Architext (Winter 2011 Edition)

Table of Contents

  1. President's Message
  2. Architect Needed
  3. Fall Lecture Review
  4. Design Awards Review
  5. Lessons Learned by the Yeoman Architect
  6. ACE Mentoring
  7. 2011 Distinguished Service Award

 

President's Message 

By: Chris Dawson, AIA, President

Chris Dawson, AIA, President

It is with mixed emotions that I write my final newsletter article as your President. I am confident that Rich Gribble, AIA will provide strong leadership in 2012 to our organization and I will appreciate the additional time I will have but it has been a truly rewarding experience to serve as an executive for the past 4 years. I was afforded the opportunity to attend 3 AIA National Conventions (San Francisco, Miami, and New Orleans) and 3 AIA Grassroots Conventions in Washington, D.C. allowing me to learn a great deal more about the AIA, those 4 very different cities, and meet a tremendous number of architects and related professionals.

I intend to continue on as the Lecture Series Chairman for the foreseeable future as that has been the role at AIA Central PA that I am most passionate about over the past 6 years. Being a member of AIA provides tremendous value to me as a practitioner in Central PA and I hope that we have taken positive steps during my tenure to increase the value every member derives from our organization.

The Membership Directory that we published earlier this year was a success and was useful in my dealings when lobbying in Harrisburg and Washington D.C. or dealing with Affiliates. Consciously increasing the diversity of our Board of Directors and notably inviting Wendy Tippetts, President-Elect, and Tammie Fitzpatrick, Treasurer, to become executives is a source of personal pride. Professionally we are constantly working as teams and at AIA it is no different. In the last few years, with significant effort by many individuals, we were able to properly celebrate our 100th Anniversary in 2009, modified our operating budget to align with the recent financial challenges, established and met our annual goals for a financial reserve policy, began our own architecture scholarship program, provided generous scholarship support to the ACE Mentor Program, began working with other local organizations like USGBC and the Society on Design, and reinvented our Annual Conference & Expo / Design Awards programs to make it a resounding success among other things.

Through my involvement with AIA I have learned just how much our professional organization does for each of us, often quietly on our behalf, to advance the practice of architecture. I have become more deeply connected with the architects within our chapter and also at the state, national, and international levels. It has been rewarding to not only attend to our chapter's business affairs at events but also be able to have meaningful discussions with the likes of Peter Bohlin (when he was awarded the AIA Gold Medal in Miami and then again in the much more casual circumstance of crossing paths in New Orleans), Clark Manus (a one on one discussion on a 20 minute bus ride to the AIA Headquarters the year before he ran for President), and Carol Ross Barney (during a 90 minute tour of the San Francisco Federal Building by Morphosis where we broke away from the tour group and got in to some "behind the scenes" spaces) to name just a few. The conversations with my peers and each of the lecturers I have arranged to speak to our chapter have been invaluable in terms of my thinking about how to best practice architecture in this time and place on my terms.

I encourage every member to consider engaging AIA Central PA and the larger AIA organization in a deeper manner in a way that will benefit not only yourself but also the collective. At a minimum it would be meaningful to the individuals that put so much time and energy into our events to have stronger attendance. It has been my genuine honor to serve as your President for the last 2 years and I am excited about the future of AIA in Central PA.

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Architect Needed 

By: Angela Anderson, City of New York

The City of York, Pennsylvania is requesting proposals from qualified development teams for the disposition of York Redevelopment Authority ("RDA") owned area of land for redevelopment into a mixed-use neighborhood to build upon recent development made in the Stadium District adjacent to the Cordorus Creek. The parcel is located within the Northwest Triangle (NWT) Redevelopment Area created by the City of York in 2006.

