CONTEXT - Winter 2020

TH E DESIGN AWA R DS ISSUE

WINTER 2020

Celebrating 150 Years of AIA Philadelphia

Eclectic

WE KNOW THE HOTTEST TRENDS. INSIDE AND OUT. Industrial

RUSTIC

MODERN Reclaimed

Contemporary Contemporary? Industrial? Iron? Traditional? Compass Ironworks transforms the hottest trends into distinctive gates, stairs, dĂŠcor, fences and railings.

Inspired by the talents of past masters, our master craftsmen employ contemporary materials and age-old techniques to fashion your personal design statement.

Transitional

A custom gate constructed from aircraft grade aluminum? An estate fence forged from solid bronze? A wrought iron fence replicating a historic security fence built over a century ago? Compass Ironworks knows the hottest trends for interiors and exteriors — inside and out.

WWW. C O M PAS S IRO NW O RKS.COM | 7 1 7 -4 4 2 -4 5 0 0 | GAP, PA

Winter 2020 – IN THIS ISSUE As the Chapter celebrates 150 years, we take a look at how decisions of the past influence the practice of the future.

FEATURES 14 Practice Now

by FIFTEEN Architecture + Design

DEPARTMENTS

18 Impact of Technology on Design

by Jamie Unkeffer

5 EDITOR’S LETTER 6 COMMUNITY 10 UP CLOSE 30 OPINION 32 DESIGN AWARDS

25 Environmental Repsonsibility

by Scott Kelly

ON THE COVER A mosaic of images celebrating the 150th Anniversary of AIA Philadelphia.

Throughout the magazine you'll find special 150th Anniversary sections highlighting a variety of organizations formed from AIA Philadelphia. The images come from past AIA Philadelphia events and can be credited to Mark Likosky, Kat Kendon, Don Matzkin, Chris Kendig, Joe Kaczmarek, Darcy Veneziale, Community Design Collaborative, Bob Graham, and Captured by Caity.

26 The Consent Decree

by Peter Piven, FAIA

CONTEXT is published by

AIA Philadelphia A Chapter of the American Institute of Architects 1218 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 215-569-3186, www.aiaphiladelphia.com.

The opinions expressed in this – or the representations made by advertisers, including copyrights and warranties, are not those of the editorial staff, publisher, AIA Philadelphia, or

AIA Philadelphia’s Board of Directors. All rights reserved. Reproduction in part or whole without written permission is strictly prohibited.

Postmaster: send change of address to AIA Philadelphia, 1218 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 Published JANUARY 2020

Suggestions? Comments? Questions? Tell us what you think about the latest issue of CONTEXT magazine by emailing context@aiaphila.org. A member of the CONTEXT editorial committee will be sure to get back to you.

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 3

5 23 19 Context Media Ad.pdf 1 5/23/2019 9:55:20 AM

2020 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Paul Avazier, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, NCARB, President Soha St. Juste, AIA, President-Elect Robert Shuman, AIA, LEED AP, Treasurer John B. Campbell, AIA, ARIAS, RIBA, LEED AP, Past President Rich Vilabrera, Jr., Assoc. AIA, Secretary Brian Smiley, AIA, CDT, LEED BD+C, Director of Sustainability +

Preservation

C

Phil Burkett, AIA, WELL AP, LEED AP NCARB, Director of Firm

Culture + Prosperity

M

Stephen Kuttner Potts, AIA, Director of Technology + Innovation

Y

CM

Erin Roark, AIA, LEED AP, Director of Equity, Diversity + Inclusion

MY

Jeff Goldstein, AIA, Director of Design Kevin Malawski, AIA, LEED AP, Director of Advocacy

CY

CMY

K

Façade Ordinance Inspections | Building Envelope Assessment, Evaluation & Planning | Architectural Restoration | Structural Engineering | Parking Garage Rehabilitation

We work collaboratively to deliver value-driven architectural restoration and structural engineering solutions.

Innovative yet practical, we listen to you, develop creative solutions and find ways to go from “no” to yes.”

Learn More: kleinandhoffman.com

Rob Fleming, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Director of Education Timoth A. Kerner, AIA, Director of Professional Development Danielle DiLeo Kim, AIA, Director of Strategic Engagement Scott Compton, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, PA Director Clarissa Kelsey, Assoc. AIA, Director of PEA Mike Penzel, Assoc. AIA, Director of PEA Tya Winn, NOMA, LEED Green Associate, SEED, Public Member Rebecca Johnson, Executive Director

CONTEXT EDITORIAL BOARD CO-CHAIRS Harris M. Steinberg, FAIA, Drexel University Todd Woodward, AIA, SMP Architects

BOARD MEMBERS Wolfram Arendt, AIA, LAYER Architecture David Brownlee, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania Julie Bush, ASLA, Ground Reconsidered Susan Miller Davis, AIA Daryn Edwards, AIA, CICADA Architecture Planning

Since 1996 Parallel Edge has focused on providing Outsourced IT support for AEC firms and other companies specifically working with the built environment.

Outsourced IT Services when IT is not what you do.

Clifton Fordham, RA, Temple University Fauzia Sadiq Garcia, RA, Temple University Sally Harrison, AIA, Temple University Timothy Kerner, AIA, Terra Studio Elizabeth Miller, Community Design Collaborative Jeff Pastva, AIA, Bright Common Rachel Simmons Schade, AIA, Drexel University Eli Storch, AIA, Looney Ricks Kiss Franca Trubiano, PhD, University of Pennsylvania David Zaiser, AIA, Whitman Requardt and Associates LLP

STAFF

610.293.0101 www.paralleledge.com

Rebecca Johnson, AIA Philadelphia Executive Director Elizabeth Paul, Managing Editor Tiffany Mercer-Robbins, The Mercer Suite, Layout Designer Laurie Churchman, Designlore, Art Director

4 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

EDITORS LETTER

150 YEARS AND COUNTING...

RACHEL SIMMONS SCHADE, AIA Associate Teaching Professor, Drexel University and CONTEXT Editor

In preparing for this issue, we found a copy of AIA100

DARYN EDWARDS, AIA Director of Design, CICADA Architecture Planning and CONTEXT Editor

great organization, they seem almost quaintly myopic in their role in the

published to mark that significant milestone. While the letters from the Executive Director and the President extoll the virtues of our

built environment in 1969. Executive Director William B. Chapman noted “…our cities are in a terrible mess…Architects are involved in less than 15% of the country’s new construction…we don’t adequately control the construction industry…under-paid…over legislated…” President H. Mather Lippincott, Jr. AIA noted the similarities to 1869. “Latrobe and Strickland, and Walter and Furness, to mention a few, faced then the entrenched system of builder-designers and the gentlemen-amateurs.”

Not willing to accept the status quo, he optimistically calls for a “new task for the second century…the added dimension of relevance, a responsibility to the needs of all men, of society as a total human environment.” Life seemed simpler then, surely less inclusive, but with an inkling that we could and should be doing better.

On the historic occasion of the 150th anniversary of AIA Philadelphia, we have reached out to many people to share stories of practice of architecture since our 100th birthday. In this issue we have attempted to create what we hope will be a record of not only where we have been, but where we are now, and some speculation about where we are headed. And while not encyclopedic, we do hope we’ve listened to a variety of voices. We hope to expand this further into a more comprehensive document to be published by 2021, the next time the National Convention returns to Philadelphia. We welcome your stories and would gratefully accept any volunteers in this effort!

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 5

COMMUNITY AIA Philadelphia

Hello Friends and Colleagues: Deciding how to commemorate our 150th Anniversary prompted many discussions about what the chapter should do/who should do it/what would it mean. I’m very proud of the sentiment that the Board settled on, which was that it was important to recognize where we’ve been…but that our main focus of 2019 should be on where the profession is going. It’s not a novel idea to reflect on your past while envisioning your future, but for the architectural profession, the stakes are high.

We need you to Speak Up. The urgency of climate change requires that the design and construction industry make radical changes to the way buildings are built and renovated.

How do we do that? Well, we don’t do it alone – but the answer is legislation. As an organization, we have to be more outspoken and advocate for legislation at the local, state, and federal level to push for sustainability standards. In 2019, AIA Philadelphia started working with a local lobbyist and our members testified before City Council on several sustainability initiatives, as well as on preservation and code issues. In 2020, we will be organizing meetings with City Council members on several important issues, and we need your participation! Details will be announced early 2020.

Culture Change Initiative. Thank you to Tya Winn for her article in this issue, her proposal that Philadelphia can be the city that begins to walk the walk when it comes to culturally competent firm culture and a strong pipeline for future designers. With the newly formed Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, we will form a Culture Change Initiative, which will be a dedicated group of people who will meet, discuss, review resources and best practices on how to change firm cultures to be inclusive and healthy places for people to work.

Design Awards Celebration was Incredible! Thank you to our Design Committee, especially the outgoing Co-Chairs Lonny Rossman and Josh Otto, for leading the changes and additional award categories for the 2019 awards cycle. There was a great diversity of firms and projects that won, and it felt like the awards really recognized the breadth of work that comes out of AIA Philadelphia firms. Congrats to all of the winners and to everyone who sponsored and attended the evening. The Fillmore was a terrific venue and next year I hope there is dancing.

Thank you to our Transitioning Committee Leaders. Thank you to our longstanding Co-Chairs of Women in Architecture, Alesa Rubendall and Karen Blanchard who have passed the torch for 2020. Also thank you again to Lonny Rossman and Josh Otto for their many years of service and leadership on the AIA Philadelphia Design Committee.

Thank you for another great year and here’s to a terrific 2020!

Cheers,

Rebecca Johnson Executive Director AIA Philadelphia Center / Architecture + Design

6 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

Look for these special 150th Anniversary shout-outs highlighting various organizations formed by AIA Philadelphia to capture new audiences and fill educational and programming voids within the design community.

COMMUNITY OUR CHALLENGE WAS TO DEFINE AREAS OF ACTIVITY—WHILE KEEPING THE SPACE OPEN ENOUGH FOR BIGGER GAMES, RUNNING AROUND, OR MORNING LINE-UP.

PHOTO: COMMUNITY DESIGN COLLABORATIVE

- EVAN WILBERT, STANTEC

Oxford Circle Christian Community Development Association (OCCCDA) and Carnell Elementary School have received the Collaborative’s 2019 Paul Sehnert Award for Community Design for the redesign of a schoolyard that is active from sunrise to sunset. Presented annually at the AIA Philadelphia Design Awards, our longstanding award has been renamed to honor the late Paul Sehnert, beloved Collaborative board leader and lifelong proponent of innovative urban design and development. Collaborative founder Dan Garofalo, AIA, introduced Paul to the Collaborative in 2010. He says, “Paul would be honored to have this award named after him. He was a tireless advocate for good design in all neighborhoods.”

