The design objective for this project was to renovate and combine two existing buildings into one 4 -Star hotel … while remaining open for business. This work was accomplished within a limited amount of space, entailed numerous construction phases over a three-year period, and was substantially completed in 2003 when it was christened the Genesee Grande Hotel.

The Mayflower Apartments at 1030 East Genesee Street was constructed in 1925. Early in this project, the grand apartment interiors of that era were demolished and reconfigured as upscale hotel suites. A new seven-stop elevator was installed on the east face of the building. The first-floor apartment directly opposite the Genesee Inn was developed into a lobby for the Mayflower building. This adjoins the new elevator, new toilet rooms and opens into the original entrance rotunda. In the Mayflower basement, the existing floor level was lowered to provide usable space that includes a sloped-floor movie theater, exercise room, employee lockers and lounge, and meeting rooms. At the front of the Mayflower, retaining walls, landscaping and a fountain were installed.

The Genesee Inn at 1060 East Genesee Street was previously known as the Mohawk Motor Inn. At the start of this project, the Inn was tired and begged attention. Initially, an elevator was installed within the building in order to access the second floor. Existing motel rooms were gradually demolished and expanded as new hotel suites. The existing lobby was completely removed, and a new lobby of twice the area was constructed. This contains a new reception desk, marble fireplace, koi pond, lounge, and dining room. East of this new lobby a new bar/lounge was developed in the former dining room. A new 18 x 200 foot addition was constructed along the face of the existing building. This increased the capacity of the main ballroom and breakout spaces, and created a new dining room adjacent the bar/lounge. A stained glass window anchors the west end of this dining room. For fair weather use, an exterior dining terrace may be accessed from the dining rooms. One of the final efforts in this “extreme makeover” was to close the existing kitchen for several days and expand it to the east. All existing kitchen mechanicals and finishes were replaced.

New HVAC for the total complex is distributed from the former boiler room of the Mayflower to the former Genesee Inn in the ceiling space above the new porte cochere which links the new lobbies in the two buildings. The entrance drive was reconfigured and heating elements run beneath the pavers. New landscaping and ornamental lighting along East Genesee Street link the two buildings in their new identity as the 160-room Genesee Grande Hotel.

The President's Message

The summer is ending unfortunately and of course the late days of August turned out to be quite hot. As I am writing this President’s message I am busily getting ready for vacation mode. My family and I are off to the Berkshires and Cape Cod. Hopefully hurricane Bill will not put a damper on the ocean activities. September will be an exciting month for our membership. Two very significant events have been scheduled. Our annual AIACNY meeting is on September 17th, 2009. The annual meeting will include lunch, a President’s presentation and the election of two officers to our Board of Directors. We have an excellent slate of candidates for the Director of Membership and the position of President-Elect. I encourage all of our membership to chime in, vote and hear what we have accomplished over the past year. The meeting will be held at King & King’s new downtown offices and a tour of their offices will be offered to those who are interested. Please join us. Check the AIACNY Newsletter for additional details.

The second event is the AIA New York State Convention; “Re-Build New York: Mainstreets Convention” on Sept 24th thru 26th 2009 in Rochester, New York. Please register for this exciting event. You can earn Continuing Education credits throughout the three days of the convention on a variety of topics. Seminars and tours will be available and a product showcase is planned at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center. Social events, including a golf tournament will be held at Ravenwood Golf course in Rochester.

SWINGING ON A STAR

“Would you like to swing on a star, carry moon beams home in a jar and be better off than you are?”

The Sunday Obituaries of August 2^nd had a column separated two Syracuse natives I have known.

The pictures of them were as I remembered them. Archie the architect and Bob the educator. They, “passed away peacefully”, on the same day. They were three years apart in age. Archie graduated from Nottingham and Bob from North High school . They both had undergraduate and graduate degrees from Syracuse University . As I reflect on the impressions they made on me; the partners of the architectural firm came to mind.

The first architectural firm I worked for was Sweeney and Burden. Bob reminded me of Paul Sweeney and Archie of Rollie Burden. Paul was outgoing and Rollie was very focused. They were the extreme personalities that I would meet in my professional career. They had a profound effect on the way I perceived all personal contacts.

Bob was a teacher, counselor and psychologist to many. He served the State of New York as a Civil Service supervisor and also taught at several area colleges and universities as an adjunct professor. His impact has been felt throughout Central New York . This was due to his energy and to quote his obituary, “You win more friends with honey than with vinegar.”

