We invite Woodbury alumni and AIA San Fernando Valley members to join us for an evening that celebrates bold thinking, emerging voices, and the future of design.

The Woodbury School of Architecture is committed to cultivating a culture that embraces difficult questions, welcomes unconventional ideas, and advances a purposeful design ethos. This year’s Grand Critique offers a powerful opportunity to hear directly from students as they share their reflections on resilience, creativity, and responsibility in architectural practice.

The event will also feature the winners of the AIA/SFV Joel Jaffee & Robin Jaffee Scholarship, the Rudolph De Chellis, FAIA Award, the George G. Terpatsi, AIA Memorial Scholarship, and the AIA San Fernando Valley Scholarship Awards—honoring excellence, leadership, and impact in our community.

Dean Flood has named this year’s theme “Resilience”—not as a response after crisis, but as an active way of practicing: how we observe, listen, adapt, and take responsibility for the worlds we shape. The Grand Critique is not about final answers, but about positions—about how emerging designers carry their education forward through their methods, ethics, and commitment to intentional design.

Alumni and professionals are invited to listen, engage, and reconnect with the next generation of thinkers as they reflect on moments that challenged their assumptions, confronted complexity, and revealed how design intersects with systems of power, care, and accountability. This is a space for dialogue, inspiration, and collective growth—and we hope you’ll be part of it.