Oxford Circle residents and Carnell faculty, students, and parents worked with a volunteer team of design professionals on schoolyard improvements to expand the play (and learning!) experience at Carnell and create an amenity for the entire community.

Currently, over 20 languages are spoken at Carnell Elementary School. Hilderbrand Pelzer, Principal of Carnell, says, “Oxford Circle has been a safe haven for immigrants and refugees coming to our city. While the community remains predominantly African American, it has grown more diverse.”

When Pelzer became principal of Carnell in 2012, he set to work with OCCCDA to welcome parents and other members of the community into the school. Outreach began with in-community meetings at the OCCCDA offices. The next step was to establish a family resource center inside the school. “Through our Family Resource Center, OCCCDA staff members are physically present in the school five times a week, building relationships with the parents and families of Carnell.,” says Pearl Wang-Herrera, Executive Director of OCCCDA. “Our schoolyard is only asphalt, some basketball courts, and a parking lot. We Carnell’s scholars shaped the conceptual design for their schoolyard.

have a large school with multiple recesses and gym classes… plus our gym also serves as our lunchroom,” says Pelzer. “We jumped at the opportunity to create an outside space that could do multiple things.”

The Family Resource Center only intensifies schoolyard use. “There are gym classes, recess, the after-school program, and the summer program. The schoolyard gets used from sunrise to sunset,” says Evan Wilbert, a civil engineer at Stantec and a volunteer on the Collaborative volunteer team. “Our challenge was to define areas of activity—while keeping the space open enough for bigger games, running around, or morning line-up.”

SCHOLARS DRIVE THE DESIGN Students (called scholars at Carnell) took a central role. Pelzer says, “Student representatives took ideas back to classroom. They led focus groups and presented student feedback at the next community task force meeting.” “It was really great to hear everyone's opinions and ideas. And having so many stakeholders helped keep the process authentic, “says Jen Leaman, Family Resource Coordinator.

She adds, “I believe it was the scholars who came up with the idea of a quiet space in the middle of a busy schoolyard – a place away from the bustle to allow for quiet reading or just having some down time. This is important in a school body of 900 scholars! We’re a diverse school and our kids have diverse ideas of fun.”

The centerpiece of the proposed schoolyard is a ground mural celebrating the community’s diversity. The mural will be ringed by a running path. A painted path will link the main and the Little Schoolhouse buildings. A new ramp and pathway will make the schoolyard accessible to everyone in the community. For active play, the basketball courts will be reconfigured to accommodate soccer and hockey games. An outdoor classroom and hang-out space with benches will provide an oasis within the larger space.

Engagement of local elected officials and the School District of Philadelphia during the design process resulted in enthusiastic, informed advocacy for funding. In October 2018, OCCCDA received a grant of nearly $200,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Greenways, Trails, and Recreation program and additional funds from Councilwoman Cherelle Parker for the first phase. Improvements will include the basketball and soccer courts, outdoor benches, a permeable play surface, and the running path.

Says Pelzer, “I’m excited about the schoolyard project because it’s tangible for the kids. Our other projects have benefitted them, but the schoolyard is their life!

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 7

8 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Architects Workshop The Philadelphia Architects Workshop, was established in late 1967 as a means of providing free or low cost services to both individuals and communities. It was one of the first community design centers in the country. Architect Augustus Baxter served as the director, and Gray Smith, AIA Philadelphia president in 1982, served as the architectural director. Hundreds of projects were completed, free of charge for groups who self-identified as “organized, fundless, and have a sound concept of what they wanted to do. Later Director David Cronrath noted that they helped provide design and planning services to over 90 community organizations a year and collaborated with the Community Legal Services Agency. It remained active for nearly fifteen years.

The Community Design Collaborative The Community Design Collaborative was

projects and competitions, and engaged

established in 1991 based on the model

the services of hundreds of volunteer

established by the Architects Workshop. A

architects, engineers, landscape architects,

group of self-described “anarchist architects”

cost estimators, and design students.

including Don Matzkin, Sally Harrison,

There

are

21

Board

members

Alice Berman, and others established the

representing the many facets of the design

Collaborative to help communities with

and planning community, and an Advisory

planning and design support to strengthen

Council of nearly 45. The main committees

neighborhoods. AIA Philadelphia supported

are Design, Research & Development,

the CDC by providing a workspace within their

and Governance. The CDC has a full-

headquarters (literally a supply closet on the

time staff of 3, and 2 part-time. Funding

second floor of the Architect’s Building) and

comes primarily from grants and individual

a modest startup fund. A 501(c) (3) non-profit

corporate support.

organization, the group has provided millions of dollars of free services, coordinated their own Alice K. Berman, AIA, principal of Alice K. Berman Associates, LLC. Alice is a founder of the Community Design Collaborative in 1991 and a critical thinker and actor, guiding the Collaborative's progression from a pilot program of AIA Philadelphia, to a start-up nonprofit organization, to the nationally-regarded community design innovator that we know today.

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 9

UP CLOSE

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE, 1969-2019 INTERVIEW WITH PETER SAYLOR

BY RACHEL S. SCHADE, AIA

10 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

Early in October, I met with Peter Saylor, FAIA, to talk about evolution of practice since our 100th birthday in 1969. Over coffee we chatted, so the following is a blend of notes Peter prepared and our conversation.

PS: �After working for a number of years at Mitchell/Giurgola Architects & Associates, Charles Dagit Jr. and I decided in 1970 that we should form our own practice with his father, Charles Dagit Sr. from Henry D Dagit & Sons. As classmates at Penn through our undergraduate and graduate years together, we were comfortable founding Dagit/Saylor Architects opening our first office at 1704 Walnut Street. The two of us had learned much about the design of buildings from our pervious employers, but we knew relatively little about the realities of being a small to medium size practice at that time. Charlie’s father was the business partner from Henry D. Dagit & Sons, and with him at the helm of our new firm we were very fortunate to have the experience he brought and taught as we set out to seek clients who would benefit from our focus to produce quality design projects and build a new reputation.

“… Like many starting firms, Charlie and I soon became active in the Chapter and took advantage of its various committees which helped us to develop and strengthen our goals to achieve great design discipline.

Like most new young firms, the first few projects we produced were residences, but very quickly we were blessed with Charlie’s father’s many years of practice that quickly enabled him to market for our new practice with his past client connections and to advance Dagit/Saylor with larger educational and medical projects. “… as Dagit/Saylor grew, in 1974 we moved to larger quarters at 1501 Walnut Street with the continued mentoring of Charles Dagit Sr. for about a year until he formally retired. Managing and growing our practice then required fast learning experiences for production of documents which at that time were yet to be enhanced with changing technology that would bring computers, CAD technology, and much digital methodology. Rather, we were still designing first by yellow trace concepts, followed by hand mylar schematics, then new sets of mylar design developments, followed by yet other sets of mylar construction documents. This time-consuming process was the norm in the 70s, and the only new technology to assist our production was an IBC electric typewriter for printed specs on mimeograph which were collated manually. “…Dagit/Saylor’s second move 1980 to 1133 Arch Street provided a significant amount of more space and, as the as technology was growing along with our practice, our first computers for bookkeeping were installed as a leap forward for firm efficiency. The size and number of projects continued to grow for the firm and the larger space of the new office enabled the firm to hire more architects to expand the firm’s capabilities of production. My support for the AIA Philadelphia Chapter was a continuing opportunity to benefit from its committee operations and to learn useful relationships with the large Chapter membership.

This extracurricular service benefited Dagit/Saylor’s networking and ultimately resulted in the Chapter’s invitation for me to serve as AIA Philadelphia’s 1981 Board President. This distinct honor was accepted by me and provided both me and the firm with a deeper connection to many prospective clients and professional friends for years to come. “… In 1990 Dagit/Saylor moved to 11th & Vine Street where the larger space provided opportunity to expand the size of our staff. The size and complexity of our new client projects soon demanded improved technology which ultimately led to three or four CAD computer stations for the first time. This was less than ideal as approximately 20 members of our current architectural staff had to sign up and wait for the use of only 3 or 4 computers to produce document designs. Clearly this was a leap forward even if only modest. Despite the fact we lacked enough computers, in the early 1990s Dagit/Saylor was one of the earlier architectural firms to move deeper into the digital electronic age and ahead of numerous other firms of the time. The arrival of the new technology improved our efficiency, quality of documents and the ability of the firm to increase production of larger and more quantity of client work. Higher Education and cultural projects became a major focus for the firm with local and out of state site locations for Oberlin College, The Franklin Mint, Pennsylvania Ballet, College of Wooster, Ursinus College, Beloit College, Shippensburg University. Such prosperity was an exciting time for Dagit/Saylor. Regrettably, by 1997 our firm’s last move was required due to the landlord’s desire to totally renovate and vacate

all floors. The Vine Street building was subsequently condemned so we had to move for the fourth time with only 3 days’ notice. “…Relocation to Broad & Chestnut Street provide Dagit/Saylor with a Center City location in an office formerly occupied by another architectural firm…The departure from our Vine Street location prompted the firm to jump fully into the digital age by providing every staff member with and individual CAD computer...The evolution and success of the firm’s growth in the early 1990s led to increase its traditional education and cultural projects by expanding into multiple museum projects, including Gwyned Mercy Academy Performing Arts, Pennsylvania Academy of fine Arts, Chemical Heritage Foundation Museum, State of New Mexico History Museum and The Franklin Institute Karabots Pavilion.

“As the new century began in 2000, similar growth was reasonably steady, but by 2008 the “Great Recession” was affecting many architectural firms, including Dagit/Saylor, and undoubtably AIA Philadelphia. Our workload was diminishing, and staff members were beginning to become nervous and depart. It is at this juncture that Charlie Dagit decided in 2007 to retire and Bill Gregg, an associate for our firm, and I decided to carry on as SaylorGregg Architects. The reducing number of projects continued to affect the need for our larger office and the concerns about moving yet again finally drove a decision to seek a potential for SaylorGregg to find and merge its practice with another firm. Consulting with Peter Piven, his assistance enabled an introduction to Jacobs Wyper Architects and their desire for growth with the educational and cultural disciplines they sought, and we could provide. In 2014 the merge was finalized; Bill is now off with a new practice with his wife and I continue to remain as a Principal now with Jacobs Wyper.

