PennState Architecture Alumni
Issue No. 1
WINTER 2021-22
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Career Journeys, Projects, Inspirations and Insights
Class of ‘81-’82 Contributors Carla Bonacci...................... 2 Mark G. Cahill ..................... 4 David Koch .......................... 6 Patricia Kucker ................... 8 Jane Lehman ...................... 10
Robert E. McNamara .......... 12 Michael E. Peters................ 14 David Reese ........................ 16 MJ Sagan ............................ 18
Michael Stoneking .............. 20
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The WTC Campus has been a tremendous undertaking involving the collective efforts of thousands involved in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction (AEC) field. Since the WTC property is owned by the Port Authority of NY & NJ as a distinct municipal entity, we also have governmental and regulatory responsibility and authority. We innovated out of necessity and aspiration to address challenges of security and sustainable development, including techniques and solutions that are now common industry practice.
Lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center Campus, New York, NY
CARLA BONACCI, FAIA, PP (B.Sci. ‘81, B.Arch. ‘82) I have spent (or I should say, invested) most of my professional career (more than 33 years) in planning, designing, constructing and regulating projects at The World Trade Center, spanning both preand post-9/11. My singular career passion and focus has nevertheless engaged me with guiding and influencing development of all building typologies, including office towers, a major transit hub and retail mall, a church and a performing arts center; as well as its supporting infrastructure of central plants, streetscape, along with operations and vehicle servicing facilities. The WTC still represents a “city within a city” — with its mixed uses and developed gross square feet rivaling the central business districts of many mid-size U.S. cities. My great satisfaction through all of the intensive interactions with real estate developers, public officials, major tenants, contractors and “starchitects” involved at the center of decision-making for this iconic development, is the seamless integration of the World Trade Center as part of the fabric of Lower Manhattan.
The creation of the World Trade Center Campus required sustained efforts to overcome obstacles, achieve balance, and maintain the overall Master Plan vision for the successful rebuilding of this civic place of historic significance.
My narrative is intertwined with the history of the World Trade Center — so the 1993 terrorist bombing and the 9/11 attacks evoked both personal and professional responses to achieve resiliency as well as remembrance. Whenever I am invited to speak on the history or progress of the World Trade Center, I make sure to say that I believe that my colleagues who were lost in the line of duty, would be proud of what has been accomplished. Rendering of the WTC Campus looking southeast, including future Tower 5 at right.
The architectural identity of the rebuilt World Trade Center Campus has been defined by its Master Plan and its associated Design Guidelines that establish the common framework, objectives and design vocabulary for the development of individual buildings and supporting infrastructure. I have managed the coordination and implementation of the WTC Master Plan from inception through its current iteration. I focused on the WTC Streetscape design to establish the campus environment, serving as both a platform and backdrop, grouping the individual buildings around the Memorial. An ensemble that allows expression of distinct architecture. Architects are trained to design holistic buildings that meet client needs, taking into account both the project’s external context and its internal functions. There are added responsibilities and opportunities when the client also includes the general public with diverse needs and expectations. It’s never a bad thing to prioritize open public space. I also take satisfaction in maintaining architectural design quality while ascribing to design objectives that include “form follows finance” and “invisible infrastructure.” 2
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Carla Bonacci Assistant Director, WTC Infrastructure & Project Development The Port Authority of NY & NJ I joined the Port Authority as an Architectural Trainee 39 years ago and designed buildings including a toll plaza, maintenance facilities, and industrial parks. This led to my interest to become responsible for all aspects of project delivery— leading and directing entire teams of professional staff and contractors as a project executive, public owner and client. I carry with me Lou Inserra’s love of architectural history and the importance of looking for precedent. We learned to study and analyze works of architecture until our own concepts crystallized. He taught me to think through how spaces and form can influence human movement, attitudes, and quality of life. Lou frequently shared with me the works of Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll during our library explorations. Their ability to juxtapose buildings and landscape into a holistic environment has become an important part of how I approach the work that I do and the design philosophy with which I approach design and development decisions.
