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By Bill Yeaple, AIA, HKS Architects

Architects from the AIA/Orlando Healthcare Committee are part of a team headed by Engineering Ministries International (EMI) that is designing and doing the construction documents for a clinic in Honduras. The “client” is a religious organization called Westside Ministries.

In January 2006, we spent a week in Honduras visiting the site, talking to the users about their programmatic needs, and investigating local building materials, construction methods, and the available labor pool. While there, we also developed several floor plans and presented them to the client. One was approved. The next step is to hold a weekend charrette on February 10-12 using the preliminary design as a point of departure for more sophisticated design solutions.

We have invited 18 architecture students from Florida A & M, the University of Florida, and University of Southern Florida to participate in the charrette. We intend to have students from each school on teams comprised of 4 or 5 students, a faculty member, and a healthcare architect from the Committee.

We are holding the charrette for several reasons. First and foremost, we believe sustainable design strategies using appropriate technologies is a critical component of the design of the clinic, and that the students will be able to incorporate those concepts in innovative and exciting ways. Secondarily, we think a charrette will be a very effective mechanism to introduce the students to local architects involved in healthcare architecture and vica versa, as well as to some basic healthcare design principles. The students will also have the opportunity to meet and perhaps work with students from other schools.

The designs developed by the teams will be presented Sunday afternoon. Because the ultimate goal of the charrette is to provide Westside Ministries with a building that best satisfies their needs, design ideas from each of the teams may be combined. If this is the case, the EMI team will combine those ideas after the charrette, and produce the construction documents.

The charette will be at the Fellowship Hall at:

The First United Methodist Church of Orlando

142 E. Jackson Street,

Orlando Florida 32801

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By Chris Dunlop, YAF Director 2006

RECAP: Habitat for Humanity Orlando “Hometown Heroes”

For the past 13 years, Habitat for Humanity Orlando has built a full-scale Habitat house for display inside the TD Waterhouse at their annual “Hometown Heroes” charity event. In order to reduce the considerable labor on the construction

crew as well as the cost incurred to continue this tradition each year, the Young Architects Forum (YAF) teamed up with the non-profit organization to come up with an alternative solution. As a result, YAF made a commitment to build scale models of the Habitat homes to be displayed at the November 2005 event.

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Two 24”x24” models were built: one smaller scale “community” model of six Habitat houses connected through a common street and a small

neighborhood park; and one larger scale “construction” model showing a partial house in the early stages of erection.

Through our discussions with the Habitat group, the “community” model also took on further aspirations as a “concept” model for future Habitat home neighborhoods. The concept stems from a societal idea of integrating small connecting parks to activate the neighborhoods, hopefully increasing safety and community interaction.  

YAF Team (Click to enlarge)

Known as the first black town in America, the Town of Eatonville has a rich history tied to the well-known author Zora Neale Hurston. Each year, the “Zora Festival” brings many to this culturally historic location in central Florida . This year, the Young Architects Forum (YAF) joined up with the Eatonville Historic Preservation Board to put together a presentation on potential plans to revitalize some of the homes in this historic district dating back to the 19th century.

For the January event, YAF prepared a total of ten presentation boards of 10 historic homes that were photographed, documented, and sketched to help others visualize how they could be renovated back to their original character. Eatonville Historic Preservation group pictured here (L to R): Veronica Guerrero, Rebecca Talbert, Jennifer Stencel, Joseph Yates III, Eatonville Mayor Anthony Grant, Christopher Dunlop, Lakisha Hull, Kim Hellekson, Ariana Aponte. Not pictured: Manny Garcia and Wade Kingcade.

At the festival, the interest was almost overwhelming, as various individuals inquired about the next step and how they could invest in the preservation of this heritage. Over the next year, YAF will be photographing and documenting the remaining 30+ historic homes within Eatonville's Historic District for next year's festival.

GET INVOLVED:

YAF welcomes your involvement in any of our various programs this year, including an upcoming design charrette for the downtown History Center 's Heritage Square Park, a Saturday volunteer group to help build local homes with Habitat for Humanity, an AIA Mentoring Program with AIA Orlando, a tag-team effort with VCC architecture students, and a local Architecture in Film series.

If you are interested and would like to participate in any of these volunteer programs, please send your email to yaf_orlando@yahoo.com or visit our web page at www.aiaorlando.com/yaf.

Robert Miller, FAIA (Click to enlarge)

The Jury of Fellows and Honorary Fellows met at AIA Institute headquarters during the week of January 28- February 1, 2006, and selected 82 new Fellows. AIA Florida/Caribbean Region had five new Fellows over all, representing 6% of the newly elected Fellows, and 50% of Florida/Caribbean nominees were elevated.

