Official ribbon cutting on the District Architecture Center (DAC) took place November 4 in a grand celebration for AIA DC, the Washington Architectural Foundation, and its many friends and community partners that made the new home a reality. It’s terrific to finally see images from the opening party on Facebook and compare the after shots to the promotional video footage exploring plans for converting raw space in the Penn Quarter into a new center for public engagement and learning. In catching up with Executive Director Mary Fitch, it was clear that the Center will greatly amplify existing programs, affording much needed space for meetings and educational functions as well as exhibitions to draw newcomers to the building.

Read more on AAO's conversation with Mary Fitch and view images.

AAO welcomes seven new members this month: Henry Albrycht, Jr. from Newtown Square, PA; Cristina Alvarez from Morton, PA; Caroll Parrott Blue from Houston, TX; Ann Mullins from Aspen, CO; Brendan Myers from Chicago, IL; Martin P. Rayala from Kutztown, PA; and new organizational member, Van Alen Institute.
Find out more about AAO membership.

The Library of Congress has acquired a collection of drawings, photographs, and rare books maintained by AAO members the American Institute of Architects and the American Architectural Foundation. AAO member the National Building Museum will serve as an exhibition partner for the collection.
Read more about the collection in Architect.

Earlier this month, the World Architecture Festival convened in Barcelona to announce its annual award winners. Billed as the world's largest live architecture awards program, it selected Media-ICT by Cloud 9 Architects as the best building in the world, coming out on top of 700 entries. The Festival, led by an international jury, also picked winners in more than two dozen categories, including culture, housing, new and old, and future projects.

Read more and view a slideshow of the winners at Architect.

It's great to see so many architecture exhibitions catching the attention of the media recently. Here are a few selected highlights:

"Unbuilt Washington" at the National Building Museum in the Washington Post and Arch News Now.

"Imperfect Health: the Medicalization of Architecture" at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Arch Daily and Architect.

"Design with the other 90%" at the United Nations, by the Cooper Hewitt in the New York Times, Atlantic Cities and Architectural Record.

"Supertall!" at the Skyscraper Museum in The Design Observer.

Free 3D software is making it easy for anyone to create their own digital models. With the new software, you don't have to be a CAD expert to design and produce 3D models. Design educators, this may be of interest for you!

Here's how it works: take photos of an object from multiple angles and upload them to the program 123D Catch, which will create a digital model with detailed wireframe data. The companion program, 123D Make creates a pattern for 2D cut-outs (of wood, cardboard, or other materials) that can be assembled into a physical 3D model. Users can assemble the models themselves or pay Autodesk to create them.

Read more about the software on CNET.

Architecture, Construction, and Engineering Technical High School
Building Trades Teacher.  

Chicago Architecture Foundation
Director of Individual Giving
Director of Foundation & Government Relations

IDEO
Class of 2013 Fellowship (applications due December 9)

Harvard GSD
Loeb Fellowship (applications due by January 3)

National Trust for Historic Preservation
Senior Director of Human Resources

Big name museums have been making news lately in its rethinking of traditional approaches to exhibition, and more often than not it’s the architecture and design curators leading the way. A recent profile of the Guggenheim's David van der Leer caught our attention as a clear, concise description of the changes afoot. It’s interesting to see large institutions picking up on what workers at inventive architecture centers have known all along: revealing how cities and spaces operate is best done through active discovery. 

In an interesting refrain, writer Stephen Zacks provides a personal take on this rash of beyond-our-walls museum programs and the promotional partners they attract.

Wild Apricot compiles an extensive round-up each month of free webinars for nonprofits. Here's a few that your organization might find useful:

• Five Trends in Technology that will Shape a New Reality for Nonprofits, 12/7 at 4pm Eastern.
• How Strategic Public Relations Can Help Nonprofits Break through the Media Clutter, 12/7 at 3pm Eastern
  
• Getting Volunteers for Your Nonprofit: How to Find, Recruit, and Develop Relationships with Volunteers, 12/7 at 1pm Eastern.
• How to Make Your Grant Proposal Stand Out from the Pack, 12/19 at 1pm Eastern.
  

View the full listing of free webinars in December.