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Mark G. Cahill Vice President of Design Simon Property Group
Northgate Station, Seattle, WA
MARK G. CAHILL, AIA (Penn State B.Sci. ‘81, Univ. of Pennsylvania M.Arch. ‘82) While in high school, I enrolled in an immersive six-week summer program at Carnegie Mellon which provided a strong introduction to architecture and enabled me to compete in a studio class for an open spot in Penn State’s architecture program. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree and, inspired by many professors who had gone to Penn, enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania where I won the Schenk-Woodman design competition and received a Master of Architecture. After graduation I remained in Philadelphia and interned for three years at Ewing Cole and Cope Linder while simultaneously teaching architectural construction classes at the University of the Arts and Temple University. I then joined SPG3 Architects and began working on commercial retail projects including King of Prussia Mall, Deptford Mall and Colonie Center in Albany. Retail design intrigued me because it encompasses extensive master planning, building design, significant interior design and branding that culminates in the creation of impactful public places. After a dozen years with SPG3, I was promoted to Principal and continued to work with the company for over twenty years. As successful as the firm was, it was unable to sustain itself during the 2008 recession. After a year I joined Bergmann Associates, a regional Engineering/Architecture firm, working on retail bank prototype design and inline branch roll-outs in cities including NY, DC and Miami.
My career advice to students today is to find a market sector that you are passionate about and develop an in-depth expertise in that field which can be leveraged over time into a long and rewarding career . . .
An example is Northgate Station in Seattle, where Simon is de-malling the retail center and replacing it with a transit oriented, pedestrian friendly urban village comprising 14 new buildings including offices, hotels, multifamily apartments and recreational facilities totaling 3 million square feet of space and representing $1.4 billion dollars of development.
My career advice to students today is to find a market sector that you are passionate about and develop an indepth expertise in that field which can be leveraged over time into a long and rewarding career, resilient to both economic cycles and the continuity of any one individual company.
Developing this retail market sector experience enabled me to transition to a leadership position with Simon Property Group, an Indianapolis based developer with a national portfolio of 200 retail centers. As Vice President of Design, I now work with some of the best design firms in the country including Gensler, Rockwell and HKS and drive design to a higher level than I was able to achieve working in private practice. Having spent the majority of my career renovating and expanding shopping centers I now find myself in a position of transforming these car-centric, retail only centers into mixed-use destinations.
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While I was not fortunate enough to have had Lou Inserra for studio, I fondly remember him walking students to the architecture library to reference projects. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the library monographs, both historic and contemporary, and used these as examples to help students solve a design problem on which they were working. It was Lou’s dedication to his students and teaching methods that inspired me to teach after graduating.
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David Koch Building Information Management Expert EwingCole
Interior Framing, Beams and Studs for Ophthalmology Office, New York, NY
DAVID KOCH, RA (B.Arch. ‘82) After graduating from Penn State, I began as a draftsperson for a small architectural firm. When their work dried up after a year, I found a similar position with what is now EwingCole, a multi-discipline A/E design firm. There ever since, I became registered in 1986 and progressed to senior project architect. Most projects were small-to-medium-sized health-care-related projects where I was project architect; on larger projects, I was responsible for a defined part under a more-senior project architect. Nine years ago, I moved to the IT department, first as design technology manager and now as a BIM technical expert.
While the practice of architecture has not changed radically during my career, the tools with which we do our work, and the way it is transmitted to the contractors has changed. Initially, all work was done manually, mostly ink-on-mylar overlay drafting. Then computer-aided drafting arrived, and eventually became BIM. Rolls of prints shipped overnight gave way to PDFs sent via email. Now some projects have cloud-hosted electronic project models accessed by the contractors. AutoCAD gave way to AutoCAD Architecture and AutoCAD MEP, which gave way to Revit. Rolls of blueline prints that had to be shipped overnight to contractors gave way PDFs sent via email or other electronic means. And now we have some projects where the electronic project models are hosted in the cloud, and contractors have access to those models. The computerization of the design process resonated with an interest in computers that I had had since college, and mastering that became a focus of mine, eventually resulting in that career shift nine years ago.
