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Acela Architects and Engineers will move into an Allentown property long occupied by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania. PHOTO/SUBMITTED)

A local architect and engineering firm will move into an Allentown property long occupied by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania.

Acela Architects and Engineers, which has a location at 4969 Hamilton St. in Lower Macungie Township, will occupy the building.

Feinberg Real Estate Advisors LLC represented the Girl Scouts in the $610,000 sale of 2619 Moravian Ave., a 7,500-square-foot property in Allentown.

Cindy McDonnell Feinberg, principal of Feinberg Real Estate Advisors in South Whitehall Township, who represented the seller, said the transaction was completed last week.

James Balliet of KW Commercial of South Whitehall Township represented the buyer, HIWT LLC, an investment group that plans to redevelop the property for Acela Architects and Engineers, she said.

The firm plans to move into the new building within the next four weeks and use it for its new corporate headquarters in the Lehigh Valley, said Daniel Witczak, president of Acela Architects and Engineers.

Its a beautiful facility, it gives us a lot of room to grow, Witczak said. Its an easy access on and off highway, its convenient for our clients.

The property on Moravian Avenue was originally developed in 1977 as the headquarters for the Great Valley Girl Scouts and later became a service center with the merger of county-based programs, which led to the creation of Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania with headquarters in Miquon, Montgomery County, Feinberg said.

For now, Girls Scout employees are working remotely in different Girl Scouts locations, Feinberg said.

Acela has 18 employees and plans to add three more people at the new location once the pandemic ends, Witczak said.

Weve been set up to work from home from the beginning, he said. Everybody has a laptop and docking station. Thats the way we started our company.

Employees have the ability to work from home and take laptops home as needed.

Acela has been at its Lower Macungie office for three years and has three other locations in Ohio, New York and New Jersey.

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Acela Architects and Engineers to move into former Girl Scouts property - Lehigh Valley Business

From designingface shields and flat-pack intensive care units to 3D-printinghands-free door leversand converting buildings to hospitals, architects and designers are tackling the coronaviruspandemic. Here are five ways they are helping.

Converting buildings to hospitals

The unprecedented number of coronavirus cases is forcing countries around the world to rapidly increase their capacity to treat patients.

To do this, buildings across the world are being converted into intensive care units. In Tehran, Iran Mall, the world's largest shopping centre, is being transformed into a coronavirus hospital, while in New York theCathedral of St. John the Divine is also set to be converted.

With large open spaces, conference centres are an obvious choice for conversion and architecture studio BDP has converted the ExCel Centre in London into a 4,000-bed hospital called NHS Nightingale.

Two giant wards have been created in the exhibition halls, which are divide from a central corridor by areas to put on and take off protective clothing. A staff canteen, diagnosis room and mortuary complete the hospital.

"When the scale of the shortfall in beds across London became clear, the ExCel centre was the obvious choice," BDP's James Hepburn told Dezeen.

"It has huge flat floor hall spaces with flexible MEP infrastructure that can be easily adapted to meet the needs of the temporary hospital."

Designing temporary intensive care units

Architects have also recognised the need to create temporary intensive care units that can be rapidly deployed, following China's rapid construction of a temporary hospitalto treat patients at the start of the pandemic.

In response to the outbreak in the USA, flat-pack startup Jupe has created a range of medical care facilities that are designed to be quickly installed at hospitals to increase bed capacity, or that could be used as stand-alone field hospitals.

"Hospitals can't tackle it all rapidly enough, even once the federal government's aid package kicks in," explained Jupechief medical advisorEsther Choo.

In Italy, architects Carlo Rattiand Italo Rota designed an intensive-care pod within ashipping container.The first prototype is currently under construction at a hospital in Milan.

Designing face shields

In some countries, the pandemic has led to a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect health workers. In response, architects and designers have begun designing and manufacturing it themselves.

In the USA, studios including BIG, KPF and Handel Architects have joined an open-source project to print face shields, while in Spain3D-printing brand Nagami Design has switched its machines frommaking furniture to shields.

