infrastructure continue to be a major priority.''

''We also congratulate members of the new 115th Congress on their election. We urge both the incoming Trump Administration and the new Congress to work toward enhancing the design and construction sector’s role as a major catalyst for job creation throughout the American economy.''

''This has been a hard-fought, contentious election process. It is now time for all of us to work together to advance policies that help our country move forward.''

In response to Ivy's statement, Annelise Pitts, Assoc. AIA, Rosa Sheng, AIA, Lilian Asperin, AIA, Saskia Dennis-van Dijl and Julia V. Mandell, AIA have issued an open letter reminding the core values of AIA in the Equity Alliance's website, here's a short transcript of the statement below: 

''We were dismayed to read this week that, as members and supporters of the AIA, we had offered our unqualified support for President-Elect Trump and the 115th Congress. We are  ashamed that our professional organization decided that the prospect of public commissions for a very few of us was important enough to silence concerns about the specter of an anti-elitist society defined by racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and the denial of science.

As members and supporters of the AIA and Equity in Architecture, we have worked hard to demonstrate that our profession, like our society at large, harbors systemic racial and gender biases that have real impacts upon our professional outcomes, and upon our firms’ bottom lines. This work demonstrates that our profession continues to overlook this systemic injustice at our own peril - we are losing talent by failing to create healthy, equitable, meaningful and culturally diverse work environments for all professionals.

Please recognize that, in word and in action, you perpetuated our profession’s white, male privilege when you offered the Institute’s support for a person known for promoting a worldview that threatens to pit us against one another on the basis of our race, gender, creed, or sexual orientation. These beliefs do not reflect who we are, nor do we believe that they reflect the core values we are responsible for upholding as a profession. These include: sustainability through dedication to climate action, promotion of domestic and global projects that are humane and socially just, and equity, diversity and inclusion in both practice and representation......Continue Reading

Top image: Donald Trump, courtesy of AIA

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