AIA Fort Worth, a chapter of The American Institute of Architects (AIA), is a professional organization of architects from the North Texas counties of Comanche, Cooke, Eastland, Erath, Haskell, Hood, Jack, Johnson, Palo Pinto, Parker, Somervell, Stephens, Tarrant, Throckmorton, and Wise. The Fort Worth Chapter was founded August 15, 1946 and maintains a membership of over 400 architects.

2007 marks the 150th anniversary of the American Institute of Architects. To mark the 150th anniversary of its founding, the AIA will present the nation with a gift. The centerpiece of the yearlong observance of AIA 150 is the Blueprint for America, a nationwide community service program that will empower citizens to share in creating a vision for their communities’ design priorities. The results of all the Blueprint Initiatives will be documented so that the experience can be refined and shared with the nation as a national mosaic called the Blueprint for America.

AIA Fort Worth’s Blueprint Initiative is titled Strategies for Growth; Empowering Outlying Communities. AIA Fort Worth will help the outlying communities in Tarrant County and the surrounding region deal with the tremendous growth that threatens to disrupt their quality of life by developing a web-based “toolkit” of resources. The “toolkit” will be based on information gathered from the Vision North Texas Southwestern Sub-regional Workshop, a Peer to Peer Workshop and research from existing sources such as NCTCOG and others. The events will be attended by mayors, elected officials, community leaders and business leaders.

The AIA Fort Worth Strategic Plan outlines a focus on community outreach and our Blueprint Initiative will set the stage for continued involvement in the communities surrounding Fort Worth. Our Blueprint Initiative will also be a catalyst for the AIA Fort Worth Center for Architecture.