British architecture studioFoster + Partnersdecided to design an alternative face shield that can be laser cut. The open-source device can be disassembled and sanitised for reuse.

Researchers at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Cambridge and the University of Queensland, and graduates from Rhode Island School of Designhave all also designed face shields.

MIT has developeda disposable face shield that is made from a single piece of plastic, which can be mass-produced and shipped flat. Pieces of plastic and be folded into a three-dimensional structure when needed.

The RISD graduatescreated a simple shield that combines a curved piece of plastic with a headstrap, while the University of Cambridge and the University of Queensland's design can be created with no specialist materials or tools.

Making face masks

Face masks are another item of PPE that have seen a massive increase in demand during the pandemic. In response to shortages, numerous designs and fashion brands have converted their factories to mask production.

Prada, COS and Louis Vuitton are among the leadingbrands that have retooled to manufacture surgical face masks, while Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga have begun production of cotton face masks.

Hacking equipment

Architects and designers have been using their 3D-printers to quickly create items that alter equipment to solve problems raised by the pandemic.

To make wearing face masks less painful formedical staff treating patients, Chinese 3D-printer manufacturer Creality is printing a device that holds the strings away from the wearer's ears.

Architectural designers Ivo Tedbury and Freddie Hong have created a3D-printeddoor-handle extension that users can loop their arm through so they can open doors without using their hands.

In Italy, additive manufacturing start-up Isinnova reverse engineeredand 3D-printed a crucial valve for a oxygen mask, which is used as part of a ventilator machine, following a shortage.

"The valve has very thin holes and tubes, smaller than 0.8 millimetres it's not easy to print the pieces," said Isinnova CEO Cristian Fracass."Plus you have to respect not [contaminating] the product really it should be produced in a clinical way."

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Five ways architects and designers are helping fight coronavirus - Dezeen

By: Sebastian Morris 7:00 am on April 5, 2020

New renderings offer a look at a seven-story residential building in the University Heights section of The Bronx. The development is located at the corner of West Fordham Road and Loring Place North, and is expected to debut as 140 West Fordham Road, with 2332 Loring Place listed as the secondary address.

Designed by Marin Architects, the structure features an understated masonry faade comprised of gray, brown, and red brick. Within, the building will support 54 rental units averaging approximately 776 square feet apiece.The project team has not released any updates regarding amenity spaces. Additional confirmed components will include a rear yard and enclosed parking area for 27 vehicles.

In total, the building will span 52,465 square feet and will replace a single-story bar and an associated parking lot.

Rendering of 140 West Fordham Road Marin Architects / Stagg Group

Rendering of 140 West Fordham Road Marin Architects / Stagg Group

Jay Martino of the Stagg Group is listed as owner on associated applications for the development. Demolition permits have not been filed with the citys Department of Buildings and it is uncertain when the project will be completed.

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Marin Architects Reveals Residential Building at 140 West Fordham Road in University Heights, The Bronx - New York YIMBY

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LA Mayor Eric Garcetti is helping to expand the nascent #OperationPPE effort. Photo courtesy of USC Architecture Operation PPE.

The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles (AIA |LA) chapter has been asked by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to aid the city in its efforts to expand the growing #OperationPPE initiative that has taken root in the city.

Initiated by a team led by University of Southern California (USC) Associate Professor Alvin Huang, #OperationPPE brings together resources and expertise from throughout the USC ecosystem (including its medical and engineering schools) with the productive capabilities of local architecture firms, universities, and other 3D-printing facilities. The effort, which includes contributions from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), and Cal Poly LA Metro architecture programs, has been working around the clock over the last week to manufacture makeshift Personal Protective Equipment for area hospital workers who are on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a daily press briefing last week, Mayor Garcetti expressed his support for #OperationPPE, stating that the city was working with local universities, design schools, and architecture firms to utilize their materials and expertise in the race to produce much-needed protective equipment.