The Northwest Triangle Project is a targeted redevelopment effort for the City aimed to spur additional downtown revitalization, provide new employment opportunities for City residents and stimulate private investment in a formerly blighted corner of the City and to develop an entirely new mixed-use neighborhood. The City of York and the York Redevelopment Authority seek to expand upon recent development successes in the Stadium District, that includes, but is not limited to, new market-rate residential, new retail and restaurants, and the location of the new York Academy, an International Baccalaureate Charter School, and to ensure that the Northwest Triangle redevelopment serves as an impactful, urban infill project and Gateway to the City's downtown.

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Fall Lecture Review 

By: Chris Dawson, AIA, President

Fall Lecture

Our 2011 AIA Central Pennsylvania Fall Lecture was held Thursday November 3rd at Armstrong World Industries Corporate Campus in Lancaster. Winka Dubbeldam, Assoc. AIA presented the work of her firm Archi-Tectonics based in New York, New York and Rotterdam, Netherlands in a lecture entitled "Fragmentation as Optimization."

Winka's presentation validated my introduction that her work feels like the future of architecture. She noted her stated interest in blurring the boundary between industrial-design intelligence and architecture. Archi-Tectonics' work is unapologetically modern even when sited in locations requiring approval of a historic review board. The work was consistently sophisticated and well resolved ranging from high-end residential to pro-bono work in Africa for a village of orphans. Winka's designs were inspiring in their rigor, elegance, and ultimately their beauty. Archi-Tectonics has not received the media attention it deserves so it was exciting to see the projects and hear Winka's back stories for each.

Chris Dawson, AIA, President

Armstrong continues to be a gracious host for our Fall Lectures and I was asked to explain the title of the lecture for their newsletter. I responded by quoting Winka from the intro to her book AT-Index, "This notion of the 'right' problem...prioritizes concept development over problem solving, curiosity over absolute knowledge, and immediacy over stasis...The work can be described as an open network, a network of projects linked through 3 fields of investigation: armature, surface, and interface. These fields are not isolated but rather create a synthesis of interests that overlap and inform each other and afford rethinking, reinvestigating, and regenerating of architectural concepts. The focus is not on form but on the performative, not on aesthetics but on intelligence." I also quoted Reed Kroloff who wrote an essay in the same book, "Multivalency, Le Corbusier's familiar term for double-functioning, is thus multiplied, and multiplied again in the "performative" worlds of digital architecture:

one assesses an architectural object or component not just for its beauty or its utility, but for its capacity to allow - and even encourage - change. Dubbeldam's performative unit, or walls, or skin perform actual and representational functions, and may perform a different set in the future. It is in creating this flexibility that beauty is born, rather than as a goal unto itself. In other words, aesthetics is no longer a point of departure in the design process; it is a byproduct of analysis."

Our lecture series is not possible without the support of our sponsors...Thank you to each one:
Armstrong World Industries, Centria, Chris Dawson Architect, The Engineering Society of York, Fessenden Hall of PA, Interface FLOR, Keith Bush Associates, Kinsley Construction, LSC Design, Modernfold of Reading, Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects, Penn Lighting Associates, Pennsylvania Concrete Masonry Association, Reese Lower Patrick & Scott Architects, TONO Architects, & Whitney Baily Cox & Magnani

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Design Awards Review 

By: Tammie Fitzpatrick, AIA, Design Awards Chairman

Thank you to all who submitted entries in this year's Design Awards Competition. We had around 35 entries and presneted awards to five projects that showed exemplary design. This year our chapter had the opportunity to collaborate with the AIA's components overseas. Our digital entries made it easy for our jury, which was made up of members of the Continental European Chapter of AIA, to thoroughly consider each project that was submitted. Architect Gregg Broadarick, founding partner of BDG Architecture and Design in Milan, Italy, served as the jury chair. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky and his master's from Syracuse University's Florence, Italy, campus. We are very grateful for the time and efforts of our 2011 Design Awards jury and we are excited about future opportunities to collaborate with our colleagues overseas.

