April 2008

A Chapter of The American
Institute of Architects

AIA Central New York
109 South Warren Street Store 11
Syracuse, New York 13202
Ph 315-475-8563 fax 315-475-8563

aiacny@verizon.net

AIA CNY
www.aiacny.org

OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

HOURS FOR RESOURCE CENTER

8am-1p.m. Monday - Thursday

AIACNY Resource Center Director…
Wendy Odom
Email:  aiacny@verizon.net

NEWSLETTER STAFF

Editor.................Richard T.Lafferty
Coordinating Editor....NeelGarofano
Publisher..................Scott Soules
Electronic Newsletter .. Scott Soules

ARTICLE SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS THE 15TH OF EACH MONTH. If you would like to submit an article or announcement to the newsletter please send your information via email to: ncg@dalpos.com attn: Neel Garofano or call 422-0201. All information should be checked for spelling and grammar prior to submitting. 

WWW.AIACNY.ORG

AIA Documents

The Architecture Resource Center has discontinued AIA document sales as of May 1st of 2006.  The AIA Documents may be purchased from the Rochester chapter of the American Institute of Architects.  To obtain copies of AIA documents from the Rochester chapter please contact:
 
Linda Hewitt, Hon. AIA.
Phone: 585-232-7650
Fax: 585-262-2525
E-mail: aia@aiaroch.org
Website: www.aiaroch.org

• This month in The Leading Edge

• The Design Awards

• The Presidents Message

• A Voice in the Wilderness

• You Come A Long Way Arch!

• The Meeting Minutes

• Global Warming and the Architect

• The CNY 13th Annual Golf Outing

• Announcements

THE NEW CNY CHAPTER WEB SITE

We are please to announce that the Central New York Chapter has posted a new web site at www.aiacny.org.  

In an effort to better serve and inform our membership, we have included information about the Chapter, the Officers and Committees, and contacts for Membership, Committee interests and new Chapter events.  

Many related links are also provided included the National and New York State AIA organizations, links to “Green or Sustainable” organizations and information, and links to Architectural education in the area and licensing.  

This newsletter will also be posted monthly on the website, and is accessible by clicking the “Newsletter” box on at the bottom of the page. We hope this website will provide another way of informing, serving and involving all those interested in the broad and important role of Architecture and Design in our world today.  

Please give it a try.  

Bob Haley

Featured Project

2007 Design Citation Award 

Holy Cross Church

Category: Religious

Designed by  Beardsley Design Associates, Architecture, Engineering & Landscape Architecture, P.C.

The Holy Cross Church in Dewitt , New York , needed to expand.  By working closely with over fifty of its members, a plan was developed to meet the needs of a growing congregation, expand space for educational programs, and increase opportunities for social and spiritual community activity. 

After being presented with a variety of options, the parish decided to build a new church on its own property adjacent to its existing facility.  

The new facility offers many amenities and can house up to 700 worshipers in its main nave and 50 people in the choir loft.  An additional 150 may be accommodated in an adjoining chapel for a more intimate daily service.  

A large vestibule serves as a gathering place for parishioners and guests.  Administrative offices are located in a wing off the main nave.  The lower level houses a spacious centralized assembly room with a children’s chapel and a religious education classrooms wing.

Custom stained glass windows flood the nave with light and color.Working closely with the parish community, we established as a primary consideration that the materials used in the project convey the serious purpose of the Church without being ostentatious. This can be seen in the construction of the retaining wall facing the cemetery, as well as the visual 'base' of the building.  We sought to achieve a traditional masonry building vocabulary, namely a base, middle, and top, along with elements to articulate wall surfaces and openings, without being derivative or decorative.  The concrete and brick masonry selected serves this purpose well.  The practical considerations of unit size, surface texture, color range, and the proven nature of masonry, provided the characteristics and advantages we sought.

Click Here for more Images

Jury's Comments: - This congregation is served well by this building, first with a creative use of the existing site.  The massing is representative of the interior functions.  The sacred space is detailed to provide a warm, inviting, reverent space of a challenging large volume.

