For two Saturdays in April, the AIA Northern Virginia Custom Residential Architect Network (CRAN) participated in local festivals with an ‘Ask an Architect’ pop-up tent. The booth provided festival goers with the opportunity to ask architects anything they might be curious about as it related to the design and construction process. Attendees also got to learn about the American Institute of Architects (AIA) as an organization working to achieve a resilient and equitable built environment in addition to reasons why involving an architect is so important for projects of any size.

On April 18, the ‘Ask An Architect’ booth appeared at the Celebrate Reston festival at the Lake Anne Plaza in Reston, VA. The beautiful, sunny day was the perfect opportunity for the architects at the booth to connect with the public and bring the AIA to their attention.  The tent looked sharp with large AIA logos vying for passerby’s attention. Two detailed banners on either side of the tent gave a quick explanation of the value an architect brings to a project, and a front table held a collection of AIA Northern Virginia stickers as well as stress-relief squishable Lego® -style blocks that visitors could take with them. Architects Josh McKenrick, AIA of Allen Wright Design and Ashish Agrawal, Assoc. AIA of RARA Designz were joined in the booth by Maseeh Exeer of home building company, Alair Homes, to help answer any questions attendees had about the home building process. The perfect weather and joyous atmosphere made a great day to connect with the public and celebrate Reston.

On April 25, the booth was set up at the Purcellville Music and Arts Festival in Purcellville, VA.  While the festival was larger in scale, the weather, with gray skies and persistent rain, was not as cooperative as the week before. At the event, the ‘Ask an Architect’ booth joined other non-profits from the area to once again connect with the public. Architects Josh McKenrick, AIA of Allen Wright Design and Deborah Beulow, AIA of Cedar Architecture were joined by landscape architect Jennifer Horn of Horn and Co., as well as home builder Matt Bowe of Alair Homes Hunt Country to answer any and all architecture related questions. With live music in the background, the tent attracted festival goers early, but attendees started tapering off midday due to the heavier precipitation.  Regardless, there were still plenty of questions including how to get started planning for renovations and how much time a small addition to a single-family house would take.

Despite the contrasting weather, each event provided attendees with a great opportunity to connect with professionals and get their questions answered. One of the most frequently asked questions was “what is the AIA?”, and hopefully the booth provided both awareness about this professional organization while also providing participants with a valuable resource for upcoming residential projects. 

The concept of ‘Ask an Architect’ resulted from collaborative discussions among members of the CRAN Committee but made possible by a grant from the AIA and the CRAN Knowledge Community.  With the concept in mind, The Northern Virginia CRAN Committee submitted its application and after careful review from the CRAN Executive Committee, was one of five recipients to be awarded a generous grant in support of programs designed to engage and inform the public on the relevance of architecture.

Many thanks also go out to Allen Wright Design, RARA Designz, Cedar Architecture, Horn and Co., and Alair Homes for their participation.

With the success of these two events, the AIA NoVA CRAN committee plans to bring its ‘Ask an Architect’ booth to additional festivals in the Northern Virginia area throughout the year. Be sure to check the calendar for the latest updates! 

Joshua A.W. McKenrick, AIA | 2026 CRAN Chair | 2026 Board of Directors