Thank you to all of our sponsors!
CenterPoint Engineering
Howard Jay Supnik Landscape Architect
Warfel Construction Company
Greenebaum Structures, P.C.
Hoffman/Borowski Engineering
Wagman Construction
David Miller Associates

Congratulations to the winning firms:

CODO 28 Honor Award:
Project: CODO 28
LOCATION: York, PA.
ARCHITECT: Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects
CLIENT: Codo 28 LP
SIZE: 25,000 SF
COST: undisclosed
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Wagman Construction
PHOTOGRAPHER: John David Allen, The Susquehanna Photographic

Project Description:
28 North George Street is a 25,000 square foot (including basement), 3-story building that covers 90 percent of its lot at a key location one-half block from Continental Square in downtown York City. It sits directly adjacent to Central Market, in the heart of the "Market District" - the hospitality, retail, cultural and entertainment district in downtown York. Codo 28 has transformed this former industrial building and lot into 11 residential apartments and a street-front retail space in the existing building and an addition constructed on the front. The apartment units range from approximately 1,000 to 1,500 sf. All but one is arranged "vertically" in the building in the style of a three-story townhouse. Three units have exterior entrances, with the other eight accessed off an interior corridor.

The project design is sensitive to the historical urban context but also distinctive to convey a message of a unique product. The Codo 28 project blends an extremely sensitive adaptive reuse of a vacant and dilapidated historic building with an equally sensitive "contemporary modern" addition that sends a clear message about the nature of the product - and is done in a manner consistent with the use of historic tax credits. The creative "vertical" townhouse design within the walls of the existing building maximized revenue-producing space and also eliminated the need for an elevator.

CODO 28 The respectful adaptive reuse portion of the project kept approximately 84% of the existing building's floors, roofing, exterior walls, and structural components intact, carving 10 "vertical" apartments from the high ceilinged space, preserving and exposing the building structure, masonry, and hardwood floors where appropriate. The inappropriate existing "wired glass windows" were replaced with wood double-hung units incorporating sash, sill and trim profiles based on historic evidence. Massive warehouse-style doors were repaired/rebuilt and fixed in place, and a beautiful but badly-rotted bay window was carefully removed, replicated faithfully, and rebuilt, including the restoration of leaded and stained glass panels. The approach to the interior aspects of the adaptive reuse communicates an aesthetic which is consistent with the building's light industrial character.

The new-construction portion of the building is striking in an understated modern and refined manner. It's simple but rich materials are reflective of the care that was historically taken even on industrial buildings in traditional cities. The use of red brick with matching mortar as the basic "field" material is faithful to the surroundings.

The primary front facade of thin anodized storefront and copper panels adds a delicate texture/pattern - and conveys the Codo "brand" without overpowering surrounding structures. The project also features a vertical water feature on its exterior wall which has drawn mesmerized stares from downtown employees and visitors and squeals of delight from children.

The project is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council and is designed to achieve LEED certification. It will be the first LEED-certified residential building in Central Pennsylvania.

CODO 28 Jury Comments:
This project deserves an honor award as a result of a sensitive urban intervention that respects and compliments the past. The addition works well in concert with the "landmark" building abutting it. The sustainable efforts undertaken also deserve a special mention. The interior's light industrial loft like character is particularly pleasing. The design kept approximately 84% of the existing building's floors, roofing, exterior walls and structural component intact. The architect carved 10 'vertical' apartments in the space, preserving and exposing the existing structure where appropriate. The new construction portion also responds well to the surrounding buildings, by using red brick with matching mortar and the copper paneling. They also mention that the vertical water feature is quite popular with passers-by, the employees and also the children! This project is also the first LEED-certified residential building in Central Penn, which is quite an achievement. They paid careful attention to the use of materials, the indoor environmental air quality and efficient systems. In addition to reusing the existing building, they also used new materials, which were made of recycled content. From a purely aesthetical point of view, this building blends well with its surroundings and the interior is very inviting - the design is sophisticated and creates a true urban environment