“The changes in the practice of architecture from the founding of Dagit/ Saylor Architects in 1970 until today are clearly profound. Thinking back on how much we had to design everything by hand in our early days may seem romantic and artistic, but, benefits from today’s computerized world greatly enhance the accuracy and ability to create realistic threedimensional building designs much faster. In some regards it is almost comical how the technology now can be very precise, or if desired and it practically can produce renderings that look like they are hand drawn.

“Regarding the AIA Philadelphia of 1970 compared to the AIA Philadelphia of today, the Chapter now offers far more opportunity to assist and educate its members as they progress with their architectural practices than it could when Charlie and I each first became involved with its programs years ago. Nevertheless, no one has ever managed to come up with a better definition by Vitruvius as presented in the 1971 Yearbook of what our profession is all about: FIRMNESS , COMMODITY, and DELIGHT. These three elements still make architecture.” n Rachel S. Schade, AIA is a full-time faculty member in the Drexel Architecture program; teaching at various levels in the curriculum and coordinating with students and firms to find meaningful internships.

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 11

12 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

The Preservation Alliance “Over 70% of Philadelphia’s buildings were built before 1940,” according to Executive Director Paul Steinke of the Preservation Alliance, so it’s only natural that this organization has a vital role to play protecting historically significant structures. Raising awareness and celebrating the rich heritage of our city is a tall order for the small staff of five. Supported through a membership base of 750, hosting the annual Preservation Achievement Awards, and collecting a percentage of easements that protect historic properties, the Alliance seeks ways to create more economic incentives for both property owners and developers.

Philadelphia has seen some of the earliest efforts in America to preserve our past, including the successful campaign to save the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) from demolition for development of more lucrative real estate investments in 1812.

Philadelphia’s first historic preservation activist, Frances Wister was instrumental in saving the Academy of Music and the Powel House.

She engaged in heated debates at Zoning Commission meetings and supported efforts to survey the historic properties of the city. Steinke notes that this effort is still critical to the future of preservation. Without a proper inventory and official recognition of the importance of specific sites, valuable resources are at risk of demolition in the name of development. There have been some significant victories such as the recent rejuvenation of the Metropolitan Opera House and some sad losses, such as the forthcoming erection of a residential tower on the historic block of Jewelers’ Row. Raising public awareness and advocating for the revitalization of neighborhoods, not just monuments, is the mission of this important organization.

Paul Steinke is the Executive Director of the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. Prior to working with the Preservation Alliance, he was the General Manager of Reading Terminal Market for 13 years, Finance Director for the Center City District, and the first Executive Director of the University City District.

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 13

FRESH IDEAS FOR PRACTICE NOW

BY FIFTEEN ARCHITECTURE+DESIGN

As we experience the disruption of other industries, are we doing enough to change the design and construction industry, what will disruption look like, and what type of practice model will it take?

As a new firm, we seriously considered this question. With an eye on revolutionizing the practice, making an impact, and challenging business as usual, we set up the organization, people, processes, and tools to provide these answers. Looking to other industries for models that align with the company’s mission, our practice is building a forward-thinking organization where collaborative people, transformative ideas, and transparency will propel our industry forward.

REIMAGINING THE BUSINESS MODEL The traditional Architecture business model is often a top-down hierarchy, which creates a layered reporting structure, hinders participation, and can result in slow-to-change organizations. Learning from the Tech industry, an alternate model meets the trademarks of an 14 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

agile organization. The team is built around end-to-end accountability, streamlining decision making, and mining the expertise and creativity of the entire team. The result is a flexible, creative, company able to adapt to the fast pace and changing nature of the work we are facing today.

Inspired by interdisciplinary models, our firm envisioned a transformative Design practice. The first step was to find the right business partners and to set up a company structure that will remain stable as the company grows. With diverse backgrounds in Design, Construction, and Business, our skills complement each other’s strengths, provide varied perspectives, and offer a robust portfolio of experience.

SHIFTING CULTURE FIFTEEN was designed with the best leadership in mind. Today, that leadership is 100% women giving us a fresh perspective. Our unique structure has served as a springboard in shaping our policies and our

processes, resulting in what we see as a more equitable environment and addressing one of the more challenging problems we see in our industry: talent shortage. We continue to experience an unprecedented demand for employees in the architecture profession, and top talent is leaving our industry for more attractive positions promising recognition, high return on investment, and work-life balance.

By challenging preconceived ideas about schedule, flexibility, and prioritizing transparency and trust, we foster an entrepreneurial model where everyone plays a role in growing the firm, mentoring others, and for supporting innovation every step of the way. We are unafraid of allowing the best ideas to come to the top, and promote a one-for-allall-for-one mentality.

In the practice of Architecture, the tools have improved, technology is driving product innovation, yet the way we deliver projects, set up timelines, and structure our fees, are tied to a century-old model.

We are excited to work with creative people and thought leaders to reinvent, reconsider, and rework the business of architecture. Together with our collaborators, we are working to develop new ways of integrating tools and data analysis into the Design and Construction process. Understanding our client pain points, we are broadening our palette of services beyond the conventional phases of design.

Ultimately, we aim to test these ideas by developing our own projects as pilots. The industry is ripe for change...the time is now...and we are excited to be a part of it. n

NEW PERSPECTIVES Our drive to challenge the status quo keeps us energized and curious, always asking ourselves how can we improve the process: Why is it done this way? How could it be done better? How can we provide great design and exceptional value to our clients?

Veering from the traditional model, we engage our “brain trust” made up of experts in various fields, aligned in our vision, and who will collaborate on projects to deliver a more holistic, inclusive, and tailored product. The fields represented include Psychology, Social-Behavioral Science, Real Estate Development, Construction, and Facilities Management. In line with our mission to drive cross-practice solutions, we hold “Think Tanks” designed to address the bigger issues facing our industry, the community, and the world at large.

FIFTEEN is an Architecture and Design practice committed to delivering a new model for improving client experience and project delivery through smart partnerships and processes. Founding partners Ximena Valle, AIA, LEEP AP, Heather Hersch, LEED AP BD+C, Jill Lavine, RA, LEED AP BD+C and Mary Beth Di Figlia, RA established FIFTEEN in late 2017.

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 15

16 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Emerging Architects AIA Philadelphia’s Young Architects Forum (founded in 1989) and the Associate Committee joined forces in 2016 to form a new group which would build a bridge to connect recent graduates in architecture with young architects currently working in the profession, the committee that emerged, the Philadelphia Emerging Architects (PEA) is a committee under AIA Philadelphia with a mission is to INSPIRE, CONNECT, GROW, CREATE, and LEAD. The target community includes recent graduates and architects licensed less than ten years but is open to all. The committee is responsible for regular networking events, construction tours and programs geared toward professional growth, as well as other community-focused events such as the annual CANstruction® PHL competition which is a regular top donor to local charity Philabundance.

“We do our best to cater to a wide variety of architects in their formative years,” says committee co-chair Rich Vilabrera, Jr. Associate AIA, “from the more concept driven discussions about projects in our 'Stories from an Architect series' to the more technical and detail-oriented approach taken in our construction tours, it helps to expose our young architects to firms of different scales and design approaches.”

Vilabrera and co-chair Kevin Malawski, AIA spoke enthusiastically about connecting with others to provide an inclusive and engaged rising generation of leaders. They are encouraged by the number of new firms forming in the welcoming and accessible environment of Philadelphia design. In addition to leading the committee, Malawski and Vilabrera also serve as liaisons between regional and AIA Pennsylvania chapters. The PEA award was initiated to identify rising star firms in the profession and inspire young architects.

Kevin Malawski, AIA, is founding principal of Karbon Architects, an emerging Philadelphia architecture and design firm. Kevin has over ten years of experience working as an architect with a background predominantly in commercial, academic, and sports architecture.

Rich Vilabrera, Jr., Assoc. AIA, is the Design Technology Specialist at KieranTimberlake where he assists project teams with efficient processes for digital modeling. Former Associate Director of the AIA Philadelphia Board of Directors, Rich is the current Secretary of the Board and co-chair of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusive (EDI) Committee.

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 17

IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON DESIGN

BY JAMIE UNKEFER, AIA

The tools at our disposal in architectural practice today are truly remarkable. The possibilities for new ways to conceive, visualize and fabricate are greater than ever before. Information can be passed instantaneously and unconstrained by location, providing unlimited opportunities for collaboration. Technologies such as BIM, parametric design, and rapid prototyping offer new ways to engage in the process of building. Outmoded procedures such as shop drawings will become obsolete as our acceptance of these tools grows, requiring instead simultaneous input from owners, designers and fabricators into the conception of a design. These shifts will fundamentally change the nature of our working relationships. Clearly, to remain relevant architects must continue to embrace technology. Perhaps, however, a more critical question for architects is how technology influences our thinking and our designs. As the adage goes, it’s not the tool, it’s how you use it.

Throughout history shifts in technology have had a profound impact on design, with developments in industry ultimately dictating what we build. Four by eight sheet goods are a pervasive example of how industry’s appropriation of a technology can fundamentally shape our built environment. In many ways, we accept the impact of these technological shifts without examination, allowing technology to become an end in itself. In doing so, architecture becomes vulnerable to misappropriation. However, buildings and public spaces are not, or should not be, the by-product of technological determinism: they must remain persistent reminders of our humanity.

The dilemma of technology’s relationship with architecture is by no means new. Frank Lloyd Wright in his essay "The Art and Craft of the Machine," given originally in a 1901 address to the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society, wrestles with the impact of technology on architecture at that time. The “Machine,” Wright argues, had dealt a “death blow” to traditional thinking about art and architecture. He attributes this demise to artists (and architects) having shunned the Machine because human greed had usurped it and made it a “terrible engine of enslavement, deluging the world with murderous ubiquity, which was plainly enough the damnation of their art and craft.” Here, there are some parallels in the relationship of the artisan culture to the industry of mass production today.

Wright, in his effort to reaffirm the preeminence of architecture as a purveyor of cultural meaning, urged that we embrace the Machine and its capacity to allow us to be more fully human, breathing into it the “thrill of ideality – a soul”, liberating it to serve its higher purpose of providing for humanity by “saving the most precious thing in the world — human effort.”1 Similarly, modern architects later in the 20th century sought to form

18 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

an alliance with technology, prescribing to it a new sense of space and materiality. Walter Gropius, defining the emerging aesthetic of the New Architecture writes, “a breach has been made with the past that allows us to envisage a new aspect of architecture corresponding to the technical civilization we live in now that the morphology of dead styles has been destroyed; and we are returning to honesty of thought and feeling.”2 The new architecture embraces standardization as a product of rationality. Here Gropius is careful to distinguish between standardization and mechanization, recognizing the potential for mechanization to diminish our humanity. As Gropius writes “were mechanization an end itself it would be an unmitigated calamity, robbing life of half its fullness and variety by stunting men and woman into sub-human, robot-like automatons.”3 For Gropius, as with Wright, the aim of the Bauhaus was to avert the “enslavement” of the machine by evolving goods specifically designed for mass production.

