Celebrating 30 Years!

Last week we had the privilege of celebrating our 30 years in business with all of the people that have afforded us the opportunity to be of service to them.  We shared the moment atop the Hotel Monaco with all of our great clients, friends and consultants. What started as a small one man operation back in 1984 with Jerry Roller at the helm, has transformed into a architectural force to be reckoned with, boasting 36 employees today. The projects have gotten better and better, the people sharper and sharper, and overall, it's just a great place to work! See more great images here from Aux Collective.

Educational Video about a Career in Architecture Starring JKR Architects!

Izzo Here: A few months ago, Tiffany (formerly of JKR, but still a close ally to the office) and I embarked on some uncharted territory.  We were approached by an awesome organization called GreenTreks to star in short film about careers in STEM or science, technology, engineering and Mathematics. This was the result.  Hopefully this will inspire you or someone you know to become an architect! Grab some popcorn!

Sam Kim Becomes our Latest Registered Architect!

Sam Kim is our latest team member to pass her final architecture exam and become a registered architect. It's no easy feat.  In addition to playing a major role in every aspect of our office culture, she has been quietly knocking down each test with regularity.  Usually you hear of everyone complaining about how hard the tests are, or how unfair they are, or how much they have been studying for them and consuming their lives, but Sam always kept her head and plugged away at them with her positive attitude.  We now have an impressive THIRTEEN registered architects in our talented office! Way to go Sam!

Movers and Shakers

One of the coolest dudes ever. Him, not me.

B-Mac (Bob) and I were at the Center for Architecture last night for the award of the annual Ed Bacon Prize honoring national individuals who have advocated for excellence in urban development, planning, thought, and design through conviction of vision.  The first awardee was former Philadelphia mayor and then Pennsylvania governor, Ed Rendell.  He was a pretty cool dude as expected.  We talked about football, the olympics, politics, and some hotel gossip surrounding the new Comcast building and moving the Four Seasons Hotel.  He added a good story about how he convinced J.W. Marriott to build the Marriott on Market Street back in the day.  But of all the traveling he's done, believe it or not, he still thinks the Airport Marriott is one of the best hotels he's ever stayed in.    Guess who else was there... wait for it..... Ed Bacon's daughter.  That makes Bob and I only one degree from Kevin Bacon!

Marissa is now officially an Architect!

Marissa, the architect

Look at that smile! After months of studying, and agonizing, and stressing, and dealing with NCARB and all the other negative words associated with the Architecture Registration Exam, Marissa has conquered the tests! All of them! She has risen to the top and has earned the right to call herself Marissa McMurtrie, AIA.  She's been beaming all morning! Flying from desk to desk! She's walking on air.  And if you aren't familiar with the exams, the ain't easy.  This is a big deal. I think we have a couple more people in the office about to become architects in the not too distant future. Check back here for updates.

Green Treks teams up with JKR for informational video

Tiff, Izzo, and Ferro

This past Monday, Green Treks, the award-winning Philadelphia-based nonprofit communications company teamed up with JKR Partners to film their upcoming educational series about STEM careers.  If you aren't familiar with STEM, it's an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.  The short film is geared toward high school students that might be interested in a job in these fields but may be too scared to ask the questions they really want to know.  Tiffany and I were interviewed by a local high school student, and we quelled her fears about how much Math architects really use. Contrary to what most people think, we really don't use much complex Math.  After filming in the office,we headed to one of our construction sites around the corner where site superintendent Dave Ferro from Clemens gave us some hands on experience.

N.Broad Street looking up

nice welcoming stair

pretty sweet courtyard if you ask me

love that brick pattern

with views like this, there's some incentive to take a few years to graduate.

You gotta give credit where credit is due.  MGA Partners did a bang up job on their new Morgan Hall complex at Temple University.  North Broad Street has been on the up and up for the last few years, but this project will put it over the top.  This project will finally put people on the street, Broad Street in particular and really put Temple back on the map as not just another commuter school.  It looks like they pulled out all the stops with great materials, great views, great landscaping, and pretty good urbanism.  Check out the photos here and here by Bradley Maule.

FIRM CRAWL @ JKRP!

PhilaNOMA's first (and now probably annual) Firm Crawl went off without a hitch!

I can honestly say that I was a little pessimistic in thinking that we would only get about 5 or so students - especially after such a long afternoon of crawling already (we were about number 4 on the list of firms to visit)

And then it rained.
And then they were delayed.
And then someone said the pretzels were going to get stale.
And then I yelled at Sean for eating a pretzel.

But nevertheless at around 4:45 there were almost 30 students from Temple, UPenn, Drexel and Philly U in our elevator lobby - eager and ready to learn all about our home away from home - JKR Partners!

SPECIAL THANKS to Jose for being the visionary of the 'three ring circus' aka Firm Crawl - Open House at JKR Partners...
Natalya for putting the 'swag' packages together.

