Payette

Payette People at Boston Architectural College

Thu, 25 May 2017 20:06:09 GMT

Join peers and industry leaders during the annual Boston Architectural College (BAC) Continuing Professional Education Symposium on June 3-4. During the two-day event, workshops will be held focusing on the evolving profession of architecture, including a panel discussion with Payette Associate Principal Heather Taylor on the keys to strengthening customer relations and business development.

Providing Value to Clients: Strengthening Customer Relations and Keys to Effective Business Development
What is good “business development”? It’s a question that yields many varied answers and opinions. Through this presentation, the audience will experience a 360 degree look at business development from the perspective of four different industry leaders. Hearing from a leading construction management firm, architectural practice, public relations firm, and niche consultancy, the audience will gain insights to business development best practices, common misconceptions, how to create a personal brand, utilizing social media to reinforce brand position, and developing a unique value proposition. The lessons learned, stories shared, and case studies presented will cover a multitude of business development topics as they relate to creating successful partnerships and fruitful business relationships in the Architecture/Engineering/Construction industry.

Details:
Sunday, June 4 | 11:15 AM – 1:15PM

Panelists:
Heather Taylor, Payette
Steve Flanagan, Lee Kennedy Co. Inc.
Sarah McGillicuddy, Acentech
Susan Shelby, Rhino Public Relations

Cultivating your Number One Asset: People

Mon, 22 May 2017 14:36:42 GMT

A unique conference occurs for the AEC community each spring in San Francisco, KA Connect. Founded by Chris Parsons, the leader of Knowledge Architecture, the conference gathers leaders from a variety of top AEC firms to share the latest in Knowledge Management & Strategy. And as Chris says, yes “Knowledge Management is a thing.” In a series of lectures, with plenty of time for questions and interactive group sessions, be prepared to learn and share while attending KA Connect.

How does Knowledge Management apply to an AEC Firm? Basically it’s how a firm grows and develops its number one asset – PEOPLE. It doesn’t happen by accident. Firms must be actively uncovering and sharing practice expertise to their rising employees. But how?

Some ways we can share this critical knowledge is through mentorship relationships and various learning opportunities such as project pin-ups and reviews, site tours or lunch and learn opportunities. Passing on those “lessons learned” and best practices are what make each firm unique and thrive at its building design typology.

One thing I have learned during my time at Payette is that many of the most successful learning opportunities happen in person. Our firm makes it work visible to others, so that staff can see what our colleagues are developing for ideas in project research, innovating the way we practice and then share those results and findings for the collective benefit. On any given week, there are a number of opportunities to learn and develop professional knowledge.

Granted technology has accelerated the pace at which we communicate, but a lot of learning still has to happen by talking, sharing and showing best practices. Keeping up with the latest in building technologies and areas of expertise isn’t easy, and it’s best done by sharing that knowledge.

How does your firm or organization grow its staff and pass on its critical knowledge and best practices?

For more information on KA Connect, visit their website.

Chris does a tremendous job documenting each KA Connect and previous talks are available online.

Explore Architecture at Common Boston Festival

Mon, 22 May 2017 17:28:06 GMT

Discover and explore Greater Boston’s rich architectural, cultural and historic resources during the BSA Foundation’s Common Boston Festival on June 3-4. During the two-day event, more than 50 sites throughout Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and Brookline will open their doors to the public free of charge, allowing people to explore their city environment and deepen their knowledge of the community. From innovative wood shops and rooftop gardens to 300 year old houses and tiffany's stained glass adorned sacred spaces, Common Boston's diverse range of sites sheds light on the great and hidden architecture of Boston.

Included in the locations this year’s Common Boston Festival is our Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex at Northeastern University. The public will be able to tour the space on Saturday, June 3rd from 10am-6pm!

Details:
Saturday, June 3 | 10AM – 6pm
Sunday, June 4 | 10 AM – 6PM

Northeastern University, Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex
795 Columbus Ave, Boston, 02120

For more information about the event, visit the Common Boston website and check the 2016 Common Boston Festival recap.

2017 Recipient of the Payette Sho-Ping Chin Memorial Academic Scholarship

Mon, 22 May 2017 20:52:12 GMT

Payette is pleased to announce the 2017 recipient of the Payette Sho-Ping Chin Memorial Academic Scholarship, Olivia Huang. The scholarship, offered through the The Architects Foundation, was established to encourage the continuing education of female students in architecture and named in the memory of Sho-Ping Chin FAIA, long-time Payette principal. Throughout her career Sho-Ping was an impactful mentor and instilled her teams with a sense of camaraderie and commitment to design. As a founder of the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit, held biennially, Chin was instrumental in defining the national discourse for Women in Design. Sho-Ping was also known for her commitment to design high caliber spaces for those in need.

Huang was born, raised and educated in New Jersey, where she learned ballet, piano and attended Princeton University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, before moving to Boston to attend graduate school at MIT. Huang also works on systemic design with the Agncy, a Boston-based nonprofit focusing on affordable housing development, and theorizing about games and play. This summer Huang will intern at MASS Design Group or researching the justice system for her thesis project.

