Hot, flat, but not that crowded:New Orleans welcomes AIA convention goers, but attendee numbers seem thin

Yes its about 90 degrees and humid, but it’s a great pleasure to be in New Orleans whose recovery since Katrina seems remarkable. Friday afternoon, web editor Bill Hanley and I plan a bike ride to the Ninth Ward where evidence of the damage might be more pronounced.

Arriving yesterday in time to attend a party on behalf of Architectural Record’s new editor-in-chief Cathleen McGuigan (editorial director of sister publication, GreenSource), I joined approximately 150 other architects, friends, journalists, and building product manufacturers at the International House Hotel for a upbeat and vibrant party welcoming her to her new post.

Today, Thursday May 12, Thomas Friedman started the day with a commentary on his book, Hot Flat and Crowded. A very compelling and dynamic speaker, you can watch the video at http://info.aia.org/aiarchitect/

The McGraw-Hill Construction booth 619 was a hive of activity all day long. The Meet the Architects and Meet the Experts activities were an enormous success, generating some great dialogues and a host of attendees mingling and watching the parade of interesting speakers come and go. Join us tomorrow for: Frank Harmon at 10:00 am, Steve McDowell of this year’s firm award winner BNIM (10:30), John Ronan at 11:00 am, James Timberlake of KieranTimberlake at 12:45 pm, Larry Scarpa of Brooks Scarpa at 1:15 pm and David Miller of Miller Hull at 2:30 pm.

What follows are photos taking throughout a busy and interesting day.

Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi of Weiss/Manfredi after Cliff Pearson interviewed them at the Mcgraw-Hill booth.

News editor Jenna McKnight interviews Clifford Curry, co-founder of the Curry Stone Foundation focused on humanitarian architecture.

Craig Savage and his COO of Building Media

The hard-working and super friendly Sherlyn Yoak, a sales rep for Architectural Record, GreenSource and Snap magazines.

The Trespa booth on the Expo floor was easily the most artistic and lovely booth at convention.

The Trespa booth featured benches made from recycled cardboard that were surprisingly durable and comfortable.

The lovely gents from Sundolier (president Peter Novak on the left) showcase their super cool solar reflective gyzmo (for lack of a better word) for the first time at AIA--these guys are on the precipice of something big (www.sunflowerdaylighting.com)

Architectural photographer Alan Karchmer and his wife drop by the Mcgraw-Hill booth to say hello.

The lovely ladies from White and Good pose in front of the most impressive GDK LED media mesh product which will soon be displayed at the Port Authority in New York as the largest installation of its kind in North America (and maybe the world).

At the Post and Beam party at the W Hotel, friends Rebecca Goldbert of Post and Beam, and Rita Catinell and Bill Taylor of McGraw-Hill pose.

More friends posing at the Post and Beam party: on the left is editor Catherine Slessor of The Architectural Review, Joe Sosnowsky, sale rep for Architectural Record, GreenSource and Snap magazines, and Edmont Katongole, of the World Architectural Festival.