WINDOW, Charette

One of the participants presenting her team's design

Some of our sketches

Laura here: Mike and I competed in a design-build competition, “WINDOW,” by AIA Philadelphia Associate Committee yesterday.  The Charette took place at the Philadelphia Center for Architecture, and the competition was to design a window display for Save Some Green, an eco-friendly store on 20^th and Chestnut.  The store owner told us about his business and his goals for the display, and then we were given an hour to come up with our initial ideas.  After presenting to a panel of judges, we had a final half hour to make adjustments based on feedback given to us.  Although we were not selected as the winners of the competition, the owners were pleased with our design, and are interested in working with us for a window display in the future.  We also had fun sketching our vortex of reclaimed wood and eco-products and got some free food.

Check out the winning design in a few weeks! 

Annual Phillies Outing

You need a drink before you see the Phils these days.

After a minor rain delay, the Phils got back to beatin on the Cubbies.

Butch hooking up the specials.

Serious Sergi and a photobombing Jose.

the Boss getting his birthday on.

If it seems like our office is a lot of fun, that's because it is.  In keeping with our yearly tradition, which started way back when the Phillies were actually good; last Thursday we had our annual JKR day at the Phillies.  This year was special in that it was also the Boss Man's 65th birthday.  He took full advantage of his newly granted senior citizen status and wisely got his subway ride to the ballpark for free. With age comes wisdom I guess. And like we always do, we all went back to our second favorite watering hole where we got our celebratory drinks.  The drinks taste much sweeter when the Phils win big. 

Anthony Wayne II, Subsidized Senior Housing

TWayne awaiting his brick, hardie board, and stucco exterior

3^rd floor unit view

View from the 4^th floor corner unit 

Glenn, Tiffany, Lauren, and Laura have been working on a 46-unit apartment building that will provide subsidized housing for seniors in the Grays Ferry Area.  Anthony Wayne II neighbors Anthony Wayne I, which JKRP previously renovated.  Construction is well underway on TWayne (as we’ve affectionately nicknamed it), despite some acts of trespassing, vandalism, and theft.  TWayne has 1 and 2 bedroom units, as well as two community rooms and a number of communal sitting areas.  The large window systems that have been installed will give these seniors plenty of light and nice views of the Center City skyline, as well as nearby fields. 

The Broad Street Run

Tim here - JKR Partners had quite a showing at the Broad Street Run last Sunday (May 5th).  Five of us from the office ran in the race (Laura, Lauren, Izzo, Tim, and Sean Sean Sean Sean).  Everyone did a fantastic job in this 10-mile race through the heart of Philadelphia, and did JKR Proud.

 I had to take a very important call immediately after the race. 

Laura thought that the crosswalk was the finish line.

Lauren smoked us all with a race time of 1:12:18

Not pictured: Sean Sullivan (Sean lost his numbers while rocking out to "Sweet Caroline" at the start line.)

Mike Izzo (Izzo ran into some technical difficulties.) 

JKR's Second Annual Drink and Draw

Sean showing off his skills.

Nicole, still early in the night with her right hand.

Glenn imparting his wisdom.

Jose and his off hand.

Laura's feeble attempt at drawing "chalk" "you know, it's a driveway, and an infant!"

Tim justifying his horrific attempt at drawing "Long Island"

Kathleen drawing something.  Musta been a gem based on Mike's reaction. 

Farinella's terrible terrible terrible attempt at drawing a cave. 

We've got a great relationship with the Irish Pub across the street from our office; On the good days, we celebrate there, on the bad days, we wallow there.  Last night, we upheld what will surely become a JKR tradition,  the annual Drink and Draw.  Pictionary with food and booze.  Now let's be clear, Pictionary isn't much fun between smart architects like us, so to make it more interesting we handicap ourselves with shots and beers and then we draw with our non-dominant hand.  It makes for a much more fun, and funny evening. 

MLK Day of Service

G-dubs hard at work on his corner

Rooch and Izzo, supervising

measure 7 times, cut twice

Laura and Tiff show off their schmutzin' abilities

Yeah, we're a week late on this one, but it's still blogable. A good majority of the office dedicated a day of work to help out the Philadelphia chapter of Habitat for Humanity while a select few held down the fort at Walnut Street.  We've started to make this a little JKR tradition.  Usually we'll lend our architectural services to Habitat, but this time around we put in some physical labor for some families in need.  We split into three small groups and worked on a few houses within the city.  It was a good time, and we felt good doing it. 