As a firm we are excited to support Olivia and see her advance throughout her career.

The Value of Shade in China

Fri, 19 May 2017 15:47:16 GMT

From the original design competition concept for the Fifth XiangYa Hospital, we maintained a vision that each patient room had its own window box where the patient’s families could sit, read and connect to the outdoors.

We also imagined that these window boxes would be expressed on the exterior façade, adding character to the building and creating the sensation of a sheltered environment while sitting within the box.

In addition to the design value, more importantly, we believed the window boxes to have a beneficial environmental and energy use impact. With our proposed scheme, dubbed “dragon scale scheme”, the window boxes blocked the direct sun while letting in the softer light of the north. To prove this concept, we decided to conduct a rigorous analysis of several options, demonstrating the consequences of reducing the shade.

To support our options study, we drew on a full arsenal of metrics that allow us to understand building performance and many of the options we studied fell fall into two important categories: monetary cost savings and occupant experience. For the patient room window boxes, we picked four of these metrics that we knew were affected by shade:

Unless you are close the equator, shading is usually not a very effective way to save energy. This is because whatever benefit you gain by reducing cooling energy is usually offset by an equal increase in heating energy. As a result, shading has a negligible energy impact in a climate like Boston’s and, if one is not careful, shade can even increase your energy use. However, no matter where you are in the world, shade will usually have a large effect on the peak cooling load, which still drives the overall size and cost of HVAC systems as far north as Boston. To show the monetary value of the window boxes, we ran energy models of patient rooms through the hottest day in XiangYa. The models were able to show us a gradual reduction in the peak cooling with shade.

We also ran several direct sun studies, which showed the potential for glare experienced by people in the window box as well as issues of thermal comfort that arise when sun hits occupants directly.

To put this criteria in understandable terms, we measured results in the number of hours of the typical day when interior blinds would be down to keep people comfortable in the box. Blinds that are down mean no visual connection to the outdoors and no daylight.

Altogether, the shade on the window boxes had the ability to reduce the HVAC size of the patient rooms by 10% and increase the comfortable hours in the window box by an additional two hours per day.

The study showed our design team that the dragon scale scheme would give us the same HVAC size reduction and an additional two hours of comfortable use per day, while also reducing the material of the heavily shaded case by 1/3. We are now moving forward with our dragon scale scheme and continuing to refine the details of the façade geometry.

Chris Blomquist Named ACE Mentor of the Year!

Thu, 18 May 2017 18:19:50 GMT

We are thrilled to announce Payette Associate Chris Blomquist was awarded 2017 ACE Mentor of the Year for the Boston Chapter.

The ACE Mentor program is an organization widely recognized by universities throughout the US as a stand-out extracurricular program that improves the chances of acceptance into programs offering degrees in the ACE fields.

ACE of Greater Boston, an affiliate since 2007, offers a year-long after-school program providing students in grades 10-12 with an introduction to the design, engineering and construction disciplines. ACE Mentors are full-time architects, engineers and project managers as well as dedicated volunteers excited to inspire the design and construction leaders of the future. Projects involve analysis of site, environmental and permitting issues, design and engineering of a structure, and preconstruction planning, estimating and scheduling. A year-end award event recognizes the student projects and mentors.

At this year’s fifth annual Architecture, Construction and Engineering Industry Networking Event, Chris – who has been a mentor for several years –was recognized for his dedication to making the ACE Mentorship in Boston a success.

Also during the event, Sawda Mohammed, a young woman who was mentored by Chris and members of the Boston chapter, received a full scholarship to study architecture at Wentworth Institute of Technology. This is the first year a Boston-based student received the ACE scholarship.

We would like to congratulate Chris on his well-deserved award!

Learn more about the ACE Mentorship program here.

Hear from Andrea Love at 2017 Facades+ Conference

Wed, 17 May 2017 18:49:21 GMT

Next month hear from Payette Building Science Director Andrea Love at the 2017 Facades+ Conference in Boston. The one day conference on June 6th brings together top professionals from the worlds of design, fabrication and construction to consider how high performance envelopes contribute to and are shaped by Boston’s unique architectural priorities.

Modernist Performance Retrofits
Performance and preservation experts will discuss what it takes to increase an existing building’s performance while maintaining the integrity and character of existing and historic buildings.

Panelists:
Andrea Love, Payette
Ann Beha, Ann Beha Architects
David Fixler, David Fixler Architectors
Moderator: Brad Prestbo, Sasaki Associates

Details:
Tuesday, June 6th | 9:45 AM – 10:40AM

Location:
MIT Samberg Conference Center
Chang Building, 6th Floor
50 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA

Last Days of CA at Tufts University

Tue, 16 May 2017 13:51:22 GMT

As Tufts University Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) nearing completion, the last days of CA are a thrilling yet delicate time where every single detail matters.

Coming from Spain, I was excited to experience my first CA phase of a project in the United States. It is really interesting because you are seeing how the building is getting dressed with all the finishes and equipment. On the other hand, it can also be an intense moment where you have to make sure everything is executed properly, as it was designed.

