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! 

Tiff...Architect superstar!

Tiff is not only an awesome architect and author. She's won game shows on tv, MC'd AIA national events, and now is on her way to becoming an international Tweet Chat superstar. If you're like me, you're thinking, "what the hell is a tweet chat?" Well, it's like a more sophisticated chat room.  For the real definition, click this Anyway, she was so good last year when she mc'd at the AIA convention that she was asked by AIA National to host this tweet chat titled Women in Architecture last week.   Clicking that link will allow you to see the whole conversation.  It was a big success with 525 tweets, by 69 unique twitter users, reaching 35,912 twitter accounts! You can follow her at @architektmuse

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. 

Farinella Here: Front Street Lofts is rolling forward in some familiar JKR territory. Front Street's newest mixed used building will join two JKR staples (Spotlight Theaters and The Capital Grille) in the heart of Hartford. The building will feature 121 residential units on top of 15,000 square feet of retail space and also boasts a fitness center and a roof deck overlooking downtown Hartford. Bob, Rick, Cory and myself have been pushing the design forward and are anticipating a construction date in the spring of 2014, claiming 3 out of 4 of Front Street's newest developments. 

Welcome to Walgreens?

Blake here:  On the last day of July in 2013 Philadelphia opened the doors to a new breed of Walgreens, and the first of its kind in the state of Pennsylvania.  Located at the corner of Broad and Chestnut Streets welcome to Walgreens on steroids.  I mean when was the last time you got fro yo at a Walgreens?  Or used a digital interface to see how a certain makeup would look on your gorgeousness before you made the purchase, ladies?  Well you can here.

Then - as Borders

Previously this was a place to feed the mind as Borders.  Now you can feed it all with food, cosmetics, reading materials, and medication within the newly renovated 3-story space.  And to add to the Philadelphia experience inside you'll find areas dedicated to local favorites such as the Crayola, Philadelphia Water Ice, Hershey's, Center City Pretzel, and Just Born companies.  Check it out for yourself, this is no ordinary Walgreens.

JKRP Softball > .500!

Zach Here:  Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the Yuengling Light Lager that no one would touch. Maybe is was divine intervention. Or maybe it was just a level of concentration and skill not seen on the JKRP softball diamond in quite a while. Whatever it was, it was awesome. An 8-run 2-out rally in the third inning had Ewing Cole on their heels and JKRP rounding the bases with every stroke of the bat. After we took the lead, solid defense kept us there.  Long flies to the outfield were caught with ease and ground balls were expertly handled by the infield; halting the opposition's offensive machine. Our runs only came in two innings, but they were enough to lift the JKRP squad to a 13-12 win over Ewing Cole's 'A' team.  With this hot and humid victory, the team's record creeps above the .500 mark as we head into the final games of the regular season.

It's not chilly... It's Peru

Izzo Here: Following in the footsteps of the great master architect Jerry Roller, I decided to take the same vacation as he took in November last week with a few of my college buddies, and ventured to Peru to see the ancient Incan civilization of Machu Picchu.  After hiking the Inca trail for 4 days, I realized it's not a vacation I would recommend to most people.  Architects might like it, or world class athletes, but the average person might want to be dropped off at Machu Picchu via helicopter. 14,000 ft above sea level takes a toll on an out of shape sea level dweller like myself and the endless stone stairs didn't help.  Overall it was a great experience.  Was really impressed with all of the old stone work and most impressed with the trail itself.   Would I go again? Nope.

A parade marched through Cusco

traditional dancing ensued.

"sorry officer, I thought my knife met the required size limit."

Peru

I stopped at least forty times on this trail to rest. 

picture perfect.