I’m Erin Reilly-Sanders and it’s my honor to serve as your 2026 AIA Columbus President.
Our organizational values—Equity, Collaboration, Stewardship, and Excellence—are not only important in the context of our profession but are also personal aspirations and motivations for me. From participating in charettes to promoting connections between different organizations, I believe in the power of community to improve our world.  As a long-time member of the AIA Columbus Committee on the Environment (COTE), I have been working with the Committee on Design to strengthen the ways that our awards reflect AIA values. In my spare time, I also help facilitate seminars on cultural understanding, health, literature, and support for marginalized groups and have written on topics such as architectural education and visual communication. Such subjects could be considered offbeat architecture- areas important to but not explicitly accented in the basic process of designing and constructing buildings. Including these topics in our profession benefits the health, safety, and welfare of the communities we serve. When we accentuate the offbeat, we create better architectural music.
For example, your 2026 board started January off with a service-oriented team-building activity: We cooked dinner for 90 family members of children at Nationwide Hospital and toured the Ronald McDonald House, which Meyers+Associates recently improved to be the largest in the world. Taking on the role of building users and community servers, we were able to metaphorically join in the musical performance rather than just writing the score.
Throughout the next year, here are some of the ways that our chapter can focus on the offbeats:
- Equity — Advocate for diversity and inclusion in education and practice
- March 17’s panel with Olivia Mae Asuncion, Rachael Wiesbrock, and Bess Williamson pushes beyond minimum accommodations toward radically accessible design, reinforcing our commitment to equity in both practice and education.
- AIA Columbus Women in Architecture (WIA) has produced an exhibition for March at the Center for Architecture and Design to celebrate Women’s History Month and 10 more years of impact in architecture.
- Stewardship — Elevate sustainability to safeguard our community
- On February 17, Corey Squire challenged us to rethink how we create high-performing buildings and transform practices, aligning with our responsibility as stewards of the built environment. Consider checking out his book, People, Planet, Design: A Practical Guide to Realizing Architecture’s Potential.
- Collaboration — Foster industry and civic relationships
- January’s Design Lecture with Erin Prosser addressed housing affordability amid continued under-production of housing, connecting design practice with civic engagement and broader societal issues.
- For March 26, AIA Columbus COTE has arranged a luncheon with an update from City of Columbus on their Building Performance Standard.
- Excellence — Promote design excellence
- Ongoing lectures and discussions that explore topics such as architectural education and intergenerational collaboration support a culture of design excellence and professional growth.
This year, let us identify and explore areas where we can accent the offbeat to design a better world together.
Erin Reilly-Sanders, PhD, AIA
AIA Columbus President 2026
Senior Architect, Legat Architects
2024 AIA Young Architect Award | 2024 AIA Ohio Emerging Professional Award