AIA Orlando Board of Directors would like to take this time and congratulate Robert “Bob” Miller, FAIA, (R. Miller Architecture, Inc.) on his prestigious honor. Robert D. Miller, FAIA, inspires architectural excellence as a respected business leader, an elected city councilman, and a committed volunteer to local and international organizations.

Congratulations to:
Segundo Cardona, FAIA (AIA Puerto Rico)
Marvin D. Goodman, FAIA (AIA Miami)
Robert Miller, FAIA (AIA Orlando)
Dorwin A.J. Thomas, FAIA (AIA Miami)
Benjamin Vargas, FAIA (AIA Puerto Rico)

Michael T. Alford, AIA (Click to enlarge)

Michael T. Alford, AIA and project architect with CDM, was recently appointed by 2006

AIA President Kate Schwennsen, FAIA, to serve a two-year term on the AIA National Convention Continuing Education Advisory Committee. The charge of the committee is to review, organize and rank the national convention continuing education programs.

Ariana Aponte-Cobas (Assoc. AIA) was born and raised in Madrid, Spain.  She graduated from Florida International University in May 2005 and will be attending the University of Florida in the near future.  She is currently doing her internship with Starmer Ranaldi Planning and Architecture in Winter Springs. She is an active member of 3 committees and is in the process of establishing an Architecture and Film series for our chapter.

Jess T. Sibayan was born and grew up in the Philippines and received  his degree in Architecture from Mapua Institute of Technology, Manila. Mr. Sibayan is a former member of United Architects of the Philippines. Most of his career years were spent in the Middle East and Asia, until two years ago when he relocated to Sanford. Currently Jess is an Architectural Coordinator at CPH Engineers, Inc.

Jason Zingales (Associate AIA) is originally from Mount Dora, Florida and attended Pratt Institute School of Architecture where he graduated in May of 2005.  Since graduation, Jason married his wife, Kristen, and moved to Orlando to intern for Morris Architects and have been working in the hospitality studio. 

Maria Tonkova (Associate AIA) is originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, where she received her first degree in Architecture. After moving to the U.S., Maria lived in New York for a few years. Orlando has been her home for the past seven years. She recently graduated from the University of Florida with a Masters in Architecture and since then has worked at RLF in Winter Park. Maria is married and has a 5-year old daughter.

Rock Lake MITI Graduation (Click to enlarge)

Nine students are the first in Orange County to complete the “Make It, Take It” computer program sponsored by the school's Partner In Education C.T. Hsu + Associates

ORLANDO, Fla. (February 21, 2005) – Nine fourth and fifth grade students from Rock Lake Elementary School are the first in Orange County to complete the 32-hour “Make It Take It” course that teaches students how computers work.  Their graduation gift?  The computers they worked on during the course. 

“Make It Take It” is a program of the Institute for the Study of Digital Inclusion, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to closing the digital divide.  Its goal is to provide students with access to the technology and empower them with the knowledge to effectively use computers to support their educational endeavors.  The $5,000 program cost was underwritten by C.T. Hsu + Associates, Rock Lake Elementary School 's Partner in Education.

“A significant gap exists between those who can effectively use technology and communication tools, such as the computers and the Internet, and those who cannot,” according to Dr. Sharam Amiri, president and CEO of the Institute for the Study of Digital Inclusion.  “So many young people in our community have no access to these tools outside of their educational environment.  The MITI program is working to break down this divide through ‘digital inclusion.'”  Since 2003, more than 1,000 middle and high school students in Volusia and Seminole counties have completed the program.  Rock Lake marks the first time the program has been offered at the elementary school level.

The course consists of two two-week sessions. The first session covers basic computing concepts, computing terminology and mainstream software applications such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.  In the second two weeks, students get hands-on experience with computer hardware in a lab environment where each student has a computer workstation.

Rock Lake 's nine MITI scholars met three times a week after school on Wednesdays and Fridays and Saturday mornings with volunteer instructor Warren Clay, a retired information technology executive from a New York City-based Fortune 500 financial institution.  The February 3 graduation featured individual PowerPoint presentations developed by the students about what they learned in the program.

“We chose to partner with Rock Lake Elementary because its students are excelling despite economic adversity,” said CTH+A Design Principal Tim McNicholas.  A Title I school, Rock Lake Elementary also is an "A" school and has met the standards of the "No Child Left Behind" Act.  In addition to sponsoring the MITI course, the employees at C.T. Hsu + Associates are serving as after-school mentors, providing incentive gifts for children to score high on their FCAT, donating money for children to purchase books from the Scholastic Book Fair, and installing landscaping and a covered canopy for the school dismissal area.