Davis Residence Honor Award:
Project: Davis Residence
LOCATION: Lancaster, PA.
ARCHITECT: Tippetts/Weaver Architects, Inc.
CLIENT: Davis
SIZE: 6,500 SF
COST: undisclosed
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Harvey Achey Construction
PHOTOGRAPHER: Toby Richards

Project Description:
The client approached our firm looking for the design of a new family homestead, to be constructed on a twenty-five-plus acre site. The site was a sub-divided parcel of preserved farmland in Eastern Central Lancaster County. The parcel included approximately ten acres of land within the 100 year flood plain; with the remainder of the land sloping uphill, above a shallow bluff. The character of the land included low wetlands, pastureland and wooded sections.

The building was situated above the bluff, considering views of the landscape, as well as natural ventilation and sun exposures. The building solution was an interpretation of the additive farmhouse, typical of Amish homesteads of Lancaster County; an assemblage of multiple heavy timber frames radiating from the central living space. The timber frames of the structure were fabricated and constructed by local Amish craftsmen, customarily engaged in heavy timber barn structures. The frames were then enclosed with high efficiency wall systems and finished with naturally weathering materials; including wood siding, natural stone, board-formed concrete and lead-coated copper. Heavy stone paving surfaces and tree elements, reclaimed from the house site penetrate the perimeter wall, diminishing the separation of interior and exterior.

Davis Residence Completed in July 2009, the project includes approximately 6,500 sf. of living, working and entertainment space for a family of four. The main level of the building includes the living and entertainment areas with a bedroom wing to the west and utility areas; such as mudroom, laundry and garage; to the east. The upper floor includes the master suite and office and studio space for Adam, a music production designer and Tracy, a dance instructor. The lower level of the building offers a playroom for the children and media center for the adults. Multiple outdoor living spaces were included in the program for private, family and entertainment functions. Future phases of the project include several outbuildings, such as the guesthouse, barn, stable and pool areas.

From the outset of the design process, there was considerable focus on building systems; including both traditional construction approaches and the use of new, high efficiency products and systems. The structural frame of the building is a collection of heavy timber frames, which were fabricated and erected by a local Amish contractor, customarily familiar with construction of barn structures. Wood frames were fabricated from Douglas fir and connections were drilled and pegged with wooden dowels.

Davis Residence This traditional frame was erected on top of permanent form poured-in-place concrete foundations, providing the permanence and durability of concrete with a high R-value. Rather than traditional plank flooring, we chose to run engineered lumber over the timber frame to provide a cavity to conceal all building plumbing, electrical and HVAC systems. Exterior enclosure walls were high-R organic thermal insulation with Zip-system weather barriers. Interior finishes included natural stone, natural cherry wainscoting and raw waxed plaster. Exterior finishes included natural stone, board formed concrete, cedar siding and flat seam lead coated copper sheathing. Roof systems included standing seam, lead-coated copper over 8" high-R SIP panels. Thermal comfort systems included geothermal radiant heat in the floors and multi-zone air handlers for heating and cooling with computer controlled balancing.

Jury Comments:
Whilst not an Avant guarde contemporary design, this rural dwelling (farmhouse) is deserving of an honor award for the craftsman like design. The blend of contemporary design and vernacular architecture works well within this picturesque context. Though the building sitting and appropriate use of materials are also noteworthy. This residential project adapts appropriately to its site with the layout of the plan. Their design was inspired by the Amish homesteads of Lancaster County, yet from a modern approach. They also utilized the local skilled workers and materials as the timber frames were fabricated and constructed by local Amish craftsmen. The designers focused on the building systems using both traditional methods as well as new, high efficiency products and systems. Overall, the jury found the house to be a successful combination of traditional inspiration, quality detailing and construction and elegant design.


