Q. You have an interesting perspective of what ails organizations.

A. A lot of times organizations are hampered because they don't seek out the truth. They just don't want to look at what's right in front of them organizationally. They may have this great mission and vision and plan for the organization but they're not confronting the facts of their operation. For instance, maybe they have a couple of people who aren't right to move the organization forward.

Q. You would like your offices in the historic Stangenwald Building at 119 Merchant St. to be part of First Friday.

A. At one point, except for Aloha Tower, our building set the height limits for Honolulu. Architects are quite talented outside of architecture and in terms of the drawings they do. I would love to be able to open up our space to the public on First Friday so they could see rotating exhibits of architects' works and works on sustainability and how the general public can help to fashion their environment so they're a little bit more sensitive to the needs of our times. That'll be part of our next year's goals, which is AIA's 150th birthday. We call it AIA 150.

Q. What are some of the trends today in the architecture field?

A. One of the trends we're seeing is a blurring of lines as to who does what. It used to be people in their own silos — the architects did their thing, the engineers did their thing, the contractors did their thing. The focus and the trend now in the whole building industry is what's called integrated practice where you don't see one top guy. It's people working together from the start. The other nice thing is the focus is on the outcomes of what the client wants. In addition to design skills, it requires leadership skills. Leadership is a subject of a lot of discussions amongst are profession, not only how we grow good designers, but how we grow good leaders. It's all about collaborative leadership.

Q. Particularly in Hawai'i, what are some of the skills that make collaboration work?

A. A big part of it is good listening skills. It really is all about communication. In MBA schools, I know that a lot of students don't like doing a lot of team-building exercises. But that really is the way of the world now. The architect may have a design but that's going to greatly impact the cost, etc., so it really is about communication early on. Part of it is just picking up the phone and talking to people.

Q. AIA Honolulu will soon be participating in its first "canstruction competition."

A. It's a design competition that benefits the Hawai'i Foodbank where canned food is used as the building material. We're talking 17 teams building structures of 8 feet by 8 feet by 8 feet. The designs will involve thousands of cans and will be assembled in Pearlridge Uptown beginning Saturday, Aug. 12. It's a six-hour timed competition beginning at 7.30 in the morning. There are a number of categories, such as best use of labels and best meal, which is the best structure made up of food that would make the best meal. The structures will be up for two weeks. The public will have an opportunity to vote on the structure they like the best in the People's Choice Award by bringing canned food to the mall and putting it in front of the structure they like best. We really need canned meats so we welcome Spam for your votes. The person who comes the closest to guessing the total poundage of these 17 structures will be the one that is chosen for a trip for four to Disneyland. They'll have two weeks to vote on their favorite and two weeks to guess the total weight.

Q: Even though they're building structures out of canned goods, the teams are already at work using actual design techniques they use on the job.

A. A lot of teams have gone to Foodland to look at the colors. They look at the sizes and they take measurements. Then they come back to their computers and, like building blocks, they place these different cans as part of the design. They're also using 3-D images. It can end up being thousands and thousands of cans. They can use rubber bands, Velcro and double-stick tape. But basically it's going to be their ingenuity to make sure these things stands.

Q. You said you originally felt you would be lucky to get even six teams. Instead, you have 17.

A. Part of the reasons I felt I may have trouble is because this is all voluntary and the building industry is booming in Hawai'i. But this is a charitable event and it really struck heartstrings that they could use their talents to support our community. One team is specifically focusing on meat because of the need for protein. One of the firms told me that they went out and bought extra cans and every Thursday they have a team meeting and they're practicing in their offices. The winner goes onto the national competition in San Antonio in 2007. I'm hoping next year we can extend it to engineering firms and to contractors.

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.