Archie’s list of buildings that changed the Central New York built environment include the Federal Office Building in Syracuse, the renovation of the Hall of Languages at Syracuse University (it received a National AIA design award), and the General Postal Facilities in Syracuse and Utica. He touched many school projects throughout the area. To Archie these were what architects were supposed to do. He did not wish to go the Kansas City to receive his award. His summer weekends were spent at Christmas Cove in Maine . Leave Friday at noon and drive up to Maine and return Monday morning to the office. Driving to the Thousand Islands (which Rollie Burden did) every summer weekend, most people, viewed as a trek at the time.

Archie gave back to the profession in many ways. He was an adjunct professor at S.U.. He served New York State as a member and chairman of the Code Council when it was under DHCR and was a partner at sergeant, Webster, Crenshaw and Folley. In 1988 he served as President of the Chapter providing a mature transition for the decades to come.

The last time I saw Archie was at the East Syracuse Railroad Station. I was sending my daughter off to College. I asked Archie was he waiting for someone? He said, “No, I come here because I love trains.”. I gained more insight into a unique person.

Arthur C. Friedel AIA and Dr. Robert N. Giambattista spent all their lives in Central New York . They lived happy, useful and productive lives in the own hometown. They are prime examples of what one can accomplish being a native. In their passing the people they touched shall not forget them. It doesn’t get any better.

LEED Daylighting Warning for Designers

By David C. Ashley, AIA, LEED AP

This is a letter to the editor of Environmental Build News which I sent on 08.2.0.09

In LEED 2009, there appears to be a major problem with the primary calculation formula for daylighting for IEQ Credit 8.1. This could be creating serious problems for architectural designers who are now using OPTION 2 Prescriptive to design their window openings. They will be wrong and may lead to some unfortunate and maybe expensive corrections later on.

The daylighting OPTION 2 on page 556, starts off with a strange nomenclature of “bays” to describe rooms where daylighting is to be calculated. Normally “bays” refer to column bays which rarely coincide with actual room walls. The next more serious problem is with Table 2 Sample Prescriptive Cal culation on page 558 which runs through an example of three “bays” and purports to show how a bay area of 800 square feet 20 feet wide and 40 feet deep with a window 19 feet wide and having a head height of 10 feet will provide adequate daylight according to the formula at the bottom of the table.

Everyone who has worked with daylighting before knows that a 10 foot high window can’t daylight a 40 foot deep room. And the diagram, Figure 2, on page 557 confirms this. It shows daylighting depth to be 2 times the window height which in this case would be 20 feet not 40 feet, a more reasonable answer. If you reverse the width and depth dimensions, it still will not work. A 19 foot wide window can’t daylight a 40 foot wide room.

Just to confuse the situation further, ASHRAE’s new 189 standard, which will be released soon and purports to also be endorsed by USGBC, also has daylighting criteria. On page 7 the definition for daylighting zone depth is: “daylit depth is the lesser of one window head height…” So ASHRAE says 1.0 times the head height, USGBC’s Figure 2 says 2.0 times the head height and USGBC Table 2 illustrates 4.0 times the head height. ASHRAE, to their credit, requires minimum room surface light reflectances (8.4.1.1.b) which USGBC is remiss in not requiring. A black room will provide almost no daylighting.

I hope ASHRAE and USGBC will soon agree on a common daylighting standard and hopefully USGBC will correct IEQ 8.1 very soon before all the current building designs under way are wrong. I wrote to USGBC a few weeks ago and asked them to correct this and to warn the architectural designers who may be using the faulty formula at this very moment. There is nothing posted on their web site yet. I also submitted a comment to the ASHRAE 198 committee about the differences for which I got a rejection notice.

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) announced in July that the cost of the ARE will increase on October 1, 2009 from $170 to $210 per division. ”Prior to October 1, 2009, candidates can schedule future exam appointments through December 31, 2009 at the current rate of $170 per division.”

Please also note that NCARB will no longer be accepting paper forms for IDP submissions. IDP candidates must now submit their training units for verification using the e-EVR system by logging on to their NCARB Record through the NCARB’s newly updated website.

As a result of the first phase of IDP 2.0, effective 1 July 2009, interns no longer need to be employed to earn IDP training units. LEED Accredidation, CSI Construction Documents Technologist certification, and completion of NCARB’s Professional Conduct monograph are just a few of the many ways to earn supplementary credits towards IDP. For a full list of these new supplemental Training Units please see the NCARB website.