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Waiting Room, Ophthalmology Office, New York, NY
Architecture is not just beautiful renderings or gorgeous shots of expertly manipulated light and space, but is also about slabs, beams, studs and coordinating room for ducts, pipes and conduits so that those wonderful spaces can function.
The featured project is my last project as a project architect; I chose it because of the intense involvement I had on it. A New York City hospital was “poaching” an ophthalmology practice. I joined the project in early May, as it was transitioning from schematics directly to contract documents; with an occupancy goal of Labor Day. A construction manager was already on board and demolition began while documents were developed. After six intense weeks of project documentation and weekly team meetings, construction began. On most projects I would be on site once a week; I was on-site and/or in our New York office four days a week from mid-June through project completion, working closely with the entire project team. We got close to substantial completion by Labor Day; the ophthalmology practice wisely allowed the contractors to complete the work before occupying in midSeptember. The first image is a reminder that architecture is not just beautiful renderings of expertly manipulated light and space, but is also about slabs, beams, studs and coordinating room for ducts, pipes and conduits so that those wonderful spaces can function as well as please the senses. The second shot is of the primary waiting area, as the furniture was being placed. Credit for the interior design goes to Lyudmyla Matyushko.
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I am not certain I had a clear vision of what I expected my career to be when I was a student, other than becoming a registered architect, but even then I knew I had no intentions of ever starting my own practice. I managed to achieve both of those goals. I feel fortunate to have had Professor Inserra for thesis studio. He certainly got me to stretch my design abilities that year. He met with each of us at the end of the year, and he gave me some good advice that I would like to pass on to you. Knowing that the early years in an architectural career were likely to be quite different from the design focus in school, he urged me to stay in contact with the more designoriented of my fellow students, so as not to lose sight of that part of architecture. I was probably not as successful at following that advice as Professor Inserra would have liked, but perhaps that advice will be helpful to the current students at Penn State.
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Patricia Kucker Director, Teaching Professor Penn State Stuckeman School
PATRICIA KUCKER, M.Arch, Ed.D. (B.Arch. ‘82, Univ. of Pennsylvania M.Arch. ‘83, Vanderbilt University Ed.D. ‘19) I graduated from Penn State with my B.Arch. in 1982 and headed directly to graduate school at UPenn because I felt that the design process was just beginning to make sense to me. I wanted to continue to be challenged, and in new ways. When I arrived at Penn, I met classmates that were far more knowledgeable about topics outside of architecture, yet less skilled in developing architectural solutions to the ideas that they could discuss. I often spoke up at our studio pin-ups. This was unusual at Penn but a practice I brought from Penn State. After Penn, and when I interned at the office of GBQC, I continued as an invited design critic for reviews, then adjunct teaching for several Philadelphia architecture schools. This made for long weeks in the office and at a school but having my own firm offered more flexibility. The economic downturn of the late 80’s hit everyone hard and I chose to leave practice in Philadelphia and begin a new career focused on teaching. My full-time teaching career began in a coordinated studio setting at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte (UNCC), with a focus on building systems, materials and detailing in the second year of the undergraduate curriculum. My experience and pedagogical focus on material systems then became the foundation for the first model of NAAB comprehensive design coursework at the University of Virginia. My studio teaching often includes the constituent role of the site and landscape. This embrace of the site comes from so many fruitful engagements with landscape architecture faculty at the University of Virginia and this influence can be seen in my early publications. I have offered seminars, required courses and graduate and undergraduate design studios focused on tectonics as the marriage of spatial, formal and techno-material means. This student design work was widely published, exhibited and was awarded in the mid-late 90’s and continues to be an approach I share with new collaborators. As a result my studio pedagogical has developed and changed in new ways to become mutually informing. While teaching in the design studio, I coach my students to develop a critical authorship of their work to develop their capacity for learner agency. With this proposition, I am interested in cultivating students to critically navigate (and evaluate) their value laden framework of complex design decision8
I am interested in cultivating students to critically navigate (and evaluate) their value laden framework of complex design decision making. making. When teaching the comprehensive design studio at the University of Cincinnati, we held this approach and used the large-scale section drawing/section perspective/wall section as a location for examining a range of complex and interdependent issues that connect system and detail, space, materials and experience. Using the section drawing as an instrument for design inquiry was published from my early studio pedagogy and is a practice that continues and has developed with numerous collaborators. My coaching focus and various modalities for design investigation led me to offer a section of the thesis studio while at the University of Cincinnati and serve on thesis committees. During my career I have taught at the beginning, middle and end of the design studios in both graduate and undergraduate programs. I also served as a NAAB visiting team member and team chair and enjoyed seeing how different programs teach similar content while also being innovative. My role in higher education began with a passion for the studio and then resulted in leadership roles as a studio coordinator, department head, graduate program director, assistant school director, associate dean, provost and interim school director. With so much of my career in education, I then decided to return to earn a doctorate in higher education leadership and policy at Vanderbilt University. I was the oldest student in my graduating class! It has been an incredible pleasure to return to serve the Stuckeman School as interim director over the last few years. PennState Architecture Alumni
My role in higher education began with a passion for the studio and then resulted in leadership roles as a studio coordinator, department head, graduate program director, assistant school director, associate dean, provost and interim school director.
