Category Archive: Architecture & Architects

1. Old glass made new again-Greensburg man restoring stained glass ceiling

   June 8, 2007 2:21 pm

   Thursday, June 07, 2007
   By Karamagi Rujumba,
   Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

   Terry Bengel has always been fascinated by light. As a young boy, he often wandered the train tracks of his native Greensburg, picking up glittering shards of glass.

   The way light filtered through glass enchanted him enough to pursue a career designing, building and restoring stained glass panels.

   Mr. Bengel, 57, who over 38 years has fitted stained glass windows in churches and schools all over Western Pennsylvania, is restoring the stained glass panel ceiling that once covered the atrium ceiling of the Fayette County courthouse in Uniontown.

   But unlike many of the projects he has worked on since he opened the Greensburg-based Terry Bengel Stained Glass Studio in 1976, he is restoring a stained glass frame without any reference to what the arrangement once looked like.

   That is because the stained glass panel ceiling, which was designed and installed in the 1890s, was taken down and put in storage in 1914.

   Since then, the 20 panels, three of which were damaged in storage, were not touched and were considered useless until Fayette County officials approached Mr. Bengel last year, hoping he could restore them.

   Mr. Bengel, who said that the stained glass panels were removed from the courthouse ceiling because of a leak in the building’s skylight, represented the Beaux Arts style of the 1890s when they were installed.

   “It’s what we call a carpet window because it resembles the layout of an oriental rug,” he said.

   “When I first took a look at the panels, they were completely covered in coal soot,” Mr. Bengel recalled. ” I couldn’t even see their color or patterns.”

   And so his first step was to clean the panels thoroughly and photograph them. Then he used a computer program to re-create an image of what the original ceiling might have looked like.

   To rebuild the three destroyed panels, Mr. Bengel traced all the windows that were intact to extract the design of the windows that had to be reproduced.

   “I was able to trace the good stuff to a full-sized drawing that I could reverse their mirror image and then re-create the images of the destroyed pieces,” he said.

   But re-creating the design wasn’t as hard as re-creating some of the original paint and color schemes.

   “Those enamel colors are very hard to re-create because they are a powder form that has to be ground thoroughly and then mixed with water, which evaporates,” he said. “The whole thing is very time consuming.”

   Mr. Bengel expects to have the reconstruction project completed next week.

   “The installation is very simple,” he said. “The panels will simply be fit into place in the atrium.”

   (Karamagi Rujumba can be reached at krujumba@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1719 )

2. Jazzing Up Housing for Seniors – Officials are increasingly inviting architectural innovation in housing projects for the elderly

   June 5, 2007 10:33 pm

   June 5, 2006
   by Violet Law
   Businessweek.com

   For far too long, most publicly funded housing for seniors and the disabled has bordered on being dull, if not downright dismal and “institutional.” But thanks to architects who are lavishing the kind of thoughtful design attention hitherto rarely seen in such developments, and clients who are increasingly willing to take a chance on them, even some publicly funded projects are breaking the mold.

   Victor Regnier, FAIA, a University of Southern California professor who specializes in seniors housing design, is currently writing a book on the subject—timely, given the growing demand for these buildings as baby boomers age. Regnier sees a dawning willingness on the part of housing officials to invite innovative design. More important, there’s a new political will to demand it.

   One project resulting from this push is Near North Apartments, a single-room occupancy building designed by Helmut Jahn of Murphy/Jahn Architects. Mercy Housing Lakefront commissioned the new $14-million, 96-unit facility to provide permanent residences for low-income or formerly homeless people, some of whom are elderly and disabled. Completed this spring, it stands on the site of Cabrini-Green, an infamous Chicago housing project now mostly demolished. The five-story building is clad in rippled, satin-finish stainless-steel siding. This unpolished facade is tempered by round edges near the rooftop and large, punched windows whose e-coated glazing reflects a faint blue tint. Its elegant, Minimalist design stands out, especially in its infill setting—which is exactly what Cindy Holler, the nonprofit’s president, wanted. “It’s stigma-smashing,” she says. “It’s okay not to be blend in and to be provocative.”

