RECENT NEWS
August 23, 2010
P+A Welcomes UDream Intern
Pfaffmann + Associates welcomes Ashley Bell, an intern from the UDream Program of the Remaking Cities Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. UDream, supported by the Heinz Endowments, serves to expose recent college graduates to urban design concepts and principles in the city of Pittsburgh through five weeks of study at CMU followed by a one-week urban design charette with local high school students. The program culminates with a ten-week internship. At P+A, Ashley is assisting with a number of restoration and renovation projects at the Rachel Carson Homestead, and is using her SketchUp 3-D modeling skills to enhance various presentations. Ashley received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Environmental Design from Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland and plans to pursue her MArch degree in the near future.
June 24, 2010
P+A Hosts Budding Green Designers
P+A recently opened its studios to eight high school students from the Braddock Youth Project, a summer employment program run by the county's AmeriCorps unit. The students are learning about green design and development by working on projects ranging from green roof installation, to living wall creation, to lighting design. Their tour of P+A was designed to give them a feel for the dynamism of an architecture studio, and the role of the architect in green design.
Post-Gazette article about the Braddock Youth Project's green initiatives
June 8, 2010
P+A Honored for Outstanding Community Outreach
P+A was recognized by the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh with a Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding Community Outreach for our work on the Central Northside Community Plan. The honor was presented at CDCP’s annual Consultant Appreciation Event on June 8. This event celebrates the dedication and efforts of the Design Center’s RenPlan® volunteer consultants and firms.
May 20, 2010
Jeff Slack Completes Cultural Resources Program
Jeff Slack recently completed the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s Cultural Resources Essentials program. The four-part series was designed to bring the Bureau for Historic Preservation’s partners together in an effort to collaborate, learn from each other, and discover ways that federal, state, and local programs can intersect to help Pennsylvania’s communities preserve their historic character.
December 16, 2009
Three Staff Earn AICP Certification
Three P+A staff (Rob Pfaffmann, Carl Bergamini and Jeff Slack) recently earned AICP certification. AICP is the American Planning Association's professional institute, providing recognized leadership nationwide in the certification of professional planners, ethics, professional development, planning education, and the standards of planning practice.
December 1, 2009
Cover Story
P+A's work on the Meadowcroft Rockshelter graces the cover of the Fall 2009 issue of Wood Design and Building magazine. Writes the magazine: “Through its innovative design and sensitive construction, the 2,500-sq.ft. interpretive archeological enclosure, completed in December 2007, protects and interprets one of the most important sites excavated in the United States.”
October 30, 2009
Pfaffmann Accepts Great Great Honor
on Behalf of Great Great Grandfather
Rob Pfaffmann was recently honored to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects on behalf of his great great grandfather, Daniel Burnham. The award, given at the AIA chapter’s annual awards ceremony, was timed to coincide with the centennial of Burnham’s work with Edward Bennett on their ground-breaking 1909 Plan of Chicago. Their plan, which helped create the city’s nearly uninterrupted chain of lakefront parks, is recognized as the first comprehensive planning document for guiding the growth of an American city.
October 22, 2009
P+A Earns Two New AIA Honors
Two Pfaffmann + Associates projects, one built and one proposed, were recently recognized with AIA Pittsburgh awards. The firm earned an Award of Excellence in Open Plan for its proposal for “A Civic Renewal” of Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena, plus a Certificate of Merit for Design Excellence for the new Hill District Branch of the Carnegie Library.
February 27, 2009
Ancient Shelter Wins for Best New Construction
Meadowcroft Rockshelter is perhaps the oldest site of continuous habitation in North America. And at last — thanks to a new site-sensitive enclosure created by P+A — this ancient shelter has won an award for new construction: the 2008 Master Builders' Association of Western Pennsylvania's "Building Excellence Award" for Best New Construction under $10 Million.
November 21, 2008
P+A's Green Design Earns Gold: LEED Gold Certification for Carnegie Mellon Cafe
In the course of renovating CMU's former Highlander cafeteria, P+A added a healthy serving of "green" to the menu. First-floor sensors regulate the levels of artificial lighting by measuring the amount of daylight entering the room. The lights dim when there's plenty of natural light and become brighter as night falls. New carbon dioxide sensors sense the number of occupants and provide more fresh air as necessary. The result: Not only an appetizing design, but one of the first college dining halls to earn LEED Gold.
November 1, 2008
New Roof for 16,000-Year-Old Home earns Silver at AIA Awards
For the first time since 2005, jurors presented a Silver Medal at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Awards in Pittsburgh. Pfaffmann + Associates earned this honor for their roof enclosure for Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Avella, PA, a world heritage archaeological site containing the earliest evidence of habitation in North America. The jurors, all Seattle-based architects, said that the structure "builds a sense of reverence for the site through the architecture" and "skillfully re-creates the sense of a cave without being too literal...it is not a 'Disney' experience."
October 24, 2008
Let's Give Them Something to Pecha Kucha About
Pecha kucha. No it's not a new dance craze. It's Japanese for “chitchat” and it builds on the premise that if you give creative people a platform to share their ideas, your own ideas will quickly start flowing. 16 architects, painters, photographers, conceptual artists and sculptors took part — including our own Rob Pfaffmann. Rob presented his ideas for the creative re-use of the Civic Arena.
September 20, 2008
Way down in DOCOMOMO: Pfaffmann Speaks at DOCOMOMO Conference in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Tearing down the past doesn't have to be our city's MO. That was Rob Pfaffmann's topic at the DOCOMOMO (DOcumentation and COnservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the MOdern MOvement) conference in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Rob argued against the idea that Modern-era planning and design interventions are obsolete: Why not reuse the Pittsburgh Civic Arena as an anchor for a new urban plan, he challenged.