Making Space
From building rooms to decorating them, meet some of the architecture and design businesses based at Bok who are influencing the way we live.
Gnome Architects
Founded in 2013, Gnome Architects specializes in all things residential design, from bespoke homeowner projects to large multifamily developer projects. Their work has a large emphasis on contextual and thoughtful design that complements the historic fabric of the Philadelphia region. Aside from residential architecture, Gnome also provides interior design and site feasibility services to help their clients make the right decisions for land development. They recently finished a project in Old City—a compact and historically-significant site where their team worked to meet the needs of both the clients and the Philadelphia Historical Commission. “We built our business around the goal of crafting bespoke spaces to suit the needs of our clients, and provide value to the communities that our projects impact.” gnomearch.com / @gnomearch
Richard Grubb & Associates, Inc.
Richard Grubb & Associates, Inc. (RGA) was established in 1988 as a cultural resource management firm and is one of the largest independent, woman-owned archaeological and historic preservation consulting companies in the eastern US. Through their work, tens of thousands of resources have been identified, surveyed, photographed, evaluated, researched, and documented. RGA’s services are an important part of the regulatory process for their client’s projects, and also serve to document historic properties that otherwise may be lost or forgotten, providing deeper insight into our collective history. They recently completed archaeological and architectural consultation work at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, which has helped to broaden the understanding of the Navy Yard’s historic significance. richardgrubb.com
Design Manifest
In 2016 Naomi Stein reworked her father's design-build business into Design Manifest, a full-service interior design firm. They specialize in livable luxury, with a comprehensive approach to interior design and project management. “We strive to deliver a highly-tailored, bespoke home for each client which includes custom cabinetry, upholstery, and furniture. We aim to source from local makers and vintage origins as much as possible.” Their recent work on a Haverford Carriage House was a labor of love to grow a family’s antique bungalow into their dreamy forever home. “With every home we are creating a living work of art—something that is not only beautiful, but that has a life beyond us.”
designmanifest.com / @designmanifest
Wild Chairy Interior Design
Owner Andrea Mihalik started her career as a photojournalist for the Philadelphia Daily News, and later transitioned into custom upholstery to create oneof-a-kind furniture. “The progression from upholstery to interior design was a natural one as more clients wanted help transforming their entire homes, not just a few pieces of furniture.” Wild Chairy focuses on the delicate balance between form and function while sharing their clients’ unique stories. “I’m a people person so I enjoy creating lasting relationships and spaces that my clients love.”
wildchairy.com / @wildchairy
TOP: Living room in Greenwich Village by Wild Chairy. ABOVE: Junior designer Alex Rineer and owner and principal Andrea Mihalik.
ABOVE: Broad Street Quay Wall and Building 99 in the Philadelphia Navy Yard as part of RGA’s documentation and survey work.
TOP: The Haverford Carriage House by Design Manifest. ABOVE: The Design Manifest team.
ABOVE: A mixed-use condo building designed to complement the rich, historic fabric of Old City. INSET: The Gnome Architects team.
2
Making Space
Toner Architects
Toner Architects is an architecture and interior design firm founded in 2010 and located at Bok since 2016. Their team of ten works in the Philadelphia region on projects of all types. Toner’s residential work includes ground-up construction, additions, and renovations, and they work for homeowners on personal projects, developers on market-rate projects, and non-profits on affordable housing projects. Their recent commercial work includes restaurants, bars, coffee shops, ice cream parlors, a winery, a wholesale food production facility, and two multi-tenant artisan buildings similar to Bok. “We are currently finishing up the design for the adaptive reuse of the Shiloh Baptist Church at 21st and Christian. The design process has been a great collaboration between us, the owners, engineers, the Historical Commission, and the restoration team.”
tonerarch.com / @toner_architects
BELOW: Toner
Architects worked with Appletree Childcare and Learning Center in Northeast Philadelphia to convert a 1960s-era church into a daycare.
Abby Schwartz Associates
Abby Schwartz Associates is an integrated architecture and interior design firm specializing in high-end, single-family residential projects. They work closely with their clients throughout the entire design and construction process to achieve highlypersonalized designs that fit the client’s lifestyle, budget, and aesthetic. “We love to use architecture to shape space around each client’s needs, whether that means designating a closet for extra chair storage for big holidays, improving their kitchen layout to accommodate a growing family, or providing solutions to enable aging-in-place.”
CRiSCO & FRiSCO
CRiSCO & FRiSCO is an interior architecture and design studio founded in 2012 by husbandhusband team Christopher Hansen and Francisco Musitu. They offer design consultations, planning, full service design, procurement, and project management in Philadelphia and surrounding areas. “We both were working at different firms when we met by chance one night at a film festival. We bonded right away over a common love of film, art, architecture, and design. CRiSCO & FRiSCO was born out of the desire to combine our passions and curiosities, as well as to explore our different influences from Spain and Scandinavia.” The studio specializes in holistic design that takes into account the spaces people live in and how they make them feel. “Our work is part technician, part artist, part therapist, and part magician. We can’t imagine doing anything else.”
criscoandfrisco.com / @criscoandfrisco
“As
lovers of design, the history of the Bok building is
inspiring;
it is a unique entity filled with interesting people, many of whom we’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with. From Open Studios, to breakfast at Machine Shop, to impromptu happy hours at Bok Bar—it is joyful to be a part of something bigger.”
-
Naomi Stein, Design Manifest
ABOVE: Custom built-ins for a waterfront condo entry in Philadelphia by CRiSCO & FRiSCO. INSET: Owners Christopher Hansen and Francisco Musitu.