Both Wright and Gropius share the fear of technology leading to the usurpation of our humanness, of becoming the automaton. Instead they advocate, though with fundamentally different aesthetic ends, for architecture to embrace a new way of designing, imbuing technology with the quality of humanity that it inherently lacks. Perhaps the apotheosis of this philosophy is the Eames House, built entirely from catalogues serving the aerospace industry, every component the product of industry and technology, the sum of the parts nonetheless comprising a building of profound humanity. Despite inspirational works such as this, as we have shifted in this century from mechanical to digital technology, the promise of Wright and Gropius’ vision seems largely unfulfilled.

The German philosopher Walter Benjamin was similarly concerned that the increased role of technology in our culture was distancing us from human experiences once fundamental to our lives. In his essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” Benjamin argues that the ability to reproduce a work of art has led to a loss of authenticity, or ‘aura’. Removed from its history, and stripped of the ritual of engaging in its own context, “even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.”4 For Benjamin, our inability to experience art in an authentic form fundamentally changes our relationship to the work, ultimately impacting its social and political meaning. In this, Benjamin perceives a danger of self-alienation, leading society into a state of distraction that leaves us susceptible to manipulation by socio-political forces.

It would not be a stretch to argue that we are in a greater state of distraction than ever before in history. Here, for Benjamin, architecture offers a possible way forward. Whereas art is primarily experienced

PHOTO: HALKIN MASON PHOTOGRAPHY

visually, requiring concentration, buildings are experienced both visually and tactilely. A tourist contemplates a work of architecture from a distance, but a user experiences a building in a tactile way, living or working in it. Tactile perception, unlike visual perception, is largely accomplished through habit and, in this somatic manner, offers the potential for a more fundamental mode of knowledge. Thus architecture, through this ability to participate in the habitual realm, offers the possibility of overcoming our state of distraction.

To do so, the idea of “craft” becomes important – not just in the cask conditioned hazy IPA or small, batch bourbon way (both of which I love) – but as a means of bringing consciousness of our shared humanity. Though technology is derived from the Greek word for craft, “techne,” the concepts have become increasingly at odds with each other. In our contemporary context, craft has largely become associated with artisanal or handcrafted goods, relegating it to the realm of luxury. With an emphasis on the small, the local, and the limited addition, it is constrained in its ability to broadly influence culture. Technology, on the other hand, has become increasingly everpresent and incorporeal. This distinction is perpetuated by political and economic systems oriented towards mass production and benefitting, at some level, from a collective state of distraction.

As the nature of today’s technology has moved from mechanical to digital – from making systems that will construct buildings to organizing information that will govern the entire building delivery process – the challenge for architecture seems more pressing than ever. Evolving technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence create new levels of complexity in their capacity to usurp context, space, time and experience. The digital age is no longer in its infancy, but we are still grappling with our understanding of what it fully means for our culture.

Likewise, we are still grappling with how we use these new tools in a humanistic way.

Craft in this context is not nostalgia for a bygone era, nor an ideological argument about form or style. There are infinite ways technology can be integrated into architectural projects, moving between the realm of highly technologically driven projects to more subtle explorations of materials and handicraft. As an example, the

work of the Boston Based design firm Höweler + Yoon uses technology to provide insight into social norms and human experience. Their design for the Collier Memorial at the M.I.T. employs the capacities of advanced structural computations and digital fabrication to innovate traditional masonry vault construction. The result is a work which is both emotionally evocative and enduring. At DIGSAU, we are interested in juxtapositions of the technologically driven materials of the contemporary construction industry with the patina of natural materials and expressions of workmanship. The contrast elicits a subtle awareness of a shared humanity as we experience it in our habitual realm.

Without question, architects must fully utilize all technologies available in addressing our world’s most pressing challenges – climate change, population growth, and social justice. However, in doing so we should strive to see technology, in its original meaning, as the study of craft; ultimately a mode of knowledge about ourselves, embedded at its core in the natural world, resonant with context and history. Here, we might find ongoing relevance in Wright’s invocation that architects breath a “soul” into the Machine. n Jamie Unkefer, AIA is a principal at DIGSAU where he has extensive experience in the management of projects at all scales. He is a Registered Architect in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a member of the Carpenter’s Company of the City and County of Philadelphia.

Citations: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Frank Lloyd Wright, “The Art and Craft of the Machine”, Brush and Pencil, Volume 8 (May 1901), 90 Walter Gropius, The New Architecture and the Bauhaus, Trans P. Morton Shand, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1965), 19 Walter Gropius, The New Architecture and the Bauhaus, Trans P. Morton Shand, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1965), 31 Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, 1935 in Arendt, Hannah ed. Illuminations, trans Harry Zohn (New York: Schocken Books, 1969), 3

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 19

20 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

The Regional Urban Design Assistance Team In 1990, postindustrial cities were suffering from the seemingly intractable effects of disinvestment, poverty and infrastructural decay. Seeing its particular impact on North Philadelphia, AIA Philadelphia and AIA National, together with neighborhood leaders organized the visit of a R/UDAT (Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team) to help craft a vision for a sustainable future. The team engaged neighborhood and city leaders and local residents in tours, interviews, design charettes, and televised town meetings. They proposed strategies for rebuilding around the existing strengths of North Philadelphia’s commercial and transport hubs and social infrastructure; for building new housing and green space in the broad swaths of vacant land, and for introducing new industries around the rebuilding process.

Over the next decade these ideas found form: the adaptive reuse of the North Philadelphia Station as a transit-served commercial center, innovative greening programs, and new housing typologies within the neighborhoods, and for the AIA, the development of the Community Design Collaborative – a means of carrying forward the mission of a socially engaged profession.

Sally Harrison is an architect, urban designer, educator and scholar whose creative work and research explore the social impacts of design in underserved communities.

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 21

20 20 EXPRESSION

AGE

MEMBERSHIP

153

EMERITI

213

ASSOCIATE ARCHITECT

39

FELLOW

20's ....... 138

1184

ARCHITECT

30's ....... 311

7

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATE ARCHITECT

40's ....... 289

BY THE

313

ALLIED FIRMS

. . . . . . .

252

268

ARCHITECT FIRMS

....... 50's

277

....... 60's

219

....... 70's+

48

22 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

....... N/A

019 ETHNICITY 69

ASIAN

24

BLACK OR AFRICAN AMERICAN

35

HISPANIC OR LATIN AMERICAN

NUMBERS SEX FEMALE

415 1105 MALE

PREFER NOT TO DISCLOSE

9 67 N/A

Demographic highlights for the AIA Philadelphia Chapter

3

NATIVE HAWAIIAN OR OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDER

25

PREFER NOT TO DISCLOSE

23

TWO OR MORE RACES

1158 WHITE

255 N/A

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 23

Rediscover the Many Benefits of Concrete Block.

CIVIL ENGINEERING | STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING | FALL PROTECTION SERVICES

Single Wythe Concrete Masonry is not only innovative, it’s also fire safe, affordable and beautiful.

Visit our online Design Resource Center for the very latest in masonry design information - videos, BIM resources, design notes, and CAD and Revit® tools.

YOUR LOCAL CONCRETE PRODUCTS GROUP PRODUCER:

300 SPRINGHOUSE DRIVE | COLLEGEVILLE, PA STRUCTURAL CONSULTATION SERVICES FOR A NEW 2-STORY, 20,000 SF MEDICAL OFFICE BUILDING

Commercial/Retail | Education | Energy/Solar | Government/Military Healthcare | Manufacturing/Warehouse | Petrochemical/Refinery Pharmaceutical/Biopharmaceutical | Residential/Mixed-Use

THE SUPPORT YOU NEED resources.concreteproductsgroup.com

Edwards & Company Building Envelope Consultants

P H I L A D E L P H I A

Concept Development Design Assistance Peer Review Construction Administration Envelope Commissioning Performance Investigation

215-703-0628 | www.edwardsbec.com | info@edwardsbec.com

24 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

PHOTO: ANDERS HELLBERG [CC BY-SA (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY-SA/4.0)]

BY SCOTT KELLY Remember last century when we used to ask product reps if their product had any recycled content in it? We would often get no response or even a flat out lie back from them. I would often joke that Homasote, a product I have used for three decades because it was made mostly from City of Philadelphia recycled papers and made in Trenton NJ, would not talk about how green and sustainable their product was because the market was not ready to know.

In the beginning of this century, and with the introduction of benchmarking programs such as LEED, everything changed. We, as a profession, hit a pivotal point; a point where we had math and science to focus us on goals and give us something to measure what we all designed, constructed, and operated. We also heard that this green thing was just a passing fad and it would be gone like all other fads in a few years.

The dialogue began to change substantially, and product manufacturers and designers alike scrambled to talk about how green their work and products were so as to not be left behind.

Another decade passed and in the 2010’s we saw the benchmarking systems spread worldwide and diversify greatly with LEED, Passive House, WELL, Living Building Challenge, Enterprise Green Communities, Green Globes, NGBS, etc. Most of those benchmarking systems developed multiple options for different types of projects trying to grab more market share.

Each benchmarking system developed its own niche and its own way evolved. LEED often used other best management practices to refer to such as ASHRAE, and when LEED could update without being politically blocked, it became more rigorous and created better buildings. This resulted in LEED moving from a lighter green building standard to more deep which was the clear goal of USGBC. The improvement rate has been slower but still moving us to net zero energy by the year 2030.

Systems like Passive House drew a firm line as a much deeper system in regard to energy and indoor air quality. They drew an absolute line saying that we all should live off of about 2,000 watts per person which would drop us theoretically to 20% of the energy use from where we were. This too evolved in unique ways. The first is the Passive House Institute (PHIUS) version of this learned some lessons and added in on-site verification which in my opinion, is one of its greatest successes.

My guess is the Passive House Institute (European origin version) will follow suit soon enough. Second, PHIUS looks like they are changing the goal to move to “Net Zero ready” and then to Net Zero Energy even though we expected a static line due to the philosophy of a budget per person in watts.

These two Passive organizations (PHIUS and PHI) have been locked in a battle for the better part of a decade, but do teach us all a lesson although it can be a bit unfriendly. Both want to set the standards we adhere to and since there is a great amount of competition between the two, the end results improve at a more rapid clip than others and does a far better job addressing regional issues than it did in previous iterations.