Pumpkin Carving!

Jen and Kathleen hate keeping their eyes open

Greg hates people sneaking up on him

Dee Dee making a Keurig pumpkin

Rick and Jason...Jason likes the Yankees

Farinella and Laura making a ninja pumpkin

Steve and Laurens JKR ghost

Jon and Bobs macabre pumpkin

Natalya and Marissa's winner!

It wouldn't officially be Halloween without a JKR Partners pumpkin carving contest; and with Halloween being a moving target this year, we felt we could post our pictures from last Friday today!

A Cheerful Dental Hour

Nichole here!  Yesterday evening, we were invited to a happy hour hosted by our upstairs neighbors, NCDC.  Nicholas Cosmetic Dental Center, or the Dentists as we affectionately call them, invited the whole building to snack, drink and tour their 4th floor suite.  I must say, I appreciated their use of JKOrange throughout their suite.

The dentists were nice enough to get fancy snacks for the party.  We had fruits and breads and cheese, as well as catered sushi.  Even though this was a dry party (no alcohol allowed in the dental office), we managed to have have a few laughs and make a few friends.  It was unanimously decided that there will be future building happy hours (complete with adult beverages) :-)

JKR Half Marathoners!

Sunday was a beautiful day for a run.... maybe even for some people, it was a beautiful day for a long run.  A really long run. A half marathon maybe.  Mike Farinella and Laura thought it was a good idea to run a really long run.  They both rocked out the Philly Rock and Roll Half Marathon yesterday.  Laura eeked out a slightly better time than Mike, but to Mike's defense, he was out til one in the morning at a bachelor party...The paparazzi was out taking snaps..Maybe next year we'll have a JKR Partners team? any takers?

Team Jerry

Laura Here: Our team had a lot of fun walking (and only walking) around the city during the scavenger hunt.  It was actually a nice tour through Philadelphia; we walked by places I haven’t been to in years, such as the Betsy Ross House.  Jerry, Tiff, Zach, and I represented JKRP well, as you can see by the above picture.  We may not have won, but we sure played smart. 

La Vita e Bella

Fresh off the boat from Italy, Glenn Werner brought back some delicious ice cold limoncello for us all to enjoy...well, at least the few lucky ones that happened to be enjoying lunch on the deck with him.  I can't wait to see what Dave brings us when he comes back from his European vacation in a few weeks.  The standard has been set.

Third Thirsty Thursday

It's finally starting to catch on as a tradition around here, and this time we had a bunch of new guests with us.  All the new employees made it out to the bar we affectionately know as The Pub.  We're getting back into the habit of heading over to our favorite local watering hole on the third Thursday of the month. One time we played Pictionary... most times we just drink and eat every item containing cheese on the menu.  This picture only tells half the story, meaning half the people are behind the camera. I am starting get the itch for the annual JKR Partners Phils outing. Ah good times. On a side note, I am getting addicted to Instagram.

Birthday Run!

Zach here with the final softball update:  Birthday boy Blake Krevolin was a single shy of hitting for the cycle at last night's victory over Nelson.  A home run in the first inning followed by a double and then a triple secured Krevolin's place in the JKRP Softball record books in the category of "best performance on your own birthday."  The bats for the rest of the lineup were on fire, with many extra base hits and two additional home runs.  Positions were shuffled a bit in both the infield and outfield, but the team's defense remained tight throughout the game.  Solid fielding and laser-accurate throws kept Nelson at bay, allowing the offense to take control.    

The lead changed every inning, with JKRP up by three in the top of the 7th.  Surprisingly good hitting and a slide into first base put the scrappy Nelson team on top by one as the bottom of the JKRP order came to bat.  The future looked bleak, but Dan Howard and Laura Woolford managed to get on base.  Both were later forced out at second, leaving guest-star Mike Krevolin perched on first as Jason Wistreich stepped into the batter's box.  I honestly  have no idea where he hit the ball, but I know that Mike rounded the bases to tie it up and a throwing error allowed Jason to score the walk-off run.  What looked like a 13-14 loss a few minutes before turned into a glorious 15-14 victory to end the season. 

The team will be gathering at the Pub next Wednesday during normal softball hours to continue the beer consumption, but without the swinging of bats or running of bases.