Landscape Architects 7)
By: Ian Noel
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Landscape Architects 7) - Video
(PRWEB) May 28, 2013
The commercial architects and workplace design specialists at OTJ Architects are changing the workplace whether that entails creating an open office or building a sustainable office. These changes to a workplace are milestones that dont happen every day, leaving some employees uncertain and anxious. The architectural design firm is sharing 4 important change management tips to benefit an organization with a smooth transition when either renovating or moving their workplace.
Effective change management allows for a smooth transition, while maintaining productivity and morale, says Lance Jaccard, Partner at OTJ Architects. Each employee is different and adjusts at different rates. Open communication and support during the transition can help everyone cope at their own rate.
The architects and designers at OTJ Architects have put together some change management tips to help businesses when renovating or relocating their offices.
1. Let employees understand what is going to happen and what it means for the organization. This will help them not feel left out and ease the concerns. Help them understand the benefits the change will make for them as well as the organization as a whole. 2. Invite employees to provide feedback on designs. If employees are not happy in their new office, productivity will suffer. This is why it is important to ensure employees will be happy in their new surroundings. 3. Organize meetings to discuss ideas. Let employees share their ideas for the new office. After all, they are the ones who are in the office, using the office day in and day out. They can provide good insights on the functionality needed in the new design. 4. Keep employees in the loop. Change is easier to accept when it is anticipated and gradual. The worst thing to do is force change on employees suddenly.
According to a report by McKinsey & Company, only 30% of change programs are successful. One reason this tends to happen is the failure for management to live up to the promises. An article by Knoll, Inc. states that a 100% buy-in cant be expected at the beginning. Issues must be addressed and communication must remain open to build credibility and acceptance.
Changing offices can be an uneasy time for employees, says Jaccard. Its important to help ease your employees uncertainties by keeping them informed and assisting them understand how these changes will help them as well as the company.
To discuss your architectural needs, please visit http://www.otj.com/
About OTJ Architects OTJ Architects is a well-respected national architecture and interior architecture design firm that has successfully completed thousands of projects throughout the country. Founded in 1990, OTJ is comprised of five studios headquartered in Washington, DC, with more than 60 architects and designers, many of whom are LEED Accredited Professionals. OTJ is registered in 37 states and is able to consult in all 50 states. The responsive architecture and interior architecture consultants create effective environments through listening, understanding and tailored design. These designs focus on helping clients enhance collaboration, company branding and employee recruitment and retention. OTJs design teams provide clients with personalized attention to create workplace solutions that reflect their unique, individual needs.
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Commercial Architects at OTJ Share Tips and Benefits to Change Management
NEW YORK, May 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Inspired by its surrounding southwestern landscape, the Health Sciences Education Building (HSEB) at The University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix is one of the most innovative construction projects in the United States utilizing predominately recycled copper. Using nearly 6,000 copper panels and more than 10,000 copper parts, this 268,000 square-foot building consists of six stories of administration and faculty offices, lecture halls, learning studios, flexible classrooms, clinical suites, gross anatomy facilities, laboratories and conference rooms.
To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please visit: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/61608-copper-development-green-sustainability-video-case-study-credit-architects
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130528/MM19594)
The Copper Development Association (CDA), in conjunction with GreenCE, has developed a two-part video case study which further highlights the building materials and craftsmanship of the HSEB project, and the design philosophy and strategy behind the sustainable design and construction of this state-of-the-art facility. Both hour-long videos are registered with the USGBC for continuing education credits and with the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which requires architects to pursue continuing education to maintain their accreditation.
Part one of the case study articulates how the selection and development of a building's site can support the health of the surrounding community and identifies the positive outcomes of using the Integrated Design Process encouraged by LEED Certification. Architects can register for the free online course on the GreenCE website. Part two is also available, here.
"The HSEB wall-cladding system is a custom system that is atypical from industry standard installations and was fully engineered for this extreme desert environment," said Wayne Seale, Project Manager and Architectural Applications Specialist at CDA. "Architects can use this course to not only fulfill their annual CE requirements as architects, but as LEED professionals as well. It allows them to see copper as a real, living material that changes over time and supports the aesthetic and functional intent of their buildings."
