Practice Chronicle

Jacob Moskowitz Practice Chronicle

ARC48_381

Carnegie Mellon SOA

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. What is your Professional Aspiration?

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2. Why are you right for your Professional Aspiration?

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3. Why is your Professional Aspiration right for you?

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4. What are the biggest challenges your Professional Aspiration faces in maximizing its potential?

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5. What are three ways you could better tell the story of your Professional Aspiration?

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6. What does success look like for you?

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7. What does success for your Professional Aspiration look like?

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8. Existing Practice Typologies/Professional Outlet Typologies that represent your aspirations?

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9.Organizational Structure of Practices/Professional Outlets that will enable/facilitate your Professional Aspiration?

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10. How will you get there?

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11. What is the evidence of your convictions in the aspirations identified?

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12. The Environmental Charter School

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13. The Players Involved

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14. Program Aspirations

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15. Conceptual Design / Approach

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16. Resultant Design

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17. Design Process

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18. Obligations

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19. Path to Implementation

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20. Building Team

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21. Reason

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22. Commission

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23. Sketch Prototype

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24. Construction Drawings

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25. McKamish Fabrication

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26. Cleaning and Polishing

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27. Install

130

28. Analysis

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What is your Professional Aspiration?

I want to do something that I truly enjoy. From what I’ve learned about myself so far in college, I know that I love to work with analog materials. I enjoy sketching and making physical models. Construction sites excite me just as much as working through trace paper to find the right design. I’ve always been eager to get my hands dirty. There’s something therapeutic in it for me. I don’t know to what extent I’d be able to literally get my hands dirty as an architect, but I don’t want to sit at my computer all day working on Revit. In order to be able to work in such a fashion, I figure that I need to either work at a smaller firm, or eventually run my own firm. At a smaller firm, there are fewer people, but with the same expectations for design as a big firm would have. Architects at smaller firms tend to have a wider range of responsibilities because there are less people in the office to delegate the work to. These architects spend their time in many different ways, from conference calls with clients, to marketing, designing, and visiting sites.

I want to work in Chicago to start my career as an architect.

My parents live in the area, and family is important to me.

Chicago is also an amazing city for architecture. There are firms of all sizes, affording an aspiring architect plenty of flexibility when looking for and choosing where to work. From building the first skyscrapers, to buildings designed by Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago has always been an architectural hot bed for new and exciting works.

I want to be a part of the next generation of architects that bring innovative and dynamic architecture to this historic city.

I want to begin my career at a smaller firm. While I’m working at a smaller firm, I want to study for the license exams and 4

have passed them within 3 years of graduating college. After becoming a licensed architect, I want to work at a larger firm, where I can gain critical experience that I wouldn’t have if I stayed at a small firm. After that, I want eventually start my own firm, where I would be able to choose what projects we take on based on how they align with the ideals of the firm.

Here, I’d be able to oversee multiple large scale projects from start to finish. By the time I’m 30, I want to have worked on multiple completed buildings in the Chicago land area.

Something else that is really important to me is considering for whom and why I’d take a commission to design something.

I think architecture has the power to bring together but also rip apart communities, and it’s incredibly important to understand what type of architecture each commission may be.

I’m originally from San Francisco, where the introduction of new high-end apartment complexes in many neighborhoods of the city is doing a lot of harm for the culture and lower class inhabitants of the city. I don’t want to be responsible for designing architecture that gentrifies. I want to design architecture that works to further strengthen a neighborhood and community. Community centers, schools, and hospitals are all great examples of architecture that can greatly improve a neighborhood without necessarily forcing anyone out.

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While practicing architecture, I want to create different series of art that combines my love for architecture with my love for graffiti. I’ve been interested in graffiti and street art since I was in elementary school, and I still find myself doodling in college. Someone who I look up to in this regard is Dwayne Oyler. He’s a practicing architect who also makes incredible sketches similar in style to what I enjoy drawing. Drawing is an outlet for me when I’m feeling stressed, so making a point of continuing to sketch as a practicing architect is important to me.

I’m also incredibly excited by the prospect of going to barber school and become a licensed barber. I’ve been cutting hair since my junior year of high school, and I’ve got a real talent for it. After four and a half years of consistently giving hair cuts, I still thoroughly enjoy it and am constantly looking to improve.

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Why are you right for your Professional Aspiration?

I’m right for my professional aspiration because my motive for pursuing what I want to do comes from an honest place.

I’ve seen what good a strong connected community can do, and I’ve witnessed what a community on the brink of gentrification is like. This first hand experience enables me to help make informed decisions not only as an architect, but also as a person who understands what a community is going through from their perspective. It is easy to lose site of the clients’ needs as an architect, but it is important to remember that the architecture is for them first and foremost. My strong understanding of what communities need to flourish and stay connected and through what I’ve learned as an aspiring architect make me confident that I am right for my Professional Aspiration.

I’m right for my I am passionate,

professional aspiration hardworking, and

because creative.

I want to become a licensed architect that works at a smaller firm so that I can be a larger part of the entire process of designing a building. I want to make sure that everything is done to a standard that I know would make the client happy.

I’ve lived in the Chicago land area for four years now, and it’s become a large part of who I am as a person. I have a lot of pride associated with being from that area, and I want to see the city prosper. I think that as an architect in Chicago, I’ll be able to have a positive impact on how the city is shaped in the future.

The prospect of being able to influence Chicago’s architectural fabric is an incredibly exciting one to me. I understand how much responsibility is placed on the architect, especially in a city with such a rich architectural history like Chicago, and I think 8

that by the time I’ve graduated from Carnegie Mellon, I’ll have all the necessary tools to take on some of that responsibility.

Oftentimes, it seems like larger firms tend to take only the highest paying jobs from the wealthiest client, without necessarily considering how these commissions will affect the communities they are being built in. I understand that there will always be firms that design high end projects that aren’t necessarily the best for the culture and community that they’re being designed for. I don’t think that there’s any way to get rid of firms that do that, and I don’t think they need to be either. That way of working is totally fine, as long as firms that place a larger emphasis on community improvement in receive commissions to continue working on projects of this nature as well. I think that I would fit in really well with a firm that takes commissions like this because that is the type of work I want to be doing.

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Why is your Professional Aspiration right for you?

Ever since I was a child, I’ve wanted the world to remember me for something, but as I’ve gotten older, it’s become more apparent that I may not end up in the top one percent of people who are extremely famous and successful. Originally, I thought that this was the only real way to make sure my legacy would live on. I now realize that through what I accomplish as an architect, my name can live on after I pass away. This might seem somewhat of a self-centered goal, but if that’s one of the reasons that motivates me to create great architecture for people and their communities in the future, then that’s alright. That obviously wouldn’t be my primary focus when designing, but the knowledge that what I design could live another 100 plus years after I’m gone would give me even more incentive to do my best.

I want to design buildings that have a positive and lasting impact on the neighborhoods and communities they are located in. Knowing that the work I do has a direct impact on people in and around my community keeps me interested and invested in this career path. I was exposed to this type of architectural practice this summer when I got the chance to work at JGMA in Chicago. They pride themselves on only pursuing architectural projects that they believe fits their ideals of work. They focus on projects in communities that are often neglected in Chicago. There’s something satisfying about knowing the work you’re doing is directly benefiting people who truly need the help. I went to work every day this summer knowing that what I was doing in the office was having a positive impact on the people in and around the community that we worked, and there’s something incredibly satisfying about that.

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Site Visit, Brighton Park, Chicago, Summer, 2018

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What are the biggest challenges your Professional Aspiration faces in maximizing its potential?

Sometimes, a community doesn’t want change, regardless of whether or not the change is good. This is a difficult obstacle for architects to navigate, and can drastically impact the future of the building. Even if a building is built, without support from the community, it will never be as successful as it could have been with their support. That’s why it is important for architects to learn how to speak to different groups of people from the community in ways that communicate their intentions of improving the spaces they live in without compromising the essence and culture of their community in the process.

Juan Moreno, the head of JGMA, spent a lot of time going to community board meetings and speaking with members of the community who weren’t always very nice to him. His job was to explain the design of the buildings in a way that a non architect would understand. Communication with the public is crucial in projects like this. It’s important to have them on your side. Without the approval of the community, a building will never reach its full potential, no matter how good the design is.

Another big challenge my professional aspiration could potentially face is running out of money. The type of architecture that I want to go into involves working with a lot of not-forprofits who may not have a lot of money to spend. Sometimes, regardless of whether the architect deserves to be paid more or not, some clients won’t be able to afford it. This is a moral dilemma that architects who work on community projects often face, and will be the most challenging to deal with at the early stages of running your own firm. The architect needs to be paid enough to continue practicing, but also needs to maintain a certain image based on their core ideas for their 12

practice. Finding the balance between paid commissions that don’t always align with what the firm wants to focus on and community oriented projects that don’t pay well will prove to be one of the biggest challenges facing my Professional Aspiration.

I will leave my mark in the communities that the work I do is built, through schools I design, and through continuing to be an active part of the community my building is built in.

People should care about what I want to do because I have a vested interest in seeing communities in Chicago thrive through the introduction of new and better buildings in their neighborhoods. Hiring architects who share the same values as you is a crucial part of the process in getting the building you want built. It is important for communities to care about who they hire as the architects for public buildings in their neighborhood.

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What are three ways you could better tell the story of your Professional Aspiration?

The public’s perception of an architect is not in line with what a lot of architects do. Not every architect wants to work at the largest firms and design skyscrapers. I want to demonstrate to the public that there are talented architects out there that specialize in designing neighborhood essentials like schools, hospitals, and community centers.

First, I want to design with a conscious effort being put towards the preservation of the culture of the community. Bad architecture doesn’t respond to the context it is situated in. It doesn’t relate to the built environment, the social, or the cultural context. This is not always the fault of the architect alone. Bland, non-contextual buildings are often built because a client isn’t willing to spend the money. They’ll give the job to the firm that costs the least, and in return, they’ll get the worst building. This gives architects and their buildings a bad reputation. I want to use my talents and experience as an architect to convince clients that spending the extra money for better architecture is a worth wile investment not only for them, but for their community.

Second, I want to create a well established firm that is known for designing beautiful buildings in a way that strengthens the sense of community in a neighborhood. The best way to do this is certainly not the easiest. Establishing a firm that has a goal to protect and improve the community from the start while trying to stay afloat financial will be a challenge. Sometimes, I’ll have to sacrifice commissions that aren’t in line with what the firm is trying to accomplish, in order to stay true to our values. It is important to do so because if I establish that my firm has been honest in its execution of its ideals since the beginning, it will 14

show clients that the firm is trustworthy and good at what it does.

The public often doesn’t want change in their neighborhoods, and they either don’t understand, or don’t want to understand that the new buildings will actually be incredibly beneficial to their community. If I can prove to the public (through previous projects) that I have a track record of designing buildings that have a beneficial impact on the community, then I’ll have succeeded in telling the story of my professional aspiration.

Third, it’s important to create a dialogue with members of the community. I would hold bi-weekly public meetings to help explain the building design and why its good for the community through clear, well thought out presentations, through question and answer sessions, and through being available and open to critiques. I would listen. Bringing the public in on the design process not only helps them better understand what’s going on, it also leads to less tension between the architect and the community.