The President's Message

Joseph Piraino, AIA

Well Spring is finally here and two annual events always happen in April, Tax Day and Lobby Day. This year there are on the same day April 15^th. So finish those taxes early and join us for Lobby Day. It will be the first time in many years that I did not organize Lobby Day and to schedule our appointments with our elected officials. This year our new Government Affairs Committee which is made up of Steve Busa and Jamie Williams both past presidents and long time lobbyists have stepped up and will be organizing the event.  Lobby Day is a day long event visiting our State Senators and Assembly members to discuss bills that we support or are against. It is a rare opportunity to discuss with our elected representatives the issues that concern our profession. AIA NYS does a great job giving us all the tools we need to do this. We typically have a breakfast in Albany before we go to capital hill, where our paid lobbyist gives us a crash course in Lobbying 101 and we are giving a packet of information and talking points to follow.

This year’s top priorities are as follows:

• Green Buildings
• Qualifications-Based Selection of Professional Design Services
• Corporate Practice of Design Professions
• Historic Preservation Tax Credit

Understanding the political issues that effect our profession and lobbying our elected official is probably the most important thing we can do to help our profession.  The one thing that every Senator or Assembly member wants to see on Lobby Day is their constituents. We typically have constituents with us from Syracuse and Onondaga County but we always have a hard time getting AIA members from the other counties and the outlying towns and villages. So if you have never been to lobby day please consider it, it is definitely an educational experience. Thank you Jamie and Steve for organizing this year’s event.

Another member I would like to thank is Bob Haley, Bob has worked very hard on our new web site. I am proud to announce that our new web site http://aiacny.org is up and running so please visit our new site. There is still some area of the site that is under construction but it is there for our members to use so go and check it out.

And as always we are looking for volunteers. Don’t forget all the time spent volunteering for AIA as a Board or Committee member is time our emerging professionals can use towards the 80 hours required by IDP for “Professional and Community Service”, so if you need hours in that category please call anyone on the board and volunteer.

Thank You,

Joseph Piraino, AIA

President, AIACNY

A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS.....

by Dick Lafferty    

  Inspiration from Product News
              (or what are architects saying?)

Quotes from the Architects’ corner.

“Photo voltaics needs to be a viable choice for sustainable design.” Sandra M. Kukla Phoenix.

“Soon, there will be ‘carbon codes’ just as there are building codes.” Catherine Benotto Seattle.

 “Ecoresins can give surfaces new attributes of color and texture.” Robert M. Koup Boston.

“Green interior finishes have a strong visual appeal.” Patrick Gardner Las Vegas .

“I still enjoy the art of learning how to build.” Craig Randock Phoenix.

What are photo voltaics you may well ask? Central New York has more clear nights then sunny days. It would be good if we could harness moonshine other than in a bottle.  

Carbon codes sounds more like a zoning code then a building code. It is better to plant a tree then to cut one down. Windmills generate electricity without spewing out pollution.  

What are ecoresins? Consulting my handy Franklin wordmaster and got the following words: accuracies, accretions, accordions, accordance, accursed, accuracy and accordion. Breaking it down to E, core, sins e came up as correct but not in thesaurus, core came up center and sins came up evils. Ecoresins must be the center of an evil product with a name coined by an architect.  

Green has a strong visual appeal is true. In the late 60’s HUD had a New York City office around City Hall. It reviewed projects for the great northeast. At one review session the following observations were made. This was the age of Kemtone paint. Kemtone had an off white (light green) and bilious green wall paint. Both paints were used in the office. The federal contract furniture, desks, chairs and file were provided in baked enamel green. The review went well despite the green suited men with a green skin pallor that worked in the office. Thank God Kemtone had too much VOC’s to be “Green” today.  