One more organization came to the forefront. They just did not

want to save some energy and reduce environmental impacts but be restorative environmentally and socially. This one, the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) set their Living Building Challenge goal to do more good now, and not wait another decade to do it. Their system asks for net positive energy and water without creating toxicity from mining material to end of use disposal in our work.

Living Building Challenge (LBC) was quite a large goal and after more than a decade less than 25 teams achieved it internationally. As ILFI and LBC evolved, they realized that there was quite a gap between the best LEED Platinum or Passive House projects and what the few LBC projects achieved. ILFI decided to close that gap by adding a simplified version of LBC called LBC CORE. CORE addresses the 10 most fundamental parts of LBC. To me, it is a stepping stone so clients and teams can figure out how to reach for the full “Living” certification.

Core fits nicely in the gap above LEED Platinum and Passive but gives people an understanding that the higher goals of “Living” certification are achievable with work. I expect LBC Core certification will have large market adoption in the next decade.

Having achieved the full Living Certification and completing several Net Zero projects too, I have to reflect back as this work has been the most meaningful part of my career and the value to our firm is not describable within the constraints of this article. The philosophy, advocacy and performance certification of Living Building Challenge has truly changed my life.

As we move forward getting ready for the next decade, I expect to still hear these rating system tools are too hard, too complicated and not worth it from my fellow older practitioners and to me this is OK. We will have generational attrition soon enough.

The younger voices of clients and practitioners are coming, and I have been listening to them and waiting for them for quite some time.

We know where their values are, and we see them take action in their personal and professional lives. Just watch the YouTube videos from a young woman you may have heard of named Greta Thunberg if you are in doubt! n Scott Kelly, AIA, LEED FELLOW, CPHC, LFA, is co-founder and principal at Re:Vision, a sustainable design architecture and consulting firm bringing in-depth experience in green projects at a variety of scales.

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 25

THE CONSENT DECREE

BY PETER PIVEN, FAIA Imagine for a moment that you are an architect with a small to medium size practice in 1970. You have produced a steady stream of smaller commercial and educational projects, some with distinction. You are thinking about how to diversify and grow your firm.

Coincidentally, one of your clients sits on his alma mater’s capital projects advisory board. Prompted by you, he asks that you be considered for a project on the college campus, larger and more complicated than you have previously done. You submit credentials and are scheduled for an interview during which you will have to describe your approach to the project and how you will charge for your services.

You are confident in your ability to present your ideas, but are concerned about how to charge for services because you’ve never done a project of this specific type, size or complexity.

How can you proceed?

You might know architects who have done similar projects and who might be willing to discuss their fees, or maybe not. You might have friends working in other firms that have done similar projects and might know how their firm’s fees were developed, or maybe not. But in 1970 you would have had another resource: the AIA Chapter’s fee schedule.

Many, perhaps most, AIA Chapters developed fee schedules available to their members. These schedules listed project degrees of complexity on the y axis, and the cost of the work in dollars on the x axis, and recommended fee percentages at the intersections, with percentages diminishing as project construction costs increased. With such a fee schedule in hand you could quote a fee based on percentage of construction cost for project like yours on the schedule, or that could be interpolated from others closely resembling yours. At the very least you would have a head-start.

What happened to make that option unavailable?

Following several years of informal discussions with AIA in the late 60s, the United States Department of Justice asserted in 1971 that AIA’s prohibition against members engaging in competitive bidding for architectural services was restraint of trade in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. After careful consideration and expert legal advice, rather than contest the assertion in court, AIA consented to a Final Judgment (known as the Consent Decree) on June 19, 1972, that enjoined and forbade any future Institute prohibitions or policies against engaging in competitive bidding for professional services. As part of its obligation to meet requirements of the judgment, AIA prepared and disseminated A Guide to Compliance that included this statement, “According to Court Order “neither the Institute nor any component is permitted to have a fee schedule. Professional Fee Schedules have been held to be unlawful price fixing.”

26 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

In fulfillment of the obligations of the Consent Decree, AIA removed all fee schedules from all its various state and local offices and presented personal and video presentations explaining the requirement for the change in each of those offices, at national and local conventions, and by placing articles in its various printed publications. The section of the Ethics Code referring to prohibition of fee competition was deleted. The possibility of referring to AIA-developed fee schedules no longer existed.

In fact, discovery of further use of such fee schedules could have subjected the user, and AIA, to substantial financial penalties.

(As an interesting sidelight, when the Justice Department made similar assertions against the major engineering organizations, those organizations contested the assertions and lost, and appealed that decision and lost again, having spent what was understood to be $1,000,000 in their unsuccessful defense.)

The immediate result of the withdrawal of fee schedules from the market was that architects who relied on them were left without a way to determine fees. It became clear that many architects, who had been using fee schedules to determine fees, had little if any understanding of the underlying economics of their practices.

How were these conditions remedied?

AIA’s elected leaders and staff decided that something needed to be done to assist its members to be better informed about the financial aspects of their practices. The idea of a unified AIA Financial Management System was established by the Financial Management Task Force of the AIA’s 1976 national Office Management Committee when it completed identifying the components of a comprehensive system and prepared the first outline in an “umbrella“ book. Separated from the parent committee in 1977/1978, a small financial management task force concentrated on developing the content for the book Financial Management for Architects. Robert Mattox, FAIA, was the author.

Robert Allan Class, AIA, who had been a principal of Philadelphia’s Martin, Stewart, Noble & Class, Architects, was appointed director of AIA’s practice division and staff administrator of the project. The writing and publication of the book were under the direction of the 1979 Financial Management Committee that I chaired.

The AIA Financial Management System replaced earlier publications including The Economics of Architectural Practice (1968), Profit Planning in Architectural Practice (1968) and Methods of Compensation for Architectural Services (1969) by Case & Co., and Financial Management for Architectural Firms: A Manual of Accounting Procedures (1970), prepared with the assistance of Arthur Anderson & Co. AIA also published a revised edition of Standardized Accounting for Architects (1978), by Robert Mattox, and related forms to explain how manual accounting systems could provide basic data for record keeping and

reporting. The Computer-based Financial Management Service (CFMS) has been offered to professional services firms since 1971. Another component, Compensation Guidelines, included my Compensation Guidelines for Small Firms.

Lectures, seminars and workshops were prepared and offered at national and component conventions to inform and educate architects about financial management, in general, but also to demonstrate how keeping financial data in a consistent and organized way could be used to develop an understanding of the financial cost of operating their practices and the relationship between revenues (fees) and direct (project) expenses, and between revenues and indirect (overhead) expenses, and how to use that information to develop and monitor project fees and budgets.

Beyond its importance in replacing reliance on fee schedules that no longer existed, architects learned to take the next step and began looking at other important operating relationships, including: • profit: net income divided by net revenue • utilization: direct (project hours or dollars divided by total direct (project) plus indirect (overhead) hours or dollars • indirect (overhead) expense ratio: total indirect (overhead) expense divided by direct (project) salary expense • net multiple: net revenue divided by direct (project) salary expense Then, after standards were developed, made available and understood to be reasonable and effective ways to keep data, cost information could be and was gathered, compiled and shared with others without any fear of anti-competitive behavior. Eventually, private companies, e.g., Harper & Shuman, the creator of the Computer-based Financial Management Service, and other organizations including AIA gathered such information and made it available to their clients and members.

What came next?

In 1971, Harper & Shuman’s Computer-based Financial Management Service became available to all design professionals, particularly architects. At first, financial information was compiled on punch-cards and, for most firms, run offsite on IBM 360s, printed on perforated computer paper and delivered in large stacks. Just a few years later, desktop computers became available and affordable to most offices, allowing data to be input into a central office computer that did the calculations and printed project and office reports. Later still, desktop computers were replaced by laptop, smaller desktop, and hand-held devices. Recently, many configurations allowed data to be input on-line and/or remotely.

What about the Consent Degree?

The Consent Decree still exists, is in force and is respected in practice.

Fee schedules are not likely to be re-established, except in the unlikely circumstance of the reversal or alteration of the Sherman Antitrust Act. That said, architects no longer need fee schedules to determine fees.

They have become more savvy about the elemental financial equation – revenue minus expense equals profit – more aware of the importance of financial management, and more knowledgeable about organizing and using financial data in their own interests. It all started with a big bang – the withdrawal of fee schedules from the marketplace. n Peter Piven, FAIA, is principal consultant at Peter Piven Management Consultants working with architects, engineers, planners, interior designers, graphic designers, and other design professionals to improve their practices and prospects.

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 27

28 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

The Design Advocacy Group In 2001, six Philadelphia architects, planners

robust discussion. There are currently 1800

more. Meetings are held at 8 a.m. on the

and “design junkies” created an organization

people in the database that receive regular

first Thursday of each month at the Center

that would provide a platform for advocacy,

notices of upcoming topics and events.

for Architecture and Design. Schedule and

discussion and sharing ideas about design,

The primary intent of DAG is to foster

agendas can be found at designadvocacy.

development and planning. Now nearing

public dialogue and to advocate on issues

org. DAG Chair Elise Vider notes that

their 20th year, DAG has sponsored monthly

of the built environment. DAG provides

with the exception of a funded part-time

meetings on a wide range of time sensitive

expert testimony before government

position (a DAG Fellow), the organization

topics as historic preservation, transportation

agencies, writes letters and editorials in

is all-volunteer. Funding is supported by

and walkability, the public realm, public

local news outlets and partners with other

the William Penn Foundation and by much

policy, the waterfronts and design equity.

advocacy organizations. DAG also sponsors

appreciated tax-deductible contributions.

Participation is free and open to all, however

occasional special events, including tours,

The Design Advocacy Group is a project

the presentations and conversations that

gatherings and public forums on topics

of CultureTrust Greater Philadelphia, a

follow are all “off-the-record” to ensure a

including congestion, preservation and

charitable 501(c)(3) trust.

Elise Vider is the chair of Design Advocacy Group and is an award-winning professional writer/editor/project manager with extensive experience in journalism and non-profit communications.

Center for Architecture and Design The Center for Architecture and Design (the

Collaborative, and the Center’s staff offices.