The Science and Engineering Complex is integrated between two existing buildings and the landscape. The reflection of the sky and vegetation in the curtainwall makes the building dynamic and aesthetically pleasing.

The combination of ceiling types in the SEC building make the spaces unique where users can experience different environments. Below is an example of a metal ceiling and wood slat ceiling with light fixtures integrated.

The open laboratory spaces are ready to be fit out with furnishings. The glass partition enables daylight to penetrate deep into the space and enables the laboratory users to enjoy the amazing views.

Between the lab suites on all the levels, a shared living room looks onto the atrium providing natural light and helps orient occupants within the building.

Robinson Stair, the only area in the building where you see curves, is a great example of intervention between old and new of this renovation project. The geometry of the curves makes the stair clean and elegant, while the existing brick in specific zones reminds you of the historical context.

The view from the conference room provides an interesting relationship between the spaces of the building and the glazing allows you to experience the atrium as a large painting.

The Atrium is the heart of the intervention which mitigates between old and new. It will be, without a doubt, the most enjoyable space in the complex. We are excited to see the large space with unusual scale filled with people experiencing new the area while have a coffee meeting colleagues and friends or just contemplating a work of art.

Topping Off at Amherst College

Tue, 09 May 2017 14:47:28 GMT

It’s an exciting time for our New Science Center at Amherst College, as the building is taking shape and we celebrated the last slab pour earlier this month.

Opening in the summer of 2018, the new 230,000 GSF Science Center will house the College’s biology, chemistry, physics and psychology departments. Research and teaching labs, along with support facilities, classrooms and informal learning spaces are all organized around a large multistory atrium, physically and visually connecting the sciences. The above grade concrete structure integrates a variety of high-tech systems to help us reduce energy consumption by 75%.

The topping off celebration, courtesy of our concrete sub S&F Concrete, was a wonderful event with over 200 contractors joining to celebrate the project’s achievement.

The last of the large steel roof beams were erected, with only the smaller beams left to be hoisted next week, and we are on track for a completion date of 2018.

Check out the live construction views.

2017 Green Building Showcase at Northeastern ISEC

Thu, 11 May 2017 16:18:33 GMT

It's time to celebrate exceptional green buildings conceived, designed, built and operated by our community of practitioners over the past year! We are excited to share that this year's 2017 Green Building Showcase: Road to Greenbuild on Thursday, June 15th will be held at our Payette designed Northeastern University Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex, a building we are very proud of and that is tracking LEED Gold.

The Chapter's preview event will host the top design, architecture and engineering firms operating in the Commonwealth and is a great opportunity to show your commitment to sustainability and green building. Over 100 projects will be on display and will feature amazing guest speakers focusing on sustainability innovations and initiatives.

Here’s a look at last year’s event:

If you are interested in attending, make sure to register before May 18th to receive the early-bird pricing.

Event Information:
Thursday, June 15th | 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Northeastern ISEC
795 Columbus Avenue
Boston, MA

Meet our YDC Co-Chairs

Mon, 08 May 2017 20:04:08 GMT

The Young Designers Core was founded in 2000 by young designers who saw potential to enhance the professional development of emerging professionals in the firm. As a grassroots initiative, the YDC has maintained a great level of autonomy and innovation, even as the architectural and economic climate has changed around it. The most successful facet of the YDC model has been its adaptability; over the past 17 years the program has been able to transform and change to cater to the current needs of the firm. The underlying mission of the group has always stayed the same; to elevate young designers, but the methods have not. From year to year, the YDC’s focus may shift from education, to mentorship, to career advancement, or even to community and culture building. The events and opportunities that the YDC offers changes to align with this focus every year.

The YDC is led by two people, co-chairs, with alternating two-year term periods to ensure an easy transition between leadership that we feel helps keep our group thriving. Today, we wanted to introduce and learn a little more about our current co-chairs – Steven Karvelius and Justin Miller.

What drew you to become an YDC co-chair?
Over the years, the YDC has helped shape the culture and create a sense of community among our entire office. It regularly brings everyone together for events ranging from educational talks to our annual bocce ball tournament. I think it’s important to really know the people we work with and to have fun in the office. I wanted to do my part to make sure that culture continues.

What is one of your favorite YDC event?
I like the events that give us the opportunity to connect with others, particularly those who I don’t see or work with on a regular basis. The Thanksgiving Potluck is our biggest event because the whole office comes together in one room – something that just doesn’t happen very often. I also really enjoy the annual softball game because we see another (competitive) side of our colleagues.

If you could eat lunch with one architect, living or deceased, who would it be?
I would invite Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to eat lunch at our apartment. We would prepare a thoughtful meal and then invite him to spend the afternoon in our home. My wife and I both attended architecture school at IIT in Chicago and truly enjoyed going through the foundation of his original curriculum. They instilled in us a deep appreciation of his work.

The sky is the limit: what would you redesign?
I would redesign the American Flag. It would be an opportunity to create a visual representation that more clearly communicates the ideas for which the country stands. It would be a difficult task for many reasons, and so I don’t think it’ll happen any time soon.

