(PRWEB) February 25, 2015

Senior leadership at Array Architects - from c-suite to practice area leaders and studio directors to project architects - have made it a priority to earn their green or black lean/six sigma belts. Achieving a belt is a by-product of Array's lean-led process, a unique approach from which each healthcare project benefits.

Anthony Caputo, of Array's design practice area leaders, is the firm's most recent belted leaders. By earning his Lean Six Sigma Green Belt from the University of Michigan, Tony joins his fellow PALs as well as several studio directors and designers who have participated in lean training and completed the requisite lean project to identify a problem which can be corrected by implementing lean thinking.

Array's approach to lean-led design focuses on sustainable business solutions for today's evolving healthcare environment. High value building solutions that support best practice medicine and care strategies are utilized in every planning and design opportunity. Every process and task is evaluated for its effectiveness as part of the overall process flow. The impact of this rigorous thought exercise has incredible results on operational efficiency, effective care delivery and bottom-line value. Each lean belt practitioner is well-versed in the methods of value stream mapping, and employs a host of other tools to rally user group input and reach consensus.

Since 1983, Array Architects has been recognized as one of the nations leaders in the design of healthcare facilities and offers a full complement of knowledge-based services including planning, architecture, interior design and advisory services from our six office locations. Our devotion to a healthcare-exclusive practice springs from our belief in the power of design to improve patient outcomes, maximize operational efficiencies, increase staff satisfaction and provide remarkable results for our clients.

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Array Architects Principal Earns Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

LAKEVILLE The barns were falling down. The little farmhouse was covered with asbestos siding. The views were gorgeous, but the meadow was impassably thick with brambles and high grasses.

"People were afraid," says Pilar Proffitt.

"We got very lucky," says her husband, Robert Bristow.

The two architects, who are partners in Poesis Design designing buildings, interiors and furniture could see past the challenges at the 11-acre site on Lime Rock Road, in the Lakeville section of Salisbury.

Today they live with their two daughters, 13 and 11, and son, 8, in a serenely modern and sophisticated home that is filled with natural light. The open design flows easily, unified by the pale floors in white oak and punctuated by the stylish and sometimes whimsical furnishings that are also the couple's creations.

"It's really pleasant, and it really works for our family," Bristow says. "We wake up happy every day. We had lived in a lot of low-ceiling, small old houses. The sun lights everything here."

One surprise about their inviting house is that to hold down costs, the couple found "another way to build it," Bristow explains. They approached a factory with their design and had the skeleton of their house prefabricated off-site in several modular shells.

"And then we had to work like dogs to make it the way it is," Bristow recalls.

The custom details throughout are thoughtful and practical choices. A massive double fireplace of granite curbstones from a nearby quarry separates the spacious kitchen from the living and dining room, and is cleverly designed with a slender slot at the side that holds about a week's worth of firewood.

"It's something to root us, ground us," Bristow says of the fireplace. "This is the ruin that will stand after the house blows away."

Link:
Understated Modernism In Connecticut Farm Country

Chartiers Valley School District Superintendent Brian White was, by a unanimous vote, directed by the board at Tuesdays meeting to engage in preliminary discussion with district architects for renovations to the high school auditorium.

Roughly speaking we guesstimate it would be $3.5 million, for the upgrades, Mr. White told the board.

The district has been working with Downtown-based IKM, Inc and Oregon and Washington-based BLRB Architects to renovate its 486,000-square-foot high school/middle school complex. The scope of the design work thus far has included some attention to the 1,200-seat auditorium - mainly connecting a heating, ventilating and air conditioning system and sprinkler systems.

With its vote the board authorized the districts administration to begin a preliminary design discussion with the architects for further renovations to the auditorium like upgrades to the lighting, sound, stage, seating and backstage area.

We would like them (the architects) to engage the performing arts community for input, Mr. White said.

Greg McCracken of BLRB, who was in attendance at the meeting, said during preliminary design phases on the high school/middle school project there was a discussion with teachers from the music and arts department of the desire for auditorium renovations.

Mr. White said if the board decides to pursue the renovation to the auditorium the district could, when the high school/middle school project goes out to bid, put it in the bid specs as an add-alternate.

If the districts move forward with the auditorium renovation, it would incur a 5 percent design fee from its architects. If the estimate remains at $3.5 million that would mean a $175,000 cost to the district.

Deana Carpenter, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.

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Chartiers Valley could renovate auditorium as part of high school project

Job: Landscape architect

Role: Unlike landscapers, with whom they are often confused, landscape architects dont actually put plants or hard landscaping materials into the ground. They are instead involved at the planning level, working with city planners, engineers, private property owners and a variety of government departments to collaborate on projects ranging from developing city parks and roads to flood-water mitigation planning to green space and environmental policy development.

Were working at a very high planning level, developing where green spaces are going to be, where trail networks are happening, considering environmental issues and opportunities, storm water management we have our fingers in a whole bunch of different pies, says Carol Craig, president of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. Once a piece of land has been designated as a park or a street, we go in and help do the design of that particular element, then we get it approved by municipalities, then we tender it out to contractors.

Salary: Landscape architects enjoy a higher-than-average starting salary. Even during the two- to four-year internship period, which most provincial associations require, salaries start between $40,000 and $60,000 thousand a year, depending on the employer and geographical location.

Mid-range is $80,000 to $100,000 a year, and Im guessing thats maybe seven to 10 years [into ones career], and then youd move slowly from $100,000 to $140,000. Depending on the person and where they are working, that will take another five to 10 years, Ms. Craig says. People who are earning $140,000 per year are in the 20 to 30 years of practice range.