The goal is to build a building that everyone is excited about.

I don’t think that what I do as an architect needs to “change the game.” What I’m striving to do has been done in the past, and it’s incredibly important that somebody continues to work as an architect that fights for the welfare of the city and it’s culture at a smaller scale. I am perfectly content with continuing the work of previous architects in Chicago as long as I know that what I’m doing is benefiting the people, and not just my pockets.

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What does success look like for you?

My ultimate goal is to be a Principal at my own firm, where I am able to decide the projects that we take based on the morals and values that my coworkers and I have come up with. I want to design public buildings that will help to bring a community to life. I want to take commissions in areas that are at risk of gentrification, and help the community battle it through the buildings that are built in their neighborhoods. The ultimate factor for determining whether my firm is successful is whether or not the neighborhood I’ve designed a building in becomes gentrified. I understand that there are many factors that I cannot control that lead to gentrification, but I think that the architecture that is built in a neighborhood plays a huge role.

Success is determined on multiple levels. I need to be happy with who I am as a person, with my architecture, and with the amount of money I’m making. My parents raised me stressing the importance of keeping a positive outlook on life, regardless of the situation. So for me, the most important factor that I’ll use to determine my success is looking at whether I’m happy or not in my Professional Aspiration. Am I happy with where I’m working?

Am I happy with the work that I’m producing? It’s important to occasionally take a step back from the work and assess where I am mentally. If I’m not happy and enjoying what I’m doing, then I’m likely not doing good work. This not only would affect me, but it would also affect the clients I’m doing the work for.

The second measure of success is based on how good the architecture is that I’ve designed.

Is the work that I’m doing on par with the standards that I’ve set for myself as a professional architect? I want the architecture to directly benefit the community it is being built for.

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If at some point in my career I find that this isn’t the case, I’d need to take a step back and evaluate where it is that I went wrong. Likely, it will have been because some of the passion and enjoyment I had as a younger architect has withered. If this ever happens, this might be a good time for me to take a break from architecture and become a licensed barber. I’ll be able to use the connections I made from interning at Lake Street Barbering Company my senior year of high school and find work as a barber shortly after graduating. There, I’ll enjoy the challenge of something new, and be happy, and successful, again.

The third factor of success for me is based on money. I need to be financially stable. I want to raise a family when I’m older, and I’ll need to provide for them. As long as I make enough money so that my children won’t ever have to worry about it, then I’ve had a successful career. I’ve been fortunate enough to have grown up in a family where we didn’t have to worry much about money, and I want nothing less for my children. I understand that as an architect, I may not ever make as much money as my friends in business or computer science, but I do want to make sure that my family and I are always comfortable.

I want to live in an apartment in Chicago (right now I want to live in River North) where there is enough space for my entire family. I want to earn enough money that I’m able to pay rent along with other monthly expenses, and still be able to save money in case of emergencies and for my kids to go to college.

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What does success for your Professional Aspiration look like?

Success for smaller firms with a focus on community involvement is based on two main factors: maintaining a strong and positive relationship with surrounding communities, and consistently designing and building architecture for these communities.

Establishing a strong connection to the community is important for a small firm’s success because it is through these connections and relationships that commissions will be won. Networking as an architect is important, as you never know when a person you’ve connected with may need some work to be done.

The second factor for success is determined by the consistency with which the firm is working on architecture that fits in with their philosophy for designing. Smaller firms often can’t afford to only work on specific types of work, like community centers, for example, because they won’t receive enough money from just those commissions to continue practicing. Success for these firms is reaching a level of financial comfort where they are able to work solely and consistently on projects that are in line with the morals and ideas of the company. This will take more time to accomplish than the first factor mentioned, but is a far more rewarding success. As a practice’s reputation grows for designing in a specific way, it will be easier to get commissions as more people are aware of the work the firm is doing.

I think that that’s something that JGMA and Juan Moreno, the firm’s President, has done so well. Throughout his career as an architect, he’s been vocal about what his priorities are, and he’s only taken the projects that he felt resonated with his morals as an architect. Clients can now look at JGMA’s website, read their mission statement, and see how their works back 18

up what they say. Clients can trust that what they see is what they get with JGMA. This gives Juan and JGMA the credibility to pursue projects that a firm of that size usually wouldn’t pursue.

I think that this type of reputation would allow me to influence prospective clients’ decisions when deciding what to build.

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EXISTING PRACTICE TYPOLOGIES THAT REPRESENT YOUR ASPIRATIONS

15-30 Person Architecture Firm

Large Firm

Street Artist/ Urban Activist

JGMA

KTGY Architecture + Planning

Lauren Asta

SITE DESIGN

Skidmore, Owings + Merrill

Joker

Wheeler Kearns

Studio Gang

JC Rivera

Landon Bone Baker Architects

Perkins + Will

Camila Bustamante

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I was fortunate enough to intern at a firm this summer that helped me better understand the path I want to take in architecture. JGMA is a great example of the type of firm I can see myself working at in the future. It is a firm of around 20 people that stresses the importance of community involvement through the architecture they design. I included Site Design and Landon Bone Baker Architects in this typology because they’ve worked with JGMA on projects in the past, and they have a similar philosophy when it comes to the built environment. Site Design is a landscape architecture / architecture firm that thinks outside of the box to “engage and excite people” through what they build and design. I think that landscape architects have an incredible opportunity to design spaces in an urban context that enliven and enrich the architecture it surrounds. Working at a firm like Site Design would give me the opportunity to create exciting and beautiful spaces in a community without adding any buildings to the neighborhood. I think that architecture, regardless of the architect’s intentions, has the capability of drawing people to it. It can be a big factor in bringing wealthier people into an existing neighborhood, leading to gentrification.

This is always going to be a worry of mine as a practicing architect. Working at a landscape architecture / architecture firm like Site Design would take some of this stress away.

I think that at some point in my career, I’ll end up working at a larger firm. It will provide me valuable experience and knowledge that I may not be able to get from only working at smaller firms.

KTGY Architecture + Planning is a Chicago based firm that places an emphasis on providing the best work they can for their clients and the communities they are working with. They work on all types of buildings, as most larger firms do. I think it’s important to experience all types of firms in an effort to learn as much as possible about architecture in a different environment.

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If I ever do need a break from architecture, I’d pursue street art.

I’d combine my knowledge of architectural drawing conventions with my skills with graffiti to create a style that is uniquely my own. The well known street artists all have either a character or a style that they are known for, and the merging of architectural drawings and graffiti would be mine. The unique thing about this type of profession is that the artist is free to pursue whatever they are most interested in. The more established street artists get paid to do this. Lauren Asta, for example, is a street artist based out of Chicago who gets paid to paint murals all over the United States. She has shifted her focus from street art to laser cutting to clothing design all in the past year. Street artists like Joker, use their influence to try to help change their communities for the better. In 2015, I got the opportunity to interview Joker for a paper I wrote on gentrification in San Francisco. He and some other graffiti writers in San Francisco started a group called Keep Hoods Yours (KHY) in the early 2000’s. As gentrification in San Francisco increased, the KHY movement gained momentum. Now, with every mural they make, San Francisco street artists accompany it with KHY. KHY is tagged all over the city in an effort to respond to the fastly changing cultural landscape in San Francisco. If I ever become a street artist, I want my artwork to have a message as well.

“We are native SF graffiti writers responding to gentrification with graffiti as our medium.” - Joker, 2015 22

Joker, San Francisco , 2014

Camilla Bustamente, used her skills as a graphic designer to spread awareness and bring back the abandoned project for elevated metro lines in Lima, Peru. She did this by putting up stickers and posters throughout the city, which applied pressure on the government to take action. This small act led to a big change in Lima, and this is a great example to follow as an urban activist / street artist. Similar to Joker, Camila Bustamente used her platform as an artist to make a change.

“As architects, we could stand to learn from this, by expanding our repertoire to include strategies of public awareness as a tool to enact change.� - Rory Hyde 23

Organizational Structure of Practices / Professional Outlets that will enable / facilitate your Professional Aspiration

15-30 Person Architecture Firm

Intern 1 Intern 1 Intern 1

Designer Designer

- Working towards a Bachelor’s of Architecture at a NAAB Accredited University - Helps Designers and Project Managers with model making, diagrams, etc.

Designer Designer Designer Designer Designer Designer

Intern 2 Intern 2

- Working towards a Bachelor’s of Architecture at a NAAB Accredited University - Less experience, less responsibility

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-Bachelor’s of Architecture from a NAAB Accredited Institution -Studying to become a Licensed Architect -Work under project managers to execute designs

Design Principal -Bachelor’s of Architecture from a NAAB Accredited Institution -Licensed Architect -In charge of the day to day design of all projects

Principal -Bachelor’s of Architecture from a NAAB Accredited Institution -Licensed Architect with 10+ Years of professional experience -Skilled public speaker -In charge of getting commissions, maintaining client relations, making final design decisions

Project Manager

Vice President -Bachelor’s of Architecture from a NAAB Accredited Institution -Licensed Architect -Helps principal with their responsibilities

Project Manager

Project Manager

Project Manager -Bachelor’s of Architecture from a NAAB Accredited Institution -Licensed Architect -In charge of 1-2 projects at a time

This professional typology is exemplified by practices such as JGMA, Site Design, Wheeler Kearns, and Landon Bone Baker Architects

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Larger Firm

Interns 1-2

Design Team Members 8-10

Project Leader

Interns 1-2

Design Team Members 8-10

Project Leader

Interns 1-2

Design Team Members 8-10

Project Leader

Interns 1-2

Design Team Members 8-10

Project Leader

Interns 1-2

Design Team Members 8-10

Project Leader

Interns 1-2

Design Team Members 8-10

Project Leader

Senior Project Leader

-Bachelor’s in Architecture - Work on projects with the design team

Senior Project Leader

-Bachelor’s in a relevant field - Master’s in Architecture - Focus on a single project

Interns 1-2

Design Team Members 8-10

Project Leader

Interns 1-2

Design Team Members 8-10

Project Leader

Interns 1-2

Design Team Members 8-10

Project Leader

-Bachelor’s in a relevant field - Master’s in Architecture - In charge of a group of designers working on a single project.

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This professional typology is exemplified by practices such as Studio Gang, KTGY, SOM, and Perkins + Will

Senior Project Leader -Bachelor’s in a relevant field - Master’s in Architecture - Manage multiple projects at once

Office Branch

Big Picture

Design Principal(s) -Bachelor’s in a relevant field - Master’s in Architecture - Head of an office branch - Connector between office branch and big picture team

Principal, Interior Architecture

Design Director

-Bachelor’s in a relevant field - Master’s in Architecture - Head of Interior Architecture at the firm - Connector between office and big picture team

Managing Principal

Design Director -Bachelor’s in a relevant field - Master’s in Architecture - Manage Design Teams and facilitate work

-Bachelor’s in a relevant field - Master’s in Architecture - Supervises all projects - Connector between office and big picture team

Founding Principal(s) - Bachelor’s in a relevant field - Master’s in Architecture - Design on all projects in all offices - Guest Lectures / Public speaking - Big Picture ideas on how to push firm forward - Choose projects to pursue

Principal, Urbanism and Civil Impact -Bachelor’s in a relevant field - Master’s in Architecture - Leads design teams -Coordinates master plans - Stakeholder engagement - Connector between office and big picture team

Principal, Design Management -Bachelor’s in a relevant field - Master’s in Architecture - Leads large scale projects - Operational management - Connector between office and big picture team

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Street Artist / Urban Activist

Strikers

Street Artist Urban Activist The goal of the Street Artist / Urban Activist is to bring about change of some sort through their art that inspires the public to take action.