What do you do in your free time?
My wife and I like to seek out really great food. We love cooking, eating at interesting restaurants and even just grocery shopping. It doesn’t really qualify as “free time”, but traveling to interesting places and eating the local food is even better. I also enjoy playing soccer, badminton and racquetball. I am also content just walking around the city looking at the many strange (but great) conditions that emerge in the built environment.

What drew you to become an YDC co-chair?
The opportunity really just fell in my lap. I was approached by the previous co-chair, and asked if I was interested in being the new co-chair. I happily accepted the position because I’ve always liked to have my hands in a little bit of everything, especially those activities outside of the usual day to day work-based tasks. I think it’s incredibly important to have a strong studio culture, which should encourage a good work/life balance. I also felt that I could be a good champion for Payette healthcare design within the YDC, and alongside Steven, we could help keep a strong link between the Healthcare side of the office and the Science + Education side of the office.

What is one of your favorite YDC event?
‘Life Before Payette’ – I feel this is the strongest event that encourages Payette staff to feel more like a family rather than just co-workers. We ask the young designers in the office to put together a brief presentation about their life before they joined the Payette Team. Presenters tell the audience where they’re from/grew up, where they went to school, if they have any hobbies outside of work, other places they’ve worked, etc. It’s a very personal presentation that always opens the audiences’ eyes to the talent we have here at Payette. We’ve had some presenters not even do a typical slide show – but instead chose to display their passions by playing a musical instrument or singing a song. We’re planning on developing a similar event that is geared more towards the senior staff, who can present what they’ve done over the years since they’ve joined the Payette team.

If you could eat lunch with one architect, living or deceased, who would it be?
Craig Dykers (founding partner of Snohetta) – he gave an amazing talk at the architecture school I attended. I also pulled a funny quote from that presentation that I’ve pretty much adopted as one of my own architectural mantras. I’ll even buy the first lunch if he’s interested!

The sky is the limit: what would you redesign?
The MBTA Subway System (the T) – pretty much everything about it.

What do you do in your free time?
Binge Anime or Harry Potter, and listen to any song by Bastille. I also like developing fun design ideas that I like to keep in my back pocket for rainy days.

Milly Baker Speaks with CA Magazine

Wed, 10 May 2017 21:01:43 GMT

Payette Senior Associate, Milly Baker shares insight on designing for heathcare and the importance of the caregiver experience in the Commerical Architecture Magazine feature ‘Caring For The Caregivers.’

Much has been said about the patient experience in healthcare settings. Until recently, less has been said about the caregiver experience, but that’s currently changing. In fact, many think the two are not mutually exclusive.

Milly Baker, AIA, LEED AP, ACHA, senior associate, Payette, related having managed a facilities department at a teaching hospital where it was not unusual for senior staff with tremendous responsibility (such as an ICU nurse manager) to have 75-sq.-ft. windowless office on a unit with inadequate teamwork space and depressing break space.

Milly also explains, "Emerging research has quantified the relationship between environmental factors and productivity. There are tremendous advantages to designing better spaces for staff in measurable gains in reducing sick days, improved job retention and fewer mistakes."

Read the full article.

Kimball Hall Wins S-Lab Award!

Mon, 08 May 2017 17:24:05 GMT

We are pleased to announce our Kimball Hall Renovation at Cornell University received the 2017 S-Lab Refurbished Laboratory award.

The S-Lab Awards are recognized around the world as the benchmark for good laboratory design, operation and management. This year’s awards were selected from an applicant pool featuring 14 different countries.

High Performance Rebirth for Interdisciplinary Research
The renovation of Kimball Hall, which also was named 2016 R&D Magazine Renovation Lab of the Year, was a prototype project to demonstrate the potential existing buildings have to meet the next generation of interdisciplinary research needs. It weaves together a series of layers (low energy office workspace, high intensity support zone and a highly flexible open research laboratory) to create an integrated and cohesive research neighborhood. The simple elegance of the loft-like design is accented by bold accent colors and materials within a bright daylight series of spaces.

We are honored to receive this award and want to congratulate the other 2017 S-Lab Award recipients!

Payette People at SCUP-52

Mon, 08 May 2017 15:27:34 GMT

Planning to attend SCUP-52 Conference: We Strengthen and Transform Higher Education? Be sure to check out the session including Payette’s Heather Taylor focusing on our project at University of North Carolina at Charlotte in partnership with Clark Nexen. This year’s SCUP National Conference will be held in Washington D.C. from July 8-12.

Planning for Change: Growing Enrollment and STEM Programs With Limited Space
University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte decided to use the planning of a new science building as an opportunity to refresh its approach to planning and priorities. We'll discuss how we used planning as a tool to get space needs, academic and research needs, and finances to the table to find a solution that best supports the institution. Our process helped us make smart choices with limited space and financial resources while using cross-departmental needs to guide decisions about academic priorities and capital investments.