Known for its durability, malleability and high ductility, copper can be formed and stretched into complex and intricate surfaces without breaking. The copper cladding for the HSEB is made up of 99 percent recycled material from U.S. copper mills. With a recycling rate higher than that of any other engineering metal, the copper used in the HSEB panels most likely served as a computer part, plumbing fixture, or wiring system several years ago.
Using 26 different copper panels arranged in multiple combinations, the designers were able to create an abstract pattern that represented the surrounding desert landscape, bringing the project's vision to life. "If you look, a lot of the views around here are of the mountains that surround Phoenix. We wanted the color and the striations [of the building] to relate to those mountains," Paul Zajen, Design Principal for CO Architects, states in the video. "We realized we could get that with copper."
In addition to its aesthetic appeal, the extensive copper-cladding provides the HSEB with a skin most suitable for the desert climate. With Phoenix temperatures reaching as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit, copper is an attractive alternative to steel due to its ability to quickly reject heat. Its copper-clad exterior literally serves as a shield protecting the building interior from direct solar exposure. Adapting rainscreen technology, the building's engineers took a system typically used in the northwest and created a way to use copper cladding as a sunscreen to keep excessive heat out of the HSEB. Completed in August 2012, the HSEB project is targeting LEED Silver certification for new construction.
Students at the University of Arizona and Northern University Arizona will be using the Health Sciences Education Building for various programs. The new facility will serve as a training ground for 1,200 medical professionals each year.
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Sustainability in the Desert: Video Case Study Offers CE Credit for Architects
Architects to give series of talks in Winchester
10:00am Tuesday 28th May 2013 in News
THE Winchester Lectures - a series of talks by six leading architects are about to begin in Winchester.
To be held at the Winchester Discovery Centre, the lectures are organised by the Royal Institute of British Architects Hampshire Branch.
Each will feature an architect who will talk about their work, including Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, whose practices buildings encompass Waterloo International, the Eden Project and the new Boldrewood Campus at Southampton University.
Organisers say the lectures will interest anyone who enjoys looking at and thinking about building design and the built environment.
They will be held on Wednesdays, at 6pm for 6.30pm as follows: June 5, Andy Law - Reiach and Hall Architects; June 12, Professor Robert Adam Winchester-based ADAM Architecture; June 19, Patrick Theis/Soraya Khan - Theis + Khan; June 26, Roger Stephenson - Roger Stephenson Studio; July 3, Mary Duggan/Joe Morris - Duggan Morris Architects; July 10, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw part of the Winchester Festival. To be attended by Stephen Hodder, RIBA President Elect. This lecture will start promptly at 6pm; July 17, Kevin Carmody/Andy Groarke - Carmody Groarke.
Tickets cost 4.50 per person, including refreshments apart from Sir Nicholas Grimshaws lecture, which costs 10.
The Winchester Lectures have been organised by RIBA Hampshire Branch for more than 20 years. The 2013 series is sponsored by Hays the recruitment consultancy; and by Pro Vision Planning & Design.
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Architects to give series of talks in Winchester
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Cooper Lighting, a division of diversified power management company Eaton, is pleased to announce that it has been named the preferred brand of choice in the Lighting: Interior/Exterior category in Architect magazines 2013 Brand Use Study. The magazine is the official publication of the members of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Surveyed Architect readers named Cooper Lighting as a brand leader in Brand Familiarity, Brands Specified/Used in the Past Two Years, and Brand Specified/Used the Most.
We are constantly working to understand our customers business goals and to develop the most innovative and reliable products that meet and satisfy their needs, says Mark Eubanks, president, Cooper Lighting Division. We are honored that our continued efforts are being recognized by the architectural community.
The 2012 Brand Use Study, sponsored by Hanley Wood, LLC, publisher of Architect, and conducted by the independent research company Readex Research, provides an in-depth look at the product brands used by Architect readers. Specifically, the study researches respondents familiarity with, use of and opinions about 593 brands in 45 product categories.
