Silver Spring, Maryland architect Joseph P. Lai, AIA, is the recently named chair of the UIA Young Architects Committee.

Following the letter about the Durban Congress penned by UIA Young Architect’s Committee reporter Marine de la Guerande, which appeared in the French magazine, Le Moniteur, Committee coordinator Joseph Lai talked to Kim O’Connell in the American Institute of Architects Journal.

Regarding the objectives for this new UIA project, Joseph Lai explained that the first committee meeting presented the opportunity to identify the main concerns for students and emerging architects. The Committee outlined the following plan for future action:promoting the use of mentoring as an efficient means of integrating young architects into the community of established professionals, leveraging the possibilities offered by social media, and professional licensing and training.

Joseph Lai demonstrated very early his interest in international professional development and his concern for the social aspect of architecture’s mission, including the amelioration of living conditions through community-based architecture. He believes in the effectiveness of mentoring, which he has been able to test and develop as part of his responsibilities within the AIA. We thus bear in mind Joseph’s professional mantra: Be ambitious and work hard.

Read the full article:http://www.aia.org/practicing/AIAB104579

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