2026 FALL • VIRTUAL • GLOBAL

OCTOBER 9, 2026

From Inquiry to Impact:

Research in Design Practice

Many firms say they want to do more research, but there is a lot of variation in what that actually means and what it takes to do it well. This virtual Design Colloquium will bring us together to explore how firms are defining, funding, structuring, and applying research in practice, with examples from several different models and a keynote from Billy Faircloth. Most importantly, we’ll look at how thoughtful inquiry can contribute to better design, stronger practice, and greater impact.




FULL PROGRAM DETAILS COMING SOON

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

BILLIE FAIRCHLOTH, FAIA


FAIA · LEED AP BD+C

Co-founder and Research Director | Built Building Lab

Cornell Atkinson Scholar
Associate Professor of Architecture, Cornell University

Billie Faircloth, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, is Co-Founder and Research Director of Built Buildings Lab, a Cornell Atkinson Scholar, and an Associate Professor of Architecture at Cornell University. Faircloth is recognized nationally and internationally as a design leader, architect, and educator for advancing values and outcomes for practice-integrated research. Faircloth’s award-winning work is grounded in transdisciplinary collaboration, integrating novel workflows, applied technology, and original field experiments to tackle planetary challenges. Faircloth previously served as chair of the AIA Committee on the Environment and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Building Transparency.

DANIEL JOHN STINE, AIA


Registered Architect · CSI · CDT · IES · WELL AP

Director of Design Technology | Lake Flato Architects
Adjunct Professor, North Dakota State University


Dan Stine, AIA, is Director of Design Technology at Lake Flato Architects and an adjunct professor at North Dakota State University. The author of 137 textbook titles on design software and hand sketching, with more than 236,000 copies sold, he serves on the AIA's national AI Task Force and will chair its Technology in Architectural Practice knowledge community in 2028.

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    Dan Stine is an architect, author, and educator working at the intersection of design, technology, and building performance. As Director of Design Technology at Lake Flato Architects, he serves on the firm's Design Performance team, delivering energy models, daylighting analysis, and life-cycle assessments, and he leads Investigations, the firm's research program. He also directs Lake Flato's firmwide data and AI initiative. 


    Stine has taught continuously since 2001 while practicing full-time: thirteen years covering every CAD and BIM course in the Architectural Technology program at Lake Superior College, and since 2013 as an adjunct professor teaching graduate architecture and landscape architecture at North Dakota State University, where his subjects span building information modeling, lighting and energy analysis, virtual reality, and a new graduate seminar on AI in architecture. His textbooks on Revit, AutoCAD, SketchUp, and hand sketching span 137 titles and more than 236,000 copies, and include the most widely adopted Revit text in the North American academic market. His independent blog, BIM Chapters, has passed 3.15 million readings. 


    Within the AIA, Stine serves on the national Artificial Intelligence Task Force, will chair the Technology in Architectural Practice knowledge community in 2028, and spent three years on the Committee on the Environment leadership group. He co-authored the AIA Climate Action Business Playbook, written by Lake Flato and partner firms on commission from the Institute. He is past chair of the Illuminating Engineering Society's BIM Standards Committee. 


    He lectures widely: keynote speaker at the 2025 AIAS national conference, the AIA Conference on Architecture across multiple years, Autodesk University, NVIDIA GTC, Lightfair, BILT conferences on three continents, and the American Society of Architectural Illustrators in Tokyo. His work has been featured by ArchDaily and quoted in ARCHITECT and Wired. He received the 2024 AIA San Antonio Trailblazer Award.

ANDREA LOVE, FAIA


FAIA • LEED Fellow

Principal / Director of Building Science, Payette

Andrea Love leads the integration of high-performance design and research across our work. A national leader in sustainable design, her work advances the role of building science as a generative force in architecture, linking performance, material systems and formal expression. Andrea has taught at both Harvard and MIT and previously served on the Board of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE). Her research-driven approach informs projects that achieve ambitious energy and carbon goals while maintaining architectural clarity and rigor. Her deep understanding and passion for sustainably designed buildings is evident in everything she does. She is an exceptional researcher, designer and teacher who has transformed the practice of architecture.

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    Her diverse portfolio demonstrates the integration of complex programs with beautiful, high performance design. Her strategies, backed with thorough research, guide design decision-making to help projects achieve aggressive energy goals. Andrea serves as the project leader for sustainable design and building performance on every project to ensure that the elements most critical to the project’s vision and program are considered through the lens of building performance. Each of our projects is subjected to an intensive, data-driven investigation of building systems, materials, envelope and operational energy use to optimize performance and minimize environmental footprint.


    Additionally, she leads a number of internal research projects and was the Principal Investigator on the 2012 AIA Upjohn Research Initiative-funded “Thermal Performance of Facades,” a research project focused on thermal bridging. She also leads the firm’s efforts on the AIA 2030 Commitment, tracking and benchmarking the performance of projects across the firm.

LUKE WILLIAMS


Director of Advancement, Holmes


Luke Williams is Director of Advancement at Holmes, an integrated group of businesses delivering premium structural, civil and fire engineering. He's a structural engineer by trade, with experience leading fire and passive fire engineering teams, and leading research and product development in mass timber. His work on kit of parts connections for a mass timber system developed with Tier 1 contractor has since been licensed and commercialized. His current focus is the practical application of new services and digital technologies to engineering design and delivery, including overseeing the development of new tools and processes. some AI-based, drawing on centrally researched and crowd-sourced opportunities for inspiration.