An email sent out by AIA|LA staff over the weekend reads, Mayor Eric Garcettis Officeis ramping up production of pseudo N95 masks and safety shields for area hospitals. The message adds that AIA|LA has been asked by Mayor Garcetti to have potential contributors fill out a survey describing their printing capabilities. See here for the survey.

The message continues: The Mayors program will begin once production for Keck has completed and it will use the same designs as approved by Keck and NIH. But time is critical.PPEs are urgently needed by area hospitals to take care of the people of Los Angeles.

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LA Mayor calls on architects to expand 3D-printed PPE efforts - Archinect

Share Your Work From Home Experience and Join the Remote Architects Club

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With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing many architecture firms to quickly transition into a work from home, designers are having to discover new ways to work without everyone being in the same room. The casual conversations, overheard ideas, and site visits that were once an integral part of our jobs have been put on pause, and have left some architects wondering how everyone else is continuing project work.

Launched just last week, the Remote Architects Club is bringing designers from around the world together and sparking a conversation about how to work from home. This crowd-sourced site provides architects with a singular source of information and tools for support. Not only can architects see how other offices are handling work from home mandates, but also explore a variety of available software and read personal stories from others who have found ways to stay connected in this uncharted territory. Even beyond the end of this pandemic, this platform hopes to continue to serve the greater design community as a means of sharing ideas so that working remotely can become a regular part of architecture practice.

To find more information on how to join the Remote Architects Club, or to share information about your best practices, click here.

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Share Your Work From Home Experience and Join the Remote Architects Club - ArchDaily

Across the country, design communities have mobilized to assist in the effort to fill supply gaps in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers operating on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week, Archinect reported on efforts at Princeton, Cornell, and Columbia that are coming together to 3D-print visors and face shield harnesses, fabricate hospital gowns, and manufacture other PPE to serve the regions hospitals.

On the west coast, a project inspired by a call to arms from Cornell University Professor Jenny Sabin has sprung up around the University of Southern California (USC). There, multiple campus entities, including the USC School of Architecture, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, the USC Iovine Young Academy, and theUSC Keck School of Medicine are working to create PPE face masks that come close to meeting N95 standards.

Using a regional network of 3D-printers scattered at participating architecture firms and universities, including University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), and Cal Polys LA Metro program, the #OperationPPE effort is fabricating protective gear that could prove pivotal to fighting the virus if existing stocks are depleted and medical workers have to resort to improvised means of protection.

USC Professor Alvin Huang explains: This is what Keck [School of Medicine] has identified as wartime medicine, so we are working on the back-ups to the back-ups.

Working from home offices, school print shops, and firm fabrication facilities, the group has coordinated file sharing and manufacturing initiatives to optimize and perfect the 3D printing files for a N95-like mask meant for last-resort use. The 3D-printed components are designed to snap together and require the addition of a HEPA filter insert and perimeter sealant to properly function. The masks are are a step above using handmade masks and bandanas, Huang writes.

The effort was recently endorsed by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who in a recent COVID-19 related televised update announced the Citys support for the #OperationPPE initiative.

In the talk, Garcetti said, Im proud to announce were mobilizing our architecture, design, and manufacturing communities to utilize 3D-printing technologies to aid in the response. Garcetti added that the city was working with local universities, design schools, and architecture firms to utilize their materials and expertise.

Huang tells Archinect that the USC team has support from Gruen Associates, AIA California, and AIALA, which are now providing USCs printing teams with material, including 60 additional spools of PLA, the plastic filament being used to fabricate the masks. Huang adds: We are, however, having difficulty finding sheets of .02"-thick PETG for the face shields, but are trying to source that now.

In addition to Gruen, the effort has received support from a variety of local architecture firms, including:KAA Associates, ARUP, CO Architects, Michael Maltzan Architecture, Brooks + Scarpa, ECM Interactive, HNTB, IBI Group, HGA, KoningEizenberg, Lorcan OHerlihy Architects, Tighe Architecture, and Huangs own firm, Synthesis Design+ Architecture.