Public

Social Media Activists

Without the public’s help, any hope for change the activist has will die right away.

Public Councils The public’s job is to apply pressure to the people in the position to actually bring about change. They can apply pressure through striking, social media, public councils, etc.

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This professional typology is exemplified by artists such as Camila Bustamante, Joker, Lauren Asta, and JC Rivera

President/ Government OďŹƒcial

Government

As pressure is applied, the oďŹƒcial in charge of the issue at hand may feel enough pressure to take action.

If the outcry is strong, government policies could change, and civic projects could begin, depending on what the public and street artist have called for.

Architects The call for change could involve architecture, leading architects to rethink how they practice.

CHANGE Something as small as putting up stickers and posters around the city could start a movement leading to vast changes in a city, nation, or even the world.

University The change the street artist / activist calls for could have something to do with a university policy, tuition costs, etc. If enough pressure is applied by the public, they could bring about changes.

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How will you get there?

START MY OWN FIRM WORK AT A LARGE FIRM WORK AT A 15-30 PERSON FIRM STUDY ABROAD ADVANCED SYNTHESIS OPTION STUDIOS CARNEGIE MELLON SOA ARCHITECTURE CLASS ART CLASS CASA

1998

2003

2010

2012

2014

2016

I’ve been preparing to become an architect since I was five years old. At the time, I didn’t realize this, but looking back on how my past experiences have shaped me, that is the case. From Kindergarten through sixth grade, I was enrolled in an after school program called the Children’s After School Arts. The teachers at CASA encouraged the students to be themselves through their artwork. This is how I’ve approached creative work ever since.

After CASA, I continued my architectural preparation through art classes and high school architecture courses. Once I got a taste for architecture in high school, I knew that this was something I could see myself doing in the future. Currently, I’m enrolled in Carnegie Mellon’s School of Architecture. Carnegie Mellon is a NAAB accredited program, which allows me to take the tests to become a licensed architect soon after I graduate. During a 30

BREAK

INTERNSHIP INTERNSHIP INTERNSHIP IIT SUMMER SCHOOL

2021

2025

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student’s fourth and fifth years of schooling at CMU’s School of Architecture, they are asked to choose which studio courses they will take . ASOS, or, Advanced Synthesis Option Studio, is a catalogue of studios from which a student can choose. The studios for Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 are available to look at currently. For Fall 2019, I want to take Bouça Social Housing, with Damiani and Shapiro. The studio analyzes Alvaro Siza’s Bouça Housing in Porto, Portugal. Designed in the 1970’s, Bouça Social Housing was developed to address a lack of housing in Portugal during a time when political coups were disturbing the cultural, political, and architectural fabric of Portugal. The housing designed by Siza was spacious on the interior with an emphasis on outdoor and community spaces. The studio asks the students to design additional housing units, a community 31

hall, an arts center, and public service offices along the Western edge of the site. I think that this is a great opportunity to analyze the existing conditions of the community in order to create the best possible architecture for the neighborhood. Based on how I go about designing for this studio, I think that this could be a great learning experience in relation to what I want to do with architecture in the future. Obviously the site is different than any site I’ll likely be working on in the future, but the same ideas apply.

In the Spring of 2020, I want to take Humanizing Brutalism with Hal Hayes. This studio explores making an addition of a flexible 500 seat chamber to London’s brutalist South Bank Centre. Students in this course will collaborate with drama and arts management students to inform the design of the theater addition. This studio really excites me because I’m incredibly intrigued by brutalist architecture. I think that when done well, brutalist architecture can be one of the most strikingly beautiful styles in the world.

Both ASOS studios that I want to take my fourth year explore the idea of an addition to existing architecture. I’m drawn to this because I think that it will take a delicate hand to create something new and striking, but also relate to its context.

This is something that I know that I struggle with and will have to master by the time I’m a practicing architect, so tackling this challenge while I’m still in school is a good idea.

During the fall of my fifth year, I plan on studying abroad in Barcelona. I don’t have a particular plan yet for what I want to do when I’m in Spain, but for good reason. I want to travel with an open mind, willing to travel all over Europe and study whatever I see. Being abroad is a time to learn as much as possible, and I think narrowing my focus of study too specifically would be somewhat of a waste. With that being 32

said, I will be taking architecture courses and focusing my studies on architecture, but I will be doing so in the broadest way possible. I want to experience as many different things while in Europe as possible so that when I come back to The United States, I’ll be a more cultured, knowledgeable human.

The ASOS options for Spring of 2021 aren’t available yet, but I know that I want to take a very hands on, analog model heavy studio. This will be my last studio ever before I become a professional, so I want to get the most out of it. When at JGMA this summer, not a single physical model was built. All the work that was done in the office was digital. As 3D modeling software continues to improve, architects may feel that there is less of a need to build physical models. This won’t be the case when I start my own firm, but in until then, it might be.

Post graduation, I plan on moving back to Chicago. There are a plethora of firms for me to choose from, and the city appreciates good architecture. The experiences that I’ll have in designing buildings in relation to the existing conditions and buildings in the neighborhood will help me design architecture in Chicago that does just that. I want to start off working at a firm like JGMA, where everyone’s opinion is valued, and the staff collaborate on everything. This is an ideal environment to work for a first job, as there is a great balance of youth and experience to learn from.

Five years after graduation, I plan on being a licensed architect working at a larger firm like Studio Gang as a project leader. As I mentioned in the previous section, I think that there is a lot to learn from working at a larger firm that I can use at my own practice. After 5 years at this firm, I’ll have enough experience, connections, and confidence to start my own firm. This is when I feel like I’ll have the most success in relation to my Professional Aspiration. I’ll have total control over what projects to pursue, 33

and how to go about designing the architecture. I’ll have 10 years of professional experience, a semester abroad, and a wealth of intensive studio experience to help inform my design decisions. I’m confident that at this point in my career, I’ll be able to design great architecture for communities that enhances the existing qualities and cultures of the neighborhood.

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Final Presentation, Saco Bath House, 2018

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What is the evidence of your convictions in the aspirations identified?

Over the past three semesters, I’ve started to design architecture that reflects the direction I want to go in the future. To reiterate, my main goal as an architect is to use architecture as a tool to strengthen the culture of an neighborhood, working to prevent gentrification of that neighborhood in the process. I want to create spaces where the two groups start to understand each other’s needs better. This alone wouldn’t stop gentrification, but as the architect, I did my part in providing the spaces for a dialogue to occur.

During my fall semester of my second year, we designed an urban agriculture center for Homewood, a neighborhood in Pittsburgh. The goal was to create a building that brought the 36

community together through a carefully thought out spatial program designed to teach the community about growing food.

Homewood doesn’t have any grocery stores within walking distance, so in general, the residents don’t usually have healthy food available to them. The agriculture center was a market to buy fresh food and a growing center. I set the program up in the shape of a circle, with each part of the growing process situated in a cycle, similar to the life cycle of a plant. The cycle started in the greenhouse (grow), to the kitchen (prepare), to the market place (sell / eat), to the compost area, and back to the greenhouse. The idea was to use the spatial sequence of the architecture to act as a supplementary teacher for the community of Homewood in the hopes that it would help improve their eating habits and bring them closer together.

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My second year spring final project called for an office building in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty Neighborhood. East Liberty is going through an interesting time in its history, as it still was home to many stores and restaurants that have been there for decades, but was also seeing an up-tick in coffee shops, trendy clothing stores, and high end apartments. The neighborhood was in a transitional period that may have been leading to eventual gentrification. This was something important that I wanted to address. My office only reached the schematic design phase, but my general ideas for the involvement of the community in this new building were still evident. The staff of the office space were presumably a younger crowd that would be paid well to work at up and coming tech companies in the office building.

This community of workers would likely move into some of the higher end apartments in the neighborhood, contributing to the gentrification of East Liberty. I created an open entry onto the main street, inviting the community into the public atrium space on the first floor. The program called for a more progressive office space that didn’t have a set plan or layout, allowing the workers to work on their laptops from anywhere they wanted.

The goal of the public atrium space was to bring the office workers and the rest of the community together. If the existing community can form a relationship with the likely wealthier staff who work in the office, a dialogue can occur where the two groups start to understand each other’s needs better.

This alone wouldn’t stop gentrification, but as the architect, I did my part in providing the spaces for a dialogue to occur.

The program also called for an assembly space that could be used by the public as well as the staff members of the office. I decided to place the assembly space on the third floor, separated from the third floor office, but with a view into their space. The idea behind this was to give the community a connection to the 38

0’

10’

office workers through a better understanding of how they work.

A lot of times, the opposing sides of the fight for and against gentrification in a community do not a have great relationship with each other. The office building I designed was intended to create spaces that foster and nurture healthy relationships in the community that may not have occurred otherwise.

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This semester, we have been tasked with the design of an Environmental Charter School in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield.

Bloomfield is in an area where the median household income is $41,000. That is right around the median household income for all of Pittsburgh: $44,700. The issue of gentrification isn’t as prevalent in this scenario, so for this project, I will be placing more of an emphasis on creating a strong, but respectful relationship between the school and the community. First and foremost, the school needs to be a place where the students feel safe. For some students, this may be the only place where they feel truly safe, so it is important to keep that in mind while designing.

The program calls for the assembly space to be accessible to the public on the weekends. The design I’ve pushed forward so far is a split level building, separating the classrooms with the spaces the public can access with the split level. This provides easy circulation for the students, as well as the public, in a way that will make the classrooms a more private space. To give the community a stronger understanding of what the students have been working on in school, I’ve proposed a long lobby space be used as a gallery to showcase student work to the public as they walk through the building towards the assembly space. I want to design architecture that will benefit the community, but in this case, I had to also keep the students’ safety and well-being in mind.

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Students Public

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I understand that I still have a lot to learn if I want to be a successful architect, and I know that the path that I’ve laid out for myself in this chronicle will not be an easy one. With that being said, I’ve put myself in the best position to succeed thus far in life, and if I continue to consciously make decisions with my ultimate Professional Aspiration in mind, I will be able to reach the goals I’ve set out to achieve.

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Final Presentation, Environmental Charter School, 2019 43

The Environmental Charter School The Environmental Charter School (ECS) is a middle school in the Regent Square neighborhood of Pittsburgh that focuses on creating a learning experience based around real world tasks and tools through a carefully thought out curriculum.

ECS is an innovative, progressive school dedicated to preparing their students for the future. Currently, ECS is located in an outdated building that is cramped and dark, which aren’t ideal learning conditions. Our studio has been tasked with designing a new school building for ECS at a new site.

The new site is on Liberty Avenue at the edge of West Bloomfield.

It is just west of the intersection at Liberty Avenue and the Bloomfield Bridge.

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SITE

BLOOMFIELD

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ECS stresses the importance of community interaction, so it is important to keep the school open and welcoming to members of the community, while keeping the students safe as well. The “Environmental� in Environmental Charter School is not just about teaching through nature and sustainability. It is about the built environment, the surrounding community, and how students can learn from their surroundings.

