Every municipality in New Jersey should be thinking down this path, since in 30 years, they are all going to be urban municipalities.
The Smart Math of Mixed-Use Development | Planetizen.
February 01, 2012
January 02, 2012
Flaming Cactus...
... is not the name of that "Nuggets" band, but an environmental artwork in Astor Place, New York. It was installed by the Animus Arts Collective on several light poles around the intersection.
Who knew zipties came in colors other then black and white?
JM
October 20, 2011
Habitat House Update
The Habitat House is heading skyward. The first floor SIPs started going up today. We expect the whole house will be in place by this time next week! If you are in Trenton, the project is located at 620 N Clinton Ave, just north of the Olden Ave intersection.
September 19, 2011
Congratulations to Zion Lutheran Church
Well, the time has finally come! Zion Lutheran Church is complete and the congregation celebrated its opening with a Service of Dedication yesterday. It was a beautiful day and the event was well attended by folks from the church and community.
The service was presided over by Rev. Peter Froehlke and Rev. E. Roy Riley, Jr., who is Bishop fo the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. After the service, the church hosted an awesome Corn Roast with tons of great food, music and tours of the chuch and our new addition.
It really is an honor to be a part of this project, and we thank the folks at Zion for all their patience and team work to complete a really tough project. We also want to thank Twining Construction for their effort and the attention to the details that can make or break a project of this size and complexity. John McIntyre and his team really come through for us here!
One big story here though goes all the way back to the beginning of the project in 2007. When we were brought onto the team and given the site plan, we were shocked by the number and configuration of 'constraints' that the site had. To the south of the site lay the South Branch of the Raritan River and that meant the site had numerous floodplain and wetlands restrictions. To add to that, the church property was bisected by an enormous sewer and water utility easement, hence the somewhat triangular shape of the final building.
In the course of the design work, we set the floor of the new building to be almost a foot over the flood water level that is set by the government. Never did we think that we would ever test that elevation. But during the week of August 28 and then again the following week, Hurricane Irene and the remanents of Tropical Storm Lee dumped well over a foot of rain into the Raritan River basin and pushed the South Branch over its banks.
If you look closely, that is the river going right into the front door of the church. With the exception of the stair landings, which are at grade level, the new buidling escaped the highwater. Too bad the whole site did not. Thanks to the Long Valley Patch for the use of the photos from the flood.
This is the rear of the church showing the parking lot and pre-school play area, and yes, that shed is floating away.
Thankfully, the most damage sustained by the church was some wet carpets and furniture. As I commented to several members at the service yesterday, since that was a 100+ year high water event, maybe they will never have to deal with it in their life times again. Let's hope that is a true statement!
RC
July 27, 2011
Congratulations, SJH – LIFE!
Our project in Vineland NJ, South Jersey Healthcare – LIFE, had a grand opening last week complete with ribbon speakers, speaches and a ribbon cutting. The heat was overwhelming outside, but the event was joyful inside. SJH is expecting the first participants on August 1st.
The former showroom space, now Activities Room 3, was converted into a cozy auditorium:
Guided tours took guests throughout the building.
The former service bay, now Activities Room 2, was the banquet room.
Snip!
The new paradigm for signs?
jm
July 26, 2011
of Technology & Time Bandits
April, 1981. I was in my 3rd year of architecture school in Brooklyn, NY, and was a bit of a space junkie. Had been since watching the Apollo missions while growing up. The shuttle was all over the news then- before internet, before cable news. My roomates & I watched the first lift off on a tiny b&W tv (we were one of the few who had tv's in the dorm then!). I recall how thrilling it was...
Cut to 30 years later and while waiting to leave for a week's vacation I turn on the tv (flat screen, HD, cable, FiOS) just in time for the last shuttle launch.
Only this time I get to share it with my son Ethan. I had the volume up loud. 0 to 600MPH in less then a minute- awesome. He was excited, and so was I...
jm
June 01, 2011
Habitat House in Trenton
We just completed our plans for a new prototype house to be built by the Trenton affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. Breaking with their previous direction of a more suburban model, the Board of Directors and the Construction Committee both agreed to let us design a new, simpler model that is fast to construct and is very energy efficient. The exterior shell is constructed of 6 1/2" Structural Insulated Panels (or SIPs) which will provide a tight and well insulated enclosure. The use of SIPs should also decrease the overall construction time and allow Habitat to complete more houses in a year.
This initial design is for a detached single family residence, and later iterations of this will include attached single family (or duplex) and a row-house model. This project is being sponsored by Bloomberg and we hope to start construction this summer, pending approval by the City of Trenton. Check back for updates!
RC
May 28, 2011
SJH-LIFE: On Time & Under Budget
Our South Jersey Healthcare – LIFE completed construction last week and is now awaiting State approvals. Construction began the week before Christimas with a target date of May 15, 2011 for Certificate of Occupnacy. The CofO was issued right on time, and the construction budget was met with room to spare.
My visit yesterday to review punch list completion resulted in these selected photos. The reception desk and entrance hall area in the former service waiting lobby, light box sign by 3form:
The waiting area, with 3form space divided panels:
Activities Room 1, with furnitire provided by BF Molz, in the former service bay. The blue recess is the entrance to the clinic suite:
Activities Room 2 has acces to the serving counter and the kitchen. The fabric covered panels are by Purdue:
The chapel:
The Personal Care hallway:
A typical personal care toilet/shower room:
Activities Room 3, the former showroom. The wood trusses we left and simply repainted. Elliptipar uplights boost the reflected light. Cabinet one has a gas fireplace:
Cabinet two has the TV:
The Cafe is on the left ready for cookies and muffins:
A custom linoleum tile layout for the gardening therapy room:
JM
May 24, 2011
Buildings We Like- Hopkins
Just opened in Princetion is the new Frick Chemistry Lab by Hopkins Architects. The whole thing looks like it was fabricated in a factory and assembled at the site. The color scheme is just a bit dry, but it is still striking. This is the main entrance recess:
Each side has an generous arcade walkway:
The center atrium is just an awesome space:
Stairs & bridges:
Refined details & finishes:
I could not figure out if this column was really necessary, but it sure looks good:
As an added bonus, you can get back to the main campus on the new pedestrian bridge:
JM
May 04, 2011
Nearing the end.
Well, after almost four years of work, our project for Zion Lutheran Church in Long Valley, NJ is drawing to a close. As I write, the project GC, Twining Construction is wrapping up the stone veneer work and finishing up the little touches on the interior.
It has been a very long project and has had its ups and downs, but in the end, I think it is quite nice. The best measure of success will be once the Church starts using the spaces and how accommodating the design is for them. I am keeping my fingers crossed. The site had so many peculiarities to it (flood plains and easements) that the final shape of the building is quite irregular, but ultimately satisfying.
In our intial post on the project we spoke about the challenge of desigining the project in a highly restrictive historic district. Thankfully, that proved to be the toughest part of the historic work. As the construction has progressed, the members of the local Historic Preservation Committee have been totally supportive of the project. The chairperson has even gone as far to say on several occassions how much better the project is that she initially thought it would be.
The final piece of the puzzle is almost finished. Twining Construction is working on installing the stone veneer. Once that is complete, the site work will be finished and the building will be ready for move in.
