Art by Architects exhibition at The Center for Architecture

Izzo Here: The Philadelphia Chapter of The American Institute of Architects has chosen 5 of my drawings to include in their annual Art by Architects exhibition at the Center for Architecture.  The exhibition includes work from 38 local architects and runs from Sunday through November 19th with the opening party on Thursday the 27th from 5-7pm.  There should be some good stuff there.  Hope to see you all on the 27th!

This one's for the ladies...

 Tiffany here: (YES - I really am back) I had the pleasure of attending the 6th Annual Diversity Women's Business Leadership Conference (National Harbor, MD). The AIA's department of Diversity and Inclusion was a Bronze sponsor and invited me (along with a few other wonderful women) to participate in the conference as representatives of the design and construction industry. 

Yes - it was a conference full of women (and a few scared men - haha... just kidding), but the message that was sent was WE ALL need to be more diverse in our lives. This message holds true to each of our personal lives as well as the broader landscape of the working environment. 

I sat in a pretty dynamic break out session called, Executive Success: "What Men Aren't Telling Women"... (Presenter - Jeffery Tobias Halter)

(Needless to say, that room was PACKED)

The presenter took us through a myriad of situations that definitely divide the genders and offered advice in terms of how women can overcome some self-imposed challenges in order to play the game.

For example... A group of men and a group of women were asked a series of questions:

1. Who is better at problem solving...Men or Women?

- The group of women said that women were better.

- The group of men said that men were better.

Ultimately, is it said that men and women see the idea of problem solving differently... Men view it as making a decision (regardless if it is right or not) and women view it as a process of research and investigation in order to come up with the right solution...

2. Who is better at networking....Men or Women?

- The group of women said that men were better.

- The group of men said that men were better.

It is always important to network with a purpose. Just be mindful of your surroundings. Men tend to speak in terms of status and when meeting new people find ways of how they can help each other. Women typically do not go into situations like this.  However, study after study has proved that women tend to have larger networks than men, although they may not be using them to their fullest potential. 

- With that said... Ladies, it's time to step out of our shells and start working the room!

JKR Partners AIA exhibit boards

This year JKR Partners is featuring two projects Penn IMAX and Presser Senior Apartments for the 2011 Design Excellence Exhibit. The boards are on display at The Rotunda, The Shops at Liberty Place, 16th and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia. October 10 through October 23, 2011.

Solar Decathlon 2011

Steve here: Two weeks ago I paid a visit to the 2011 Solar Decathlon in Washington, DC. with some old friends from studio. You may be asking yourself, "what, pray tell, is the Solar Decathlon?"

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is an international competition that challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The winner of the competition is the team that best blends affordability, consumer appeal, and design excellence with optimal energy production.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Decathlon

A general view of the festivities:

It took about 6.5 hours to meander through the 20 competing houses, and we discovered a boatload of sustainability tips and tricks along the way. Team New Zealand, for instance, utilized their country's abundant sheep population to increase thermal performance:   

Nearly every house had air-tight wall systems to combat heat loss. Team Tennessee had an envelope 18" thick, packed with condensed newspaper insulation. Its R-value was a whopping 73: 

Exciting R-Values aside, we had a great time at Solar Decathlon and experienced some very interesting architecture (always a plus). 

Team Belgium designed a low-maintenance, no-frills assembly for disaster relief: 

Southern California went Space-Age... 

And Maryland took a cozy, compartmentalized approach (they won the competition):

Solar Decathlon is an annual event so if you're interested, check it out next year! 

More photos: 

http://www.solardecathlon.gov/gallery_houses.html

JKR goes to Gettysburg!

Dee Dee here: Marissa, Sam, and I attended the 2011 Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Awards last Friday in Gettysburg.  Presser Senior Apartments received the Multiple Family Residential Construction Project Award.  Presser, which is located in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia was completed this spring and contains 45 independent living senior apartments.  While in Gettysburg we learned about fertilizer and had really good cake!

Lunchtime Sketch

First sketch in many months and an attempt to collect the starbucks card as the blog participant.

Tiff exhibits at the Collingswood Book Festival

Izzo Here: First of all, Tiff is BACK! Second of all, Tiff hawked her book 200 Something at the 10th annual Collingswood Book Festival this past Saturday.  If she hasn't already made a name for herself around the office, she's making a name for herself everywhere else.  She's selling books like it's her job...albeit her part time job... ;-)  If you missed it, she'll be back there next year.  Tiff is awesome.

bad boys of architecture?

We're revamping our partners page on our website.... and we're not messin' around! Look out peeps, we takin' over this city!