ECS’s main priority is their students. It was apparent from the site visit that every dollar they could spend was going towards the students. Therefore, the design of this school should be first and foremost for the students. The school requires four classrooms per grade, 12 total. An individual classroom will also be the homeroom for a group of 20-24 students for their entire three years at the school. The idea behind this is to make a classroom feel like a home within a neighborhood cluster of 4 classrooms per grade. If the analogy continues, each grade comprises a neighborhood, and together, grades 6 through 8 make up a community. The overall feel of the school should be that of one unified community, where each person can learn from every one else through daily interactions within the school.

In addition to the required spaces, my design for the Environmental Charter School places an emphasis on the idea that a school can function in a similar fashion to a marketplace. The collaboration, presentations, and interactions that occur in a marketplace can translate into unique and exciting learning spaces within a school. The marketplace of ECS occurs in the extra areas that are created by the required programmatic spaces. These spaces should be used to connect the students with one another as well as with their community in order to help them learn to the best of their abilities.

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Community

Home

Home

Home

Home

Home

Home

Home

Home

Home

Home

Home

Home

Neighborhood

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Apple Market in London, England is a market I looked at when designing the school. The individual booths in the building could be boards in a science fair, where students move from booth to booth to learn about different topics.

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The Players Involved in the Project RooďŹ ng Masonry Windows Elevator Plumbing Solar Installation Insulation Grading and Excavation Electrical Heating and Ductwork Drywall Painter Steel Fabricator/Erector

Environmental Consultant Structural Engineer Civil Engineer Mechanical Engineer Electrical Engineer Plumbing and Fire Protection Engineers Cost Consultant Lighting Designer TraďŹƒc Engineer Fire Protection Consultant Envelope Consultant

Subcontractors

Contractor

Architect Students of ECS Consultants

Designers + Consultants Surveyor Geotechnical Engineer Accountant Financial Consultant Market Analyst Sales and Marketing Professional Fundraising Zoning

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Clients

Board

ECS

Jillian Wein Riley Kate Brennan Karen Howard Scott Roller Michael Aronson Lisa Elliot Rebecca King Molly Bennet Bernadine Diaz Dan Kiefer Ben Witsberger Robert Jones

CEO: Jon McCann Facility Director: Brian Wolfe Project Manager: Nikole Sheaer

Faculty

Parent Community Organization Neighbors

BloomďŹ eld Development Corporation

Community Representatives

Client Representatives

President Lynda Wrenn

Pittsburgh Public School Board

Dr. Regina B. Holley (District 2 Board Rep.)

Mayor Bill Peduto

City of Pittsburgh

Zoning Board

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The main players involved in the project are the designers/ consultants, the clients, and the client representatives, and the community representatives. The client is the most important player involved because the design is for them. In this case, because the clients are children, there are a larger number of groups who represent the client. ECS faculty, ECS board, parents, and Bloomfield community representatives all represent the students. ECS faculty who represent the students include the principal and the higher level faculty at the school. Jon McCann is the CEO of ECS, and is in charge of ensuring that the principles of ECS shine through in the design and construction of the building.

Brian Wolfe is the Facility Director for ECS and Nikole Sheaffer is the Project Manager. They are in charge of accepting bids for contracts with the school, and will work with the architects as representatives of ECS throughout the entire design process.

The community representatives make sure that anything being built in their neighborhood is beneficial for the people of the community. The Bloomfield Development Corporation is the CDC for this area. Their goal is to support, promote, and enhance Bloomfield. One of their responsibilities is taking part in the design process of new buildings in the neighborhood. They are the voice for their neighborhood. Residents of Bloomfield will be interested in the process, and can make their ideas and objections known in meetings with the architects and CDC or directly through the CDC. The architects and design consultants of the project work with the clients and their representatives to create a school that satisfies the objectives of the school. Once the design is finalized, contractors and subcontractors work with the architects to actually construct the building. The city of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Public School Board both have stake in the project as well, as the school would have the potential to greatly benefit the city in terms of the reputation of their schools. They’ll want to make sure that the design is up to their standards and would benefit the city of Pittsburgh as a whole.

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Jon McCann, CEO of the Environmental Charter School, Courtesy of ecspgh.org 53

Program Aspirations In general, the goals of the architect don’t necessarily need to relate to goals of the client, as long as the final result makes the client happy. The client is who the building is being designed for, and they are the ones paying, so they should get what they want, to a certain extent As the architect, I am in charge of the design of ECS. I aspire to create a school that can be an ideal space for learning through the philosophies of ECS. My design will have a strong overall scheme that fosters collaboration and community connectedness, placing a particular emphasis on the individual moments within the school where students can make these connections.

I don’t want to design for just ECS. I want to design for the Bloomfield community as a whole. This is easier for this project, as ECS has already emphasized how they want the community to play a role in the teaching process. The primary goal is to create a building that encourages day-to-day interactions between students, teachers, and their community. This building is for the students. The secondary goal is to create a welcoming and open atmosphere within the school that will create a positive relationship between the school and the community.

The challenge becomes blending these two goals into a cohesive design that both the client and the community are happy with.

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Site Visit to Bloomfield, Courtesy of Takumi Davis 55

The aspiration of the client (the students) is to go to a school where they can learn, grow, and have fun in the most engaging, and exciting ways possible. The Environmental Charter School should be a place for self discovery. The students should strive to learn from day-to-day interactions more about themselves, each other, and the world. While the architect designed the spaces of the school with specific intentions in mind, the students likely won’t always use these spaces in the same ways. ECS is a progressive schools with constantly evolving philosophies. While the program of the school may use a space for one thing originally, that use may change as the school’s philosophy changes. Therefore, the ideal program for ECS is a malleable, open program that can easily shift to the goals and teaching methods of such a progressive school.

The aspirations of the client and the architect in this case are very similar. The client wants to have certain experiences, and the architect wants to create the spaces to maximize the potential of these experiences.

Different Uses of the Same Space 56

Presentation

Collaboration

Individual Study 57

Conceptual Design/Approach The school is separated into three main areas: the classroom neighborhood, the communal area, and the faculty space. These spaces are all designed with the intention of initiating interactions and collaborations between the diverse body of students and faculty in the school. The spaces in between the main areas further exemplify this theme of connectedness and collaboration within the school community by providing areas for individual, group, and entire class study, for example. Encouraging interactions and collaborations through the architecture works on two levels: the larger scale of the three main areas, and the smaller scale of the interactions and connections non-programmed areas.

ADMINISTRATION

NEIGHBORHOOD

COMMON SPACE

Parti Diagram highlighting the programmed spaces and the open areas for market-like activities.

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Collaboration / Study Spaces 59

Resultant Design

Section: The split level building helps separate the different programmed spaces.

The design for ECS is a three story split level building. It is split up into a classroom neighborhood area, a faculty space, and a community assembly area. The split level design is incorporated to maintain a strong separation between the common spaces in the building and the more private areas where the classrooms are. The separation is incorporated into the building to strengthen the individual spaces on either level, to keep students separate from the common spaces for safety reasons, and to account for the change in elevation on the site. The east side of the building is made up of four classrooms per floor with a central communal space for collaboration and study. The west side of the building is split into the faculty area on the north and the assembly/ community space on the south. The open area at the center of these two is to be used as a common space for the students. The first floor’s common space is for large group collaboration, the second is for smaller groups, and the third is for individual study.

There will be PV panels on the roof as well as several garden areas for the students to use and learn from throughout the year.

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.

LIBERTY AVENUE

SECTION 1

814’

811’

SECTION 2

CANOE WAY

814’

811’

EWING STREET

Floor Plans: Common spaces can vary from floor to floor from completely public to more private and individual.

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The vignettes study how the common areas can be activated through adding different materials, steps, colors, and planes.

These common spaces are an integral part of the design for this school, so it was important to do a deep examination into how different additions felt in the space. The section to the right highlights just how dynamic the building is. Students on the third floor have a direct view into the assembly space, atriums bring in natural light, and the think lab opens up onto the roof. All of these playful spaces encourage the students to explore and collaborate with one another, which is the main idea for the school.

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This series of vignettes studies the different types of styles the common space between the classrooms can become.

The central study stairs help vertically connect the spaces in the school. A student on the third floor can see into the assembly space on the first floor.

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My design process for this project depended on an objective approach to analyzing my early work. The school’s layout went through many iterations before I settled on the space designed for the final building. I did a lot of sketching early on to try and capture how the building would make the users feel from the outside as well as the inside. As the design got stronger, I started to think more about the main concepts behind my building, and started incorporating features that would make my building unique. The idea of using spaces in the school like a marketplace was an idea that occurred to me fairly late

The Environmental Charter School, Bloomfield, Pittsburgh 64

in the process. I edited my design accordingly, combining what I had with what I wanted the building to become, and got to where the design is now. This semester, the design process was primarily thought about in 2D, with a focus on the layout of plans and creating purposeful, meaningful spaces.

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15

Zoning Review

Updated project schedule and budget

8 11

Land Use Approvals (both local and federal)

Request for Qualifications (RFQ’s) Request for Proposal (RFP’s)

Design Process

The Idea Stategic Planning Feasibility Analysis Selection and Organization Programming and Predesign Schematic Design Obtaining Approvals / Financing Design Development Construction Documentation Selecting a Construction Team Construction and Installation Occupancy and Project Closeout

Month

66

0

4

20

24

32

36

44

72

78

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Requests for Information (RFI’s)

Bid Proposal Form Building Permit Application (15 Days)

The project begins with an idea. ECS had the idea to build a new building for their middle school.

The next step is strategic planning. The project needs to be defined within the context of a long range plan. This includes accounting for the future in terms of changes in technology, demography, and funding. This stage of the process also involves evaluating existing conditions such as site conditions, zoning, flooding, solar orientation, and vehicular access. Then, the design team will propose solutions, budget, and a revised schedule. In the case of the site in Bloomfield, the it was noted that the southern edge is completely unobstructed from the sun, there is a slight slope to the site, and the zoning allows for a special exception of a school.

The next step in the design is a feasibility analysis, where the scope of the project is defined by the client, market and needs analysis specialists, and design professionals. Project objectives, program outlines, and a revised budget are established.

After this, a project team is selected. Usually, an architect is chosen through a separate process, and then the architect chooses a team of professionals to work with. Prospective architects receive RFQ’s from the client asking them to submit letters of interest, relevant projects they’ve worked on, and references. The client will then make a list of four to six of those architects and send them a request for proposal (RFP), which covers the firm’s understanding of the project, the program, schedule, key players, and proposed fees and expenses.

After this step comes the programming and predesign phase.

The design team does a program analysis, which will help them come up with a concept for the design. They can then revise the project schedule and budget again. From here, they 68

start to get land use approvals and financing for the project.

The architect will often give project presentations to various community groups and funders to secure funding. After this phase of the project is completed, the design team will have a better sense of the time and money required to complete it, so they’ll send out an updated project schedule and budget.

After this step comes schematic design, where the concept for the design is developed for all the important aspects of the project. During this period, the design team tries to create a clear and feasible concept for the client to approve, and to clarify the program through exploring alternative solutions to the design.

