Amvic has attended the AIA Convention since 2006. We started with a small 10×10 booth with intention to build awareness about ICF. At that time, many of our booth visitors were either completely unfamiliar with ICF or thought ICF was just used for residential basements. Most were ‘just looking’ and had no intention of using ICF for their upcoming projects.
In 2007 we upgraded to a 10×20 booth since the rise in green building and extreme weather began to create more interest in ICF as a building alternative. More and more architects were starting to seriously consider ICF for their projects, but there were still many who were uncertain.
This year we expanded again to a 20×20 space and used our newly redesigned booth to reflect the rapid growth of ICF in the commercial sector. Our backdrop, a 20ft wide photomontage of an Amvic ICF hotel and multi-storey condominium caught the eye of many passerbys. Amusingly, we even had some visitors ask if we still do small custom homes!
It is evident that times have changed dramatically over the last few years. This time around most architects that visited our booth knew what ICF was and many had used ICF or were planning to in the near future. Most of the inquiries and questions we received were related to energy savings, LEED certification and applications. Many of the projects ICF is being considered for are hotels and motels but there was also a strong interest for private developments, schools and other institutions. In general most architects agreed that ICF is an exceptional way to build and are interested in using it whenever it is feasible for their projects.
Without question, the show was a tremendous success and we were blown away with the positive response we received. We look forward to continued interest from the architectural community in the future.