Readers were asked, with respect to the Lighting: Interior/Exterior category:
1. Which brands have you heard of?
2. Which brands have you specified / used in the last two years?
3. Which brands do you specify / use most often?
With respect to brand familiarity, Cooper Lighting was mentioned by 78 percent of all respondents as high or higher than any other lighting manufacturer. Cooper Lighting was also listed by architects as the number one most frequently specified/used brand in the last two years. In addition, Cooper Lighting was named as one of the two brands specified/used most often among all lighting manufacturers. Cooper Lighting received more first place rankings than any other lighting manufacturer.
Cooper Lighting continues to make significant investments to empower its customers with the innovations, technology, and resources needed to meet the challenges of the future. Cooper Lighting delivers a wide range of innovative and reliable lighting, light-emitting diode (LED) and controls solutions, all specifically designed to maximize performance, energy efficiency and cost savings. For additional information, visit http://www.cooperlighting.com.
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Architects Choose Cooper Lighting as the Preferred Brand of Choice
We write about architecture as being dynamic, interactive, or even animated, but its not really true. All buildings are static, incapable of propelling themselves to spontaneous movement. Architects work around this fact by applying fluttery metal screens or sculptural, undulating balconies to the sides of buildings--to give them the illusion of motion. Add-ons such as these may produce formal and sometimes experiential effects, but they have no structural function.
Swedish architects Belatchew Arkitekter are unsatisfied with this approach. Their conceptual design for a Strawscraper cloaks an existing residential tower in plastic appendages, or hairs, that capture wind and use it to produce electricity for the building. Yes, the hairs are add-ons, but they significantly augment the towers core performance.
The project is part of an extension to Sder Torn, one of the tallest housing high-rises in Stockholm. The tower, designed by celebrated architects Henning Larsen, was completed in 1997, following a dramatic episode between the client and architect. The latter quit the project after the client eliminated 16 of the original 40 stories specified in the building plans. Belatchews Strawscraper scheme restores Larsens vision and grafts the unbuilt floors onto the landmark tower, while also adding a new restaurant and observation deck.
But the Strawscraper goes further, promising to transform the Sder Torn into a large-scale urban wind farm. The architects say theyll do this by fixing movable straws (made from composite material with piezoelectric properties) to the towers exterior: [The] large number of thin straws can produce electricity merely through small movements generated by the wind, while creating very little noise, Belatchew principal Rahel Belatchew Lerdell tells Co. Design. The field of straws also looks aesthetically striking, akin to wheat swaying in the wind. It, along with the proposals sustainable aspirations, will endow the static building with new dimensions, Lerdell says.
Architecture must deliver solutions to contemporary problems or issues, the architect underscores. Naturally, the firm believes the Strawscraper participates in this endeavor. The surplus electricity, they envision, will be used toward producing what the building needs to become positive net energy.
Sammy is a writer, designer, and ice cream maker based in New York. He once lived in China before being an editor at Architizer. Continued
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Architects Dream Up A “Hairy” Skyscraper That Produces Its Own Energy
Architects - Early Grave Guitar Cover w/ Axe FX II
Quick cover I made of one of my favourite tracks off Hollow Crown, which coincidently is also a favourite album of mine from way back. Couple of shaky parts,...
By: BirdmanRG
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Architects - Early Grave Guitar Cover w/ Axe FX II - Video
Founded in 1969 by the late Ken Neumann, the Neumann/Smith architecture firm is intimately involved with a revival under way in downtown Detroit. The firm is opening a Detroit studio. Partner Joel Smith, who joined the firm in 1980, talked with the Free Press last week about the firms long-term success.
Whats it like to be one of Dan Gilberts architects?
Theyve been great. Theyre always looking to do something creative and thats really based in their culture. All this work weve done over the years talking to people about building a culture and then finally you get a client who really wants to embrace that and see it through. You see that in a lot of their work thats really built around the culture of the environment theyre trying to set up for their employees. Its great.
Youre also working with the advertising firm Campbell Ewald to design their new home in the old Hudsons warehouse in the Ford Field complex.
Yes, right now were working with Campbell Ewald. They have a design sense, and its a pleasure to work with a client whos a designer. That doesnt come often. Usually youre trying to educate your clients and thats a little more difficult.
Whats the bulk of the work youre doing right now?