The next step in the process is obtaining approvals and financing for the project. The project is subject to local, state, and federal reviews. During this time, the team can continue with pursuing local land use approvals. For some reason, it is often more difficult to gain approvals from the local boards than federal. Because the site is located in a Neighborhood Industrial District, a special zoning variance would need to be filed with the Zoning and Development Review Division.

The next step is design development, where all aspects of the design should be finished to the point where all that’s left in the design is producing construction documents.

Construction documentation is the final step in the design process. Construction documents include drawings, which give show what work needs to be done graphically, specifications, which provide information on the standards the work should meet, contract forms, which describe the roles and responsibilities of all players in the project, and bidding requirements, which outline the procedures for bidding. As 69

the project gains momentum, the team will need to begin look for contractors. A minimum of three contractors must submit a bid for the project, and the design team and client will work together to choose the best candidate for the job.

During construction and installation, the contractors and subcontractors will look at the construction documents and construct the building accordingly. If they have any questions, or something isn’t clear, they’ll submit a request for information (RFI) to the design team. Often times, these RFI’s are used to confirm that a change order is needed on a document. If a change order is confirmed, it means there was some sort of mistake in the construction documents, and that mistake can be deleted from the cost for contractors. The design team need to make sure there are very few mistakes in their construction documents, otherwise contractors will make them pay.

For the design of ECS, particular care was taking in the programming and schematic design phases. Figuring out the best layout for student comfort that also takes into account teacher comfort, student safety, community relations, and the relationship to the environment took a lot of time. It is important to remember through the entire design process that the school is for the students, and it should be designed accordingly.

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Construction Documents

100%

Design Development 35%

Schematic Design 10%

Programming

5%

Design Completion

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Obligation to the Public The architect is obligated by the AIA code of ethics and professional conduct to promote and serve the public interest (Canon II).

As an architect, one of my biggest goals is to design for the public.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I want to design buildings that will directly benefit a community. For the design of ECS, I’ve made a point of designing a building that is open and welcoming to the neighborhood of Bloomfield. This was part ECS’s initial criteria for the project, and it aligns well with my aspirations as an architect.

In line with Ethical Standard 2.3 of Canon II, it is the civic responsibility of the architect to be involved in civic activities in a way that helps the public understand and appreciate architecture. The public has a right to know about the project, and have their voices heard throughout the process. It is the obligation of the architect to inform the public about the project during community meetings, listen to their ideas, and consider what they have to say. Often times, the members of a neighborhood can provide a unique perspective on the design of the project that the architects may not have considered. Other times, it may not be as helpful, but it is important for the public to know that the architect is at least willing to listen to them.

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Obligation to the Client The client (the student) is the most important player in the creation of the school. The architect is obligated by Canon III of the AIA code of ethics and professional conduct to design in a professional and unbiased manner to the client’s specifications to their utmost ability. With that being said, the architect is also obligated to make decisions that they know will be better for the design as a whole in the long run, even if the client doesn’t always agree(this needs to be one within reason, as Rule 3.103 of the code of ethics states that an architect cannot alter the scope or objectives of a project without the client’s consent). For this specific project, the design should be based on the specific needs of the student and the goals of ECS as an educational institution. The design should create an environment that makes the students feel safe and welcome.

The architect is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of work done by architectural consultants. If this isn’t the case, the architect is contractually liable for any of the mistakes made. The architect may also be responsible for setting realistic expectations for design to less experienced clients, who don’t completely understand what the role of the architect is in a project. The architect needs to be patient and honest with the client so that the design is well understood and well executed in the eyes of both the architect and the client. With ECS, the clients are less experienced, so the architect needs to put extra effort into understanding the client’s goal for the project, working with them to make the design more realistic, and keeping them informed throughout the entire process. The client trusts them, and the architects should safeguard this trust by maintaining confidentiality according to Ethical Standard 3.4.

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Obligation to the Profession According to Canon IV of the AIA code of ethics and professional conduct, members should strive to uphold the integrity and dignity of the profession. That should be seen as an absolute minimum requirement. The goal of every new design should be to continue to push the profession forward. Architects should be able to learn from each other’s work, and continue to improve on it. For the design of ECS, it is important to design a building specifically tailored to the unique teaching styles of the school. They place a lot of emphasis on learning through their environment, and the architecture should reflect that.

Through a series of sustainable design features (that I currently haven’t designed yet), the new ECS building will be an excellent precedent for future architects to use when designing schools.

The architect of a design needs to be cognizant of the impression they are making as an architect throughout the design and construction of a building. The architect should be willing to listen to the owner, contractors, and consultants and demonstrate that they have an open mind when it comes to designing. The architect has an obligation to the profession to be easy to work with. If the owner starts to feel like it’s too difficult to work with the architect, they can decide that they won’t hire architects in the future. This will lead to an overall decline in commissions available for the profession, and an increase in ugly, boring buildings. The architect is also in charge of making sure that any consultants they bring onto the project conform to the code of ethics as well (Rule 4.202).

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Obligation to Colleagues Similarly, architects should feel obligated to do their best work in every design and give the best impression they can when working with non-architects so that architects don’t get a bad reputation.

This is an obligation to architecture as a profession and therefore is an obligation to every architect as well. I think that it is important for the profession to stay connected. Architects shouldn’t feel like they are in direct competition with their colleagues at other firms. There should be a positive relationship between architects so that the best work can be done on each projects.

Communication between architects is what will foster these positive relationships. If the architect of the ECS design has a negative experience with a contractor on the site, for example, it is that architect’s obligation to let their colleagues know about this experience in so that they won’t have to go through the same experience. On the flip side, if the contractor on the project was really great, the architect should also let their colleagues know.

There shouldn’t be any animosity or negativity between architects. Architects should respect each other’s rights and professional aspirations, according to Canon V of the AIA code of ethics and professional conduct.

In an ideal world, architects would assist each other whenever possible so that beautiful buildings can be built with minimal obstacles. The ultimate goal of architects should be to design to benefit the people of the community, and that can be easier achieved through communication and assisting each other in any way possible as architects.

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Obligation to the Environment The Environmental Charter School emphasizes the importance of using the environment as a tool for teaching for the students.

The design of ECS needs to reflect this. This ties in well with Canon VI of the AIA code of ethics and professional conduct: to promote sustainable design and development principles.

The architecture should act as a secondary teacher in a way that creates spaces that help teach the students about the environment and sustainability. This can be done through implementation of passive design strategies in the building or simply through careful design of spaces that are best for learning.

The building envelope of the school was designed with a high R value to make the building require less heating and cooling.

Sustainable Design practices are outlined in Ethical Standard 6.1.

Sustainability when designing is also important. Materials, construction, and energy usage should all be taken into account in the construction documents phase of design in order to produce the least amount of waste possible when constructing and maintaining the building in the future (this relates to Ethical Standard 6.2 Sustainable Development).

Using the building as a teacher of sustainability could inspire students to pursue architecture in the future, which would tie into an architect’s obligation to the profession. Students interested in architecture and sustainability at ECS could end up becoming pioneers in the practice, leading to a cleaner, more sustainable future.

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Obligation to Education The design of ECS should enable the teachers to teach to the best of their abilities, and help students learn to the best of theirs. The architect needs to understand how a school teaches, and design for that specific style of teaching. The Environmental Charter School’s goal is to “grow citizens.” They don’t use a traditional system for teaching their students, and the architecture needs to reflect that. In my design for ECS, I’ve incorporated a series of smaller spaces for collaboration and interaction between students, faculty, and the community.

During our visit to ECS, the teachers mentioned that they have a “me time” program, where they will break into smaller groups of 1 to 5 students and a teacher, and teach students on a more personal level. The spaces I’ve designed outside of the primary classroom could be used as me time spaces. I’ve understood a specificity of the pedagogy of ECS, and I’ve responded to it.

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Obligation to Myself As a practicing architect, running my own firm, I have an obligation to myself to design a building for ECS that is consistent with the ideas and themes I’ve set forth as important to me when designing. First and foremost, I have an obligation to design a school for ECS that fosters incredible and exciting learning experiences for the students. That is the most important aspect of the school, but I also need to design a building that is beneficial to the community as well.

I want my firm to be recognized as a firm that makes buildings to improve a neighborhood, so I need to design with this in mind. I want to hold myself to a higher standard than designing only for the client’s needs. I want to be able to look back on my career when I’m older, and be proud of the impact every one of the buildings I’ve helped design have had on their communities.

That is the standard I should feel obligated to hold myself to.

By the end of the project, the hierarchy of importance of my obligations as an architect should look like the diagram above. I’ve made it clear that I feel that the obligation to the client is the most important. They are the ones who are going to be using the space every day, and it is important that space I create is a reflection of their views and goals. The second tier of obligations should include Education, the Environment, and the Public. The building I’m designing is a school, where the primary goal is educating, so a large emphasis should be placed on this. The same goes for my obligations to the environment, as the school’s philosophy is all about understanding and learning through the environment.

My obligation to the public is at the same level of importance 78

1 Obligation to Client

2 Obligation to Education

Obligation to Environment

Obligation to Public

3 Obligation to Myself

4 Obligation to the Profession

Obligation to Colleagues

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because they are the ones who will have to live near and see this building everyday, so it is important that they like it. The third level of obligations should be an obligation to myself. Once I’ve made sure I’ve satisfied the obligations above this, then I can give more attention to designing based on my personal philosophy as an architect. For me, the obligations to the profession and to my colleagues are least important. These obligations are somewhat separate from the immediate design of the building, so in my opinion, these obligations can be addressed later.

Currently, I’ve placed emphasis on the client first. Based on my study of collaboration and interaction spaces, the obligation to education is second in importance. I’ve looked into how the public can interact with the school, but I haven’t had any real conversations with neighbors of site to get their input, which I could do to improve the depth of my design. The area in which needs the most improvement currently is how I’ve addressed my obligations to the environment. At this point in the project, I really haven’t addressed it at all. If I can do a series of studies for the implementation of environmental systems similar to the ones I’ve done on study spaces, then the obligations to the environment will be addressed to the same level as the obligations to education. As long as I continue designing with my ideas and philosophies for how I want to practice in the back of my mind, the design will reflect it, and my obligation to myself as an architect will be addressed. For now, I am not thinking much about my obligation to my colleagues or to the profession.

80

1 Obligation to Client

2 Obligation to Education

3 Obligation to Public

4 Obligation to Environment

5 Obligation to Colleagues

Obligation to the Profession

Obligation to Myself

81

82

Month

Architect

Owner (and owner consultants)

Zoning Board

PLI (Permits Licenses and Inspections)

Public

Bloomfield Development Corporation

City Council

City Planning Design Staff

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

0

1

Players Involved

Project Meetings

Public Hearings during Design

Traffic Obstruction Permit

Selecting a Construction Team

Occupancy Permit Application

Finance Meetings

Design Review

Building Permit Submission

Zoning for Building Permit

Public Hearings prior to Design

1

3 4

5

4.5

6 3

5

1

7

2

Contextual Design Advisory Panel

2

2

4 1

6 6.25

3

15 Consultants

14 Construction Manager

13 Building Inspector

12 Department of Mobility and Infrastructure

11 Traffic Engineer

10 Potential Investors

9

1.5

1

7

8

9

8

9 9.25

1

10

3

4

11

12

2

5

2 14

13 13.25 14

1

1

15

6

7

16

17 17.25

1

2

5

1 11 12

1 10 13

6

7 15

Path to Implementation

Prior to the actual designing, the owner and owner consultant will hold public hearings to help gage the public’s interest in the project. The public, city council representatives, and the Bloomfield Development Corporation would attend a public hearing for the construction of a new school for ECS in Bloomfield. During these meetings, the owner and architect will listen to the concerns and ideas the members of the meeting bring up, and consider them when designing the school.