Session Details:
Wednesday, July 12
9:50 AM – 10:50 AM

Speaker Details:
Heather Taylor, Associate Principal, Payette
Kathryn Horne, Director of Space Management, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Philip Jones, Associate Vice Chancellor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Arthur Lidsky, President, Dober Lidsky Mathey
Rick Tankersley, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Conference Details:
SCUP-52 Conference: We Strengthen and Transform Higher Education
July 8-12, 2017
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
Washington, DC

9 Things Every Healthcare Architect Should Know

Fri, 05 May 2017 13:47:36 GMT

They are open 24/7; filled with people of all walks of life; encompassing the drama of birth, death, medical miracles and sad tragic tales. Layers of narratives that defy architectural typologies. A hospital is not an industrial space, nor an office space, nor a hotel. Embrace the complexity.

The patient and family experience is of primary importance – spend time in medical centers and experience the challenge of providing security, privacy and dignity.

The best designs have a clear divide between “front of house” and “back of house” or “onstage” versus “offstage.” Patients and visitors are more comfortable if they are not exposed to the full operational plant of a hospital.

Wayfinding is a challenge in all hospitals. Keep any design simple and limit the amount of decision points for patients and visitors.

Staff work long hours, and, in northern cities during the winter months they arrive to work in the dark and leave in the dark. Having spaces where their work intersects with views and daylight is of vital importance.

Understanding how the room will be used: what will happen and how it will happen. Understanding the equipment requirements. Never underestimate the time and care you need to understand everything that plugs in.

We are designing spaces for people at their most vulnerable do not assume that people are alert, aware and unimpaired. The majority of inpatients are elderly, as are many of their visitors.

Net usable program space is at a maximum in schematic design. Design Development and Construction Documents tighten up every space with shear walls, mechanical and plumbing risers, build out for electrical panels, roof drains, expansion joints and ever-growing clinical equipment needs. Oversize at first to ensure that you can meet program needs in the end.

It is really challenging to make a beautiful hospital, especially on a tight budget, but the importance of creating really well-designed spaces is so important. Lots of daylight and views, simple organization and lovely distractions can result in a tightly organized, functional building that is uplifting to the spirits of the staff, patients and visitors.

National Geographic Features Payette

Thu, 04 May 2017 21:42:38 GMT

Following last month’s announcement of the AIA COTE Top Ten Recipients, National Geographic featured the winning projects including our George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. The article is part of their Urban Expeditions series which explores sustainable city solutions around the world.

George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, located in the nation’s capital, design embodies well-being. Built around an atrium that admits light and air, the structure encourages physical activity with a staircase that spans its eight levels. A green roof reduces storm runoff; rainwater is collected and stored for plumbing, resulting in a 41 percent reduction in toilet fixtures’ water use. Limestone panels were salvaged from the previous building on the site. Materials used throughout the building contain recycled content.

Read the full article.

Conservation vs Renewable Energy

Wed, 03 May 2017 14:00:01 GMT

Recently a consultant group visited our office to talk to us about designing ‘healthy buildings.’ This is an admirable proposition, but largely at odds with current strategies to drive down energy use. That is a conundrum for another post. However, their premise was that cheap, clean energy would be available within the next 10 years and energy consumption would no longer be a driver in the design of new buildings. I found this premise interesting because I have often wondered what would happen if sustainable, pollution free energy was made available to the market place at an affordable and competitive price.

Is this so farfetched to consider? It has been reported that, in some cases, wind and solar energy sources are now economically competitive without subsidies. Elon Musk is coming out with a line of solar shingles for your home with his Powerwall 2 to store energy when the sun is not available. Theoretically, you should be able to run one of his electric cars off the power you get from the solar panels on your garage roof, not to mention the rest of the house. Free clean energy and totally off the grid – assuming you can afford one of his cars and have a roof for those shingles. Maybe this isn’t such a great solution for urban apartment dwellers. But, nonetheless, a great idea for suburban communities in the sunbelt.

If cheap, clean energy were readily available to everyone, what would be the effect? Every time you got in your Tesla would you put it in Ludicrous Drive? Would you turn your electronic gizmos up to ‘eleven’? Would you leave your thermostat at 75 and walk around your house in your shorts? Would you really care about conserving energy if it was cheap and clean?

Once all the architects and engineers design our buildings to be healthy, would we care about sun orientation anymore? Solar heat gain? Percentage of glass in a façade? What would be the driver for the design of new buildings? Would designers finally be free to design whatever the client wanted with little regard to mechanical system controls and super insulated exterior walls? One could argue that early modern architecture turned its back on the environmental lessons of the past – just check out the passive energy conservation design elements in an early salt box houses of the 1700s. The Modernists produced buildings with terrible thermal bridging problems. Who thought exposing the concrete structural frame was a great idea anyway? From this era we saw vast amounts of floor-to-ceiling single pane glass on all sides of the building. There was little to no insulation in the walls or ceilings. I guess they thought carbon sourced energy was going to be cheap forever and who cared about long-term climate change.

