March is full of new and unique opportunities and events.  AIA Pittsburgh is hosting a design charette for Western State Penitentiary.  Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 29 is March 8.  And AIA PA COTE is a new statewide Committee on the Environment.

Answering a demand for professional programs that help students find sustainable solutions to regional and global engineering issues, the University of Pittsburgh launched a new Master of Science in Sustainable Engineering (MSSE) program. The major and professional degree will utilize a systems-based approach to help students identify and address complex environmental and socioeconomic problems. Housed within the University’s Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation (MCSI) with the degree granted from the Swanson School of Engineering, the 30-credit MSSE integrates with nine current masters’ degree programs in engineering, and provides students the opportunity to complete two M.S. degree programs with a limited time increase. The MSSE curriculum combines an engineering technical formation with the study of sustainability from multiple perspectives such as business, policy...

Did January feel like it lasted about 62 days for anyone else?  Snow, snow days, bitter cold, the flu.  Well, if January was all about hibernation, February’s events are sure to get you out of your office.  There are some great opportunities to hear inspiring speakers, and then, your chance to STEP into the sun and take some solar training for design professionals.  Also, in case you didn’t know, if you want to plan your own event, the AIA Pittsburgh offices are now available for rent (and not just in February, this is ongoing).

Passive house standards apply to this multi-family project, and 2015 Architecture Honor Award winner, in Uptown. PROJECT: Uptown Lofts on Fifth CLIENT: ACTION-Housing, Inc. ARCHITECTURE FIRM: FortyEighty Architecture ENGINEERS: Langan Engineering & Environmental Services, Inc.; Keystone Structural Solutions; Iams Consulting, LLC CONTRACTORS: Mosites Construction Company PHOTOGRAPHER: FortyEighty Architecture Passive House Western Pennsylvania (PHWPA) received a $25,000 grant from the West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund (WPPSEF). The contribution will be used to secure space in Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center for the North American Passive House Network Conference on October 17-22, 2018. Passive House applies a set of design principles used to attain a quantifiable and rigorous level of energy efficiency. As a result, Passive House buildings offer tremendous...

Come in from the cold!  January kicks off with our newly elected Board of Directors meeting on January 9th. This month there are plenty of opportunities to get out of the cold such as checking out the revolving exhibitions as part of Carnegie Museum of Art’s Copy + Paste: Hall of Architecture exhibit.  There’s also plenty of opportunities to apply for scholarships and awards.  So use that extra time in from the cold to promote yourself and your practice.

Image credit: Wladek Fuchs, University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture Thanks to everyone who voted, the Reality Capture Workshop has won the AIA National People’s Choice Award for Innovation! Case Technologies’ Reality Capture Workshop is a long-term collaborative project to create a complete digital documentation of a historical city and a methodology for the information dissemination.  The project is a partnership between Case Technologies, the University of Detroit Mercy, and Civil and Environmental Consultants, among others. Located in the city of Volterra, Italy, the main purpose of Reality Capture is to provide an International educational and research experience in which students and professionals learn to use innovative technologies and collaboratively produce three-dimensional computer models of the ancient city of Volterra, its...

At the end of each year, members of the AEC community gather together to celebrate at AIA Pittsburgh’s President’s Holiday Party. This year, the party was held at our new office. Early in the evening we conducted our Annual Meeting. Four AIA members were voted on to be part of the AIA Pittsburgh Board of Directors – Joe Chaffin, AIA; Quintin Kittle, AIA; Laura Nettleton, AIA; Bea Spolidoro, AIA – as well as one Associate AIA Board representative – Brian Gaudio, Assoc. AIA. Next, the membership voted on the proposed by-law changes. The newly-voted-on bylaws now reads: 6.51 The Board of Directors must meet in regular or special meetings in order to transact business. Meeting in person is expected, however in special circumstances...

The holiday season is upon us, and AIA Pittsburgh is kicking it off with our President’s Holiday Party & Annual Meeting on December 7th from 6-9pm at the new AIA Pittsburgh offices in the Ewart Building at 925 Liberty Avenue.  If you have not seen the new offices yet make sure to make it to this event to check them out!

Image credit: Wladek Fuchs, University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture Case Technologies’ Reality Capture Workshop is a long-term collaborative project to create a complete digital documentation of a historical city and a methodology for the information dissemination.  The project is a partnership between Case Technologies, the University of Detroit Mercy, and Civil and Environmental Consultants, among others. Located in the city of Volterra, Italy, the main purpose of Reality Capture is to provide an International educational and research experience in which students and professionals learn to use innovative technologies and collaboratively produce three-dimensional computer models of the ancient city of Volterra, its archaeological remains and some of its treasured artwork. A jury selected by AIA National recently called the project “extraordinary...

On October 25, 2017, Governor Wolf signed HB 409 into law, creating Act 36 of 2017, a move applauded by AIA Pennsylvania. “This piece of legislation represents a compromise between numerous stakeholders and what AIA Pennsylvania advocated for as a step in the right direction for updates and code adoption in the Commonwealth,” said AIA Pennsylvania Executive Director, Stephen Swarney, J.D., on the passage of the bill. Act 36 of 2017 will significantly change the code review and Uniform Construction Code adoption process for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s Review and Advisory Council, currently chaired by Maureen Guttman, AIA. AIA Pennsylvania remains an influential leader regarding building codes and the UCC in the Commonwealth continues to advocate for comprehensive and aggressive...