AIACNY

One of the goals of Destiny

USA

is to showcase green technologies and sustainable design. The Research and Development (R & D) Park is a comprehensive facility that will trigger innovation in these fields by promoting collaboration and competition. This facility is not meant to be a mere support structure for Destiny

USA

, but will stand on its own merits as an icon of research and innovation.

The conceptual thrust of the R & D Park is to create a “technology Olympics” in which companies, research groups, and academics will compete to produce the most effective solutions to today’s problems of energy efficiency, production, conservation, and the like. The park will serve as a unified campus where proximity allows for a higher level of collaboration and consultation between researchers than what is typically possible in a global environment.

The park will be large, encompassing approximately 400 acres. Laboratories and offices form the central features of the park, but are by no means the only facilities that will be available within the campus. Auditoriums will provide an arena for lectures and demonstrations.

Security systems of the highest order will protect the intellectual property of the park’s occupants. Hotels and residences will encourage long term participation, enabling researchers to bring their families and live comfortably and in close proximity to their work. These living spaces will include convenient mini-labs and office pods for brain-storming, after hours work, collaboration, etc. Amenities such as restaurants and retail spaces will also be included in the park, to provide the most convenience to its occupants. Transportation is facilitated by the park’s location at the intersection of I-81 and I-90, and will be improved by the addition of a monorail system which will provide easy access to the airport, Destiny USA , Syracuse University , and other strategic points around the region. In short, the park will be a self-contained city, where researchers can live, play, and work to develop new technologies.

The architectural design of the campus is unusual in that it rejects the cold, sleek forms that are typically associated with science and technology. Instead, the park’s structures will feature organic curves, cascades, and asymmetry which recall the natural environment.

The effect will remind viewers that the park’s raison d’être is the support and development of green technology. A graceful arch spanning the interstate will also draw attention to the park and its mission, creating a memorable landmark for travelers.

The park will feature all feasible aspects of sustainable design. While new options are constantly being developed and improved, existing technologies such as wind turbines, solar panels, water-based thermal barriers, etc. will be employed. One of the sustainable innovations planned for the park is the placement of reflecting pools over the roofs of the underground garages, which will provide natural light inside and add aesthetic value above ground.

The submitted design of this project is flexible, because as a completely unique facility there will be many challenges and opportunities that have yet to be realized. The blend of natural forms, high-tech facilities, and iconic architecture in a comprehensive living and working research campus will make the R & D Park an ambitious and exciting project that will change Syracuse and the world.

Jury's Comments: - The grand design which speaks to the 21st century with a big picture approach to master planning. The project also reflects a visionary owner with forward thinking for the upstate area.

The President's Message

August is already here and it is the typical summer lull in AIA activity and everyone is on vacation. With gas prices so high many of our members may be staying close to home. It is official our country is using less gas now then a month ago. We may have hit a tipping point when the common person has had enough and starts to change their behavior. We are driving less and trying to be more energy efficient. It is a good time for AIA National to kick off it’s new campaign called “Walk the Walk – Architects Leading the Sustainable Revolution”. I just received posters, pins, T shirts and mouse pads with the new Green Footprint logo from national. At the next AIACNY Board meeting we will be discussing how best to use these promotional items and how to get the word out that Architects are trying to change the world. I am sure you all will be seeing more in the coming months regarding the “Walk the Walk” campaign. Please visit www.aia.org to find out more about this great program.

We all can make a difference in this fight to make our planet a better place. We have been learning how to make our new buildings more energy efficient and sustainable through good design using the Energy Star program or LEED. We also have a personal responsibility to be green. I have just shed myself of my gas guzzling SUV and bought a much smaller Subaru sedan. To be honest the price of gas forced my hand and I probably could have done a lot better than 28 mpg but I do feel better about driving it, even though I still can’t park in the Green spaces at the mall.

Much of the country has been asking…” What can I do to be more green?”. We have heard many simple changes from switching to fluorescent lights or changing to a programmable thermostat to checking the air pressure in your tires. I am glad the public is asking the questions I just hope they start to ask us their Architects that same question when they are building or renovating a home or business.

To really start a Sustainable Revolution it is going to take all of us in the construction industry, architects, engineers, builders and developers to be on same page. I am glad to see that AIA has been pro active and a leader on this issue. I know many of our members bleed green and I am glad Dean Biancavilla and David Ashley have started the “Global Warming and the Architect” series to help us all. Please read their article, fill your tires to the correct pressure and join the AIA in this Sustainable Revolution.

This series has been caused by a spring filled with flyers, pamphlets and booklets promoting life long learning for architects. To name a few organizations offering to satisfy your needs NCARB, Kaplan AEC Education, S.U. School of Architecture and AIA New York State. Has the architect’s life been too simple and void of knowledge over the past 50 years? Are there fewer architects who believe experience is the best teacher? It may be time to step back and look at where we have been and where we are going.