The art of learning how to build is taught by NCARB monographs, from humble beginnings and now 22 strong to fill the minds and hearts of the architect. The topics are as follows; acoustics, envelope, codes, delighting (green), community context (there is no place like home), energy conscious greener), fire safety (code II in disguise), smart growth (a must), performance (more green), indoor environment (more Green), low-slope I & II, mold and moisture (indoor II), conduct, security, seismic (written for the west coast and war zones), senior living (old architects never die), subsurface, wind (more green), failure (Always a big seller in CNY) and sustainable design I & II (how green can one get).  

It is a joy for Produce News to help with this article. Many items pass over an architect’s desk and only about 10% are read. Of what is read, only 10% is comprehended. Only 1% is worth commenting on. Thank you Architects’ corner, NCARB’s cover on Sustainable Design and the internet for helping with this month’s article and ARCH. Hey! When you read, keep an open mind.  

YOU CAME A LONG WAY ARCH!  
By Lafferty       

   click here for PDF image

MEETING MINUTES OF THE AIACNY CHAPTER BOARD MEETING:  February 14, 2008 

Opening of the Meeting:  This meeting of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects Central New York Chapter was held Thursday, February 14, 2008 at the AIACNY Resource Center .  Joseph Piraino, AIA called the meeting to order at 12:15pm.

Click Here for Minutes

GLOBAL WARMING AND THE ARCHITECT  

By Dean A. Biancavilla, AIA, LEED AP, Holmes King Kallquist & Associates,Architects, Syracuse, NY dab@hkkarchitects.com

Our series theme – “Architects can make a difference in the battle against Global Warming by the reduction of our buildings’ energy use and consumption.” This is our eighth in the series.

David Ashley will tag team with Dean every other month on the subject of Green Technology and will have an article in May.

The 13th Annual Golf Outing

For More Information and Registration Click Here

For Corporate Sponsorship Click Here

The Illuminating Engineering Society of Central New York would like to invite you to the CNY-IES April's Meeting on DayLighting and Electric Lighting presented by Naomi Johnson Miller, FIES,  FIALD, LC.

See the attached meeting notice on the above event.  Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you feel maybe interested in these meeting.

To find out more about the IESCNY please visit us at www.cnyies.org . Here you will find the latest information about what is going on with the IESCNY and other usefully information.

If you have any question or comments please feel free to contact me.

                Thank you

                Paul E. Mahaney, LC, LEED-AP

                President of the IES CNY

Click Here for More Information

  AIA CNY

The Green building movement has created many opportunities for design professionals, but these                                     opportunities sometimes come                                     with potential risk.

This presentation will cover the risk pitfalls contained in contract language, the duty of care principal, and control/transfer techniques you can use to mitigate certain exposures.

Click Here for More Information  

 Beardsley Design Associates   Promotes Staff

Todd Kelsey

Beardsley Design Associates Architecture, Engineering & Landscape Architecture, P.C., is pleased to announce the promotion of Todd H. Kelsey to Sr. Plumbing Designer.  Mr. Kelsey is a Certified Plumbing Designer and LEED Accredited Professional with over 13 years of professional experience.  Todd has serves as an integral team member on many of BDA’s most complex projects.

For over 110 years, Beardsley Design Associates has provided comprehensive architectural and engineering design services, from concept to occupancy, for educational, government, medical, industrial, and commercial facilities. The staff consists of 92 professionals, with offices in Auburn , Syracuse , and Malone , New York .  For additional information on the firm’s services please visit the company’s website at www.beardsley.com. 

AIA New York Chapter Newsletter

The link to the AIA New York Chapter’s newsletter is: http://www.aiany.org/eOCULUS/newsletter/.

eOculus is issued through email every two weeks.

You may also search the archived issues of eOculus at: http://www.aiany.org/eOCULUS/pastissues.php

AIA New York Chapter’s public calendar is also a great place to promote both this Chapter’s events and other outside events: http://www.aiany.org/calendar/index.php

You may also self-list a program by submitting a form online at: http://www.aiany.org/calendar/submit.php.