“Center”) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

The Center’s mission is to engage and

that was created by the Philadelphia chapter

educate the public about the importance

of the American Institute of Architects in 2002

of architecture and design to the quality of

to engage the public about architecture and

their lives. It strives to accomplish its mission

design. Over the past 16 years, the Center

through 3 main goals: (1) celebrate and

has grown its outreach and impact, especially

promote the built environment and related

because it is known as a brick and mortar hub

design disciplines, (2) champion the value of

for thought leaders, community members,

thoughtful architecture & design and how

design professionals and others who are

it shapes the City of Philadelphia, and (3)

interested in built environment and design

connect the design community and general

issues. The Center utilizes its facility for exhibits,

public through meaningful programming

educational lecture series, public meetings, and

and education. Further, the organization

programming. In 2017, the Center hosted over

leverages it’s physical space as the hub for

600 meetings and events. The Center is home

the Philadelphia design community and the

to the Philadelphia Chapter of the American

general public.

Institute of Architects, the Community Design David Bender is Associate Director of the Center for Architecture and Design where he is responsible for exhibitions, programs, and workshops. He is an integral part of the Louis I. Kahn Award program committee which brings world renowned architects to Philadelphia to share their work ethos and expound on their successes and failures; as well as the Edmund N. Bacon Urban Design Awards and Student Competition which challenges students to envision a better Philadelphia by resolving a specific urban design challenge.

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 29

OPINION

PERSPECTIVE

BY TYA WINN

FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THE AIA'S EXISTENCE, THE PRIMARY BENEFICIARIES OF THE INSTITUTE'S ADVOCACY HAS BEEN CIS GENDER, WHITE MEN.

For the past 150 years, the American Institute of Architects positioned itself as the convenor for the architectural profession in the United States. Created in New York, it expanded with the second chapter here in Philadelphia. The foundation of the organization set the stage to solidify the east coast’s status as the epicenter of practice. With its establishment, the AIA positioned itself to represent the profession through legislative advocacy, establish professional benchmarks, honor achievements of members, and promote general public education and awareness about the field and profession. For the entirety of the AIA’s existence, the primary beneficiaries of the Institute’s advocacy has been cis gender, white men. Whether intentional or not, it 30 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

has followed the footsteps of most American institutions by mitigating narratives and achievements of any other practitioners through its willful consistency to overlook making space for others. Though times are changing, the needle has moved slowly since its inception.

This year we celebrate fifty years since Whitney M. Young’s famed speech at the 1968 AIA convention in Portland. As a black woman who considers myself a member of the profession, this year has stirred in me a great mix of emotions. There have been multiple think pieces, exhibitions, conversations and celebrations of those practitioners historically overlooked in response – alluding to shifts of change within the field. At the same time, our collective celebration of the

organization’s public shaming causes reflection on where we actually stand. How much has actually changed? Are architects any better positioned in 2019?

Mr. Young’s judgment definitely aligned with the zeitgeist of the 60s- an era famous for challenging institutions for overt racist and sexist policies that had ripple effects on our cities, both physical and social. He acknowledged the leadership role we as architects play in defining our cities. He also challenged the profession for not taking advantage of that power and platform. The speech highlighted federal policies like the FHA program, design of public housing, and discriminatory policies that plagued new subdivisions- policies architects endorsed with their public silence and professional seals. It shamed our institution for its lack of diversity and representation. Mr. Young even went one-step forward to offer solutions that would position architects and the field as a possible change agent. He reminded us of both our societal responsibility and our humanity. As we finish out the second century of our existence, I challenge the membership of the Institute to revisit his challenge.

Our collective responsibility is to strive courageously to design a better profession and world.

In the past year, we have seen the women of the field call out men for sexist, misogynistic behavior that has been tolerated for decades in our academic spaces and work culture. We have seen surveys that exposed the wage gap and glass ceilings in offices that have prevented women and ethnic minorities from equitable earning and career achievements.

The organization has acknowledged the lack of diversity in our employee pipeline and pledged to find ways to open more avenues and opportunities into the field. This same year, a campaign questioned whether our ethics should support spaces of division- both families and borders. I watched with audacious hope for consensus from designers/ architects/builders to challenge the hypocrisies our collective has upheld.

I yearn for an alternate reality. One where I am not the only black female in my class for six years of undergraduate and graduate education and I can count the number of female or minority professors on a single hand.

Where professional introductions make no mention of my skin tone or gender. A career where I can contribute to projects that improve the lives of everyday people for the better through design. Of communities that can see themselves reflected in the professionals working for them. This alternate reality is the future Whitney Young proposed with his 1968 challenge to our esteemed membership.

As AIA Philadelphia enters into its 151st year, I invite us to pilot this new reality in our great city. No time has been better and no membership has been better positioned to excel. Throughout our history, local membership has questioned the norms of the field and forged new paths. It was here that Susan Maxman finished architecture school and went on to successful business endeavors, eventually becoming the first female president of the AIA. It was here that Julian Abele made history as the first black graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and

set an indelible mark on our skyline with his designs. It was also here that a burgeoning firm, I.M. Pei and Associates got an early notable commission of the Society Hill Towers putting a firm on the international map. It is the same city, where Denise Scott Brown protested her partner’s Pritzker Prize ceremony because she felt overlooked for her role in leadership at her company. These stories are just a few examples of those woven into the tapestry of our chapter. This underlying essence inspired the creation of the Community Design Collaborative’s use of design to revitalize neighborhoods. It led to the creation of the Charter High School for Architecture and Design, which exposes urban youth to design fields and promises them an opportunity in the field. It feeds our active committees like Women in Architecture and Philadelphia Emerging Architects in their efforts to highlight opportunities for our members.

Throughout history, AIA Philadelphia members have emerged from the status quo of the Institute to foster diversity and provide opportunities for professionals that break the mold. As our city pushes for inclusivity in the firms awarded work in this city and our communities strive for well-designed neighborhoods that improve their quality of life, there is no better time like the present. What will the Philadelphia Architect look like 150 years from now? If I can be so bold let me present a new vision. We should be distinguished by our outspokenness against policies and practices that hold back our communities, noted for our position and relevance in improving our communities, representative in the diverse voices and designs of our membership, and iconic in the spaces and structures that shape our city. Together we can make AIA Philadelphia the standard for practice and pilot Philadelphia as the city that rose to Whitney M. Young Jr.’s challenge for a world where architects are heralded as change agents and celebrated for their commitment to design a better reality. n Tya Winn is the Director of Project Planning for Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia, and was the recipient of the prestigious 2016 LeBrun Travel Grant for the study of Public Architecture for Public Good.

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 31

DESIGN AWARDS 2019 is the year we embarked on a new venue, The Fillmore, to celebrate the best in Philadelphia architecture. Ajax Hall was the perfect blend of elegance to honor individuals and architectute firms for excellence in design and contributions to the architecture community.

The Young Architect Award, presented by AIA Philadelphia's Steering Committee of Fellows, seeks to recognize a candidate's contribution to the categories of leadership, practice and service.

The Philadelphia Emerging Architect Award, is awarded annually to recognize an emerging architecture firm producing high-quality design and thinking within the Philadelphia region.

Studio 6mm, a design-focused firm practicing at the intersection of architecture, fabrication, and research. The firm's recent work in Philadelphia includes an award-winning grocery store for the Kensington Community Food Co-op (KCFC), a variety of projects at the University of Pennsylvania, a new Emergency Disaster Services Command Center for the Salvation Army, axe throwing arenas for Urban Axes, and affordable housing projects across the City's neighborhoods. With experience serving clients in the mission-driven, residential, retail, and academic realms, the firm operates with agency to improve communities, develop gracious environments, and create meaningful spaces that elevate the daily rituals of contemporary life.

Fátima Olivieri-Martinez, AIA, an associate at KieranTimberlake, where in 2013, she helped formalize the firm’s Community Involvement group, which collaborates with nonprofit organizations on pro-bono initiatives. She is an active member of the design community, lecturing at national conferences, and writing for a variety of online publications. A native of Puerto Rico, Fátima completed her studies at the University of Puerto Rico School of Architecture and the University of Virginia.

The Paul Philippe Cret Award recognizes individuals or organizations who are not architects but who have made an outstanding and lasting contribution to the design of buildings, structures, landscapes, and the public realm of Greater Philadelphia.

Drew Lavine, AIA, the Director of Architecture at Re:Vision Architecture, where he specializes in the development of sustainable and regenerative projects focusing on resource efficiency and healthy environments. A graduate of Virginia Tech, he began his career in San Francisco before relocating to Philadelphia. Here he worked at MGA Partners before settling in at Re:Vision. Lavine is a passionate leader in the Philadelphia green building community.

32 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

Elizabeth Kay Miller (Beth) is the Executive Director of the Community Design Collaborative. Since 2001, Miller has worked with the Collaborative's board, staff, and volunteers to leverage pro bono design assistance and deliver responsive design grants to nearly 1,000 nonprofits throughout greater Philadelphia. In 2005, Miller launched Infill Philadelphia, a proactive design initiative to reimagine underutilized assets, convene conversations, and deliver pragmatic design solutions for topics including affordable housing, food access, commercial corridors, industrial reuse, green storm-water infrastructure, play space, and sacred places. A 2020 Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Miller served on the Philadelphia City Planning Commission from 2011 to 2016 and the Design Advocacy Group from 2005 to 2011.

The Volunteer of the Year Awards, is presented annually to a member of the Chapter that volunteers their time through membership on the board or a committee and makes a positive impact on Chapter activities.

Rachel Schade, AIA is a full-time Associate Teaching Professor and Associate Director for Student Placement in the Bachelor of Architecture program at Drexel University. She has been the coordinator for the Thesis program for more than ten years and teaches in the second-year studio. Each spring she offers a course in sketching in the field and has taken students to Florence, Italy twice.

Rachel is the author of the Philadelphia Rowhouse Manual, and remains active as a consultant on residential projects. She is currently serving on the Context editorial board and is on the Managing Committee of the Carpenters’ Company.

The Alan Greenberger Award is presented annually to recognize Community Design Collaborative leaders for their commitments and service to our mission.

Paul Sehnert was the Director of Real Estate Development for Penn Facilities and Real Estate Services (Penn FRES) and a member of the Collaborative's Board of Directors for nearly a decade. He drew great strength from mentoring students as an adjunct lecturer and instructor at PennDesign and a lecturer for Investment and Finance for the Department of City Planning. Sehnert passed away on May 19, 2019.

Sehnert lent his expertise in architecture and real estate finance in dozens of projects, including the innovative technology incubator Pennovation project for Penn to special design initiatives including Infill Philadelphia: Industrial Sites and Sacred Places/Civic Spaces for the Collaborative.

The Community Design Award, recognizes one pro bono preliminary design project complete by the Community Design Collaborative each year for excellence in design, collaboration, and community impact.

This year's winning project is the Laurel H. Carnell Elementary School: Conceptual Design for Open Space Improvements.