   Other new developments are aiming for a more subtle approach, evocative rather than provocative. A 108-unit public housing development for the elderly in Pittsburgh by McCormack Baron Salazar incorporates the history of an African-American neighborhood into its facade design. Architect Dan Rothschild, AIA, of Pittsburgh-based Rothschild Doyno Architects, says he was inspired by the storied Hill District, a popular stop for jazz musicians during the 1920s to 1940s. He incorporated the spirit of jazz into the building’s plan by dividing the front elevation into segments whose widths vary to the relative length of musical notes—a quarter note, half note, or whole note—adding visual rhythm to the streetscape. Construction of the $13 million complex finishes next month.

   Regnier observes that more and more projects like this one are employing better design to serve the population they house. “There has been a stronger focus on developing contextually-based designs that gear toward the community and reflect what the city is about,” he explains.

   Consideration of context can be achieved not only with exterior details, but also through the architectural program. Regnier cites the Burbank Senior Artists Colony, a complex of 141 senior apartments located near major movie studios in Burbank, California, developed by Meta Housing with some government support. Scheurer Architects designed two recording studios as well as a small theater so that the facility’s residents can flex their creative muscles by producing plays and films.

   Provided by Architectural Record—The Resource for Architecture and Architects

3. Pitt aims to preserve the Cathedral of Learning

   May 28, 2007 9:45 am

   By Bill Zlatos
   TRIBUNE-REVIEW
   Monday, May 28, 2007

   Pitt is “redding up” the Cathedral of Learning.
   Workers from Forest Hills-based Cost Co. are hosing down the University of Pittsburgh icon to remove 70 years of soot.

   “We feel better when we’re redd up,” said Albert J. Novak, Jr., vice chancellor for institutional advancement.

   Since 2000, Cost and Pitt have experimented with everything from baking soda to chemicals to remove the grime. They settled on a mixture of water and recycled glass, an abrasive as fine as powdered sugar, because it is the least harmful to the workers, lawn and plants and does not react with the iron in the building’s Indiana limestone.

   Forty-two Cost employees have been working on the project since March. Some use pressure washers to blast the 42-story building at 70 pounds of pressure per square inch.
   Others replace broken or cracked stone and repoint the missing or loose mortar. About 40 percent of the building has been cleaned.

   The idea is not just to give the building a bath, but to restore it.

   “It’s really to save the building for another 100 years,” university architect Park L. Rankin said.

   The project will cost $4.8 million. The university plans to pay for the restoration with donations or its own money. Anyone who gives at least $1,000 will become a member of the Cathedral Preservation Society.

   “We’re coming at it from a legacy perspective — preserving the cathedral for future generations,” Novak said.

   When university officials first considered scrubbing the building, some preservationists objected, contending the soot was part of the city’s industrial heritage.

   Historical or not, the soot was harming the stone, Rankin said.

   “It doesn’t allow the stone to breathe. It clogs the pores.”

   In deference to the preservationists, the university is leaving a 3- by 2-foot section of stone black, behind the Fifth Avenue entrance.

   Besides hurting the stone, the soot hid beautiful details, such as the cast aluminum window spandrels with molded medallions made by Alcoa. The grime hid damage, such as fallen ornamental spires that will be replaced.

   Work on the restoration is expected to be finished Sept. 28.

   Cost’s crews normally work from the top down, but are working from the bottom up on this project. That’s because they don’t want to tangle with the peregrine falcons and their chicks roosting on the 39th floor.

   “If the falcons see us, they’ll try to do damage to the workmen,” company owner Corky Cost said.

   The young falcons are expected to leave June 21, and the crews will be able to clean above the 25th floor.

   Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7828.

4. After 70 years with no maintenance, inspectors assess Heinz Chapel

   May 26, 2007 9:49 am

   By Jodi Weigand
   For the Tribune-Review
   Saturday, May 26, 2007

   Like a scene from the movie “Mission Impossible,” a climber made his way up the inside of the spire atop Heinz Chapel, drilled a hole and dropped ropes to two accomplices waiting on the ground. The three then scaled the side of the 70-year-old building.
   “It was a first for us, having people rappel off the side of the building,” said Pat Gibbons, director of the Oakland chapel. “We got a few phone calls from people asking if we knew people were climbing around on the building.”

