AIA Central PA Thanks Our Generous Newsletter Sponsors
2016 Conference, Expo and Design Awards Winners and Re-cap
By Kyle Solyak, AIA
AIA Central Pennsylvania held the annual Conference, Expo, and Design Awards at the Cork Factory Hotel in Lancaster, PA on Thursday, October 20th. The day’s agenda featured a tour of the Urban Place Campus, four AIA continuing education credits, an expo lasting all afternoon, and wrapping up with the Design Awards presentation in the evening featuring keynote speaker, Mayor J. Richard Gray.
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Congratulations to this year’s winners of the AIA Central Pennsylvania 2016 Design awards. We would like to thank all of the firms/architects who submitted projects; this year was our largest entry pool to date with 42 submitted projects.
The York Central Market Historic Renovation Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects | Good Design is Good Business and Merit Award in the Built Category
AIA Central PA President, Dan Godfrey and President’s Award Recipient, Kazim Dharsi
President’s Award Recipient, Kazim Dharsi
An excellent testament to the great talent in Central Pennsylvania. In addition a special thank you to this year’s jury from AIA Austin. We appreciate their time and commitment to reviewing all submissions and their thoughtful evaluations. And as always, we could not do this without all of our sponsors and their continued commitment to AIA Central Pennsylvania. We are greatly appreciative and look forward to future events together.
The 2017 Conference, Expo and Design Awards planning is already underway! The annual event is scheduled to be held in York, PA as we rotate around our geographical area. We are looking for potential event spaces and recommendations on continuing education seminars and/or keynote speaker. If any members have any ideas on a unique venue space or speakers please pass them our way!
DIGSAU Defines “Boondoggles” | 2016 Fall Lecture Series
By Rebecca Slenker, AIA
The 2016 AIA Central PA lecture series culminated at the Pennsylvania State Museum with DIGSAU, a successful decade old firm based in Philadelphia. Partners Mark Sanderson and Jeff Goldstein joined our chapter to speak about the evolutionary process of their work and the thread of continuity between all projects, large and small, including their recent AIA PA Silver Medal Award winning building, “Bigham Leatherberry Wise Place”.
Mark and Jeff began by discussing project types that they entitled “boondoggles”. These tiny design competitions, installations, pro-bono work, and smaller projects were not done to build the firm financially, but were instead viewed as opportunities for growth and exploration. They demonstrated how the time and effort spent was not wasted, but connected with and informed the firm’s larger projects. Mark and Jeff expressed the belief that the success of the larger projects was possible solely because of the very processes and techniques that were developed with the boondoggles. The firm gleaned from these projects a willingness to experiment with unconventional materials, to reveal their nature in new and interesting ways, to approach the building process inclusively (especially with the tradesmen), and most of all to have fun along the way. In the question and answer segment Mark and Jeff addressed their approach to working drawings and the focus on efficiency, paying close attention to the areas that count while giving leeway to the contractor regarding more generic conditions. The partners also noted their conscious choice to allow larger more profitable projects to help fund the boondoggles – emphasizing the value added.
It was apparent by their presentation, that thoughtful creativity and respect for the craft are of utmost importance to their partnership and that no matter the scale, budget, or profile of the project, the process of good design is never sacrificed.
Thank you to the following 2016 Fall Lecture Series sponsors for making this event possible:
TONO Group launched its Interiors by DECO showroom earlier this month for December’s First Friday. The space was open to the public and guests were invited to enjoy food, drink, and an art exhibition. TONO Architects’ interior designers partnered with Friendship Heart Gallery—a local nonprofit organization that helps people of all ages with developmental and physical disabilities express their capabilities through art.
Interior designers donated wallcoverings, tiles, fabric swatches, and other raw materials to Friendship’s Artists who used them to create one-of-a-kind pieces of art. All proceeds benefitted their organization and encapsulated TONO Group’s mission to create meaningful places.
Tales from the Yeoman Architect | Got Gingerbread?
By James Mehaffey, AIA
You may not guess it, but one of the most hectic times of the year in our firm is the annual Gingerbread display in December. Started before my time here in 1987, the ‘Display’ as it is known here has grown from a simple gingerbread house display on a countertop to an immersive, larger than life experience. The original objective was to create a fun activity for our clients at our annual Holiday party held each year in the first week of December. Every year we say it is too big and should be simplified, and every year it gets just as big, in one way or another.
This year, the idea was to do a simple streetscape in the city, 3 story townhouses in an ‘L’ shape. Sounds good, right? Until the scale of the display doubles from 3/8” = 1’-0” to 3/4” and the size of a 6 foot tall person in the display grew from just over 2 inches to 4 1/2”. For someone who makes a lot of the people for the display, this was a big deal. Normally we can reuse a lot of the people from year to year. A Santa from last year is just as good as a new Santa. But not this year. All the people to populate the display had to be made from scratch and twice as large.
