Join WIA for our annual happy hour and the (belated) celebration of the achievements of Billie Faircloth, one of Philadelphia’s most recent architects to be awarded membership in the AIA College of Fellows. The AIA recognizes only three percent of its members with the distinction of “the F” and we are thrilled to be able, finally, to celebrate Billie’s elevation in 2021. This year’s event will be hosted at Triple Bottom Brewing, a women-owned B-Corp promoting equity and community justice.

In her work, Billie demonstrates the power and purpose of research in architecture as a Partner and Research Director at KieranTimberlake. She structures novel forms of design inquiry; fosters transdisciplinary collaboration; and creates new knowledge, tools, and practices to amplify the agency of architects. She continuously pursues an answer to the question, “Why do we build the way that we do?” as she leads the questions and ensuing investigations that begin and inform every project at KieranTimberlake. She has built a team of professional researchers working to improve architecture by leveraging knowledge and problem-solving processes from fields as diverse as environmental management, chemical physics, materials science, and fine arts sculpture. During design, she guides teams through empirical experiments, prototypes, and analysis. She develops technology that informs high-performance design and promotes increased transparency and equity in the supply chain for construction. She has taught at the University of Texas, University of Pennsylvania, Georgia Tech, Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (to name a few) and has lectured internationally to academic and industry audiences. Billie has also authored peer-reviewed articles and a book, Plastics Now: On Architecture’s Relationship to a Continuously Emerging Material, and was Architectural Record’s Women in Architecture Innovator in 2017.

We hope you’ll join us in gathering as a WIA community and celebrating Billie! Thanks to KieranTimberlake’s support in honor of their Partner and Research Director, we are able to offer complementary registration, free food, AND your first drink for toasting Billie’s accomplishments.