   The three work for Vertical Access, an Ithaca, N.Y., company that inspects buildings in extreme locations. They spent three days this month documenting damage to the chapel’s fleche, the spire at the crossing of the nave and transept. The company will submit recommendations to help determine whether to preserve, restore, or replace it.

   The project, which also involves inspection of the heating and ventilation system and the stained glass windows, is funded by a $250,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments, which likely will work with the University of Pittsburgh to pay for repairs, Gibbons said.

   H.J. Heinz Co. founder Henry John Heinz donated the building as a memorial to his wife, Anna. Their children saw to its construction and Heinz Chapel was dedicated in 1938.
   “It was really a great project for us due to the architecture and prominence of the building,” said Vertical Access conservator Evan Kopelson. “It’s a spectacular building and just a fantastic structure.”

   It’s been 20 years since major work was done on the sheet-copper fleche, but university personnel decided it needed another look in 1995, when they found that one of the 16 hollow, metal grotesques attached to it had fallen onto the upper roof, Gibbons said.

   Vertical Access was called in for the job because it was more cost-effective than assembling scaffolding, she said.

   Even with their climbing equipment, it was difficult to scale the 9 1/2-foot fleche, Kopelson said. Modern buildings have elevators or stairs that lead to the roof, where climbers can find access points through which to drop ropes, but that was not the case with Heinz Chapel.

   “It was a challenge in terms of rigging because the internal structure wouldn’t allow access to the outside,” Kopelson said. “There were openings about halfway up the spire, but for the upper portion we had to drill a hole from the inside.”

   Once on top, the inspection team discovered that another of the 3-foot-tall grotesques had come loose, he said. The two figures will be put in storage until they can be reattached, Gibbons said.

   Overall, the fleche is in good condition and shows aging and deterioration expected with exposure to an urban environment, Kopelson said.

   “We found nothing we would call imminently hazardous,” he said. “We recommend that a pretty comprehensive restoration project should be undertaken.”

   Ellis Schmidlapp, president of Landmarks Design Associates, the architectural firm overseeing the inspection, said he doesn’t anticipate an extensive overhaul because, compared to similar structures, the fleche was designed to withstand the elements. The South Side firm will advise the university on the best action to take once it receives Vertical Access’ report, he said.

5. The Bridges of Pittsburgh

   May 12, 2007 11:36 am

   Phoenixville News
   Phoenix, AZ
   05/12/2007

   The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn. – Davi Russell

   According to the Oxford English Dictionary a bridge is “a structure that allows people or vehicles to cross an obstacle, such as a river, canal, railway, etc.”

   Certain parts of the country are identified with their bridges. What would New York City be without the George Washington Bridge or the Brooklyn Bridge? What would Philadelphia be without the Walt Whitman Bridge or the Betsy Ross Bridge? What would San Francisco be without the Golden Gate Bridge?

   As of December 2004, there were 594,470 bridges in the United States (Better Roads magazine). Pennsylvania ranks eighth with 23,484.

   Which city in the world has the most bridges? Most of us would answer Venice, Italy, which boasts approximately 400 (small) bridges or perhaps St. Petersburg, Russia (also known as the Venice of the North) which claims 308 within the city limits.
   You may be surprised that the best estimate of the number of bridges in the City of Pittsburgh, Pa., is 446, the undisputed “City of Bridges ” in the entire world.
   The three basic types of bridges are beam, arch, and suspension. A beam bridge is a horizontal beam supported at each end by piers. The farther apart the piers are spaced, the larger the beam must become.

   An arch bridge is a curved structure with supports on both ends. With centuries of use, a simple arch bridge reaches across a span in an arching shape rather than straight across as a beam bridge does. Leonardo da Vinci once said, “An arch consists of two weaknesses, which, leaning on each other, become a strength.”
   A suspension bridge has its deck suspended from cables and towers. The suspension bridge can span great distances but they are also very expensive and time consuming to build.