Thinking across the curriculum and making connections for faculty and students has been part of my teaching experiences and resulted in faculty-coordinator roles that led me into academic leadership. An expert from the nomination for the outstanding teaching award in the College of DAAP (2009) identifies some of these qualities. “…[N]ot just because she is outstanding on her own by herself in a classroom, but because of her effectiveness at dramatically improving the quality and interconnections across all years of the graduate and undergraduate architecture curriculum. Not only is she a great teacher for our students, she is a true teacher’s teacher as well.”
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the island their home. GSA’s Pacific Rim Region has a wonderful collection of historic buildings. From the Beaux Arts masterpiece Browning Court of Appeals, which survived San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake, to the Art Deco U.S. Courthouse at 312 N. Spring Street in Los Angeles that played a key role in the history of school desegregation, to the midcentury modern architec-
Browning Court of Appeals, San Francisco, CA
JANE LEHMAN, Architect, LEED AP (B.Arch. ‘82)
The buildings that we studied in the 1970s when I was an architecture student are now old enough to be considered historic. We can look back on them to see how they’ve withstood the test of time.
For the past 17 years, I’ve been the Regional Historic Preservation Officer at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) in its Pacific Rim Region. I’m a licensed architect. I spent the first 10 years of my career in private architectural practice doing custom residential design work. My federal career began after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco when I started doing disaster recovery work for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). After 12 years with FEMA, I moved to the National Park Service at Golden Gate National Recreation Area where I was the historical architect for Alcatraz, the former island prison in the San Francisco Bay. One of my favorite projects on Alcatraz was the seismic retrofit of the main cell block. Thousands of visitors each day wander through the historic prison without being aware of, or seeing, the massive concrete tie beams that connect the cell blocks to the island bedrock. As the owner’s representative during this construction, I was responsible for balancing the needs of all the project components and stakeholders, which included the construction contractor, the historic buildings, the daily visitors, and the thousands of nesting seabirds that make
ture that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s. A historic building is like a layer cake, rich and satisfying. Historic preservation work starts with research, but you keep digging in and you learn more and more about a building and its history. Buildings may or may not look the same as they did when originally constructed, because buildings must move forward with us, or they won’t get preserved. Most buildings are not preserved just for preservation’s sake, they must function well and meet modern safety and accessibility standards, too. Preservation work is just like good architectural design, if it’s done well, most people don’t notice, they just appreciate the spaces.
Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, CA
U.S. Courthouse, Los Angeles, CA
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Jane Lehman Regional Historic Preservation Officer, Pacific Rim Region United States General Services Administration (GSA) I’ll never know what my greatest professional accomplishment is because my work involves preserving historic places for future generations. I like to think that 50 years, or 100 years, or 200 years from now, people will be appreciating something that I participated in preserving, just the same way that I appreciate the architecture and other historic places saved for me. Or maybe they’ll be thinking, “I can’t believe how much concrete they dumped underneath the cell block, this thing’s not going anywhere!” My two passions have always been buildings and history. I’m fortunate to be able to take my two favorite pastimes and make a wonderful career out of them. Ever since I was young, I’ve loved buildings and I always knew I was going to be an archi tect. Architecture is not just a choice one makes in college, it’s a calling.
