Downtown North Design Competition

From the press release:

The Downtown North Association (D.N.A.) is hosting a multiple approach design and production competition to support a comprehensive branding program for the district. The competition will include graphic design, photography,
advertisement, and architecture sections.

The competition will begin with registrations at the competition registration promotion party from 5:30-7:30 on the evening of Thursday February 5 at
Ironwood Studio.

Winners will be determined and awards given at a competition awards ceremony between late March and early April at that location.

Deadline for registration and submission of entries is March 15, 2009.
Work submitted will be used to promote the district.

Registration fees will be $25 for entry into each section of the competition.
Student entrance fees will be reduced to $10.

Specific and further details for entrance in each section will be available at the registration event.

Ironwood Studio is located at 119 Jennings Avenue in Downtown North.

Join Downtown North Association and look for additional 2009 E.D.N.A. Awards information on Facebook.
Contact Downtown North Association at downtownnorthassociation@yahoo.com and join downtownnorth@yahoogroups.com.

All competition products submitted will become property of D.N.A.

UT School of Architecture & Design Lecture

Free Lectures on Health Care Design open to the public.

The College of Architecture and Design at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, continues its new lecture series about health care design next week with a presentation by Flem Smith, co-founder of Gresham Smith and Partners (GSP), a multi-disciplined firm based in Nashville.

Smith, who is retired but still involved in the firm, will lecture at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, in room 109 of the Art + Architecture Building. GSP has sponsored his presentation.

His lecture, "The Healing Environment," will explore how the body's immune system is affected by the environment and, thus, how environments can promote healing. His lecture also will examine the psychology behind healing environments and the design criteria that are utilized to impact patient experience and recovery in the hospital setting.

Smith received a master of fine arts in architecture from Princeton in 1963. Four years later, he co-founded GSP, which is today, a multi-disciplined firm with more than 850 employees in 18 offices located throughout the United States and China. He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Architects in 1988.

"Flem is an icon in the field of architecture and has provided exemplary leadership in the field of health care design," said B.J. Miller, lecture series organizer and facilitator for the college.

"The fields of neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) must inform the design of today's health care environment. A better understanding of the connection of the mind, brain and nervous system to the body's ability to fight or prevent disease will be explored in Flem's lecture."

The next lecture, "Evidence-based Design" by Kirk Hamilton, is on Feb. 12. Hamilton, who is a fellow and associate director of the Center for Health Systems and Design at Texas A & M in College Station, will explore the growing body of knowledge that supports the environment's influence on health and healing.

The visiting lecturers, in addition to their presentations, will involve the students in some exploratory creative exercises, such as designing their own retirement environment. The course also will include interactive activities, such as tours of medical facilities, to explore key wellness indicators.

The students will be working on a research project throughout the semester that will stimulate further discussion within the university of the role design plays in healing and wellness.

Continuing architectural education credit can be earned at each of these lectures.

The lecture series also is viewable over the Internet both live and in archive form. See the College of Architecture and Design's Web site, http://www.arch.utk.edu.

"Barkitecture" volunteer needed!!!!!!

The East Tennessee AIA is needing an Architect or Architect Intern volunteer for “Barkitecture” project at Sarah Moore Greene School

The East Tennessee Chapter has been invited to extend its educational outreach to serve the Art Club at Sarah Moore Greene School (Magnet Technology Academy), which is just east of downtown, by introducing students to “Barkitecture”. We find that students learn valuable lessons in problem solving while applying the design process to a simple problem – like designing a doghouse.

We need an architect or architect-intern to collaborate with Ms. Heather Brack, their art teacher, after school from 3-5 on three Wednesdays – January 28, February 11 and 25. This request came to us through the Knoxville Museum of Art, which serves as our liaison with the Knox County Schools for design education projects. The students and teacher will have received an overview on the process we have used for such design projects such as “Barkitecture” and “Knoxville Bound” – essentially using three steps (program, concept, and design development/presentation) - as a means of acquainting students with the design process.

Architects may work in pairs if that is preferred. Please communicate your interest ASAP to Gene Burr (geneburr@comcast.net or 250-5734).

AIA National Webcast - Designing a Financial Plan in Uncertain Times

Next Thursday, January 15th at 2:00 p.m. EST, AIA National will be hosting a 1 hour long webcast titled "Designing a Financial Plan in Uncertain Times" as a way to help give AIA members some guidance on possible ways to survive through the current economic hardships.

It is at no cost to members, though registration is required. Attendance will also qualify for 1.0 hours of AIA learning units.

Below is from the e-mail regarding the program sent out to all members:

2008 was by any measurement a wildly tumultuous year on Wall Street. And while the volatility and uncertainty of the nation's economy has impacted many AIA members professionally, we cannot forget that there is a corresponding impact on personal finance as well.