Read on to discover how these gingerbread-fondant santas and their sweet structures came to life.
Travel to Italy with HACC in 2017
By Dan Godfrey, AIA
Understand Italy’s History through its Art & Architecture! Join HACC in May to experience an unforgettable immersion into the wonder and beauty of Italy during a ten-day tour of Rome, Florence, and Venice.
The tour examines the foundations of western architecture in ancient Rome and traces its evolution from Medieval ingenuity through Baroque theatricality and current innovations within the green building movement in Italy. Special emphasis is placed upon the birth of the Renaissance in Florence and its further manifestation in Rome and Venice.
Many selected sites are “hidden gems” that are not often visited by tourists; each has been studied and visited many times by the course instructor, who will help students discover some new aspect, dimension, or insight.
Introductory lecture sessions will be held before leaving for Italy that are aimed at preparing students with historical, philosophical, and religious background for the sites to be visited.
Travel Dates: May 11-21, 2017
Pre- and post-travel evening classes will meet at HACC in Hall Tech 108 on April 13, April 27, and June 8, 2017.
Contact John Boecker, AIA at boecker@sevengroup.com or 717.877.8038 to learn more and reserve your spot.
Wednesday, January 18th: “Copyright Law in the Real World of the Design Professional” CE & Networking
Learn more and register here
Job Opportunities
Project Architect
Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects is an Award-winning Architectural, Planning and Interiors firm creating inspiring designs throughout the Pennsylvania, Maryland and Mid-Atlantic region. We work hard and play hard – and make sure that we receive fair compensation for doing excellent work. More importantly, we really enjoy what we do – working with each other – and with a great group of returning and new clients with interesting commissions.
M&D continues to grow – as we receive more requests for thoughtful, creative and inspiring Architecture. We have an immediate opening for an a talented, design-oriented Project Architect with 5-10 years of experience to join our York, Pennsylvania office. This is a great opportunity to work with talented people in the area’s premier architectural design studio.
Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects is an Award-winning Architectural, Planning and Interiors firm creating inspiring designs throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. We work hard and play hard – and make sure that we receive fair compensation for doing excellent work. More importantly, we really enjoy what we do – working with each other – and with a great group of returning and new clients.
Our firm continues to grow, and we have an immediate opening for an a talented, design-oriented architect/recent architectural graduate to join our York, Pennsylvania office. This is a great opportunity to work with talented people in one of the area’s premier creative design environments.
PROJECT TYPES: College & University, K-12 Public and Private Schools, Performing Arts/Museums, Religious/Faith Based, Libraries and Learning Centers, Historic Preservation/Adaptive Reuse, Recreation/Fitness/Athletic/Wellness, Market-rate and Affordable Housing
SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS:
Degree in Architecture – Required
1 – 4 years of experience – Preferred
Strong Communication Skills
Design Skills/Aptitude
Presentation Skills
Proficiency with AutoCAD, Revit, 3-D rendering and animation applications
Provides academic instruction and student academic support for the assigned academic department. Performs tasks designed to ensure the quality and consistency of academic instruction including governance activities.
Position Functions
Teaches assigned courses in Architecture.
Participates in curriculum development and maintenance.
Provides academic support and advising to students including establishing and maintaining a schedule of office hours.
Participates in college governance by serving on joint, ad hoc, faculty, campus, department and discipline committees.
Participates in the recruitment and hiring of new faculty through participation on assigned search committees.
Participates in college and community service activities.
Participates in professional growth activities and maintains awareness of new trends and developments within areas of instructional responsibility.
Performs other duties as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications
Masters degree in Architecture from an institution accredited by NAAB (National Architectural Accreditation Board).
Minimum of 3 years teaching experience at the college level. Five years experience in an architectural practice
Knowledge of and commitment to the community college mission.
Knowledge of and experience with personal computers and software applications. Knowledge of and experience with a variety of instructional technologies.
Strong interpersonal skills including the ability to establish positive relationships with students, faculty and staff.
Ability to work effectively with a diverse faculty, staff and student body.
Willingness to teach day, evening, weekend, on or off-campus classes, and online classes.
Preferred Experience
Three years experience in a post-secondary environment including instruction and curricula planning.
Demonstrated experience in developing content for online course delivery
Two years experience teaching online at the college level
Architectural license in any NCARB (National Council of Architecture Registration Boards) jurisdiction
Additional Knowledge and Skills
Knowledge of and commitment to the community college mission.
Ability to work effectively with a diverse faculty, staff and student body.
Knowledge of and experience with personal computers and software applications.
Skills and experience to instruct and motivate students from different cultural backgrounds.
Strong writing and oral communication skills.
Knowledge of and experience with a variety of instructional technologies.
Strong interpersonal skills including the ability to establish positive relationships with students, faculty and staff.