Garber Metrology Merit Award:
Project: Garber Metrology
LOCATION: Lititz, PA.
ARCHITECT: TONO Architects, LLC
CLIENT: Jay Garber
SIZE: 54,000 SF
COST: $4.2 million
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Scenic Ridge Construction
PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter Leach Photography, Angelique Miller and Sharlee Van Tine for TONO

Project Description:
Situated on a small industrial parcel near Lititz, Pennsylvania, the design parameters required two separate, secure and distinct business functions within the same building complex. With road frontage along an arterial Sate road near the Lancaster Municipal Airport, the owner desired retail, drive-by visibility with an aesthetic emphasizing the technical functionality of the businesses within. A consistent theme of visual cues aimed to provide clear and discernable entrances to each business developed from an architectural language of metal skins used in concert with masonry veneers. Ultimately the exterior accentuates the owner's affinity for counter-balances by demonstrating the functionality of the primary business.

Garber Metrology Designed to house the offices and laboratories of a growing specialized testing, calibration and dimensioning company, the new facility boasts a plethora of innovative building technologies aimed to provide the highest levels of user comfort, long-term maintenance strategies and ownership value. Garber Metrology showcases the progressive mindset of its ownership and design team by employing such advanced planning approaches as optimized natural daylighting, variable flow refrigerant heating and cooling, super insulating, high performance lighting and electrical systems and eco-sensitive site planning strategies.

At three stories and 53,440 SF the mixed-use structure also houses conditioned storage facilities and tenant space for a local not-for-profit volunteer organization. Featuring shared amenities such as roof terraces, conference spaces, fitness and break room, the facility demonstrates the owner's desire to provide an enhanced work environment for employees, clientele and visitors.

Garber Metrology Jury Comments:
This project is deserving of a merit award due to its simple articulation of the building envelope along with appropriate use of materials. The vibrant and bright interior design should be commended as well. High notes should also be given for its sustainable agenda. Although constructions and budgets were not communicated in the presentation, it appeared to the jury that this project offered quality design solutions with simple building finishes and materials.


Garber Metrology Citation Award:
Project: Reading Citadel Intermediate High School
LOCATION: Reading, PA.
ARCHITECT: McKissick Associates Architects PC
CLIENT: Reading School District
SIZE: 311,363 SF
COST: $78,848,000
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Perrotto Builders, Ltd.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Michael Hales and McKissick Associates staff

Project Description:
Encompassing 8 densely populated urban city blocks, this site was formerly inhabited by the St. Joseph's Catholic Hospital and its various additions since the 1870s, expanding to over 550,000 SF. In August 2010, this building and it's campus became home to the Reading "Citadel" Intermediate High School.

Promoting a positive social atmosphere was a key design focus. The west-facing courtyard, framed by an 1890s stone wall and a 1926 neo-classic façade from the hospital era, along with the more contemporary additions, provides a secure area for socialization and facilitation of the busy rush of arrivals and dismissals.

While almost half of the original hospital was demolished and replaced with new construction to house the school's core support areas (113,000 SF), much of the historic architecture has been retained including the brick façade of the original wood-frame structure and a 5-story stone chapel which now houses large group instruction areas. The core areas within the new construction now reconnect the preserved historic wings with modern infrastructure. Simple metal and clay tile cladding serve as a neutral transition between the distinct pre-existing architectural styles.

Garber Metrology Jury Comments:
This education project shows how good design can affect human behavior in a positive way. The insertion of this high school into the urban fabric has proved beneficial for the neighborhood. This project deserves a citation award also due to the clever methods and extensive research to convert a hospital into a school. This school projects also proves that with good design, you can attempt to create social change and in this case they have been successful. They list a decrease in truancy rate, and increase in attendance and 50% fewer disciplinary incidents as a few of the statistics. This project is a statement of excellent historical reuse (50%), programming and design response to social issues within the city of Reading. A complex and well executed project.


