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.

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.