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Robert McNamara Director / Senior Project Manager Netta Architects
Community College of Philadelphia, PA
Rutgers University Residence Halls, New Brunswick, NJ
ROBERT McNAMARA, RA, PP (B.Arch. ‘82)
Learning from history without copying it … was one of Lou Inserra’s biggest mantras. And one that I have carried forward to consider and inspire my own creative design work.
Most of my work has been in large commercial architectural firms, primarily in New Jersey. I have worked on a variety of building types, including Education, Healthcare, Governmental, and Hospitality. I did for a time work for a Construction Management firm, recruited while working on a high-rise hotel in Manhattan. It was an interesting and educational experience. Seeing the construction process from a different perspective was enlightening, and increased my respect for all members of the building community. You learn to appreciate that construction is a collaborative effort. That appreciation is now helping me on a Design-Build project for a new courthouse our architectural firm is designing in Jersey City, NJ. I have always felt the best designs are created when all parties have input, expanding that concept to include subcontractors as well as engineers is very exciting. While I have worked on several large-scale commercial projects, two of my most satisfying projects were those where we addressed real-world issues for client groups in low-income communities. One of them was a replacement school in a crime-ridden neighborhood in Camden, NJ. As I began the pro-
gramming effort, one of the comments from both teachers and students was that we needed to address the width of our hallways to the existing school, a single corridor handled all of the circulation. During class changes, this hallway became too crowded, leading to conflicts and even fights. I was determined to solve this problem. At the same time, we were restricted by State guidelines on Net-to-Gross square footages. We became advocates for those students, convincing the State reviewers with some leeway we could create a circulation loop, guaranteeing less congestion, and still deliver an efficient design that was cost effective. With the loop we were able to create a inner courtyard that becomes a nice quiet protected space for the students. As an added bonus we situated the Art Classroom right off the courtyard. I was particularly pleased that the school was selected as the district’s Creative Arts High School. Simpson Pavilion, Community Health Center, Bronx, NY
Creative Arts Morgan Village Academy, Camden, New Jersey
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Lou Inserra’s great enthusiasm and love of architecture was infectious. He especially wanted his students to look at precedents to inspire and create spaces that are meaningful reflections of our time and place.
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In the South Bronx, I worked with a great community-based healthcare provider, Urban Health. In this area of the city, there is no local hospital, and my client has stepped forward to provide an extensive array of services. For their new building, our team worked within a predetermined footprint and a tight budget, we squeezed as much program as my into the floor plans, so this non-profit could fulfill their mission in this under-served community. After opening, seeing the amount of patients using the building, and knowing that we helped our client realize their worthwhile goal is really what I cherish about our profession. 13
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Michael E. Peters Attorney
Jamey’s Enoteca, Philadelphia, PA
MICHAEL E. PETERS, RA, ESQ. (B.Arch. ‘82, Temple University, J.D. ‘97) After graduation, with Lou Inserra’s encouragement, I was lucky enough to work for several great Pennsylvania architects, including Peter Bohlin (where two of Lou’s thesis students still work!), and the team of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown — all peak experiences. Lou was proud of us all. Subsequently, I had my own short-lived practice highlighted by a Venturi-esque wine bar. The pictured project is Jamey’s Enoteca, a renovation of a wine bar in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia. I had great clients, with a clear vision and ready team of collaborators. The project received Honorable Mention from Philadelphia AIA in 1991. Working for great architects was professionally rewarding, but not remunerative. Practicing architecture was not going to get any better, and becoming the next Lou Inserra (teacher/practitioner, with white sneakers, tweed jacket and family tuition benefits) was no longer realistic. By that time of the recession of early 1990’s, I had two daughters to put through school, and needed a more reliable career plan.
I realized that I was of more value to the profession in a ‘gear-head’ supporting role, instead of trying to compete with designers with more passion and flair who also had the resources to pick and choose the best work.