   Pittsburgh is also known as the “City of Three Rivers”: Allegheny and Monongahela which combine at “The Point” to form the Ohio River. And when you combine those waterways with the local terrain, there is a perfect need for many kinds of bridges: pedestrian, automobile, railroad, bus, light rail, water, hot metal, and incline-carrying bridges. It has or has had covered bridges, wooden bridges, all steel bridges, toll bridges and bridges of every style, shape and form except for a drawbridge.

   With that many bridges, one would expect some “bridge firsts” in Pittsburgh and here are a few:

   * First all steel self-cleaning bridge (McFarren Avenue Bridge )
   * First self-anchored suspension bridge (Pennsylvania Canal )
   * First wire cable suspension bridge (Pennsylvania Canal )
   * First computer-aided design bridge (Fort Pitt )
   * First and only three identical side-by-side bridges in the world (The Three Sisters; ironically two of the three are named after men, i.e. Roberto Clemente and Andy Warhol).

   If this subject fascinates you as it does me, you may want to pick up The Bridges of Pittsburgh by Bob Regan (2006). There you can learn everything from bridge safety to bridge design and from their place in arts and entertainment to the origin of their names. You can even learn about how you can tour the bridges by car or bicycle or walking or by riding on the river.

   The first time I drove into Pittsburgh was in the late 1960s. The last time was a few months ago. No matter how often I visit, however, I always find it a challenge navigating around and across those bridges. One wrong turn can get you far from your preferred destination.

   If you suffer from gephyrophobia, the fear of bridges, you may want to avoid Pittsburgh. But now that I have read Bob Regan’s book I have a whole new appreciation for the transportation challenges between those three rivers.
   In a month or so I am scheduled to go to Pittsburgh on business. I can only imagine what I will see that I had never noticed before.

   Think about it.

   Editor’s note: Dr. Meyer is President of Valley Forge Christian College, Phoenixville. Responses can be e-mailed to president@vfcc.edu

6. The Harry C. Goldby Pittsburgh Preservation Fund Makes First Distribution

   May 1, 2007 3:38 pm

   The Harry C. Goldby Pittsburgh Preservation Fund recently made its first distribution to underwrite a keynote address on April 19th commemorating the 75th anniversary of Chatham Village.

   The 46-acre planned community, designated a National Historic Landmark in 2005, was
   begun in the 1930s. It is one of the most celebrated and influential projects designed by Clarence S. Stein and Henry Wright, America’s foremost urban planners of the Garden City movement. The event, co-sponsored by Landmarks, was held at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall in Oakland.

7. Preserving a Sure-To-Be Landmark

   3:23 pm

   The Pittsburgh area landscape is dotted with architectural landmarks that reflect the character of the people who built this community. We’re familiar with Richardson’s Courthouse, Hornbostel’s Rodef Shalom Synagogue and Wright’s Fallingwater. Yet, nestled among century-old houses near Chatham College on Woodland Road is a structural contradiction so magnificent in design that its architect now considers it one of his defining creations.

   The post modernist home was designed in 1979 for Irving andBetty Abrams by internationally renowned architect Robert Venturi. From the outset, the project faced two major challenges: how to construct the house on a lot so small and damp that many builders didn’t want to tackle the job; and how to integrate the architect’s emphasis on form with the client’s need for function.

   Like Wright and the Kaufmanns, Venturi and the Abrams found a way to fit an innovative design into a unique setting. Coming to agreement on function was a different story.

   “I think I broke a few of his traditions, like putting a kitchen in the living room and moving an
   eloquent stairway from within view of the front door,” says Betty. “All in all, however, we eventually got the job finished to our mutual satisfaction.”

   In the end, Betty got the changes she wanted, but Venturi distanced himself from the project until it was rediscovered during a Pittsburgh-hosted national design show in 2003 and praised by Richard Pain in a 2004 issue of the British journal Blueprint. In a personal letter to Betty, Venturi reassessed the Abrams house: “You should know that via Richard Pain’s recent and current focus on the Abrams’ house in general and then our visit to the house last November and my reviewing Richard’s distinguished manuscript on the house and our original drawings currently, I am now considering the project one of the best that has come out of our office which I am very, very proud of.”