West King Street Corridor Redevelopment Citation Award:
Project: West King Street Corridor Redevelopment
LOCATION: York, PA.
ARCHITECT: Chris Dawson Architect
CLIENT: undisclosed
SIZE: undisclosed
COST: undisclosed

Project Description:
We share our client's genuine concern and social consciousness for the revitalization of urban neighborhoods and specifically the King Street Corridor that spans from Logos Academy at the east end to Lincoln Charter School at the west end. There are approximately 1500 children attending schools located within 6 blocks of each other with 90% of the children walking to school. We are proposing streetscape improvements and sustainable design strategies ranging from proper lighting to improved security to street furniture, identifying potential development opportunities based on properties ripe for upgrades, and generating a framework for approaches that will restore the vitality of West King Street.

An anchor building within the redevelopment is needed to achieve a critical mass and generate significant momentum to transform the neighborhood. We are exploring the possibility of a mixed-use anchor building at the east end of the corridor. The building should be flexible enough for the building's program to evolve as the needs of the community change and the building should be perceived as a physical positive sign of respect for the surrounding community.

West King Street Corridor Redevelopment Jury Comments:
The Jury feels that this project deserves a citation for responding to the urban environment with multiple interventions that go beyond just a simple building design. The project proposes streetscape and pedestrian improvements, as well as a mixed-use anchor building to create critical mass. The architect inspires to transform not just a street corner but also an entire neighborhood. Although the project is in a preliminary phase, the use of the building could be anything from an art gallery, to a cafe, a school or community center. The design remains functional in form and material usage and the geometry opens to the corner and extends to the surrounding streets. Overall the design is a successful contemporary restyling and addition to an existing urban site.

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Lessons Learned by a Yeoman Architect 

By: James A. Mehaffey, AIA

My first full time job was in a very large Japanese company right outside of New York City. I liked working near the city because of the cultural and social amenities it affords to its inhabitants. There are few places like New York where large segments of one ethnicity can live in a distinct community, right next to another large group of another ethnicity but still overlap one another. Just think of how Little Italy sits right next to China Town. The line between them is blurry because there is no real boundary, pizza shops live next door to Chinese bodegas and it seems natural in New York. Not even the planned juxtapositions in EPCOT Center in Disney work as well.

My office was about 50 percent Japanese, and sometimes it was just like working in another country. Not only was I in an ethnic minority there, but the Architectural Division was a much smaller part of the corporate structure than the Construction Division, housed in the same building. It was a completely different world to me.

At one time, the office was working on a very large competition to design a Japanese Corporate Headquarters in the Midwestern US. I was given a very small part to work on in the grand scheme of things, but I was none the less invited to the design meetings held in-house. I presented the things that I was working on to the group, as I might have done in any office, but to my surprise, I was invited to leave the meeting after my portion was discussed because, as my boss said, "we want to speak Japanese now."

I didn't really have anything else to add to the meeting, but as an intern right out of college, it would have been valuable for me to hear the rest of the discussion. At that exact moment, I realized that I either needed to learn Japanese or I needed to go somewhere else. I figured I was too old to learn a different language, especially one that doesn't read left to right.

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ACE Mentoring

By: Chris Dawson, AIA, President

I've had the privilege to serve on the ACE Mentoring of Central PA Board of Directors for the past several years and occasionally am able to make presentations to our local program affiliates. There are 4 county programs now (York, Dauphin, Lancaster, and Cumberland) serving roughly 200 high school students each year by providing access to area industry professionals and craftsman. On December 6th, I made a presentation to the Dauphin County group of about 60 students relaying my passion for architecture and touching on some architectural history basics in an attempt to help them think about the group project they are developing during the 16 week program. After my presentation they broke out into two teams and then further into smaller working groups of 5-10 as they tackled specific issues for the project.

I had attended the previous session where Holly Williams Leppo made a presentation about how one becomes a licensed architect and the exercise of thinking about a project in terms of bubble diagrams. I pushed the students to think about the project design in terms of developing a parti and was duely impressed as they developed a concept of historic versus modern ideas for their entertainment facility. The one student was adept at Sketch-Up and over the course of about 90 minutes the group of about 30 students developed a strong massing and programming layout that consisted of a glassy cylinder form connected to a brick historic bar form via a cantilevered wedge form containing a gallery and dining spaces with dramatic views of the surrounding landscape and program elements.