Currently, the site in Bloomfield is part of a Neighborhood Industrial District (NDI) Zone. An educational facility is a special exception, so ECS would be able to build a school on the site.

In order to do this, the owner and the architect would need to present their proposal to the Zoning Board and request a special variance for the use of that site. At a zoning board meeting I went to, the zoning board committee would listen to the proposals of the owners and architects for variances and special exceptions, make sure they had all the information necessary to make a decision, and then inform the owner that they’d hear back from them within 45 days with a decision. Because schools can often act as catalysts for neighborhood improvement, it’s likely that the Zoning Board would make the special exception.

Commercial building permits are required on all structural work done on all buildings besides single or two family homes.

In order to get a commercial building permit, the owner and architect need to submit their design drawings to be reviewed by the Zoning Board and Permits Licenses and Inspections (PLI). This process doesn’t take longer than two weeks.

The design review process in Pittsburgh requires the owner and architect to submit a series of drawings and renderings to the City Planning Design Staff. Once they approve the 83

Building Inspector

Department of Mobility and Infrastructure

5 8

Potential Investors

Traffic Engineer

PLI (Permits Licenses and Inspections) 8

6

8

5 10

3

Bloomfield Development Corporation

9

Zoning Board

6

10

Architect

7 1

10

1

9

9

1

1

9 10

10

10

Owner (and owner consultants)

1

9

7

City Planning Design Staff

10 9 1

1

9 10

4

4

4

10

10

Consultants

Public

10

10

10

9

9

1

1

10

City Council

7

Construction Manager

Contextual Design Advisory Panel

Public Hearings prior to Design 1

Occupancy Permit Application

6

Zoning for Building Permit

2

Selecting a Construction Team

7

Building Permit Submission

3

Traffic Obstruction Permit

8

Design Review

4

Public Hearings during Design

9

Finance Meetings

5

Project Meetings

Who talks to who, and when?

84

5

10

drawings, they are sent to be reviewed by the Contextual Design Advisory Panel, whose mission is to promote the quality of life in Pittsburgh through assistance in maximizing a new design’s potential for benefiting the public realm.

The architect will often have to present the project to prospective investors in finance meetings throughout the project. Usually, financing for the project is broken up into phases, so finance meetings will happen throughout the design and construction of the building, as the architect and owner try to gain the next round of funding.

A certificate of occupancy is required to be able to legally occupy a building. This certificate certifies that the proper zoning and building codes were enforced at the time the owner was issued the certificate. The Zoning Board and PLI are responsible for administering certificates of occupancy.

Selecting a construction team usually takes 2-4 months. For every project, a minimum of three contractors must submit a bid to win the project. This is required by law. The architect and client work as a team to select the contractor that they feel is best for the project. In order to qualify as a satisfactory bidder on the project, the contractor should provide information such as the length of time the organization has been a general contractor, whether it has operated under other names, states and categories in which the contractor is legally qualified to do business, percentage of work performed by the contractor’s own forces, whether the organization has ever failed to complete a project, list of construction projects in progress and completed in the past 15 years, litigation history, lien history, and financial statements. If any of this information causes concern to the owner or architect, the contractor should no longer be considered for the job.

85

Hersh Merenstein District 8

Owen Cooks University of Pittsburgh Jamie Ducar University of Pittsburgh

Baum Center Initiative Members

Will Master Turner Construction

86

Cindy Jampole Trans Associates Michael Dembert Wexford Science and Technology

Craig Dunham Dunham ReGroup

Joseph Reagan Wexford Science and Technology

Jed Edeler ZGF Architects

Project Meeting, Ford Motor Company Building, Pittsburgh, 2019 87

The Bloomfield site is flanked by a street on the south side called Ewing Street. It’s more of an alley than a street, and it isn’t ever busy. During construction, the contractors will need space for their trucks, materials, dumpsters, etc., so it will be beneficial to file for a traffic obstruction permit. This permit allows the contractors to close off the street to the public during working hours. Traffic Engineers, and the architect must file for this permit. The permit is given by DOMI (Department of Mobility and Infrastructure).

During the design, the architect, owner, the public, the BDC, and the city council will have public meetings where the current design is presented, and any ideas or issues the public has are explained. This is a beneficial type of meeting to be having because it keeps the public engaged in the process, hopefully leading to a sense of pride in the building in the future.

I got the chance to sit in on a project meeting in East Liberty where a group of architects, consultants, and developers were seeking a letter of support from the Baum Center Initiative on their redevelopment of a building in the neighborhood. The players involved were a real estate consultant from Dunham ReGroup, developers from Wexford Science and Technology, a traffic engineer from Trans Associates, a Special Projects manager from Turner Construction, Architects from ZGF, representatives from the University of Pittsburgh (the clients), members of city council, Baum Center Initiative representatives, local residents, and an Insurance Agent from State Farm. The project was in the process of gaining approvals from Zoning Boards, the Department of City Planning, and the Department for Mobility and Infrastructure.

The client’s role in the review process is either be present or have a representative present to answer and questions the 88

reviewers may have. They are there to provide clarity for any reviewers who don’t understand the certain aspects of the project. In the meeting I was at, Jamie Ducar, a representative for the University of Pittsburgh, clarified whether Pittsburgh staff received benefits for biking instead of driving to work, and whether that would be a possibility in the new building. The client’s motivations are to see to it that the review process is as easy and smooth as possible so that building can begin as soon as possible. The longer the review process, the more the owner will have to pay different groups working for them.

The architect’s role in the review process is to provide drawings that accurately represent the general design of the building.

They’ll need to be able to pitch the idea to multiple juries and cater the presentations to the specific juries. In the meeting, Jed Edeler of ZGF Architects gave an overview of the design to help the audience remember it, and then went into the specifics and changes they’d made to the design since the last meeting. His goal was to present the changes in a clear and concise way, and then answer any questions the audience had.

The construction manager is there to provide their expertise on construction during the meeting. At this meeting, Will Master of Turner Construction was in attendance, but he didn’t say anything. If people had specific questions on how long something would take or how much something would cost, he could’ve been helpful in answering them.

The members of Wexford Science and Technology were working as the Real Estate Developers on the project. ZGF and Wexler presented different parts of the design to the audience, which gave me the sense that they were both influential in the design of the building. The design of ECS doesn’t call for a Real 89

Estate Developer, so they aren’t as important to that project.

Craig Dunham of Dunham ReGroup was likely the Owner’s Consultant for the project. Craig’s 25 years of experience in construction and development make him a strong team member with valuable knowledge to contribute to the project. Owners often hire consultants when they aren’t as experienced in constructing or developing buildings. ECS would likely need to hire a consultant for the project to help them understand the necessary steps they need to take to ensure the design and construction processes run smoothly.

The members of Baum Center Initiative were representing the group that the presenting team was hoping would sign a letter of support for the project. Their job is to understand the project and decide whether they feel the project will be good or bad for the neighborhood. In the case of ECS, this would be the Bloomfield Development Corporation. The design team seeks the approval of groups like this to prove to various juries they are seeking approval from that the community is on board with the project.

Sometimes, city council representatives will attend public project meetings to track the progress of the project and make sure the design is as beneficial to the neighborhood and overall city of Pittsburgh as possible. At the meeting I was at, city councilwomen Deb Gross (not pictured) brought up multiple issues with traffic patterns and entry sequences that the design hadn’t addressed.

She was concerned with how people could access the site, not just cars. From what I understand, city council representatives are there to ask the difficult questions of the design, and push the design team to make the best possible building they can.

90

Zoning Board of Adjustment, hearing a client’s proposal for a zoning variance 91

Building the Team 1

A201-2007, General Conditions of the Contract for Construction

2

B101-2007, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect

3

A101-2007, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Contractor

4

C103-2015, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Consultant

5

C132-2009, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Construction Manager

6

C401-2007, Standard Form of Agreement Between Architect and Consultant

7

A401-2007, Standard Form of Agreement Between Contractor and Subcontractor

8

B132-2009, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect, Construction Manager as Adviser

1

6

Constultants

Envelope Consultant

Environmental Consultant Lighting Designer Structural Engineer

Fire Protection Consultant Civil Engineer Mechanical Engineer Electrical Engineer Plumbing and Fire Protection Engineers Cost Consultant TraďŹƒc Engineer

92

Architect

2

8

4

Consultant Surveyor Geotechnical Engineer Accountant Financial Consultant Market Analyst Sales and Marketing Professional Fundraising Consultant Zoning Consultant

Owner 5

1

3

Contractor 7

Construction Manager

Subcontractors Steel Fabricator/Erector RooďŹ ng Heating and Ductwork Insulation Elevator Solar Installation Grading and Excavation Window Plumbing Electrical Masonry Drywall Painter

93

The most important players who need to be contractually engaged during the building process are the owner, the architect, and the contractor. These are the primary players. The owner can hire outside party consultants and a construction manager to assist in the construction process as well. The architect hires a team of consultants, and the contractor works with different subcontractors throughout the construction process.

Site Visit, Brighton Park, Chicago, Summer 2018 94

The Owner / Client Under contract A201-2007, the owner is responsible for providing proof that they have the money to build, taking surveys of the land, getting approvals, easements, and assessments for construction, and contract documents. The owner has the right to stop and restart work on the construction site at any time. With an more unexperienced owner like ECS, they’ll likely hire a team of consultants and construction manager to assist and advise them during the construction process.

It is important that the owner, architect, and contractor maintain a consistent open dialogue throughout the construction process so that any issues during construction are addressed right away.

A good owner will remain attentive to the construction process and willing to compromise if any unforeseen issues come up.

The owner is in agreement with the architect under AIA contract B101-2007. This agreement outlines the scope of the architect’s services, the phases of design, how work will be evaluated, payments, submittals, change orders, and additional services. Any issues that arise between owner and architect can be settled by this agreement. The owner is in agreement with the general contractor under AIA contract A101-2007. This contract includes payment methods, dispute resolutions, termination or suspension, miscellaneous provisions, and insurance. The contractor is responsible for any mistakes during construction, and the owner is responsible for paying for the construction, including contractor fees.

95

The Architect Under contract A201-2007, the architect is responsible for administering the contracts on the owner’s behalf, handling communications during contract administration, reviewing shop drawings, determining benchmarks and completion of work, claims for concealed or unknown conditions, claims for additional costs, claims for additional time, reporting injury or damage to a person or property, reviewing schedules, approving applications for payment, issuing certification for payment, determining final completion, and approving final payments. Most importantly, the architect’s responsibility is to design. If any mistakes are made in the design, the owner still has to pay for it under contract. The architect won’t be in any legal trouble, but they will have ruined their reputation.