Huang writes, Our group is now up to 130+ people with 105+ printers, 3 lasercutters, and 215+ spools of filament. Huang explains that over 80 students are involved in the project.

The designers have published a sign-up sheet for those interested in contributing to the effort. The link includes access to the Keck School of Medicine-approved .stl files that can be used to print the mask components.

The rest is here:
#OperationPPE puts architects to work 3d-printing protective equipment for frontline medical workers - Archinect

With a whopping 33 categories, The Architects Newspapers sixth annual Best of Products Awards is slated to be our best yet. This years new and revamped program offers manufacturers, designers, and brand representation more opportunities to enter.

With a reputation for a smart, informed perspective on architecture and design, The Architects Newspaper applies the same high standards to our awards. This year, our robust jury is composed of 12 leading architects, engineers, construction, design professionals, andAN editors.Entries will be evaluated for innovation, aesthetics, performance, and value.

The Architects Newspapers Best of Products Awards is a much-anticipated event in the AEC and design communitiesyou wont want to miss out.

Independent designers, manufacturers, and brand representatives are invited to submit new products for review by July 23. This year, weve introduced a tiered entry fee structure.Early bird submissions are open until April 30 and regular submissions through July 2.

Winners will be announced online on August 31 and on our social media platforms. Winners will also be featured in our end-of-the-year Best of Design Awards special issue that is circulated to all subscribers. In addition, they will receive a specially designed trophy. One additional Product of the Year award will be announced at our annual AN Design Gala in early 2021. Further details can be found on our awards website.

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The Architect's Newspaper announces its sixth annual Best of Products Awards - The Architect's Newspaper

A group of architects and engineers is working to convert shipping containers into intensive care units to help hospitals that are running low on space for COVID-19 patients.

The open-source project, dubbed Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments (CURA, or Latin for "cure") is harnessing the skills of experts from around the world to develop self-contained, mobile ICUs that can be plugged into hospitals or installed in parking lots.

"At the beginning we had around 100 people working on the design. But since making it public, over 2,000 people actually got interested in the project," Carlo Ratti, CURA co-founder and director of MIT's Senseable City Lab, told Day 6 host Brent Bambury.

Ratti said the first prototype unit, currently under construction in Italy, is nearly complete and is scheduled to be deployed in a hospital in Milan, one of the country's epicentres for the COVID-19 pandemic.

CURA units are designed to be far more than a giant metal box with a couple of beds inside. Each is set up with negative air pressure, creating a "bio-confinement" environment that can restrict the virus from leaving the chamber, Ratti explained.

It's one major advantage over the tent city-like triage centres that hospitals have been setting up to cope with the influx of patients, which Ratti said couldputdoctors and other health-care workers at risk of infection.

"By using containers, we are trying to combine the best of both worlds: having something as quick to deploy as a tent, but also safe to operate as a proper hospital with negative pressure in bio-confinement," he said.

Since the approximately six-metre-long shipping container design is more or less standard around the world, said Ratti, the CURA design should be more or less adaptable around the world.

"I think the most complicated thing is all the mechanical components inside in order to create negative pressure, to do heating and cooling. But once you sorted that out then it's quite easy to produce it," he said.

The medical equipment for two beds in each pod adds up to about $150,000 US ($210,000 Cdn) per container. Ratti said teams in Asia, Europe and the Americas are working on prototypes, and hope the price tag can be reduced if production begins to ramp up.

Federal health officials in Canada said Thursdaythere could bebetween 23,000 and 46,000 ICU admissions over the course of the pandemic, if 2.5 to five per cent of the country's population became infected with COVID-19.

In Ontario one of the provinces hardest hit bythe pandemic modelling releasedApril 3 showedit would need to add an extra 900 intensive care beds to cope with a projected steep rise in COVID-19 patients over the following two weeks.

Ratti hopes that his project will help shift a popular view both among outsiders and some in the profession that architecture is concerned first and foremost with aesthetics and beauty over form and function.