The John Frederick Harbeson Award, is presented annually to a longstanding member of the architectural community and is intended to recognize significant contributions to the architectural profession made over their lifetime.

Susan Abel Maxman, FAIA has been blazing trails for female architects in Philadelphia since founding her first firm Maxman/Sutphin Associates in 1980, just three years after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with her master's degree in architecture. As one of Philadelphia's only active female architects, she joined AIA's Women in Architecture group and added to the board of the Pennsylvania chapter of AIA. She rose in the ranks, eventually becoming president of the Pennsylvania State Society of Architects in 1987 and by 1992, the first female president of the American Institute of Architects.

Maxman's career was at the forefront – designing projects that responded to issues of sustainability and affordable housing. Her firms, Susan Maxman Architects/SMP Architects, are award-winning firms with 65 awards, including 14 AIA design awards and 14 honors commending environmental responsibility. She was inducted into the AIA College of Fellows in 1991 and is an honorary fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and the Federacion de Colegos de Arquitectos de la Republica Mexicana. Maxman is a founding member of the environmental committee of the Urban Land Institute and in 2011, was named to the board of the National Institute of Building Sciences by President Barack Obama.

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 33

PPR APARTMENTS DIGSAU GOLD MEDAL WINNER - BUILT CATEGORY

The PPR Apartments are a new suite-style residential community at Swarthmore College. The project creates a Residential Village at the crossroads of the academic campus, the athletics facilities, and downtown Swarthmore.

The space between the new and old buildings creates an outdoor commons that becomes the center of this 240 student residential community. This project is the first building to employ the ambitious Swarthmore College Environmental Sustainability Framework. The building incorporates many design features that enhance its environmental sustainability including: roof-top solar panels for power and hot water, ground source heat pumps, underground rainwater storage for irrigation of the baseball field, a high-performance building envelope, and acid etched glazing to reduce bird strikes.

CLIENT Swarthmore College PROJECT TEAM Structrual Engineer: CVM Professional Services, Electrical/Mechanical Engineer: Bruce E. Brooks & Associares, General Contractor: W.S. Cumby, Landscape Architect: Studio Bryan Hanes, Lighting Design: BEAM, Ltd., Civil Engineer: Langan Engineering, Code Consultant: Jensen Hughes, Specifications Consultant: Wilson Consulting Inc., Sustainability Consultant: 34 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

Re:Vision Architecture, Faรงade Consultant: RWDI, Cost Estimator: International Consultants Inc., Photography: Halkin/Mason Photography

ST. JOESPH'S UNIVERSITY ARRUPE HALL Moto Designshop SILVER MEDAL WINNER - UNBUILT CATEGORY (SUSTAINABILITY)

Saint Joseph’s University, founded in 1851 by Felix Barbelin in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, shifted locations over the next several decades until moving to its current home along City Line Avenue, on the western edge of Philadelphia, in 1922. The project establishes a residence for the Jesuit priests who work at the University and the Jesuit high school in Philadelphia. The goal is to provide them with not only a home, but a space that supports this religious community of men and their shared common life. Inspired by the Gregorian Calendar, the chapel form takes on a curvilinear form, based on geometric studies. The brick pattern further explores the initial geometries of form, then morphing to create a veil, filtering light and views.

CLIENT Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus PROJECT TEAM Structural Engineer: Keast & Hood, Electrical/Mechanical Engineer: Bruce E. Brooks & Associates, General Contractor: Hunter Roberts Construction Group, Lighting Design: BEAM, Ltd., Civil Engineer: Stantec, Acoustic Engineer: Metropolitan Acoustics, Geotechnical Engineer: Geostructures, Inc., Photography: Moto DesignShop; Roman Torres

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 35

NEW CO-OPERATIVE FOOD MARKET Studio 6mm DIVINE DETAIL

A small addition is constructed to serve as a cafe offering coffee during the day and spirits through the night. The complexity of color borrows its palette from bodegas along an adjacent commercial corridor seeking to create a bold statement that is contextual, vibrant, and resonant of the vitality of the existing fabric of the neighborhood. In an effort to reduce cost and increase community engagement, the cladding was painted on the ground on sawhorses by community members during a series of ‘painting parties.’

CLIENT Kensington Community Food Cooperative (KCFC) PROJECT TEAM Structural Engineer: Conn Shaffer Consulting Engineers, Electrical/ Mechanical Engineer: Urban Technology Inc., General Contractor: Lyon Contracting Services, LLC, Photography: Kate Devlin and Studio 6mm

URBAN WILDERNESS GATEWAY MASTER PLAN PORT HONOR AWARD - UNBUILT CATEGORY (PLANNING) The overall framework plan for the Urban Wilderness Gateway is comprised of three critical layers: access and community connections, continuous programming amenities and program nodes and destinations. Access and connections define the points of entry into the Urban Wilderness Gateway Park and considers improved connectivity between the park and existing neighborhood destinations to improve overall mobility in South Knoxville neighborhoods as well as across the Tennessee River.

CLIENT City of Knoxville PROJECT TEAM Collaborating Firm: Sanders Pace Architecture, Civil Engineers: Vaughn and Melton, Traffic Engineers: Gresham Smith and Partners, Landscape Architects: Equinox Environmental, Rendering: PORT

XS HOUSE ISA - Interface Studio Architects LLC HONOR AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY Philadelphia’s urban renewal era left behind an east-west cut through the city’s urban fabric in the form of the sunken, 100-foot-wide Vine Street Expressway. Philadelphia’s Chinatown neighborhood was one of those disconnected by the expressway, with many of its formerly densely inhabited blocks sliced into odd shapes and sizes. Today, the expressway continues to divide pedestrian activity, while most of the odd-shaped leftover lots are used for surface parking. XS House rejuvenates one such leftover site, adding urban density and street life while encouraging walkable lifestyles.

CLIENT Callahan Ward PROJECT TEAM Structural Engineer: Larsen & Landis, Electrical/Mechanical 36 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

Engineer: J+M Engineering, General Contractor: Callahan Ward, Lighting: Lam Partners, Photography: Sam Oberter

THE DISCOVERY CENTER DIGSAU HONOR AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY The Discovery Center is an urban bird sanctuary and leadership development center conceived in partnership between The Audubon Society of Pennsylvania, Outward Bound Philadelphia, and the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. The Center offers programming aimed at connecting city residents with nature. The project site surrounds a 37-acre decommissioned reservoir. Closed for decades, the Discovery Center project reopens the site for public access.

The Discovery Center incorporates a broad range of sustainability strategies that set ambitious goals for energy efficiency, stormwater management, community enrichment, and habitat preservation.

CLIENT EPLACC/Audubon PA and Philadelphia Outward Bound School PROJECT TEAM Structural Engineer: CVM Professional Services, Electrical/ Mechanical Engineer: Urban Technology, Inc., General Contractor: INTECH Construction, Inc., Landscape Architect: Ground Reconsidered, Landscape Consultant: Hillworks Landscape & Architecture, Photography: Halkin/Mason Photography

FMC TOWER AT CIRA CENTRE SOUTH BLT Architects HONOR AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY The FMC Tower is a key component of the Philadelphia 30th Street Station District Plan. The project vision was to knit the University City and Center City neighborhoods together, serving as an iconic gateway to the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and University City, Philadelphia's ever-growing innovation hub. The tower provides a vertical neighborhood of residential and extendedstay apartments, office, retail and shared amenity spaces in a sculpted contemporary form.

CLIENT Brandywine Realty Trust PROJECT TEAM Collaborating Firm: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Structural Engineer: Thorton Tomasetti, Electrical/Mechanical/Plumbing/Fire Protection Engineer: Bala Consulting Engineers, General Contractor: Turner Construction Company, Civil Engineer: Pennoni, Landscape Architect: Ground Reconsidered, Exterior Envelope: Curtainwall Design Consulting, Lighting Designer: Cline Bettridge Berstein, Elevator & Faรงade Access Consultant: Lerch Bates, Acoustical Consultant: Cerami & Associates Inc, Pool Consultant: STO Design Group, Photography: Jeff Goldberg, Jeffrey Totaro, Halkin/Mason Photography

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 37

METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE Atkin Olshin Schade Architects HONOR AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY (HISTORIC PRESERVATION / ADAPTIVE REUSE) The design team worked to preserve the Met’s remaining historic design features while introducing new compatible elements that would allow the building to function as a contemporary music venue. New features include ADA upgrades, restrooms, seating, lighting and sound systems, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. One of the most impressive aspects of the project is the preservation of the building’s characterdefining plaster ornamentation. The project also involved new signage and a full restoration of the building façade.

CLIENT EB Realty Management PROJECT TEAM Structural Engineer: David Chou & Associates, Electrical/Mechanical Engineer: Concord Engineering Group, General Contractor: Domus Construction, Photography: Hugh Loomis; Whitney Cox; and Live Nation

CHERRY STREET PIER ISA - Interface Studio Architects LLC HONOR AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY (HISTORIC PRESERVATION / ADAPTIVE REUSE) Cherry Street Pier is an adaptive reuse of a 55,000 SF pier structure on the Delaware River in Philadelphia. The dilapidated structure was lightly rehabilitated to create a series of temporary and permanent environments for food, drink, work, shopping, recreation, art and events. Open to the public every day of the week and year-round, the project returns an historic piece of the city’s infrastructure back to the public realm.

CLIENT Delaware River Waterfront PROJECT TEAM Collaborating Firm: Groundswell Design Group, Structural Engineer: W.J. Castle & Associates, Electrical/Structural Engineer: Holstein White Engineers, General Contractor: Scugio Borst Construction Management, Container Fabrication: TRS Containers, Photography: Sam Oberter

MSK BERGEN EwingCole HONOR AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY (INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE) Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is a former corporate office building renovated to deliver the latest in cancer treatment and care. The building design brings the soothing influence of nature and the comfort of home. Patient reception and lounge areas accommodate different needs through a mix of seating styles and layouts. Mobility zones within the chemotherapy suite allow patients or caregivers to leave their private rooms to stretch their legs, yet remain close-by their private room.

CLIENT Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center PROJECT TEAM Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti, Electrical/Mechanical Engineer: Lizardos Engineering Associates, PC, General Contractor: Turner Construction Company, Plumbing Engineer: Bohler Engineering,Photography: Halkin/Mason Photography 38 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

ARBORCREST V Erdy McHenry Architecture HONOR AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY (HISTORIC PRESERVATION / ADAPTIVE REUSE) Designed in the era of the office cubicle, Arborcrest V was an abandoned 200,000 sf office building with deep floor plates and tinted windows that gave the building a fortress-like appearance. Rejecting the traditional office block circulation diagram, the design team introduced a two-story lobby, replacing the traditional corridor format with centralized circulation radiating from an internal urban-like setting.