In 2007, I opened my own hybrid solo practice in Swarthmore, PA, as a combination construction attorney and architectural design expert, and have managed to stay busy and useful for 14 years. I have been fortunate to assist several of my Penn State school mates with their legal needs: review of owner-architect contracts, occasional disputes, and business succession planning. For the last several years, thanks to the internet and in part due to COVID-19, I have done so from a virtual office in remote and sunny locations, including Valencia, España and Costa Rica.
When we learned that Lou Inserra passed in June 2020, many of my classmates of ‘82 had the same idea for a fitting memori al: n amin g th e Architectural Reading Room in his honor. No day in our Thesis studio was complete without a trip with Lou to the library, to pore over gigantic old books of beautiful drawings by one of his favorite architects. If something you had drawn reminded him of Aalto, or Lutyens, or Robert Venturi—off you went. You never got tired of it, and neither did Lou.
No one was surprised when I applied to law school (a friend remarked, “you’re just like those people”). I realized that I was of more value to the profession in a ‘gear-head’ supporting role, instead of trying to compete with designers with more passion and flair who also had the resources to pick and choose the best work. But when I telephoned Lou for a letter of recommendation, he was clearly disappointed—“I thought you were going to ask for a recommendation for graduate school” in architecture. Sorry, maestro. Instead, I attended Temple University Beasley School of Law, and worked for ten years in several excellent large firms as a construction attorney (where I learned, among other useful things, that our time-honored practice of design-by-reference is essentially a copyright violation—gasp).
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Winter 2021-22 The Studio Museum in Harlem, designed by Sir David Adjaye, is a project currently under construction. The museum was founded in 1968 by a group of artists, activ ists and philanthropists, and today is the foremost center for contemporary artists of African descent. The new 82,000sf building consists of a presentation space, a welcome center and café, a sky lit central core with a switch-back stair that rises through the building center, gallery spaces (17,000sf), public programs / education center (9,000sf), dedicated spaces for the Artist-in-Residence program, staff offices and almost 8,000sf of outdoor space. In keeping with the mission of the institution, the majority of the construction contracts have been awarded to minority vendors. 20222022
American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY
DAVID REESE, AIA (B.Arch. ‘82) Over the many years of my career I have had the pleasure of working for great clients on great projects. When I think to the highlights, a couple, in particular, come to mind. As a way of introduction to the first, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) museum complex comprises 26 interconnected buildings with 45 permanent exhibition halls, a planetarium and a library. The museum collections contain over 34 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts, as well as specialized collections for frozen tissue and genomic and astrophysical data. The museum occupies more than 2 million square feet and, pre-pandemic, typically averaged about five million visits annually. The cornerstone for the museum’s first building was laid in 1874. The original Victorian Gothic building, which was opened in 1877, was designed by Calvert Vaux and J. Wrey Mould. Following the 1877 original building, the new-Romanesque south complex, designed by J. Cleaveland Cady, was added. The Beaux Arts entrance on Central Park West, was completed by John Russell Pope in 1936. The vast majority of the museum’s campus was built between the 1870’s and 1930’s. In 1991 I joined the construction management team of Lehrer McGovern Bovis on site and started, what would be a fairly consistent, 30 year relationship, through 2 employers, with the museum. After years of little facilities upgrades, a capital program to bring the institution up to date, was begun in the late 1980’s.
From many sources comes the right solution. Creative thinking and team work is most critical for success, and has carried through every project I have been part of.
In terms of other projects, the US Post Office and Court House project in Brooklyn, New York included the complete restoration of the exterior of two buildings dating from 1892 and 1933. All masonry was patched, cleaned and pointed, almost 16,000 pieces of terra cotta was replaced, reset or repaired, and the existing 25,000sf slate roof was completely replaced. 1,200 wood windows were also replaced or restored. In order to assure the integrity of the restoration over time, every component of this project was ‘commissioned’ prior to installation.
U.S. Post Office and Court House, Brooklyn, NY
Landing at AMNH really was trial by fire. Working in a landmark complex, among irreplaceable artifacts all while keeping the visitors safe, science ongoing and the entire business alive, was challenging and rewarding.