We do a lot of university housing work. We do work for (mall developer) Taubman all around the country. Weve always had our philanthropic work in the Jewish community. We have done a lot for (Dan) Gilbert starting with the M@dison Building. And now (for Gilbert) were doing nine floors in the (Minoru) Yamasaki building 1Woodward, and we did 11 floors in the Dime Building, which is now the Chrysler House. Were renovating the First National Building lobby. And were doing the Z deck (a parking deck with first-floor retail for Gilbert).
Ken Neumann, who died in 2007, was your founder and guiding force for so many years. His signature style was buildings with big, bold geometry and dramatic colors. Is his spirit still a presence at the firm?
We constantly have Kens thoughts in our minds, and hes still with us in a very strong way. Most of my employees have been with me for 20-plus years so they were all here during the Ken era, and (with) the younger employees who didnt know Ken its fun to talk to them about what he was about. Hes still a very strong force around here. If the client didnt like (a design) Ken would always say, Well, we can make an equally beautiful solution. Time and time again he would say things like that. He had so many wonderful things to say.
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Neumann/Smith firm: Architects of the Detroit dream
York landscape architects earn gold medal at Chelsea Flower Show
7:23am Saturday 25th May 2013 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter
he Royal Bank of Canada Blue Water Roof Garden designer Nigel Dunnett, left, with Ed Payne, co-designer from York based company The Landscape Agency
LANDSCAPE architects from York have struck gold at the centenary Chelsea Flower Show with a stunning water roof garden.
The Landscape Agency, of Clifton Moor, co-designed the Royal Bank of Canada Blue Water Roof Garden in conjunction with University of Sheffield-based sustainable landscape design and living roofs specialist Nigel Dunnett.
It aimed to show how city centre rooftops could be used to actively manage rainwater to meet the dual challenge presented by water shortages and surface flooding risks.
It is the third consecutive year that the agency and Mr Dunnett had been commissioned to design a garden for the Royal Bank of Canada, having won Silver Gilt awards the previous two years.
Agency managing director Patrick James said he was thrilled to have won the gold medal. It is the culmination of almost a years hard work by a dedicated team, he said. We were determined that this year should be a Gold, having just missed out for the previous two years.
He said with extremes of drought followed by severe flooding, 2012 perfectly encapsulated the huge challenge facing society in managing water supplies.
At times of low rainfall, its vital that we conserve every drop and make use of recycled grey water where possible. However, during periods of heavy rainfall, we must urgently address how to prevent surface water run-off and reduce the risk of flash flooding which causes heartache and expense to so many households and businesses.
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York landscape architects earn gold medal at Chelsea Flower Show
Design Engine, who are the architects of the Abercrombie extension and the new John Henry Brookes building, have been shortlisted for theRoyal Institute of British Architects Regional Awards 2013.
The Abercrombie Building at Oxford Brookes University
Winchester-based practiceDesign Enginewon the contract for the development of a new entrance building at Brookes against steep competition. The company proposed that rather than building a new building here and a new building thereto devise a radical master plan, get demolishing, and go back to first principles. The original campus at Brookes was designed in 1955 by city architect EG Chandler. The original plans defined generous courtyards, but additions over the years have obscured this clarity and reduced the open space available.
Design Engines vision returns to the 1950s plan and re-energises it with new buildings and a new circulation sequence. Their plan slides new buildings alongside the old, interlocking them together. By increasing the density of the built forms, it is possible to provide generous public spaces; either new spaces, as with the entrance piazza, or reconfigured spaces, as with the central courtyard.
Key to the design is the new John Henry Brookes Building which will serve as the new main entrance to the campus. The building will contain a modern library, a 300-seat floating lecture theatre and a learning space dubbed the Forum. The open space will include informal touch down areas for the laptop working and group discussion that now form a key part of modern universities facilities. It will also become the new home of Student Services and Oxford Brookes Students Union.
Richard Rose Casemore, a Partner at Design Engine, is also a design tutor in the School of Architecture.
For more information on studying Architecture at Oxford Brookes University, visit the School of Architecture website.
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Abercrombie architects shortlisted for RIBA’s Regional Awards 2013