What’s new at AIA24!

Discover what’s new at the AEC industry’s premier event!

AIA24 will be bigger, better, and more collaborative than ever before! Explore the latest developments and newest conference offerings that are sure to elevate your AIA24 experience.

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A new focus

Every year, thousands of architecture professionals from all over the world turn out in droves to attend AIA’s landmark conference.

For the first time, AIA is broadening the conference’s audience to convene diverse perspectives from across architecture, design, engineering, and construction to create the premier AEC industry event. Our vision: AIA24 will bring together the often-siloed AEC industry in one location to network, share knowledge, gain exposure, and find multidisciplinary solutions to today’s most pressing issues.

Through networking, education, tours, events, and the industry’s largest expo, AIA24 will foster important collaborations between architects, designers, engineers, contractors, interior designers, landscape architects, firm owners, and more to showcase the strength of our industries working together. That’s the power of uniting toward better outcomes.

Learn more about AIA’s expanded focus and what it means for your conference experience >

A new location: Washington, D.C.

It’s been more than a decade since we hosted this conference in our nation’s capital. Washington, D.C. is home to AIA’s new global campus, several AIA chapters, and some of the most influential architecture, design firms, and building product manufacturers in the world.

Even more special, you can experience all of it through an incomparable range of architect-led tours and open studios that give exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to projects, buildings, firms, and staff.

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, designed by Adjaye Associates in partnership with Davis Brody Bond, The Freelon Group, and SmithGroupJJR; the Arboretum Community Center, a mass timber project designed by ISTUDIO; and Silva Apartments, a multifamily development designed by CORE with EastBanc, Mitsui Fudosan, and Grimshaw; are a few gems from an incredible list of nearly 100 tours. As are open studios featuring HOK, Moody Nolan, Perkins+Will, and Quinn Evans, among many others.

Tours and Open Studios ALWAYS sell out. Purchase your ticket(s) early to guarantee your seat!

Browse tours & open studios >

A new way to be more relevant: Tracks

The more you know, the better your projects/work product. That’s why AIA24 is debuting seven specialized tracks to help you propel your professional development.

• The AI, Technology & Research Track explores the revolutionary ideas, research, and technologies like AI, smart tech, VR, AR, and biophilia.
• The Career Success Track focuses on skill development, career branding, advocacy, and inclusive practices.
• The Leadership Track helps develop leadership skills through topics like firm culture, firm leadership, and succession.
• The Winning Work Strategies Track explores operational success, profitability, and global practice expansion.
• The Equity & Inclusion Track focuses on equity, inclusivity, well-being, mental health, accessibility, and community-engaged needs.
• The Climate Action & NZ Design Track teaches architectural responses to decarbonization, sustainable materials, resilience, reuse, and net zero energy.
• The Exceptional Design Track champions exemplary design in commercial, residential, healthcare, education, and public architecture.

All sessions from a particular track will be hosted in the same room, making it easier for you to plan your education experience.

A new expo experience

As AEC professionals, we know experience is everything. That’s why we’re launching five new experiential zones to immerse you in everything the expo offers and help you discover, connect, learn, and exchange ideas.

What you can expect: Cool new technology and interactive experiences to facilitate networking, learning, and real-time inspiration. Related exhibitors and CE spaces will be clustered around each zone, so you can continue the conversation or take a course. There’s also a Relax and Recharge Lounge for a quick work, personal, or social media break, and the Puppy Park is coming back by popular demand!

• The Inspire Zone: Sustainability, new ideas and approaches, and social change
• The Innovate Zone: Design software and systems, AI, generative design, design simulation, AR/VR, digital twinning, building automation, and the metaverse
• The Design Zone: Interior architecture, interior design, design awards, design trends, and designing with AI
• The Build Zone: Wood, metal, and concrete construction, project collaboration, material science, sustainable materials, automation, additive construction, and prefab construction
• The Prosper Zone: Practice management, investing, firm finance, careers, business development, and succession planning

The zones are just one component of your expo experience—and we can’t wait to share more!

A new keynote lineup

AIA24 is known for curating sought after speakers who use their passion to make a difference, inspire others, and lead the future. This year, at AIA24, our keynotes will feature renowned luminaries and household names from media and entertainment, government and politics, business, and design.

Past keynoters have included U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, Walt Disney Imagineering President Barbara Bouza, FAIA, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, tennis champion Venus Williams, pioneering chef José Andrés, First Lady Michelle Obama, award-winning filmmaker Ryan Coogler, and a range of architects and design industry leaders including Jeanne Gang, FAIA, Renée Cheng, FAIA, Vishaan Chakrabarti, FAIA, Sir David Adjaye, and Gabriella Gómez-Mont.

A new way to select CE sessions

If you’ve attended a past conference, you probably remember having to pre-register for any sessions you wanted to attend. When you register for AIA24, you’ll only have to register for keynotes, tours, and events. For any other sessions, you’d like to attend, simply add them to your schedule using the AIA24 mobile app.

• Register for the keynotes, tours, and events you want to attend when you register for AIA24.
• Download the AIA24 mobile app when it launches in May, then finish building your schedule by adding the sessions you’d like to attend to your agenda.
• Select a first-, second-, and third-choice session during each time slot in case your first choice is full.

At AIA24, all seminar seating is first-come, first-seated. We recommend arriving early to snag your seat. If a classroom is full, you can try getting into your second- or third-choice session.

A new Pro Series!

After a hiatus since 2019, the Pro Series is back at AIA24! Our speaker lineup includes 2024 AIA President Kimberly Dowdell, AIA, NOMA, the director of strategic relationships at HOK; Dr. Ken Yeang, an architect, planner, and ecologist who is best known for nature-based architecture driven by the science of ecology; and Joshua René, the visionary founder and CEO of The Spill Teem®. There will also be a session by AIA’s Center for Communities by Design (CxD).

More announcements coming soon!