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David Reese Vice President, Director In-House Technical Group Zubatkin Owner Representation Coming out of Penn State in 1982, I found myself soul searching as to where I might fit into the profession of architecture. While I loved the profession itself and was proud of my achievements, I was drawn more towards the mechanics of building, than design, and ultimately landed a career in construction management and owner representation. For me there was nothing more challenging, or fun, than taking the designer’s inspiration and figuring out how to make it a reality. What I learned most from my time at Penn State was the ethics of hard work and persistence. Developing creative solutions to complex challenges and thinking outside of the box, no matter how crazy you think your ideas might be. The second most important thing is about team work and utilizing the collective knowledge base of those around you, both internally and externally.
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Winter 2021-22 The Building U on the Abercrombie & Fitch corporate headquarters is the new home for the Data Center, Shipping & Receiving, and related functions. Though is it a large building, it was sited in a way to provide a human scale for the employees and visitors as well as conceal the equipment. The southern end of the building is the front façade and main entry to the IT Department housed on the second and third floors. A series of projections and voids animates the elevation. The cedar clad recess reflects the entry destination with a highlighted stair leading one to the main office second floor reception area. 20222022
Abercrombie & Fitch Corporate Headquarters, New Albany Ohio
MJ SAGAN, AIA (B.Arch. ‘82) I was born an Architect. I did not have a choice in deciding my career. There seemed to be only one option. So, after receiving my Bachelor of Architecture degree from Penn State, I went to New York City to learn from those whose work I admired. It was not a straight line to get to where I wanted to go. The line curved, shifted, ran into dead ends. But, with each change in direction, I persevered. I looked for opportunities and went through the door that opened. My work experience started in small designed oriented offices with potential. As each firm grew, I would evolve as well and move onto the next challenge. I was lucky to spend almost twenty years growing with the same company that eventually became an award-winning medium size firm. Priorities change, and I found myself missing the aspects of a small design-oriented studio. MJ Sagan Architecture was next. This was the opportunity to refine my version of an architectural design studio, face a new challenge, and balance my work and personal life.
It was not a straight line to get to where I wanted to go. The line curved, shifted, ran into dead ends. But, with each change in direction, I persevered. I looked for opportunities and went through the door that opened.
The main conference area protuberance anchors the corner. massing of the building is only visible if one wanders beyond pedestrian entry. The Mailroom shares the shipping and receiving adjacent to the exterior equipment hidden from view in northeastern corner of the buildable site.
This project was awarded the NJ AIA Honor Award, Columbus Ohio Merit Award, SARA/NY Bronze Award of Honor and was a Jury Selection for the Penn State Architecture Department Stuckeman Works.
We are small group of architects and designers with a goal to maintain design quality with very personal attention. Regardless of the type, location, or scale, we accept projects that have chemistry with the clients that lead to making magic together. Creatively and responsibly meeting each project’s requirements while continuing to evolve as designers continues to be the goal. 18
The the area the
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MJ Sagan MJ Sagan Architecture The PSU Department of A r c h i t e c tu r e p r o f e s s o r s prepared me to complete the requirements for my Bachelor of Architecture Degree to eventually thrive in an architectural office. But it was Professor Lou Inserra who prepared me for my Career. He found a way to finally unlock the mysteries of the design procedure that had eluded me to that point. Conversations that went beyond talking about the scribbles on the yellow trace paper on my desk lead to a place to examine and dissect and decons truct and reconstruct the concept and process for the architecture I was attempting to create. So many lessons learned, so much wisdom shared. History is appreciated and respected, then maybe rejected. Listen to the site. When a conceptual direction leads to a design that feels forced, it doesn’t work. Move on. Accept and acknowledge that you do not know everything and collaborate with the right people. Definition and reason are needed for every single line drawn. You generate the design rules, you can reject them. Hold everything produced to the highest level. Challenge yourself. Be proud of everything you do.