Utilizing this model, every tenant has a physical connection to the central core regardless of their location within the building.

CLIENT Spear Street Capital PROJECT TEAM Collaborating Firm: D2 Groups, LLC, Structural Engineer: Environetics, Electrical/Mechanical: Kupper Engineering, General Contractor: IMC Construction, Civil Engineer: Bohler Engineering, Landscape Architect: Studio Bryan Hanes, Photography: Ray Cavicchino; Don Pearse

BRUSH + WATSON OOMBRA Architects MERIT AWARD - UNBUILT CATEGORY A once densely populated site, Brush and Watson is now a 60,000 SF vacant lot of City owned parcels on the eastern edge of Brush Park. Charged with bringing density back to the site in a rapidly changing neighborhood of scattered Victorian mansions and newer mixed-use developments quickly filling in the voids. In an effort to address the housing inequities, the City of Detroit has required all developers operating on City land or receiving public subsidies to provide a minimum 20% of the units to be affordable.

CLIENT American Community Developers, Inc. PROJECT TEAM Structural Engineer: JDH Engineering, Electrical Engineer: ETS Engineering, Inc., Mechanical Engineer: Sellinger Associates Inc., General Contractor: American Community Developers, Photography: Oombra Architects

BROOKLYN HEALTH CENTER FCA MERIT AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY The Health Center is a distinct element within the building’s teardroplike form: the play of light throughout the day lets the eyes of passersby shift from the frits and fins of the glass curtain wall to the bright red, curving form of the Health Center bustling within. At the end of the day, when the sun sets, the lights of the building bring its interior into focus, on the Health Center, the building’s beating heart, in the midst of a diverse and vibrant neighborhood in Downtown Brooklyn.

CLIENT NYHTC and HANYC Health Center, Inc. PROJECT TEAM Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti, Structural/Electrical Engineer: Jaros Baum & Bolles Consulting Engineers, General Contractor: Skanska USA, Code Expediting: Milrose Consultants, Acoustics/Vibration: Shen Milsom & Wilke LLC, Signage/Wayfinding: Lebowitz Gould Design, Photography: Chris Cooper; Bjorg Magnea AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 39

PENN STATE UNIVERSITY, CHEMICAL & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING BUILDING HOK MERIT AWARD -BUILT CATEGORY (SUSTAINABILITY) The new Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building (CBEB) is in the heart of the ‘sciences district’ on Penn State’s University Park campus. It collocates the university’s Chemical Engineering and burgeoning Biomedical Engineering departments in a space that enhances collaboration. The building’s simple massing emerges from a fieldstone base rooted in the landscape and extends upward into a volume of glass that appears to float along the horizon. The northwest-facing glass curtain wall shears away at each lab floor, creating a feathering effect that breaks down the scale of the facade while engaging it with Penn State’s established greenway.

CLIENT The Pennylvania State University PROJECT TEAM Structural Engineer: Baker Ingram, Electrical/Mechanical: R.G. Vanderweil Engineers Inc., General Contractor: Barton Malow, Civil Engineer: Sweetland, Landscape Design: Forum Studio

SHIFTED KJO Architecture MERIT AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY Shifted is a small but tall mixed-use building situated on a forgotten L-shaped leftover lot which previously was the home of a 1-story garage. The site is on a wide and prominent commercial corridor that cuts through a dense residential neighborhood. Efficient living units are carefully perched above a small commercial shop. Each level is defined by a repeated box-like volume which shifts in and out and side to side from ground to roof, its displacement creating overhangs and small exterior balconies.

CLIENT Eleni Athanasiadis PROJECT TEAM Structural Engineer: Alfa Engineering Inc., Electrical/Mechanical: Hutec Engineering & Consulting, General Contractor: Grit Construction, Photography: Sam Oberter

THE HALE BUILDING JKRP Architects MERIT AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY (HISTORIC PRESERVATION / ADAPTIVE REUSE) The Hale Building was built in 1887 by Willis Gaylord Hale for the Keystone National Bank, and was known as the Keystone National Bank Building when first erected. Since that time, the building has had a variety of commercial uses and a tradition of a constantly evolving facade. In keeping with the building’s tradition of changing with the times, the architects have created an unabashedly contemporary commercial storefront. The newly restored building brings new life to street and has become the beacon of the neighborhood once again.

CLIENT Brickstone PROJECT TEAM Collaborating Firm: idGroup, Structural Engineer: O'Donnell and Naccarato, Electrical/Mechanical Engineer: Alderson Engineering, 40 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

General Contactor: Clemens Construction, Historical Consultant: Powers and Co., Photography: Joseph M. Kitchen

NEW COLLEGE HOUSE, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Bohlin Cywinski Jackson MERIT AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY The 198,000 gsf facility is Penn’s first purpose-built college house designed to bring together 350 students, faculty, staff and graduate students into one community. Spanning an entire city block on Chestnut Street between 33rd and 34th Streets, the building’s signature features include residential suites clustered around an array of bi-level commons, dining spaces, media and seminar rooms, a courtyard, and a publiclyaccessible elevated green.

CLIENT University of Pennsylvania PROJECT TEAM Structural Engineer: CVM Professional Services, Structural/Electrical/ Sustainability: AHA Consulting Engineers, General Contractor: Intech Construction, Landscape Architecture: Michael Vergason Landscape Architects, Civil Engineer: Pennoni, Elevator: Van Deusen & Associates, Food Service: Hammer Design Associates, Lighting Design: Atelier Tan, Acoustics/AV: Metropolitan Acoustics, Waste Management: Niche Recycling, Hardware: Jack Soeffing, Cost Estimating: Davis Langdon, Photography: Jeffrey Totaro; Nic Lehoux; Greg Benson

RICHARDS MEDICAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES Atkin Olshin Schade Architects MERIT AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY (HISTORIC PRESERVATION / ADAPTIVE REUSE) The University of Pennsylvania’s Alfred Newton Richards Medical Research Laboratory, designed by Louis I. Kahn, includes three original laboratory towers and a central service tower. Two additional towers, the Goddard Laboratories, complete the complex. The building’s design, while groundbreaking, never fully served the original laboratory program to its best advantage.

CLIENT University of Pennsylvania PROJECT TEAM Collaborating Firm: EYP, Structural Engineer: Keast & Hood, Electrical Engineer: Urban Engineers, Mechanical Engineer: Bruce E. Brooks & Associates, General Contractor: Intech, Construction Project Manager: TN Ward, Glazing Consultant: Heintges & Associates, Façade Consultant: CVM, Conservator: Building Conservation Associates, Photography: Halkin Mason, Jeff Goldberg ESTO

URBAN COCOON dragani Martone Studio MERIT AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY (INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE) The flat, a home for a professional couple and their daughter, enjoys breathtaking views of Philadelphia’s skyline, and the green canopy of Rittenhouse Square below. Here, the rushed and irregular rhythms of urban life give way to a slower and harmonious pace defined by the regular cadence of changing natural light throughout the space. The effect of light on structure and wall surface is exploited, introducing a pattern of luminosity that references the passing of time, and the changing of seasons.

CLIENT Undisclosed PROJECT TEAM Electrical/Mechanical Engineer: Urban Technology Inc., General Contractor: Gers Construction, Photography: Jeffrey Totaro

AIA Philadelphia | context | WINTER 2020 41

BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE CAFE, WORLD TRADE CENTER Bohlin Cywinski Jackson MERIT AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY (INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE) This Blue Bottle café occupies a prominent street-level corner in Four World Trade Center. At the center of this bustling New York hub, the 1,000-square-foot café provides a moment of respite and calm under dramatic 26-foot-tall ceilings where a carefully arranged series of millwork ribs organize the soaring interior space into layers of finish and acoustic treatment, and provide a modulated system for merchandise display and storage. The café’s modest size required utmost care in determining efficiency of flows and activity for the anticipated volume of daily customers.

CLIENT Blue Bottle Coffee PROJECT TEAM Electrical/Mechanical Engineer: WSP, General Contractor: Schimenti Construction, Millwork: digifabshop, Photography: Jeffrey Totaro

OVAL PLUSPORT MERIT AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY (SMALL PROJECTS // UNDER $500K) Situated at the base of the Rocky Steps, Eakins Oval is both a chronically underused parking lot and one of the most visited spaces in Philadelphia.

In 2017, our installation asked a simple question —“What’s your Parkway, Philly?”— intended to highlight the changing roles the Parkway and the Oval play in the daily life of Philadelphians. We then used that summer’s installation to test how people used the space during that summer, and how they would use the space in the future through a rigorous documentation effort coordinated with academic and institutional partners.

CLIENT Fairmount Park Conservancy / Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation PROJECT TEAM Fabrication/Installation: FKB; Cavo Design Build, Mural Design: The Heads of State; Felix St. Fort, Mural Installation: Mural Arts Program, Photography: Albert Yee/PORT

THE YARD KieranTimberlake MERIT AWARD - BUILT CATEGORY (SMALL PROJECTS // UNDER $500K) Located in the one of Philadelphia’s fastest-growing neighborhoods, the Yard is the latest addition to the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association Community Center. The new outdoor pavilion accommodates a variety of public programs including children’s camps, fundraisers, and community events in a green, inviting space that better serves the area’s residents. The Yard’s main feature is a large folded roof that hovers above the landscape, providing shade and shelter while also directing rainwater into a planting bed and rain garden.

CLIENT Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association PROJECT TEAM Landscape Architect: Studio Bryan Hanes, Structural Engineer: Larsen & 42 WINTER 2020 | context | AIA Philadelphia

Landis, Cost Estimator: Dharam Consulting, Geotechnical Consultant: BP GEOTECH, Inc., Photography: Matthew Krissel/KieranTimberlake

XS House by ISA, Sam Oberter Photography

LEGAL COUNSEL TO THE DESIGN COMMUNITY Our Pennsylvania Partners

Structural Engineering and Design Evaluation of Existing Structures Construction Support Services Historic Preservation Facade Reviews

h

Richard J. Davies Esquire

Neil P. Clain, Jr. Esquire

Kevin J. Dmochowsky Esquire

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS

Proud to support excellence in design keasthood.com

11 W. THOMPSON STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19125 215.232.7207 | LARSENLANDIS.COM

Congratulations Moto Design Shop on the award winning Saint Joseph’s University Arrupe Hall!