But, with cheap, clean energy can we look back to the 30s, 40s and 50s? Viva Corbu with his concrete apartment buildings! Viva Mie’s with office buildings of glass and steel! How about Johnson’s Glass House for everyone -- don’t forget the curtains! Maybe yes, probably not, those design aesthetics are dated, but raise an interesting question. What would our design profession look like if energy was not an issue? Surely we would still be interested in green building materials and products, and presumably creature comforts inside the buildings would be paramount. But the overall design of the building could be almost limitless, auto shading curtain wall systems could take care of glare without anyone thinking about it. Occupancy sensors would automatically adjust room temperature and lighting. Buildings you just use without thinking about turning off the lights – would it be a brave new world?

Clean, cheap, limitless energy would certainly change the way we live and design our environment. I, for one, am excited about the possibilities and the challenges. Let’s hope, for the plant’s sake, it’s not much more than ten years away.

#AIA17Con Recap!

Tue, 02 May 2017 18:46:21 GMT

We had a blast at this year’s 2017 AIA Conference in Orlando with seven staff members speaking about six different topics. We were also honored to accept an AIA COTE Top Ten Award and AIA Honors for Interior Architecture for our George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, and thrilled to see Andrea Love receive the 2017 AIA Young Architect Award!

In addition to our sessions, we enjoyed attending many of the other excellent sessions with quality keynote speakers focusing on important themes including social responsibility, equity, inclusion, diversity.

Michelle Obama's first post-White House speaking engagement did not disappoint! She spoke about her transition to private life after leaving the White House, the importance of investing in our cities, supporting education for children and flexibility for women in the workforce. She shared her personal story of advocating for herself in terms of an increase in salary and flexible work hours as a working mother trying to balance it all. One thing she said which stood out to us was, "Education, to my mind, is key to giving women the voice, the structure, the strategy, the tools to improve their conditions. Because if you change the life of a woman, you change the life of a community, a family, a nation."

As the closing keynote, Amy Cuddy ended the conference on a strong, inspiring note with her talk on power. She explained the thinking of the power-pose which teaches people to be present and confidently affects their behavior. Amy told the audience her story of her biggest challenge and how in the critical moment she gave the worst Elevator Pitch in the history of elevator pitches. She explained how this taught her the need of power and how approaching a challenge with self-doubt and anxiety is not being present. Presence reveals itself when we believe our story, convey confidence without arrogance and communicate harmoniously.

We hope you also got a chance to see the sculpture installation by artist Marc Fornes. His work focuses on design, computation and fabrication which can be seen in his beautiful coral-like hanging sculpture.

It was an exciting, fun and invigorating few days. We’ve pulled together some our top tweets from sessions we led to sessions we loved and everything in between. How was your conference experience?

Travelogue: Building in Guatemala Part III

Mon, 01 May 2017 16:36:51 GMT

Kerry Drake is embarking on an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, working with Engineers without Borders (EWB) Fellows program for six months in the highlands of Guatemala serving as an architectural representative.

Over two months have passed since I’ve arrived in Guatemala! My project is to oversee the construction of a high school in town and was handed the project manager’s hat. I am directing the project schedule, ordering materials, interpreting the plans and communicating with various interested parties including the construction workers, the Muni (municipal government), the engineers back in the US and neighbors to the site.

This project is the first public high school in Joyabaj. The Muni started a public high school program a few years ago, but it is currently housed in the elementary school next door. They only have the ability to serve the students in the afternoons, in classrooms set up for smaller children. Going to high school is still a luxury here. While the elementary school has about 1,000 students, the high school only has 150 attendees. This gives you some idea of the drop-out rate. Until the high school program was created, students who wanted to attend went to small private schools (financially unavailable to most), or traveled to other cities hours away, living with relatives.

High School Class in an Elementary School Room

This new school will help attract better teachers, provide space for age-appropriate curriculum and give the high school a much needed identity. The mayor would like to improve college-preparatory courses; my understanding is that the students from Joyabaj that do eventually make it to university have a tough time keeping up. This is not surprising, considering the lack of resources. They do have a computer lab, but other than that there are no specialty rooms supporting the arts, sciences or other subjects.

The Instituto Site

The Muni purchased a small site behind the existing elementary school. It is a courtyard house with a rectangular yard and a long row of rooms. It reminds me of a mid-century roadside motel. The project is divided into two phases. The first phase is converting the existing building into offices and classrooms. This involves demolishing interior walls to make bigger rooms, as well as removing the existing roof. The second phase is constructing three additional classrooms from the ground up.

Demolition started mid-February. The most important task was removing the existing roof. Typical roofs here are either concrete slab or corrugated metal panel. However, this roof was constructed of concrete block. The 22” hollow concrete blocks were suspended between concrete joists with a thin slab poured on top. No doubt that an earthquake would send all of these blocks tumbling onto the heads of people below. As it was, a good mallet strike was all it took to get rid of them.

Block Ceiling

The block and topping slab was extremely crumbly, and thankfully now all has been removed. A lightweight metal roof will take its place. There was another structural surprise awaiting us in the walls – as we removed some walls to make large classrooms, we the found that the center columns were highly irregular. We are planning to replace those as well. Mark Rapant, architect, engineer and designer for this project, visited to review the project’s progress and develop design details, as well as design and construct the formwork for the new beams and columns.