"If, as designers and architects, we keep on looking at you know, just beautifying useless objects, then it's going to be oblivion," he said, channelling a quote from American architect and theorist Buckminster Fuller.

"But if [we] are going to tackle the main challenges that we have today think about climate change; think about, in this case ... the response to the pandemic, but many, many others then architecture and design can really play a central role in our society."

Written by Jonathan Ore. Interview produced by Yamri Taddese.

To hear more,download our podcastor click Listen above.

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Architects and engineers are turning old shipping containers into mobile intensive care units - CBC.ca

For the duration of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, AN will use this column to keep our readers up to date on how the pandemic is affecting architecture and related industries. This weekly article is meant to digest the latest major developments in the crisis and synthesize broader patterns and what they could mean for architecture in the United States. The previous edition of the column can be found here.

While the coronavirus pandemic continues to pummel the entire country, it is hitting certain populations harder than others, particularly black, Latino, and Native American people. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the CDC released its first national data tracking race among COVID-19 patients, which showed that in March, the percentage of black [hospitalized COVID-19] patients (33 percent) was much higher than the percentage of African-Americans in the population as a whole. Local data from cities and states tracking race among COVID-19 patients showed that the health disparity is even worse in certain areas: In Louisiana, about 70 percent of the people who have died are black, though only a third of that states population is; African-Americans account for72 percent of virus-related fatalities in Chicago, even though they make up a little less than a third of the population, according to the Times; the virus has killed more people in the Navajo nation than in the much larger state of New Mexico; and, as of Thursday,all the people who have died in St. Louis so far from COVID-19 complications have been black.

Why is this the case?

The answer could have something to do with architecture, particularly housing. According to public health experts, while other factors, like implicit bias in healthcare and higher rates of heart disease and diabetes, certainly play a role in the racial coronavirus disparities, crowded housing in low-income neighborhoods could be facilitating the spread of the disease and increasing weathering, or the wear and tear of environmental stresses on the body, which increases the severity of coronavirus cases.

Urban design inequities also almost certainly play a role in transmissioneven with social distancing rules in full effect, subway stations in predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods in the Bronx in New York City are packed with commuting essential workers.

COVID-19 has been a magnifying glass on the weaknesses in our systems, said Kimberly Dowdell, principal at HOK and president of the National Organization for Minority Architects (NOMA). Though racialized housing disparities are nothing new, the stark death toll of the pandemic is harshly illustrating those disparities effects.

Theres a saying that when America sneezes, the black community catches a cold, Dowdell said, pointing to an enormous wealth gap between black and white Americans as one of the main reasons why black people in the U.S. suffer more acutely during crises like the current one.

The Brookings Institution recently reported that in 2016, the net worth of a typical white American family ($171,000) was nearly ten times greater than that of a typical black American family ($17,150). While a variety of discriminatory policies have sowed the seeds for the current imbalance, racist urban planning has played an enormous part. Redlining, which started in the early 20th century and often continues in some form today, is a term for the once-legal practice of denying investments and bank loans to predominantly black neighborhoodsbanks would outline such areas in red on maps. The practice discouraged investment in black-owned homes and businesses, which lost value over generations, resulting in not only a racial wealth gap but spatial disparities, as well. Many predominantly black neighborhoods have fewer grocery stores, are closer to polluting industries, and lack high-quality affordable homes.

Even after the pandemic subsides, vulnerable populations will still be at risk from the next crisis and will potentially be in even a weaker state. One answer, Dowdell said, is for communities to invest in predominantly black and brown neighborhoods to decrease the wealth gap and increase resiliency. That kind of recovery will require a mix of policy, development, and design professionals working together, ideally with teams that reflect the communities theyre serving.

Diverse teams are really important, Dowdell said. Architecture should reflect the communities that they serve form a racial perspective.

Dowdell pointed to Chicago, where she lives, and where Mayor Lori Lightfoot has focused on the citys racialized spatial inequality in her mission to eliminate endemic poverty within a generation.

