AIA26: Connection at the Core

Written by Trey Meyer, AIA

AIA Toledo Members Trey Meyer and Isabel Souza

The 2026 AIA Conference on Architecture & Design brought together thousands of architects and design professionals from across the country, offering engaging sessions on emerging trends, new technologies, and evolving practice, alongside an expansive expo floor and skill-building workshops grounded in the realities of day-to-day architectural practice.

What has lingered longest wasn’t found in any session room. It was in the unexpected hallway run-ins, the shared meals, the conversations with new people, and the space to reconnect with former professors, classmates, and past coworkers. The AIA has a quiet power in moments like these, reminding us that our professional lives are not simply a sequence of jobs and projects, but a living web of people: mentors who sharpened our thinking, peers we have grown alongside, and chance encounters that redirected our paths in ways we couldn’t have anticipated.

The profession is wide and whether you were in San Diego that week or here in Toledo, that web connects us all. After all, it is the community that holds it together that may be the most important thing we build.

Members mingle between sessions and tours

HSDC Project featured in AIA’s K–12 student design celebration