The architect acts as the translator between the owner and the team of consultants on the project. The team of consultants report to the architect, and the architect will report any pertinent information to the owner. The architect and the architect’s consultants enter into an agreement under C401-2007. This agreement is used in conjunction with the primary agreement between owner and architect to establish responsibilities, services, claims and disputes, compensation, and the overall scope of the agreement. This agreement helps maintain standards and responsibilities that is consistent with the more important agreements for construction.

96

The Contractor Under contract A201-2007, the contractor is responsible for any and all mistakes made on the construction site.

The contractor is in charge of the construction means, methods, techniques, sequences, and procedures. They also are responsible for taking field measurements of the site, paying for labor, materials, equipment, tools, construction equipment, machinery, water, heat, utilities, transportation, and other necessary services during construction. They acquire permits, fees, licenses, and give inspections.

A good contractor will examine every single detail of the construction documents and make sure that everything is accurate and legible. Often times, contractors won’t tell the architect about mistakes in the construction documents until construction has begun. They will do this in order to get a change order. This takes up more time but can be economically beneficial for the contractor. As long as the architect provides perfect construction documents, this won’t be an issue.

The contractor enters into agreement (A401-2007) with the subcontractors on the project as well as the owner (A101-2007). A401-2007 sets forth responsibilities of the contractors and the subcontractors, changes in work, payment, insurance, and working conditions. Because there are so many subcontractors, this agreement is important in establishing a consistent and all encompassing set of rules between the contractor and subcontractors.

97

Construction Manager The construction manager acts as the eyes and ears of the owner on the site. They help manage the day to day activities on the site and report back to the owner on a consistent basis.

Their responsibilities for ECS would include evaluating the program, schedule, and budget, updating the project schedule, providing cost estimates, obtaining bids from subcontractors, administering work for subcontractors, scheduling meetings, and tracking the cost of the project. With the construction manager as constructor (CMc), the contractor and the architect have fewer responsibilities and less risk, meaning they will get paid less.

The construction manager is in agreement with the owner under contract C132-2009. This contract as well as B132-2009 are coordinated to make the construction manager’s job and responsibilities as clear as possible to the owner as well as to the architect. The construction manager helps bridge the gap between the architect and owner if there are issues with communication.

The construction manager as constructor is expected to have knowledge and experience in building so that they can use their expertise to help expedite building processes. The construction manager isn’t always necessary, but can be helpful when there are disagreements and issues during construction. A good construction manager will create a relationship between them, the architect, and the owner that works towards consensus, making it easier to focus solely on the construction.

98

Consultants (Hired by the Owner) The owner will often hire third party consultants to help them understand the project scope. These consultants are responsible for analyzing the existing conditions of the site, the current construction progress on the site, and the future issues and liabilities the owner may have to worry about going forward.

Ideally, the third party consultant would focus on the best interest’s of the project. In reality, they often look out for the owner first, as the owner is the one paying them. This could encourage the owner to make decisions on the project that cost less than what the architect’s design calls for, leading to a sub par design.

The owner hired consultants are under contract (C1032015) with the owner which outlines the terms and conditions of their work, copyrights and licenses, claims and disputes, termination of the contract, and compensation.

99

The Architect’s Consultants The architect should give their consultants the same legal rights that the architect gets from the owner. The consultant should therefore owe the same responsibilities the architect would owe the owner. The owner architect contract is often incorporated into the architect consultant agreement because the two relationships are so similar.

Ideally, the architect will assemble the team of consultants before the project begins so that the consultants can take part in the project planning. The more cohesive the team is as a whole, the easier the entire process will be. Consultants for the architect should be responsive to concerns of the architect and attentive to the details in their specialized part of the project.

The consultants of the project are especially important in the construction process because of the wealth of specified information they bring to the project. For example, the Envelope Consultant can assess any unforeseen thermal bridges on the building and provide insight into how to fix it. The traffic consultant can help to figure out how to get the heavy machinery onto the small site without disrupting the flow of traffic.

100

Subcontractors Subcontractors report to the main contractor. They are in charge of a specified aspect of the construction of the building, such as roofing, elevators, solar installation, insulation, painting, and steel fabrication/erection. Subcontractors should A big part of this design for ECS has to do with learning from the school. Whether that be from an exposed structure, operable windows, or green roofs, the subcontractors are responsible for making sure that their work is done to a high standard. The subcontractor should be an active participant in the construction process, cooperating with the contractor, other subcontractors, and the owner.

101

Interior Render of ECS Design 102

Reason The process for the creation of a building is complex, and requires a lot of collaboration between the members of the team involved with the design and construction process. The organization of the construction team is set up in a way that I understand to be a recipe for success. A clear hierarchy of the associated players leads to a clear understanding of responsibilities for each player, leading to a more cohesive, stronger design for the students of ECS and the Bloomfield Community.

103

Questions/Concerns

Answers to the owner

Architect Answer to the architect

Constultants

Questions/Concerns

Envelope Consultant

Environmental Consultant Lighting Designer Structural Engineer

Fire Protection Consultant Civil Engineer Mechanical Engineer Electrical Engineer Plumbing and Fire Protection Engineers Cost Consultant Traffic Engineer

Consultant Surveyor Geotechnical Engineer Accountant Financial Consultant Market Analyst Sales and Marketing Professional Fundraising Consultant Zoning Consultant

The design team’s organization was based on the typical make up of a construction group. The owner, architect, and consultant are the primary players, as they have the most responsibility, stake, and power in the project. Because the owner is less experienced with the construction site, it made sense for them to hire a third party consultant to help advise them on any issues that may arise during the construction process. If the owner was more experienced with developing properties (like a real estate developer, for example), a third party consultant wouldn’t have been necessary. As previously mentioned, the consultants on this project were incredibly important because of 104

Owner Answers to the owner

Contractor Advise the Owner Questions/Concerns Answer to the contractor

Construction Manager

Subcontractors Steel Fabricator/Erector RooďŹ ng Heating and Ductwork Insulation Elevator Solar Installation Grading and Excavation Window Plumbing Electrical Masonry Drywall Painter

the intentions of the building. Part of the idea behind this school was to use the actual building as a teacher for the students.

The consultants on the job had to make sure their work was exemplary in order to be used as an example to the students.

The same can be said for the subcontractors, whose work not only helps the school function, but can act as teaching moments within the school. The construction manager was an important piece of the team because they are the person that keeps every other player on the team accountable for staying on schedule, spending money properly, and keeping the site clean and safe throughout the entire construction process. When combined, 105

all of the players on this team should work well together.

Again, the path to implementation for this project isn’t anything elaborate or out of the ordinary. It is an example of a typical process for construction of a project that is of the same scale as a school. One thing that is great about this process is the interconnectedness of all of the different players throughout the process of construction. The architect touches just about every process, and is able to become a key translator between different groups who may not necessarily talk to one another directly. I think that this is a great way to show the value of the architect during a project. If the architect is seen as the “master controller� of the project, it is about as close as they can be to a master builder in this day and age. It is much easier to call the architect the master controller on the project before the construction starts. During construction, all of the subcontractors and consultants working on the project will likely want to do things in their own unique ways, as it is their specialty. The question becomes more about how the architect can be integrated further into the construction, engineering, and material making process of the project. If the architect can have as much say during this part of the design as they do during the path to construction, then the value of the architect will increase, leading to better conditions, pay, and reputations for architects in general.

106

Construction Material Studies

Engineering Building Inspector

Department of Mobility and Infrastructure

5 8

Potential Investors

Traffic Engineer

PLI (Permits Licenses and Inspections) 8

6

8

5 10

3

Bloomfield Development Corporation

9

Zoning Board

6

10

Architect

7 1

10

1

9

9

1

1

9 10

10

10

Owner (and owner consultants)

1

9

7

City Planning Design Staff

10 9 1

1

9 10

4

5

4

4

10

10

Consultants

Public

10

10

10

9

9

1

1

10

City Council

7

Construction Manager

Contextual Design Advisory Panel

Public Hearings prior to Design 1

Occupancy Permit Application

6

Zoning for Building Permit

2

Selecting a Construction Team

7

Building Permit Submission

3

Traffic Obstruction Permit

8

Design Review

4

Public Hearings during Design

Finance Meetings

5

Project Meetings

9 10

How can the architect increase their value during construction?

107

McKamish hard hat commission, repurposed as a backpack hanger for ECS. 108

109

Commission During class, we designed a hard hat hanger for the School of Architecture’s office at Carnegie Mellon. The object is made up of 45 individual hangers. Each hanger is connected to two other hangers, and in some way relates to both of them. The goal was to create a confluence between the individual pieces so that they look like a single, cohesive object. For the purposes of this chronicle, I propose to repurpose the hat hangers as backpack hooks for the Environmental Charter School.

Currently, each studio classroom is given 40 cubbies for their students to put their backpacks during the day. These cubbies take up a lot of space, so hanging the backpacks from these hooks would allow for more of the classroom to be utilized for purposes besides storage. There are already exposed beams and metal railings throughout the school to give it somewhat of a marketplace feel, so the metal installation would also work well with the overall aesthetic of my design for ECS. The overall process for the commission of this installation took one ust under one month from when the initial idea was conceived to installation.

110

111

Sketched Prototype

Construction Drawings

McKamish Fabrication

Prepare Pieces for Install Install

April 10th

April 16th

April 24th

May 8th May 10th

Sketch Prototype We started off the project with an in class exercise. We developed a full scale sketch of the installation by taping together 45 individual 11”x17” papers. Each paper had the template for the piece on it, and we were asked to design a piece (with our partner) that related to the pieces to the right and to the left of ours. I was partnered with Deepthi Ganesh.

This was a crucial step in the process because we had to work with our partner and classmates to make sure our designs followed the constraints of the project and related to one another. Initially, a lot of the sketches didn’t make sense, and wouldn’t have been able to be cut out by the CNC machine at McKamish. John Folan, our professor, red lined the entire stretch of paper, editing the forms that wouldn’t have worked.

Initially, our design didn’t do a good job of relating to our neighbors’ designs. We had to exchange digital files once we’d drawn them in AutoCAD in order to make sure they worked well as a whole.

112

Sketched full scale prototype. This was our first attempt at designing the pieces.

113

Construction Drawings

2"

CL BRAKE

1"

90째 BRAKE: DOWN FOR COMPONENT TYPE A UP FOR COMPONENT TYPE B

BOUNDARY REGION FOR CUSTOM PROFILE 1'-0"

/4" 2 3 P. TY

1

8"

OFFSET DIE

MAX OVERALL PLATE LENGTH

FIXED CUT

ALIGN

FIXED CUT

1"

CL BRAKE

1 90째 BRAKE UP

MIN. CUSTOM PROFILE BOUNDARY, TYP. FIXED CUT, TYP. 1/2 "

MIN. CUSTOM CURVE BOUNDARY, TYP.