There are quite a few area professionals, including AIA members, involved in the ACE mentoring program and AIA Central PA has made sizable contributions to the ACE Scholarship Program for students pursuing accredited architectural studies over the past 6 years. Our Associates have also been committed to helping ACE participate in the Canstruction Program over the past several years through providing funds and volunteering to manage the process with the student volunteers. I want to applaud the individuals supporting the ACE Program and remind our members that all of the local ACE Mentoring Programs (York, Dauphin, Lancaster, and Cumberland Counties) are continually looking for professionals to mentor students as they work on their projects. The ideal mentor is often a young professional that the high schoolers can more easily relate to and be more comfortable engaging as they dip their toes in our field in an effort to determine what they will pursue as a career. See http://www.acementor.org/617 to learn more about the program and find the contacts for each of the area affiliates.

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2011 Distinguished Service Award

By: Richard Gribble, AIA, Vice President and David Morrison

On October 28, 2011 the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Institute of Architects recognized Mr. Duryea Cameron, AIA, with its Distinguished Service Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award was presented in recognition of his many significant contributions to the profession of architecture, as well as his sterling example as a visionary community servant, loyal volunteer and beloved role model.

Duryea Cameron, AIA
Duryea has lived a storied life of adventure and influence. It has typically been the style of Duryea Cameron to remain out of the spotlight while playing a supporting role upon which others truly depended. After serving as a 1st Lieutenant with the 10th Mountain Division in the United States Army during World War II, he returned home and continued his architectural education at Princeton University and Carnegie Mellon University. After completing additional studies in Paris, he returned to Central Pennsylvania and joined the firm of architect Clayton Lappley in the early 1950's. Throughout his professional career, he was a proud member of the AIA Central Pennsylvania Chapter and has become a role model to younger AIA members who have followed in his footsteps. He is widely viewed as an outstanding example of the highly influential role architects have on the development of architecture in modern society and was the logical choice for the award.

In today's modern age of architecture, it is refreshing to see an architect so dedicated to preserving historic buildings and landmarks. Development and profitability is important, but preservation and sustainability are equally important. That's why it is such an honor to give the AIA Distinguished Service Award to Duryea Cameron, an influential architect whose mission is to protect our history through a vision of preservation and reclamation.

While Duryea focused much of his career on residential and commercial projects, he is most widely recognized for his role as a historic preservationist in both his personal and professional life. He has, in many ways, been the clear voice of the historic preservation movement in Harrisburg. In 1952,he purchased and restored a long-vacant historic townhouse on Front Street where he and his wife Pat began raising their family. In 1954, Duryea opened an architectural practice in a first-floor studio in the home and continued in that location for more than half a century.

Rich Gribble and Ken Frew visiting Duryea
His passion for historic restoration projects, however, expanded far beyond his home renovation venture. Duryea was influential in the restoration of Harrisburg's historic Shipoke neighborhood after the 1972 flooding of hurricane Agnes did substantial and widespread damage to the area. Additionally, he is a co-founder and charter member of the Historic Harrisburg Association, as he played an instrumental role in its establishment in 1973, showing a deep concern for the restoration, preservation and enjoyment of Harrisburg's historic neighborhoods and landmarks. Furthermore, he organized and served as treasurer of the Orpheum Theater Association, an organization whose purpose was to raise funds for the purchase and preservation of Harrisburg's landmark State Theater, a cause which elevated the importance of historic preservation as a civic enterprise.

During his many decades as a practicing architect, Duryea consistently provided professional historic preservation design and consultation services to a host of neighborhood groups, churches and other local associations. His generosity frequently enabled grassroots initiatives to become a reality which, in turn, created a significant contribution to the enhancement of the built environment.

Duryea's contributions have been greatly influential during his lifetime and will continue to benefit the Harrisburg community for many years to come.

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