Tram Fun - Marissa, Sam, and Blake for the refreshments..

The 412 Lux Design Team. (Jose, Blake, Steve)

The Starplex Design Team. (Mike F.)

The SouthStar Design Team. (Zach, Mike I.)

Kim for putting up with a full house of folks hovering around her desk..

Dave for sharing his oratory skills with the group..ANDLast but certainly not least the entire staff of JKRP for your hospitality during this event....

Calling all Architecture Students who want a job

So, you're in architecture school, and you are nervous about getting a job.  You aren't sure if your thesis is good, and you've been putting off redoing your portfolio for weeks.  Well, get your act together!  Hopefully you've seen this flier posted on your school's message boards or you've gotten an email about this awesome event.  You can check out some bigger and smaller firms in the city and see if it's a place you think you would want to work.  We're participating as well as Kling, WRT, Francis Cauffman, TMH Assoc. and BLTa.  It should be a good time, and we look forward to showing off our awesome work and our awesome deck!

New Barnes Foundation

my personal favorite

Izzo Here: I was feeling inspired last week, and I wanted to get to the Barnes before the year was over.  If you've never been, you should make it a point to go.  I would say this is the best piece of architecture our city has gotten in a long time (our projects excluded of course).  Tod Williams and Billie Tsien have been some of my favorite architects since I first saw them give a lecture my junior year of college.  I am sure this is their highest profile building, and they did not disappoint.  Check out the snaps.  Not bad for a pretty cloudy day.  Oh and the images looked good even before the instagramming.

NYC trip

Izzo Here: I took a little day trip this weekend to New York City and took in some sites and a show. I hadn't been in a few years so it was good to bump into some architectural icons I hadn't seen in a while.  The TKTS booth in Times Square designed by Choi Ropiha is pretty sweet. Empire State building of course, and the slammin New York Times building.  It's a little on the techy side for me, but I still like the idea of it.  Of course Instagram just makes everything cooler.

Extra! Extra! Jose is officially an Architect!

After years of being recognized by his peers at the office, Jose has finally been recognized by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards as being a bonafide registered architect! The Hoser, passed his final elusive structures exam and can now claim one of those expensive stamps stating Jose Juan Hernandez, Registered Architect.  Congrats to Hose. I'll buy the first round of drinks. Cheap drinks. I just hope this is a sign of good things to come considering I just took my first test.

Trip to DC

Izzo Here: Took a little trip down to DC to see a friend who was in town from California and stayed at pretty much the coolest hotel I have ever seen.  Everything was really designed for its intended purpose. I especially liked the reception desk with a nice little area to put down your bag while you checked in.  The rooms were cool too in the fact that there really was no wall separating the bathroom from the sleeping area. 

Zaha Hadid @ the Perelman

Izzo Here: I've been wanting to go to this exhibit since it was announced that Zaha was going to be in town, and this weekend I finally made some time to go.  I can't say I am an uber fan of Zaha, but you gotta respect her as a designer; She's got it going on.  The exhibit at the Perelman wasn't really that great though. It felt like you walked into the space, and five minutes later you saw everything they had in the exhibit. I will say the light fixtures and the table in the foreground were pretty cool.  If you get a chance to go to the Art Museum though, the Zoe Strauss exhibit is really cool. 

Constructing Play Exhibit

NM: The Center for Architecture on 1218 Arch has a great exhibit on the history of construction toys starting from 17th century alphabet blocks to today's ultra-contemporary versatile modules, and everything in-between. Anyone with a somewhat decent childhood would not be left indifferent to seeing all the former longings and possessions assembled together at last, side-by-side, in one room. The displays are a pure joy. So much joy it can make one forget the purpose of actually going to the Center of Architecture which could in fact be a highly important and urgent task trusted upon by the authoritative forces of the architectural industry. And if that’s not enough, an overly enthusiastic staff will be thrilled to point out that John Locke was the one who invented the alphabet blocks in the late 1600’s. Not the guy from Lost, the actual John Locke.

Second Saturday Art Show...Revisited

Paul Here: My wife Maria and I payed another visit to Yogawood in Collingswood, NJ this past weekend to support Keith Johnson, a co-worker of Maria's at Kitchen and Associates. Keith displayed photography from various trips including destinations in Europe, Puerto Rico, and western United States. Keith's display was part of Collingswood's "Second Saturday" arts and entertainment event and continues the tradition of Architects with many talents.

Montreal

Lauren here:  Last week I took a train trip to Montreal with my siblings.  Despite the rainy weather we had a great time exploring the city.  Here are two photos from the trip.  The first was taken at the sculpture garden at the Canadian Center for Architecture.  We saw an awesome rainbow after walking two miles to the museum in the rain.  The second photo is from the Biosphere museum.  It is housed inside the geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller as the US pavilion at Expo 67.  In the foreground is a solar house designed by Montreal students for the 2007 Solar Decathlon in Washington D.C.