For more information on these and other changes taking place with IDP and the ARE please see www.ncarb.org/News-and-Events.

Opening of the Meeting: This meeting of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects Central New York Chapter was held Thursday, July 09, 2009 at the AIACNY Resource Center . Julia Hafftka-Marshall, AIA called the meeting to order.

This seminar will better prepare A.R.E. candidates for the Structural
section of the exam.

Ashley McGraw Architects, P.C. is pleased to announce the addition of two employees. Susan Conklin joins the firm as a Senior Interior Designer in the K-12 Studio, and Dallas Fischer also joins us in the K-12 Studio as an Architectural Designer. Susan and Dallas are both LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professionals, bringing Ashley McGraw’s total number of LEED designers to 40.

Ashley McGraw Architects, P.C. is pleased to announce the hiring of Caitlin Mahar as their new Marketing Coordinator in the Syracuse office. Mahar comes from a background in education and sales, and received her bachelor’s degree in Communications and Marketing from Duquesne University . She is currently working towards her master’s degree in Information Management at Syracuse University .

Ashley McGraw Architects, P.C. is pleased to announce that after 10 weeks of vigorous training, Accounting Manager Karen Livingston has become LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professionals, bringing Ashley McGraw’s total number of LEED Accredited Professionals to 40. With this expertise in sustainable design, Ashley McGraw can provide a higher level of service to clients, resulting in buildings that are significantly less expensive to operate and healthier for the people that occupy them.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system is now the national standard for sustainable design. It includes 69 specific strategies regarding: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality. A building can be certified as “green” if it achieves 26 of the available 69 points.

Lake Architectural of 24 Maple St. Marcellus is proud to announce that our BIM expert Joe Sferrazza located in our Charlotte, NC office recently passed the Revit Architecture 2010 Certified Associate exam. This is quite an accomplishment as Joe is the first and so far the only person to have a 2010 certificate in North Carolina or South Carolina. Joe has worked on many impressive commercial and residential projects this past year exclusively using Revit and is truly an asset to our team. Through Joe’s leadership and the full support of Lake Architectural, Joe started up the first Revit Users Group for the City of Charlotte, NC whose membership has exploded to in excess of 100 members in less than six months time. Of the three core principles of Lake Architectural: leverage technology, promote sustainability and remain small but nimble, Joe has truly pushed the envelope for leveraging technology at Lake Architectural in rapidly changing environment of today’s Architectural practice. All Lake Architectural offices have used Revit exclusively for all projects since Lake’s inception in 2004.

Diane Tracy of Lake Architectural, 24 Maple St. in Marcellus has just celebrated her one year anniversary with the company. Diane was recently promoted to office manager and is responsible for the day to day office activities as well as marketing research and development. Lake Architectural opened their second office in Charlotte NC one and a half years ago. Lake Architectural’s team believes in three core principles:

Members attended last month's tour of the Jefferson Clinton Commons by Steve McKnight.

Members of The AIACNY Chapter of Central New York
now have access to WI-FI at The Resource Center
Monday-Friday- 8am- 12noon.

All AIA Members have access to all ARE Study Materials, There is no fee to use the ARE Study Material, but a Deposit (Check) will be required, which will vary.

The check for deposit is given to Wendy Odom at Resource Center on the date you want to borrow the material. You will receive your check for deposit on the return of the material to The Resource Center .

Minimum (5) years experience on commercial projects, with excellent CAD skills. Projects include commercial retail, office, mixed-use, and restaurants. Position entails all aspects of architecture, from schematic design through construction administration. Excellent opportunity for career advancement within design department of a National Design/Build Firm. Competitive salary, benefits. Please send resume to Director of Design.

with 1 - 3 years of office experience for multi-disciplinary architectural / engineering firm. Background in healthcare, institutional, renovation and government work desirable. Full time position available. Bachelor of Architecture and proficiency in AutoCAD required.

CAD designer/drafter with a minimum of 5 years experience in preparation of general building design drawings using AutoDesk/AutoCAD 2010. Experience with Revit is desirable. 2 year degree in architectural technology or related field is required. 3D modeling and rendering capabilities are desirable.

Competitive compensation and benefits package. Send detailed resumé w/refs. and salary history to:

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

The President's Message

The Sunday Obituaries of August 2nd had a column separated two Syracuse natives I have known.

The Sunday Obituaries of August 2^nd had a column separated two Syracuse natives I have known.