To ensure that your financial house is as sound as those you design, AIA members are encouraged to partcipate in a free Webcast on financial planning. This Web seminar, presented by AIA Continuing Education, will offer insights on how to build a financial plan for the various stages of life, as well as when to review your plan and when to make changes.

At the conclusion of this 1-hour seminar, you will have the necessary building blocks to build your financial plan or modify an existing one.

Presenters

• John Kilroy, CFP®, CPA, Senior Wealth Planner for Vanguard Asset Management Services
• Theresa O'Hara, CFP®, CTFA, Senior Wealth Planner for Vanguard Asset Management

Register Here!

New NCARB IDP Reporting

For those of you who are not aware, within the United States and its territories, NCARB is in charge of the Intern Development Program (IDP) considered by many future architects (those with a degree but no license) to be the bane of their existence.

It is a program designed to ensure an Intern gets the needed broad base of experiences necessary to become a competent architect. Broken down into 16 categories, an Intern must fulfill certain minimum work experience levels in each category in order to complete the program, totaling up to 700 8 hour equivalent credits, or 2 years and 8 months worth of time.

It was (and is) a hassle to keep track of the credits earned, as 1 IDP credit is equal to 8 hours of work. For some reason, the obtaining of experience doesn't occur in 8 hour blocks. Maybe it is because many architects work on many different projects in different phases of design or construction in the course of a day?

All U.S. jurisdictions except for Arizona, Guam and the Virgin Islands require completion of IDP to fulfill the experience requirement for licensure. (This obviously includes Tennessee).

Up until now, Interns had to periodically fill out an NCARB Employment Verification Form (Form 123) outlining their experience, get their supervisor and a mentor to sign it as verification that they actually performed the work documented, and mail it off to NCARB for verification and inclusion into their IDP record.

This assumed that there were no typos or math errors on the form, and also assumed that you obtained the signatures of your supervisor and mentor relatively close together (heaven forbid that the form should sit on your supervisor's desk for a week after you sign it, then sit on your mentor's desk for a week or two before they sign it and mail it off, NCARB would reject it because the dates are "too far apart")

Plus, there was always the option of just working for 3 years, then at the end, trying to verify what was worked on and the experience gained during those years, all at once.


Well, beginning on December 31st, NCARB is transitioning to an on-line, web-based reporting system called e-EVR. Come July 1st, 2009, it will be the ONLY means of reporting time accepted.

Similar to the electronic timekeeping and billing process many firms are using currently, an intern will sign into their account on the NCARB website on a regular basis, log their time worked and save it.

Every four months, they will then submit their report to their supervisor. The intern will give the name and e-mail of their supervisor, and the NCARB website will send the supervisor an e-mail explaining that they have a submission ready for approval with a link to the sign in page of the NCARB website.

If the supervisor does not have an e-EVR account set up, they will be prompted to create one. They do NOT have to have an existing NCARB record to do so.

Once they set up their account and sign into it, they will have a link to the report they are to review. When they click on the link, they will see a listing of the 16 experience categories and the reported experience as submitted by the intern. This will look very similar to page 4 of the Form 123 currently used to report experience on paper.

The supervisor will have 3 options once they have reviewed the submission. They can approve the submission, return the submission to the intern for correction and resubmission, or reject the submission.

A rejection is final, and can not be changed, except by having NCARB manually change the database (and we all know how difficult it can be to get NCARB to change things), so interns should educate their supervisors on the proper procedure. (Approval)

Once the supervisor approves the submission, NCARB then will update the intern's IDP record with the information.

As you will notice, there is no longer a requirement to have a Mentor countersign the submission.

Once the 6 Month Rule goes into effect, the system will automatically keep track of valid hours on the submissions.

And in regards to the 6 month rule, the intern needs only to submit their report within 6 months. A delay on the supervisor's part will not cause the intern to lose any credits.

As reminder, the 6 month rule will take effect beginning July 1st, 2009 for all new NCARB IDP accounts.

It will not affect those with existing accounts until July 1st, 2010.

Any more questions, ask.

Free Residential Solar Workshop this Saturday

This Saturday at the Ijams Nature Center there is a Free workshop for Residential Solar. It is part of the result of Knoxville being designated as a Solar City of America.

(from the website)
This free public workshop will go over basic solar technologies that are available to the home including solar electric, solar hot water, solar lighting, solar heating, and passive solar design. It will also give guidance on the step-by-step process for "going solar" with your home. Differences in the process for older homes and options for new home construction will be covered. Guidance on best practices for hiring qualified installers and a review of basic incentives and financing will be reviewed.

As i keep reminding you, it is FREE, however you need to RSVP. Call Gil Melear-Hough at 865-789-5482 or email at gil@cleanenergy.org

Reminder! Public Meeting on City County Building Green Space!

A a reminder, the City is having a public meeting on proposed regulations for protecting the green space at the City County Building Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. in the Main Assembly Room of the CCB.

For more information, see my previous posting on this topic: Comments Sought on City's Green Space Use