1/2 "

CL T O SL

1/2"

5 1/2"

1'-1" MAX OVERALL PLATE WIDTH

45째

Construction Drawing. Partner: Deepthi Ganesh

KEYNOTES: 1. 1/8" THICK STEEL PLATE 2. HOMASOTE WALL COVERING 3. CMU SOA ULINE HARD HAT

45째

41 PLATE PART LAYOUT SCALE: 6" = 1'-0"

H A N G E R T Y P E A PLATE PART LAYOUT SCALE: 6" = 1'-0"

16 APRIL 2019 DRAWN BY: JM/DG

COMMISSION

A100

C M U S CH O O L O F A R CH I T E CT U RE

In groups of two, we were asked to produce a construction drawing like the one shown above. Because the theme of the installation was confluence, we had to coordinate with designers of the pieces to the left and right of ours (40 and 42). A lot of the coordination was done during the sketched prototype exercise in class, but we still had to exchange AutoCAD files in order to create tangent lines between the two files, emphasizing the confluence between the two pieces. Once every team had submitted their drawings, the professors put together a cut sheet for McKamish Inc. to use as a template to cut the pieces out during the fabrication process. Terry Tumulty Sr. was the Head of Software at McKamish. He said the construction file we sent him was good, but he had to edit a few issues before it was ready to be cut.

114

Initial Cut Sheet that was sent to McKamish. Drawing by John Folan

115

Partial Elevation, showing piece 41 (designed by Jacob Moskowitz and Deepthi Ganesh). Drawing by John Folan

Once all of the pieces were cut, cleaned, polished, and ready to be installed, construction drawings were needed to help guide us through the installation. The elevation on the adjacent page is used to get a picture of what the entire installation will look like once installed. It is also used to show the overall dimensions of the installation. The drawing calls for the height of the drill holes to be 6 foot 6 inches, but during installation, it was decided that 6 foot 4 inches worked better. Detailed elevations help to show the alignments of the pieces. It was difficult to determine the orientation of the pieces as well as which pieces went in front and which went behind. The detailed elevations like the one above helped to clear this up.

116

Full Elevation. Drawn by John Folan.

117

McKamish Fabrication

Piece Number 41

260 Amp HD CNC Plasma Cutter 118

Once the pieces were ready to be cut out, Terry Tumulty Sr. sent the file to the CNC Plasma Cutter Machine that they have in their shop. The machine uses combinations of oxygen, nitrogen, and F5 (hydrogen and argon) to cut out the varying types of steel and metal that a given job requires. In this case, a 1/8� sheet of low carbon steel, weighing roughly 180 pounds, was used for the pieces. The CNC machine requires a worker (in this case, it was Nick Clemente, the son of Jamie Clemente, the Vice President and Manager of Metal Fabrication) to put in the settings for the machine manually. Initially, Nick set the CNC Plasma Cutter at 80 amps which was too fast, and burned too hot. The pieces started to burn and bow. He then changed the settings to 12 gauge, 45 amps, and switched to nitrogen gas, which burns cleaner. This ended up working better, but there issues with excess stag and sharp edges still had to be addressed due to errors in the cutting process.

If the settings are perfect, the cut pieces should sit level with the rest of the sheet. Because the settings were off, the sheet bowed, and the pieces fell through.

119

Offset Piece

Ian Young operating the Offset Die Hydraulic Press Brake 120

The offset die machine was run by Ian Young. The purpose of offsetting the pieces was to create a zipper-like instance as the pieces connected during the final installation. The right side of each piece would sit in front of the left side of the piece next to it.

The offset die machine had a lot of human error involved with it.

Some pieces were offset perfectly on the line, like the construction drawings called for, and others were slightly off. They were too far to one side, or not offset at the proper angle. This wasn’t really an issue though, as the installation didn’t require 100% accuracy.

Offsets were not always exact.

121

Bend 1

Ian Young Operating the Hydraulic Press Bake 122

Bend 2

The hydraulic press brake was used to create two 90 degree bends in the pieces. There were two settings for the bends, so all Ian had to do was insert the piece, perform the first bend, adjust the piece, and perform the second bend. These bends made the hook. The press brake used 3 tons of pressure to perform the bends, but the machine can give up to 11 tons of pressure if necessary. During the process, the sensors that detected the metal got confused because they were picking up the thickness of the entire piece, including some of the outside burn marks that occurred during the CNC process. This led to some error, where the bends weren’t completely 90 degrees at times. Again, the hooks didn’t require an exact 90 degree angle, so it didn’t end up being an issue.

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Issues with Press Brake leading to less than 90 degree bends

CNC settings were off, leading to slag and sharp edges

Offsets were not always orthogonal

Overall, all of the issues that occurred during the fabrication process were surmountable. The slag and sharp edges were fixed for free, and the errors in the offsets weren’t enough to cause any issues with the installation. The hook angles were close to 90 degrees on all the pieces, so that wasn’t an issue either. The only thing that may have been an issue was the burn marks, but that gives it a nice rustic look, similar to the aesthetic that is already present in a market, so it wouldn’t be an issue in my design for the Environmental Charter School.

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Finished piece 125

An important part of the commission that is important to understand is the labor rates associated with the creation of the installation. At McKamish, Terry Tumulty Jr. walked us through the general costs of creating our pieces. They first had to edit the drawings. They needed to take each block, put it in its own file, and then put that file onto the main cut sheet. This took 4 hours, and cost $50/hr. Next, someone had to cut the sheet metal and prepare it for the CNC Plasma table, which took 3 hours at $90/ hr. The sheet metal itself cost a total of $99. Once the sheet metal was ready, the Nick Clemente cut the pieces out of it on the CNC Plasma Table, which cost $50/hr, and took 2 hours.

Once the pieces were cut out, Ian Young ran them through the Hydraulic Press Brakes to offset them and bend them. This took an hour and cost $50. The school paid McKamish $900 to cut and bend the pieces for the installation, and in theory, it only would have cost $719. The company would have made a tidy $181. In actuality, they had to rush on this project because they were squeezing it in between other projects they needed to complete.

Because they rushed, mistakes were made. It ended up taking an extra 11 hours to knock the slag from the CNC table off, and another 3 hours to grind down any sharp edges on the pieces, costing them $700 total. They ended up losing money on this project, but Jamie Clemente, the Vice President and Manager of Metal Fabrication at McKamish, believes in education, and felt that it was important for us to learn about the process.

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Job

Rate

Amount

Total Cost

Edit Drawings

$50/hr

4 hours

$200

Sheet Metal Set Up

$90/hr

3 hours

$270

Sheet Metal

55c/lb

180lb

$99

CNC Plasma Table

$50/hr

2 hours

$100

Hydraulic Press Brakes

$50/hr

1 hour

$50

Fixing Errors

$50/hr

14 hours

$700

Total Cost

$55.71/hr

21 hours

$1,419

Labor Rates

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Cleaning and Polishing Pieces

The pieces came back from McKamish in good condition, but they still needed to be cleaned and polished before installation. Initially, the Acetone was used to clean the pieces. Once that ran out, denatured alcohol was used to clean the pieces. The numbers were washed off, and any residue from burns or sanding was wiped off as well.

Cleaning the piece with denatured alcohol.

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Once the pieces were cleaned, a new rag was used to polish the piece with polyurethane. As a finish, polyurethane is used on metal to help prevent rusting. Once dry, polyurethane acts as a coat for the metal, making it more resistant to water, solvents, and scratches. The pieces were left to dry for two days and were then ready for installation.

Polishing the piece with polyurethane.

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Install

Structural Clay Tile Homasote

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Twist Resistent Block Anchor

1/2” Plastic Spacer

3/4” Diameter Black Oxide Fender Washer

Black Oxide Phillips Rounded Head 2.5” Long

The wall that the hangers were installed on was made up of 1/2” homasote and a structural clay tile behind it. Homasote tends to compress under pressure, so a 1/2” plastic spacer is used to prevent this from occurring. It is difficult to drive a screw into the structural clay tile, so a hammer drill was used to drill into the tile. The hammer drill didn’t have the proper drill bit diameter, so after the hammer drill was used, so a standard drill was used after to drill a 5/16” hole. The twist resistant block anchor was then hammered into the hole. Next, the spacer was hammered in. Two pieces were placed in front of the hole, one in front of the other, and the screw Phillips Rounded Head 2.5” Long Screw and 3/4” Washer were screwed into place. A string was aligned along the wall at 6 foot 4 inches to make sure the installation stayed straight.

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A hole is drilled into the wall, and twist resistant block anchor and 1/2� spacer are hammered into place.

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Two pieces are placed over the hole, placing the left piece in front of the right.

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The Phillips Rounded Head 2.5� Long Screw and 3/4� washer are drilled into the hole, locking the pieces into place.

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This process is repeated until all of the pieces have been installed.

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Overall, the installation was a success. Some areas emphasized the theme of confluence better than others, and some pieces were cut out, offset, and bent better than others. Individually, the pieces were strange, and the forms didn’t make much sense. When they were put together during the installation, it became apparent why the forms were the way they were, and the whole idea shined through. Deepthi and I did a good job of working with our neighbors to create a similar form to 136

their forms, but it could’ve been better. For example, we didn’t realize that the left side of our piece would be covered by the right side of piece number 40. Had we known this, we would’ve made our interior holes smaller whole still relating to piece number 40’s openings. I think overall, everyone could’ve made their connections better. In the future, it may have been more beneficial to spend a couple weeks iterating on the actual design.

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Citations 1. Page 4 “BARBER SCHOOL OF PITTSBURGH.” BARBER SCHOOL OF PITTSBURGH, www. bsp.edu/.

2.Page 19 Moreno, Juan G. “JGMA | Progressive Architecture and Design.” JGMA | Philosophy, www.jgma.com/#.

3. Page 19 “Space Architects + Planners.” SPACE Architects + Planners, www.spacearchplan.com/about/.

4. Page 19 “Chicago, Illinois.” Wheeler Kearns Architects, wkarch.com/.

5. Page 19 “Mission.” Landon Bone Baker Architects, www.landonbonebaker.com/studio/mission/.

6. Page 19 “Award Winning International Design Firm.” KTGY Architects, ktgy.com/.

7. Page 19 RyanQuinlan. “Firm Profile.” Global, 13 Feb. 2019, perkinswill.com/ firm-profile.

8. Page 19 “Studio Gang.” Studio Gang, studiogang.com/.

9. Page 19 “Site Design Group Ltd.” Site Design Group Ltd | Chicago Landscape Architecture and Urban Design, www.site-design.com/.

10. Page 19 “Home.” SOM, www.som.com/.

11. Page 21 “THE URBAN ACTIVIST Camila Bustamante.” Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture, 2012, by Rory Hyde, Routledge, 2013, pp. 103–110.

11. Page 23 Joker. Personal interview. 21 Apr. 2015.

12. Page 31 Damiani, Gerard. “Bouca Social Housing.” Advanced Synthesis Options Studio Catalogue, 2018, soa.cmu.edu/asos.

13. Page 32 Hayes, Hal. “Humanizing Brutalism.” Advanced Synthesis Options Studio Catalogue, 2018, soa.cmu.edu/asos.

14. Page 39 “Pittsburgh, PA.” Crime in Pine Bluff, Arkansas (AR): Murders, Rapes, Robberies, Assaults, Burglaries, Thefts, Auto Thefts, Arson, Law Enforcement Employees, Police Officers, Crime Map, www.city-data.com/income/income-Pittsburgh-Pennsylvania.html.

15. Page 106 Kieran, Stephen, and James Timberlake. Refabricating Architecture. McGraw-Hill, 2004. *All diagrams and images were created and taken by me, unless stated otherwise.

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