C.T. Hsu + Associates is an Orlando-based architectural planning and design firm.  Established in 1984, the firm focuses on a mix of mid to large scale projects in the education, government, transportation and mixed use development sectors.  Its multidisciplinary approach ranges from urban planning and design to architecture and interiors.   

Maurizio Maso (Click to enlarge)

Orlando— HuntonBrady Architects, a 59-year-old Orlando-based architecture, design and planning firm, is pleased to announce the appointment of Design Principal Maurizio Maso, AIA, to the Board of Directors of Princeton House Charter School. Maso replaces Board Member Fred H. Pryor, Jr. AIA, former President of HuntonBrady Architects, who passed away in December 2005 and whose son attends the school.

Since its inception in Orlando in 1996, Princeton House has served hundreds of children with autism and special needs. In 2003, HuntonBrady Architects designed a 20,000 square feet, state-of-the-art new facility for the school.

HuntonBrady Architects has designed over 4.5 million square feet of educational space over the past 40 years, including work with four public school systems, 14 community colleges, five university systems and 13 private schools throughout Florida.

You are invited to the Awards for Design Excellence (pdf)

Coverings

April 4 - 7, 2006
Orange County Convention Center
Orlando, Florida, USA

Coverings is the most comprehensive tile and stone marketplace in America, and the preferred forum for hard surface education, exhibits and purchases. The exhibit floor spans over 505,000 net square feet, which puts Coverings firmly in the top 30 events in the United States in terms of exhibit space.

There will be attendee representation from approximately 100 countries, attesting to Coverings’ integral role in the tile and stone marketplace. Likewise, Coverings packs the most purchasing power of any tile and stone exposition. More than 32,000 industry professionals from around the world are expected to converge in Orlando at Coverings 2006!

Stellar speakers lined up for coverings 2006 Architect + Design Seminars

Color guru Leatrice Eiseman, award-winning interior designer Clodagh, and acclaimed community planner and environmental architect Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk are among the renowned experts headlining more than a dozen architect and design seminars at Coverings 2006. The premier annual expo and conference for tile and natural stone takes place April 4-7, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. A diverse range of topics specifically tailored to the A+D community are being offered. These free educational seminars provide ASID, IIDA, AIA and State of Florida Continuing Education Credits.

“Coverings is as much about the educational programming as it is about the latest tile and stone designs and installations on the show floor,” said Tamara Christian, president, National Trade Productions and show director for Coverings. “The four-day show is filled with options specifically created for the needs of architects and designers. This year is particularly exciting with the extraordinary roster of personalities from the

design field. Seminar subjects cover the latest fashion-forward design colors, as well as

Coverings

styles and trends that will inspire architects and designers alike. In addition, attendees will learn how to incorporate green building in their projects, receive valuable advice for handling tough clients, as well as learn new techniques to increase visibility among prospective clients.”

For more information about Coverings, click here to view the latest press releases.

In recognition of his contributions to internship and licensure, and the profession–including his own pursuit of the ARE-the NAC is has established a national ARE scholarship in honor of Jason Pettigrew, Assoc. AIA. The purpose of the award is to recognize the significant contributions of interns at an early stage of their career, and to help encourage them to complete their licensure by helping with the cost of the exam. Awards are not based on financial need, as much as they are based on contributions the intern has made to their profession and/or their community. We are also pleased to have Kaplan as a key sponsor of this award program.

Call for Nominations!
Do you know any interns pursuing registration? Do you know any interns making significant contributions to their profession and/or communities?
The Jason Pettigrew ARE Scholarship will be awarded for the first time at Convention 2006 in Los Angeles!

http://www.aia.org/nac_AREscholarship&grandCh=yes

ArchVoices, a nonprofit organization and think tank on architectural education, internship, and licensure, has announced its fourth annual essay competition for young professionals. The 2006 ArchVoices Essay Competition is intended to encourage, promote, and reward critical thinking and writing—two traditionally under-emphasized areas of architectural education and training.

Between March 1 and March 31, young professionals are invited to submit a 500-word essay proposal, reflecting on their daily experiences as the newest members and future leaders of the architecture profession. Selected semifinalists will be invited to develop a 2,000-word essay, further exploring the ideas from their first submittal. The 2006 competition committee will announce final jurors in February. The 2006 Competition will ask essayists to address new forms of architectural practice that might emerge from current pressures and opportunities in the field.

As in past years, the author of the first place essay will receive a cash prize of $1,071 (equal to the base cost of the Architect Registration Exam (ARE)). Other prizes from previous years have included: a comprehensive set of ARE study materials, valued at over $1,500, compliments of Kaplan AEC Education, an Apple iPod, courtesy of Architosh, and various books and magazine subscriptions.

http://competition.archvoices.org/