Payette People at S-Lab Conference

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 13:40:05 GMT

Next week, Payette Principals Ian Adamson and Jeff DeGregorio will be presenting our Cornell Kimball Hall Renovation project at the 2017 S-Lab Conference in York, England. During the two-day event on May 9-10, the conference will have conference keynotes and 80+ sessions focusing on innovations in science research facilities for university and other sectors.

High Performance Interdisciplinary Research at Cornell’s Kimball Hall: A Rebirth Model for 1960s Facilities
The renovation of Cornell University Kimball Hall was the prototype project to demonstrate the potential that their existing buildings have to meet the next generation of interdisciplinary research needs of the College of Engineering. Although small in footprint, the renovation design of Kimball Hall weaves together a series of layers (low energy office workspace, high intensity support zone and a highly flexible, open research laboratory) to create an integrated and cohesive research neighborhood that supports a wide range of activity, including wet bench research to open equipment and robotics. The simple elegance of the loft-like design execution is accented by bold accent colors and materials within a bright daylit series of spaces.

Conference Details:
May 9-10, 2017
York Racecourse
York, England

Session Details:
Tuesday, May 9
2:40 PM – 3:30PM

Speaker Details:
Ian Adamson, AIA, LEED Green Assoc., Principal, Payette
Jeff DeGregorio, AIA, LEED AP, Principal, Payette

American Public Health Association Features Milken Institute

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 21:21:24 GMT

The American Public Health Association featured our George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health project which was named 2017 AIA COTE Top Ten Recipient. Payette Associate Principal Peter Vieria spoke with APHA about how we were able to achieve GWU’s public health values and LEED Platinum certification.

Read the full article.

Groundbreaking at UT Austin

Wed, 26 Apr 2017 17:39:38 GMT

Last week, the University of Texas at Austin held the official groundbreaking ceremony for the Welch Hall Renovation project. The 250,000 square-foot Welch Hall Renovation will modernize aging science facilities through a complete interior renovation that will also provide generous social spaces to nurture the exchange of ideas and the sharing of knowledge. It builds on the previous Master Space Plan work implementing a long-term strategic vision for the College of Natural Sciences.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, the students were able to say ‘goodbye’ to the old Welch Hall, sharing their opinions of the space and what they hope to have once the renovation is complete.

Once the goodbyes were made, Dean Linda Hicke swung the ceremonial first hit with a sledgehammer to commence the renovation of Welch Hall.

As stated by Leon Drachman at the BBQ Dinner following the groundbreaking ceremony, “Payette is honored to be able to continue to strengthen our relationship with the College and move forward on the vision established in the Master Space Plan.”

Celebrating Tufts Foster Hospital for Small Animals

Tue, 25 Apr 2017 17:31:35 GMT

Last week we celebrated the newly completed Foster Hospital for Small Animals at Tufts University’s Cummings Veterinary Medical Center. The celebrations took part over two days with a sculpture unveiling event followed by a donor reception held the next day.

Construction began in 2015 and just recently completed the fourth and final phase. The four phases of construction include approximately 18,000 GSF of renovation and 4,700 GSF of addition. The two-story addition has been open and serving the community since September of 2016. The final phase of specialty treatment spaces wrapped up the construction in early spring of 2017.

At the unveiling event, the sculpture – titled Animal Lover – was placed at the entry to the hospital, looking toward the cat waiting room. The bronze sculpture was unveiled by the sculptor Merrilyn Marsh, Payette Principal George Marsh, Dean Debbie Kochever, Hospital Administrator Rich Harding and Medical Director Ginny Rentko. The unveiling of the sculpture was followed by a reception for faculty and staff.

Unveiling “Animal Lover” (from left to right) Sculptor Merrilyn Marsh, Payette Principal George Marsh, Dean Debbie Kochever, Hospital Administrator Rich Harding, Medical Director Ginny Rentko

During the event, the new waiting room was alive with patients and their owners, but the clinical rooms remained undisturbed from the action with the area now separated from the waiting room.

New Waiting Room (Photo Credit: Tufts University)

Exam Room (Photo Credit: Tufts University)

The celebratory events concluded on Thursday night with a reception recognizing donors and major stakeholders for the meaningful contributions to the project. Clinicians and students lead tours of the new facilities and their renovated treatment areas.

Photo Credit: Tufts University

During the tours, the successful concepts advocated for since the planning of the renovation and addition were praised by those who are now acclimating to them. With the renovation and addition complete, there is a new feeling of peace and lightness within the public areas of the hospital and its separation from the action-packed clinical areas is appreciated by both client and clinician.

Explorations into Parametric Brick

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 20:27:00 GMT

As part of an exploration for the renovation and new addition to the Skidmore College Center for Integrated Sciences, I had the opportunity to investigate the brick articulation across its long facades and challenge early assumptions about the exterior design. I used this occasion to flex my Grasshopper muscles and explore the potential of parametric tools to transform standard brick construction.