By the numbers: According to Service Canada, the average income for landscape architects in 2011 was $46,952, with 60 per cent earning between $20,000 and $49,999 annually, and 32.5 per cent earning above $50,000. The vast majority (96.8 per cent) of landscape architects have earned a bachelors degree, work full-time (92.3 per cent) and are between the ages of 25 and 44 (68.3 per cent). There were fewer than 1,500 landscape architects employed in Canada in 2011, with men comprising just over half the sector, at 52.4 per cent.

Education: In order to become a landscape architect, students need to earn a degree in landscape architecture. There is only one BA in landscape architecture offered in Canada through the University of Guelph, as well as a number of masters programs provided by the University of Guelph, the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia and the University of Manitoba.

Canadian landscape architects, however, can earn their degree in the United States, which has a reciprocity agreement for bringing training across the border in that industry.

Our schools can only take a limited number of students at a time. Its a very rigorous program with a small ratio of students to staff, says Ms. Craig, adding that training doesnt end with the completion of the program. We have component associations, and they look after each province or territory, and so you would have to join that association and do an internship in most provinces under a practising landscape architect and get a variety of different experiences [before becoming a full member].

Job prospects: In spite of the higher-than-average salary, limited school capacity and a lack of awareness of the role have left the industry with a talent shortage. We are short of landscape architects in Canada, Ms. Craig says.

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I want to be a landscape architect. What will my salary be?

The American Institute of Architects, California Council (AIACC), has named three Council Awards Program recipients. The recipients for the Firm Award, the Distinguished Practice Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award were announced last week at the board of directors meeting in Los Angeles.

The 2015 Firm Award was presented to Los Angelesbased firm Gruen Associates. The firm is known for supporting and mentoring those who are new to the architecture profession. Their retention of staff speaks well for their value of employees as people, stated a board member.

Krista Becker, FAIA, principal at Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners, was honored with the Distinguished Practice Award, which recognizes significant contributions and accomplishments toward a specific building type or practice area. Becker is known for her contribution in embassy design and is also a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles, Professional Practice in Architecture and Construction Management programs.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA, principal of Brooks + Scarpa, for his advancement in the profession and his lasting impact on society. He is a strong candidate who has embraced sustainability and moved the profession forward showing that exceptional and sustainable design do not need to be different, a juror commented.

Excerpt from:
AIACC Announces Three Council Awards Program Recipients

Broken Cross / Architects / Le Trabendo / 16.2.15 / Paris
Part of "Broken Cross" by Architects in Paris.

By: Aleksandra Jeremi

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Broken Cross / Architects / Le Trabendo / 16.2.15 / Paris - Video

It was a bitter blow for drinkers when a Tyneside riverside real ale pub closed its doors for the last time.

But now the listed Victorian building is to be given a new life after being bought by an expanding architectural practice.

Blake Hopkinson Architects are to turn the Porthole pub on New Quay at North Shields into their own headquarters.

The architects have been based at the nearby Fish Quay since the practice was set up eight years ago, but a surge in business has seen the 12-strong team outgrow its current office.

The pub, dating from 1897, was the work of Sunderland architects W&TR Milburn, who specialised in theatre design.

The Portholes balcony reflects that influence by resembling a theatre box.

Architect Darren Blake said: The Porthole building was owned by one of our clients and after the pub closed he was looking at other uses.

We were looking for offices and it suited both purposes.

We have expanded quite rapidly with seven major schemes this year but wanted to stay on the river.

The Porthole appealed because of its character and we have stripped away modern additions to get it back to its original features, said Darren, who was project architect for the Sage headquarters building on Newcastle Great Park.

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Closed landmark North Shields pub gets new lease of life

Architects | Every Time I Die | Bless The Fall | Counterparts | TEASER
21 e 22 Febbraio 2015 | ARCHITECTS | Every Time I Die | Blessthefall | COUNTERPARTS ! Evento New Age club, Roncede, Treviso: https://www.facebook.com/events/...

By: XFULLHCX

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Architects | Every Time I Die | Bless The Fall | Counterparts | TEASER - Video

Nearly 10 years after its founding, Bohlin and Powell Architects arrived in the national spotlight.

It was 1976 when its Forest House, a summer home designed for Peter Bohlins parents in Connecticut, appeared on the cover of New York Times Magazine.

A simple building becomes serious architecture thanks to a knowing choice of materials, rich use of color and intelligent arrangement of spaces, a summation of the article read.

The Wilkes-Barre-based architectural firms projects have been celebrated in many publications over its five decades.

Architects Mr. Bohlin and the late Richard Powell founded the firm in 1965 with a single office on North Franklin Street in downtown Wilkes-Barre. The firm merged with Bernard Cywinskis Philadelphia-based architectural practice in 1979. Mr. Bohlin and Mr. Cywinski had drawn together through a shared interest in sketching.

Photos: Peter Bohlin Projects

This year, the firm, now known as Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, celebrates a half-century of projects. It took that name in 1991; Jon Jackson is among the principal architects in the firm.

Mr. Bohlin, who lives in Waverly, called their firms journey an unusual one.

One, we started here. That is unusual for a major firm, Mr. Bohlin said of its Northeast Pennsylvania roots. Two, weve never given up doing little buildings. Most major firms in the U.S. dont do little buildings.

Over the last 50 years, Mr. Bohlin has worked with famous icons like self-made billionaire Bill Gates and the late Apple CEO, co-founder and inventor Steve Jobs in designing dozens of Apple stores. He is now working with Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and founder and CEO of Square, a mobile payments company.

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Renowned Wilkes-Barre architectural firm celebrates 50 years

Meet the Architects Behind NYC #39;s Most Radical Pool
Architects Dong-Ping Wong and Archie Lee Coates IV of + Pool discuss their new exhibition at Ace Hotel in New York City, and their design for a swimming pool...

By: BLOUIN ARTINFO

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Meet the Architects Behind NYC's Most Radical Pool - Video