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Michael Stoneking Founding Partner Stoneking von Storch Architects
Houses in Haiti, including Destra, Croix des Bouquets, and Legane
MICHAEL STONEKING, AIA (B.Arch. ‘82) The years since graduating have brought a wide variety of experiences. A nearly ten year apprenticeship in Philadelphia included work at small firms, nationally recognized firms, in architecture and interior design. My work experience ran the gamut- design, working drawings, client meetings, construction administration and on. I tried to learn as much as I could about as many things as I could. I knew I wanted my own practice one day and sought a foundation that would allow that dream a chance. I moved to Virginia in 1992 to join a former colleague and set up shop. Our work has been as large as a multi-story mixed use to as small as a tree house. Maintaining a small firm has allowed the partners to remain involved with all the fun parts of the work. I get to draw every day - who would not be happy with that. We always seek creativity and meaning in the work we take on. It’s not always easy but the joy outweighs the distractions. We’ve been involved in many projects driven by making our clients’ money or satisfying the needs of their personal lives. Those have been rewarding and it is meaningful to see people enjoy living in their environment or succeeding in their facility. But in the end I chose to share here some pro bono work we’ve done for Building Goodness Foundation. BGF has provided design and construction for communities and people in need since 1999. The group uses buildings and place-making to create the core components necessary to help communities thrive.
School in Duklo, Haiti
I get to draw every day - who would not be happy with that. We always seek creativity and meaning in the work we take on. It’s not always easy but the joy outweighs the distractions.
Professor Inserra was a great nurturer. His daily method of exposing us to the things we needed to learn was the trip to the library. During studio table crits he would eventually stand up and ask you to follow him to the architecture library. There he would with deft, if not magic, pull a book or magazine from a shelf, flip to a page and show you a real-life example of a project that seemed to embody everything you were wresting with. There was a wonder- a revelation to see the success on those pages as I’d been trying so hard to find it myself. To this day I regularly begin with clients by sharing photos, writings and drawings of projects by others- the important references that came before us. They serve to bracket our conversation and set the tone for our work together.
We collaborate with builders, engineers, craftspeople and planners. We partner with other non-profits and local community leaders in places such as Haiti and Guatemala as well in our home town of Charlottesville Virginia. I feel that as we architects grow our talents and gain experience that we put that to use, not only helping our clients, but also helping those less fortunate- those who otherwise might not have what they need to succeed. Examples here include a relief housing project following the 2010 earthquake (1000 houses built so far) and a school for an area not previously served. 20
PennState Architecture Alumni
Before classes started we architecture students were called in to an orientation. First week at college- all abuzz about studio and projectseagerness everywhere. The orienting planned for us that day included a rather discomfiting message about how many of us would not actually end up being architects. Some would drop out. Some would pursue other things after graduating. Some would be in the trade but as spec writers, or field clerks and such. Only a few would end up designing buildings. Was this a call to excellence? Was it a warning that most of us are just in the wrong place. Was it a cry-out for the careers of those before us that went south? I silently vowed to be one be of those that stayed the course. As it turned out I did. Forty-four years on and I’ve been making architecture ever since.
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PennState Architecture Alumni
VERTICES
Winter 2021-22
Penn State Architecture Students and Faculty, 1978
Editor’s Note Forty years sounds so incredibly long ago, but as I compiled these contributions from my classmates — some of whom I had not communicated with since graduation — I easily recalled our student selves and our common experiences (Studio is life!) that culminated in a Penn State degree in Architecture. I was also amazed at both the predictableness as well as the surprises (in equal measure) represented by the wide range of careers, employment and projects pursued and accomplished, that are sketched out in this small sampling of alumni. I know there are many more stories to tell from hundreds of Penn State architecture alums across the decades, and we plan to assemble some more for future issues of Vertices. Our individual stories from the Class of ’82 are not done, but we wanted to highlight some possible points of connection for the students of the Class of ‘22 who will be starting their next chapter, as a cohort who will also have a tremendous influence and impact on the beauty and quality of our built environment. We are . . . - Carla Bonacci, Board Member, Penn State Architecture Alumni Group
This compilation is dedicated to Professor Lou Inserra, who sparked learning and ideas that continue to guide and inspire the “life’s work” of so many of his students. We hope he would have recommended this as interesting
reading to students exploring professional practice.
This content is provided anecdotally and meant for information only. The statements, views and opinions herein are personally expressed by the respective authors only, and do not represent any other organization, employers, the Architecture Alumni Group, the Stuckeman School or Penn State University.