If theres a team that goes into certain communities, it would be great if there were certain people who were from that community or at least have some level of familiarity with the culture and of the community, Dowdell said. For example, if were looking at the South Side of Chicago [which is over 90 percent African American], and you dont have African-African team members, thats a missed opportunity.

Building teams that reflect underserved neighborhoods could be more difficult after the pandemic, as the economic downturn may be harder on architects who come from those areas.

I do think that black communities are going to have a harder time recovering, Dowdell said. Its going to be a challenge for everyone, but I think that given the wealth gaps, architects of color will probably struggle to get back to where they were.

As jobs, internships, and salaries decline, even if only temporarily, as a result of the pandemic, those without a cushion of family money or who financially support loved ones could have to leave the profession for greener pastures. The racial wealth gap means that black and other minority architects may flee in greater numbers, damaging diversity in a profession that is already overwhelmingly white. As of 2019, only 2 percent of NCARB certificate holders identify as black or African American, and less than 1 percent identify as Latino.

What can architects do? Dowdell touted NOMAs national network as a way for architects of color to support each other and find opportunities, including the groups new NOMA Foundation Fellowship, which offers a stipend and internship for architecture students. NOMA is launching a new weekly web series, Stay All In for NOMA, which will help members stay informed during the pandemic. Dowdell also suggested that architects get involved with local NOMA chapters to organize and advocate for city and state planning policies that invest in underserved neighborhoods. For those already working on projects advancing social justice, NOMA is partnering with the NAACP and the SEED Network advocacy group on the Design Awards for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI), which will recognize excellence in those categories.

No matter what, Dowdell said, an architect can do something.

In other corona news from this week, AN covered new hospitals and healthcare spaces deployed for the pandemic, and the AIAs new assessment tool for adapting existing buildings into coronavirus treatment sites. The crisis continues to demand innovative thinking, and in Florida, autonomous vehicles are delivering medical supplies. For the housebound, we also highlighted many exhibitions you can check out from home, including robot-assisted gallery tours, a French show exploring AI and architecture, virtual Frank Lloyd Wright tours, and a virtual exhibit on a balmy shore. We picked some picks to catch up on, too.

Enjoy, and be well!

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How architecture is exacerbating the coronavirus crisis for minorities and black Americans - The Architect's Newspaper

in a rural area of northamptonshire in the UK, will gamble architects has completed a sensitive extension to a grade 2 listed victorian house. the project makes use of a disused cattle shed and the ruins of a former parchment factory and scheduled monument. using a selection of honest materials, the new intervention is inserted into the remaining traces of the structures, blending the past and present together in one symbiotic relationship.

all images johan dehlin

the clients initial brief was to convert the cattle shed and demolish the factory ruins to make way for a new extension. rather than viewing it as a constraint, will gamble architects saw the ruin as a positive asset and instead proposed a building within a building where two lightweight volumes could be delicately inserted within the masonry walls in order to preserve and celebrate it.

a palette of honest materials was chosen both internally and externally which references the sites history and the surrounding rural context. externally, corten steel, oak, and reclaimed brick has been used. the extension was built out of upcycled materials predominantly found on site which was both cost effective and sustainable, while allowing the proposal to sensitively blend into its surroundings.

internally the structural beams of the existing cattle shed were exposed as well as the steelwork to the new parts the stone walls were re-pointed and washed in lime to create a mottled effect and a concrete plinth was cast along the base to create a monolithic skirting. a contemporary kitchen (also designed by will gamble architects) juxtaposes the uneven and disordered nature of the ruin and continues the theme of a modern intervention set within a historic context.

project info:

project name: the parchment works house

project type: residential

location: northamptonshire, UK

architect: will gamble architects

duration: 2017 2019

photography: johan dehlin

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readershere.

edited by: lynne myers | designboom

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will gamble architects inserts a contemporary extension into factory ruins in the UK - Designboom