“Education is not filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” William Butler Yeates, Irish poet and playwrite who died in 1939, before the information explosion. The professional schools haves been two types, design and practice schools of architecture and n’er the twain shall meet. In the 50’s, SU required 18 hours per semester for five years to yield 180 credit hours for graduation. Today’s requirements are 162 credit hours. The amount of electives outside the school of architecture in the 50’s was 4 credit courses taken in freshman and sophomore years for a total of 12 hours and today 42 credit hours with 9 courses spread over 41/2 years. The student had no other elective choices in the 50’s while today 5 professional electives for 18 hours are provided.

We cannot live in the past but history and mental attitude are reflected in education. SU had a practical school of architecture preparing the 50’s student for the future in the profession. It anticipated the New York State registration exam and the 3 year minimum apprenticeship requirement before taking the exam. The student’s final thesis had a jury of three tenured, practicing architects with a little help from an advising professor.

In 1951,100 students started and 23 were graduated into the work force, military or graduate school. The main criteria, at the time, for being hired as a draftsman was “Can you letter?” If they could letter, it was believed, the architect could teach them the rest. This was the attitude of the professional architect. Today, to get hired, the intern architect must be computer literate. The hiring architect may not be CADD oriented but they know there is no time, nor money to teach computer drafting. From the front cover to the back of the school’s catalog, the display of student models is most impressive. An interesting note, only two of the current professors are identified as computer applicators and none are listed as model makers. In the 50’s there was a professor providing a required model making course and 2 or 3 drafting course.

Most students were able after the sophomore year to work in an office. This experience provided a greater understanding of the “reality” of the architectural profession. The next 3 years of school, placed the registration process in focus and within reach. A minimum of 3 years experience and the apprentice could qualify for the Architectural Registration Examination. Are you ready? The Experienced Architect is gone today. The 10 year experienced apprentice can no longer qualify to take the examination. Even the 7 year masters program still requires 3 years internship. That sound like 10 years to qualify for the exam at a very expensive path.

Life was so simple in the 50’s. To the student all professional knowledge was on the 3^rd and 4^th floors of Slocum Hall. The architectural library on the 3^rd and the professors on the 4^thwere the access to the information highway of the day. The tools the student needed were a blank piece of paper, pencil, T square, triangle and an open mind. Today’s student has the internet and a world of knowledge at their finger tips. Soon they will have the Warehouse and all of Slocum Hall to help in their search for knowledge. The 50’s cry, “Destroy the BOX “ has become “How to control endless space”.

How to use the vast knowledge base and to control the tools of today is the challenge of educator and the architect. The student as always shall challenge the professor to be the critic, advisor and mentor. Architectural education is no longer lighting a fire but carrying the torch.

Robert C. Thompson, AIA Continuing Education Provider
Certified Professional Code Administrator, M.B.A.
rthomp2@twcny.rr.com
315-446-7672

The State Fire Prevention & Building Code Council met on July 24th. The following actions were taken:

The Council was asked to consider rule makings for the updated Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code [based on the 2006 Editions of the International Building Code, the International Residential Code, the International Fire Code, the International Plumbing Code, the International Mechanical Code, the International Fuel Gas Code, the International Property Maintenance Code and the International Existing Building Code and which includes numerous modifications.

The Code Council approved this proposal. The proposed new text, along with statements and other analysis were forwarded to the Governor’s Office of Regulatory Reform [GORR] for review.

The Council was asked to consider the replacement of the existing text of the State Energy Conservation Construction Code with new text based upon provisions of the 2006 Editions of the International Energy Conservation Code and which incorporates modifications.

The Code Council approved this proposal. The proposed new text, along with statements and other analysis was forwarded to the Governor’s Office of Regulatory Reform [GORR] for review.

The Code Council approved a motion for Nassau County regarding a higher or more restrictive local standard Nassau County intends to enforce. Approval by the Code Council is necessary in accordance with N.Y.S. Executive Law §379 for local governments that pass local laws, or ordinances that are more restrictive than the N.Y.S. Uniform Fire Prevention & Building Code.

Opening of the Meeting: This meeting of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects Central New York Chapter was held Thursday, June 12, 2008 at the AIACNY Resource Center . Julia Hafftka-Marshall, AIA called the meeting to order at 12:15pm.

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 tenth in the series.

This month’s installment will take a look at a great design which we saw presented locally at the 6th Annual Green Building Conference at the OnCenter this past March sponsored by SUNY ESF, the Center of Excellence and the City of Syracuse. The building was the Leopold Center presented by Tom Kubala of the firm Kubala Washatko Architects of Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

New Harvard dean speaks of a Sustainable Future
By David C. Ashley, AIA, LEED AP

Preston Scott Cohen is the new Dean of the architectural department of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and in a recent interview with an AIA reporter (and published in the AIA Newsletter) he had the following to say about issues relating to sustainability:

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.

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