AAGDG (Architectural Assocation Graduate Design Group) reunion 7-9 july, 2006 London
				click here for photos of reunion on Flickr.com
		Article published in AArchitecture newsletter, Autumn Issue 2006 Architectural Association, London, England by Erik Niemann
	There I was, upstairs on a London double decker bus leaving the Barbican heading towards one of the coolest restaurants in London.  I asked Claudio for his mobile phone to let the restaurant know our group of twenty-four would be fifteen minutes late.  This reservation at Hakkasan took two months of planning, so I was a bit anxious.  Composed, but anxious.  Then, someone shouted that we were all on the wrong bus! Luckily, the one we needed was right behind us, and the experience at Hakkasan was nothing short of spectacular.   The dinner at Hakkasan was part of a ten year reunion of the AA Graduate Design Group (AAGDG).  Fellow architect and dear friend from the AAGDG, Reñe Peralta and I conceived it in October 2005 during a trip I took to his home city of Tijuana, Mexico. This created a daunting but exciting task of locating dozens of alumni.  With over six-hundred e-mails, great support from Micki and Alex at the AA, creative internet searches and help from fellow AAGDG alumni, twenty-four of roughly fifty alumni attend the reunion from twelve countries. The AAGDG was a post-graduate program created by architectural critic Jeff Kipnis and Iranian architect Bahram Shirdel in 1992.  Jeff directed three programs (each lasting 16 months) and Bahram directed the final program, 1995-97 (the program I was part of).  Working on an international scale that Jeff and Bahram created for the program, gave us the confidence, tools and foundation to be able to work on this level immediately after completing the program.   During the relatively short life of the AAGDG, members worked on designs of actual projects and design competitions of incredible significance.  For instance (to name just a few projects), in 1995, four members of the 1994-95 program traveled to Iran and collaborated with local architects on the design for Iran’s New International Airport.  Others traveled to China to design a plan for a new city.  My program submitted a design entry for the Nordic Embassy Complex in Berlin, and worked on a competition for the Kansai Kan National Diet Library of Japan. The ideas, design techniques, and vision that Jeff, Bahram and others at the AA shared with us, shows up in much of our own work.  Today, many members of the AAGDG practice and teach architecture around the globe.  Others collaborated with each other and started their own firms immediately after completing the AA.  Such firms are .O.C.E.A.N and Urban Future Organization.   Our reunion kicked off on July 7, 2006, at the Project Review 'champagne party' in the Bedford Square Gardens.  The next day Anna Klingmann hosted a wine and cheese party at a flat in the Barbican.  Jeff Kipnis, who received an honorary degree from the AA the day before, joined us.  Most of us hadn't seen Jeff in quite some time and it was really great to catch up with him.  That evening we all ate at the ever popular Hakkasan restaurant and finished the reunion with socializing at the stunning Long Bar of the Sanderson Hotel designed by Philippe Starck. This reunion helped to re-connect an international network.  A network that was formed to collaborate on critical projects, and push one another towards something new. The AAGDG members who attended the reunion are: Marc Wilson (Copenhagen, Denmark) Ulrich Königs (Cologne, Germany) Andreas Fritzen (Cologne, Germany) Theodoros Kanellopoulos (Athens, Greece) Kalliopi Valsamidis (Athens, Greece) Claudio Lucchesi (Sicily, Italy) Sachiko Miyazaki (Tokyo, Japan) Hiroshi Ninomiya (Yokohama, Japan) Jungmook Moon (Seoul, Korea) Mark Hemel (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) Gordon Hulley (Glasgow, Scotland) Bostjan Vuga (Ljubljana, Slovenia) Teresa Pellicer Armiñana (Valencia, Spain) Duangrit Bunnag (Bangkok, Thailand) Eva Castro (London, UK) Singa Govedi (London, UK) Andrew Yau (London, UK) Jonas Lundberg (London, UK) Tom Verebes (London, UK) Jeff Kipnis (Columbus, Ohio, USA) Anna Klingmann (New York City, New York, USA) Rick Limon (New York City, New York, USA) Eunsook Choi (New York City, New York, USA) Erik Niemann (Oakland, California, USA) Theo Revlock (San Francisco, California, USA)