TOP: Custom guest house with a bowling alley and recording studio by Abby Schwartz Associates. ABOVE: The Abby Schwartz Associates team.
Bok the Vote
Your easy step-by-step guide to exercising your right to vote on November 5.
Flipping Out with Philly InMovement
Fall in style this Autumn with the newest community space taking over the East Gym: gymnastics and movement studio, Philly InMovement.
What is Philly InMovement all about?
Philly InMovement is a kids’ (and sometimes adult) gym with locations in Queen Village and now at Bok! Since 2008, InMovement has built a reputation serving children and their families in the community by providing high-quality gymnastics and movement programming through classes, parties, and camps.
What makes Philly InMovement a special movement studio?
We are one of the only gymnastics gyms in the city. We have a talented girls gymnastics team as well as an adult gymnastics team. We have been in business for 18 years now and are woman-owned.
Bok is a new location for you, but you’ve popped up in the building before! What excites you about being a part of the community again?
Many of our families live in the Bok neighborhood. People were sad to see us go last time. We love that it is a community and microcosm of interesting businesses, artists, and services. Looking forward to being a part of it and contributing to it.
Why is this type of space important?
Having spaces dedicated to activities for kids and families in Philadelphia is crucial for retaining young families in the city. Gymnastics is a fantastic sport to build physical confidence, discipline, strength, and coordination. InMovement is also a second home to many of our more committed families who find close friends and relationships and form strong bonds with each other. It’s its own special community.
Photos: Ed Newton
Bok was designed by Irwin T. Catharine, Philadelphia’s principal school designer from 1918-1937 who designed 104 new buildings for the School District. Bok was built between 1936 to 1938, just before new school construction halted for World War II.
Bok is Art Deco style, which draws from European and Greek design elements and stylized references to machines and the Industrial Age. Art Deco features you’ll see at Bok include stylized floral patterns, special emphasis given to doors and entrances, verticality and ornamentation of stone work, and the use of geometric patterns on mouldings.
Keeper
Dobbins High School is an exact replica of Bok and still operates as a vocational school in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood of Philly.
Bok’s “wedding cake” look is a strong Art Deco feature. Architects chamfered corners, rounded edges, and created set-back terraces to prevent their designs from looking flat.
Carved cartouches on the front of the building illustrate five different trades: art, science, weaving, mechanics, and blacksmithing.
If These Walls Could Talk
Why is Bok is shaped like an ‘E’? Why are the bathroom stalls marble? Learn about the history of technical schools and the building’s unique architecture and design.
To deter bathroom graffiti, wood toilet partitions were replaced with marble, which was more difficult for children to carve into with a standard pocket knife.
of the Castle: Scipio’s Commercial Cleaning
We chat with Chuck Scipio, owner of Scipio’s Commercial Cleaning, whose team helps to maintain our massive building.
How did you start your business?
I worked for a large janitorial company for 20 years managing over seven buildings. Even though I was a union worker, I was unofficially involved in the corporate side of the company which allowed me to learn a lot about business. But the demanding schedule took a toll on my family life and health! I ended up in rehab, but it
Marble wainscoting in the first floor hallway was sourced from Pennsylvania quarries and includes fossilized shells.
‘E’ shaped schools addressed student health; the three wings create light courts, allowing light and air to penetrate deep within the building.
was the best thing that happened to me. While there I formulated my company. When I returned to work, they tried to demand the same rigorous schedule of me, so I walked away and took a chance on myself. With the blessing from God, I have been doing this for the last 10 years!
What do you think makes the Bok building special?
Bok was my high school. There are good and bad memories, but I get a chance to use my time a little wiser now! There is a great sense of camaraderie and diversity here. It almost feels like a small city within the city!
Do you have a favorite space in Bok?
The Bok Bar deck, where I look out at the city and visualise my potential!
scipioscommercialcleaning.com
Bok was built to fit 3,000 students—now about 650 people work out of Bok each day.
with the country’s new approach to children’s education at the turn of the century, which moved away from the one-room schoolhouse. Traditional schooling was combined with vocational training and recreation, exposing students to all three during a school day. Specialized rooms were dedicated to one subject, plus the facilities could serve as a community hub outside of school hours which made the building more economically viable.
Chuck and his wife, Carla.
Photo credits, clockwise from top left: Philadelphia archive; Coldwell Banker; Sam Oberter; Bok Tech yearbook 1940; Kelley Garrard. Center image: Brendon Costello.
Photo: Ed Newton
What’s Next
Cultural Alliance Annual Meeting and Arts Party
October 15, 6:30pm-10:00pm
Every year, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance brings together hundreds of members of Greater Philadelphia’s arts and culture community for an evening of shared celebration and networking. This year will shine the spotlight on the region’s Creative Economy and the countless individuals who are our city’s visionary heartbeat.
Fall Open Studios
October 18, 5:00pm-9:00pm
Fall into inspiration at the historic Bok Building, where a vibrant community of over 200 small businesses, artists, and creators awaits!
This event invites families and friends of all ages to explore Bok’s 9 floors, uncovering everything from fine artists and glassblowers to bakers, guitar makers, photographers, and more. Finish your evening with drinks and bites on the rooftop at Bok Bar or Irwin’s.
Small Biz Saturday x Made @ Bok
Holiday Market
November 30, 11:00am-5:00pm
Gift locally this holiday season by shopping a selection of products made by artists and designers who are based here in Bok. Popping up in the West Gym, our Made @ Bok market will be stocked with jewelry, pottery, textiles, beauty products, and more!
Layout, illustrations + content Kelley Garrard
Open Studios
Cover photo Philly InMovement by Ed Newton