My focus for this study was on the east and north facades of the new addition. The addition to existing buildings, Dana and Old Dana, conceptually wraps around the existing structures to create a tight wrapper.

The regular window articulation along the east and north facades produces a visual rhythm, and soft corners break down the long expanses at each face. The soft corners provide creative moments of departure that allows the brick to change. What happens if the brick faces always stay parallel to each other? What if every other brick rotates to match the angles of adjacent faces? What if certain rows of brick coursing are pushed or pulled out of plane to highlight the edges? It was important to consider how the brick articulation further addressed the large scale of the east and north facades, and how effectively each scheme captured light and shadow. Additionally, each scheme would be cross-examined against our current plan for control joints and weighed against those real-world implications.

Designing the process
Using Grasshopper as a tool for design was especially important for this exploration in order understand the effects of each scheme across the entire façade - each face of the east façade has at least 20,000 bricks! The iterative nature of the design process prompted me to use methods that would allow me to quickly isolate and manipulate a number of variables related to the brick construction. My early Grasshopper definitions acted as a springboard for future design iterations. As I developed new schemes, I was able to craft increasingly complex codes and carefully tweak the results.

Over the course of the study, I pulled apart brick construction by controlling individual bricks, specific rows of brick coursing, angles of rotation, module sizes and spacing. In one scheme, I incorporated an element of random-selection that produced interesting results.

Refining results
After a few rounds of review, the design team chose a subtle route. By pushing and pulling rows of brick coursing at the soft corners and tapering them to be flush with the face of the exterior wall, we could effectively highlight this feature without generating too much visual noise. The question remained, however, how far should these tapered rows extend? Enter the number slider component:

Without this beautiful tool, I would have spent many sleepless nights generating multiple models to provide the same information. Incorporating the ability to revise and refine design moves is one of the greatest advantages to using digital parametric tools during the creative process.

Next steps
In an increasingly digital world, the architecture industry reveres analogue methods and materials that uphold the historic authenticity of our profession – leading to a slow acceptance at large for the digitization of design processes and ideologies. I firmly believe that parametric design thinking is not absent from familiar analogue design processes, and “authentic” construction methods, like brick masonry, are not necessarily nonparametric. Dissolving the barrier between these two schools of thought allows us to expand applications for parametric design and thoughtfully challenge conventional use of materials. The Skidmore College Center for Integrated Sciences was an excellent case study for this type of mindset. The project offered the appropriate scale and programmatic opportunity to reshape traditional brick construction.

As the project continues, my developments for the Skidmore CIS will surely evolve. The cyclical design process lends itself to an open-source attitude, where the give-and-take of information refines our own approaches and broadens the reach of great ideas. Fortunately, the Grasshopper community capitalizes on sharing tools and insight, maximizing parametric design’s potential to create equitable, creative and innovative spaces.

Help Support the 10,000 Suns Community Project

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 19:53:01 GMT

10,000 Suns is a summer-long botanical project started in 2016, led by Payette Landscape Architect Adam Anderson. Over 10,000 sunflower seeds were planted during the course of the summer months on land that until recently sat under a highway with high compaction, low-organic material and embedded with toxicity in Providence, Rhode Island. Adam and a team of volunteers took on this feat with no other motive then developing a garden/park for everyone to enjoy.

Last Year’s Results
After a long hot and dry couple of months, the first sunflower bloomed and soon after others joined like a slow fireworks display. The new sunflower landscape became activated with a flurry of people inhabiting the space for a variety of unplanned intentions, including yoga, picnics and music. The response was incredible.

The simple joy that a flower could bring to people was the most consistent of comments I received, and one of my favorites, a young girl out with her mother on their evening stroll always insisted they go “the sunflower way.”

The 2017 Campaign:
The 10,000 Suns project team has organized a fundraising campaign to help improve the growth and health of the sunflowers based on lessons learned last season. Below are details on what the donated funds will go towards.

Water
Help the project team put in temporary irrigation so the team can sleep at night, rather than water.

Picture taken at 2:30am

Watering was an issue in 2016 and the hours spent keeping the project going will be reduced this year by implementing a necessary, temporary and simple irrigation system.

New Features:

It was evident that the soil quality of the parcel was not conducive to optimal growth so we are looking for considerable addition of compost.

The added layers aim to make the field not only aesthetically significant but a place for respite. The team hopes to relocate the border of granite curbs and repurposing them for seating amongst the sunflowers, seating was the most common request from the community. To add shaded areas, a series of scattered Lombardy Poplar trees will be planted. Another feature the group is exploring is adding a unique item in the center of the circles, whether it be a painted red piano or a set of dining or chess table.

This year, the group is also looking to expand the project to the adjacent parcel. The addition creates a “river of meadow and sunflowers” and constructs a 10’ high landform with a winding grass path to the top, creating a unique perspective to the city and sunflower field. Two smaller landforms create more intimate seating spaces. This “River of Flowers” would be composed of both sunflowers and wildflower meadow mix.

If you are interested in donating to this wonderful community project, please visit the 10,000 Suns: Highway to Park Project page for more information.