   The Abrams house is now considered such an important Venturi work that this Pittsburgh house was selected to be featured in Dream Homes of Greater Philadelphia. But this isn’t the end of the story. Several years ago, Betty hosted a Landmarks Heritage Society members tour. There, she couldn’t help but be impressed by the appreciation her guests had for her home. That’s when Betty began to think about taking steps to preserve her personal masterpiece. Since the house is not eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places until 2029, there would be no tax benefit associated with a gift of a preservation easement. A gift to endow monitoring costs associated with the easement would also be
   required.

   After discussions with Landmarks’ planned giving office, Betty decided that if she could not find a way to acquire a preservation easement during her lifetime, she would take steps now to bequeath the house to Landmarks to fund a charitable gift annuity for each of her children. Not only would the gift associated with the annuities endow the preservation easement Landmarks would place on the property after her death, but Betty’s daughters would have lifetime income and never be burdened with the responsibility of selling the house.

   Betty’s personality is reflected in the creativity of her house. Her legacy will be reflected in the creativity of her gift.

8. Fallingwater, courthouse make Architects’ cut

   February 8, 2007 12:38 am

   By Joe Napsha
   TRIBUNE-REVIEW
   Thursday, February 8, 2007

   Fallingwater, the famous Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in Fayette County, and the Allegheny County Courthouse, Downtown, were rated as two of America’s 150 favorite pieces of architecture, in a list announced Wednesday.
   “There is no question these are the two most uniquely architecturally significant structures (in the region). People come from throughout the world to see them,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.

   Ziegler, whose organization is involved in preserving historic and architecturally significant properties in the region, said he was not surprised that Fallingwater and the Allegheny County Courthouse made the list.

   The Empire State Building in New York City, followed by the White House in Washington, were at the top of the American Institute of Architects’ list of 150 favorite pieces of American architecture. The list was developed in conjunction with the association’s 150th anniversary.

   Fallingwater, which Wright designed in the 1936 for Edgar J. Kaufmann, owner of the former Kaufmann’s department store in Pittsburgh, might be one of Wright’s most innovative works, Ziegler said.

   “There really is no other house like it, yet,” Ziegler said, calling it “an extraordinary design in an extra ordinary site.”

   The house at Mill Run, which Wright placed over a waterfall on Bear Run, is so popular that it attracts 130,000 visitors annually, said Clinton Piper, museums program assistant at Fallingwater.

   “It’s something that continues to speak to people at all levels of education. People can come here without any prior knowledge of this and can find something inspiring. I think that’s part of its enduring appeal,” Piper said.

   The Allegheny County Courthouse on Grant Street, which was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and finished in 1886, “is a timeless piece of architecture and represents a real quantum leap in terms of American style,” said Thomas Briney, immediate past president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

   “Richardson had a singular kind of style and that’s what set it apart,” said Briney, an architect with Perkins Eastman, Downtown.

   Richardson considered the courthouse “the culmination of his career,” Ziegler said.

   To the late James Van Trump, the landmarks foundation’s co-founder, the courthouse was “the architectural lion of Pittsburgh,” Ziegler said.

   Two buildings in Western Pennsylvania were ranked in the top 35 of the American Institute of Architects’ 150 favorite pieces of American architecture.

   1. Empire State Building, New York City

   2. The White House, Washington

   3. Washington National Cathedral, Washington

   4. Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Washington

   5. Golden State Bridge, San Francisco

   6. U.S. Capitol, Washington

   7. Lincoln Memorial, Washington

   8. Biltmore Estate (Vanderbilt residence), Asheville, N.C.

   9. Chrysler Building, New York City

   10. Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington

   29. Fallingwater (Kaufmann family residence), Mill Run, Fayette County

   35. Allegheny County Courthouse, Pittsburgh

   Joe Napsha can be reached at jnapsha@tribweb.com or (412)-320-7993.