Our team keeps growing

Maybe it's the economy, maybe we are just  awesome, maybe it's a little bit of both, but we've been seeing some impressive growth over here at JKR.  Projects keep coming in, large and small, and we're doing our very best to keep up with our clients' demands. We're proud to announce the addition of Michael Buckley to our already talented design staff.  He's helping alleviate some of the day to day pressures on our other established designers.  Mike hails from UPenn where he's earned his Masters, and also brings some good experience from some top local firms.  Right now he is working on some of our residential projects.  We're happy to welcome him to our team! 

JKR takes a field trip to the Museum of Art

opening up the great stair hall

checking out a serious rendering

Ten of us took a little field trip over to the Museum of Art to check out the new Frank Gehry exhibit Making a Modern Classic on view til September 1st.  The anticipation has been growing over some of Frank Gehry's new proposed designs which would cut a large chunk out of the iconic stairs.  We waded through the exhibit, passing through gigantic sectional models and proposed courtyard cutouts. Overall, I think our crew was impressed with his schemes.  We talked it over afterward over some drinks in the new pop up garden at the Oval and took a vote.  The verdict is out: we had three votes for the proposed cut out, and six votes against the cut out, and one member abstaining for no known reason. We all pretty much agreed that all the other plans should definitely be done.

view under the main courtyard

gigantic sectional model

post game deliberations

 

Make that 3 more registered architects!

Our latest happy architects

You might recall Blake's gross beard. You might recall his unusually gruff personality lately. Well, we're proud to say Blake is back to his old self. After months of agonizing over his exams, he became our office's latest registered architect.  He joins Marissa and Sam, who have also passed all their exams in the past month or so.  The weird thing is, they all near each other in the office. Something in the water over there? Maybe. Cheaters? Impossible.  They just have great support for one another and are always encouraging.  Look at that love!

Annual JKR Phillies Outing

Some new Threads for everyone! a new tradition.

A motley crew

The Rooches, Diana and Greg.

Sean keeping his fivehead free from sunburn.

It's not all work and no play around here, although it may seem like that.  We really do work hard.  We just need some recuperation days to reconnect with our colleagues and have some fun. It's been 8 or 9 years now that we've closed down the office for the afternoon and have gone to the Phillies game for a business persons special.  Then, as always, we head down to our favorite dive bar Bob and Barbara's and get the other kind of special... A beer and a shot. This year we had another beautiful day and actually saw the Phils win a game for a change! Check out all the photos on our Facebook page.

Annual JKR Family Day dials in the fun.

Our office is fun. We do fun stuff. We work hard during the business day, and often times after the business day is over, so naturally we like to take an afternoon off every once in a while and enjoy each others company. We shut down around 1pm, load up our cars, and head to the plateau where e'erybody go. Volleyball, bubbles, footballs, giant jenga, cornhole, ladderball, plenty of food and booze. What more could you ask for? Enjoy all the photos on our Facebook page.

Anthony Wayne II opens to great fanfare!

Our Anthony Wayne II project, affectionately know around the office as T-Wayne or Tony Wayne had its grand opening yesterday afternoon after a few months of operation.  The project provides affordable housing for seniors in the Grays Ferry neighborhood of Philadelphia.  Nine years ago we completed the first phase which converted an old school into affordable housing.  The success of that project lead to this project, which has added 46 more units to the mix.  Even more units are planned in a third phase which is currently waiting in the wings.
Lisa Thomas-Laury of 6ABC was at the site reporting live as councilman Kenyatta Johnson joined developer Brett Altman of Altman Co. and other dignitaries as the ribbon was cut.  See the coverage here from 6ABC and at The Inquirer

New Hires

Connor, Alli, Meg, Greg, Dan

We've been busy working and been busy expanding our team!  In the last month or two we've added 5 new employees to keep up with our crazy schedules.  The new additions ain't no slouches either. Top quality people doing top quality things from top quality universities!  We've got Connor Pritz... halfway to a Pritzker Prize already. We've plucked Alli Rametta from a boutique firm in NYC. We've snatched up Meg Brennan from UPenn. We've got Greg Curran from Penn State, and last but certainly not least we've snagged Dan Flesher all the way from Idaho.  A good diverse mix of people to bring some fresh perspectives on our work.  We are excited about all of them!