Tim Kwiatkowski

The Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center is set to open in time for Pride weekend. Get a behind-the-scenes look from the client and design team shaping this groundbreaking project. https://smpl.is/8y6r8 Hosted by EDG Architecture & Engineering and Mosaic, you'll learn firsthand about the challenges and triumphs of bringing the first LGBTQ+ visitor center within the U.S. National Park Service to life. Get a sneak peak from our panelists before its doors open this summer, including Diana Rodriguez, Mark Segal, Kristen Pecci, Thao Quartuccio-Nguyen, and Charles Parente; facilitated by Martin Scott and Gabriel Albano. Be a part of the conversation about creating a space the honors LGBTQ+ history and community: 1. Hear from the Design Team: The client, architect, engineer, and other key figures will share their insights on the project's concept, design, and construction process. 2. From Vision to Reality: Discover the journey of the Visitor Center, from initial ideas to overcoming hurdles and achieving milestones. 3. Challenges and Triumphs: Gain a unique perspective on the design process, including the unique considerations for such a significant historical site. 4. A Look Ahead: Get a sneak peek at the finished Visitor Center and what visitors can expect. 5. Unveiling Untold Stories: Be captivated by engaging stories and anecdotes from the design team's experience. #stonewallvisitorcenter #prideweekend #lgbtqhistory #designforchange #lgbtqcommunity #nationalparkservice

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Excellent article on the challenges Milwaukee faces if Mayor Johnson's desire to grow the City's population to 1 million is achieved. Affordable, dense multi-unit developments should be encouraged near mass transit and have amenities that are within walking distance. While market-rate projects currently dominate the downtown landscape and nearby areas, this represents a small percentage of the land area within city limits. If Washington Heights is a microcosm of most of Milwaukee, we can't just provide quality, affordable housing in the face of declining household populations. There must be other crucial supporting elements. My hope is that the goal is reached. https://lnkd.in/gEYAvtsN

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In this dynamic discussion on the pressing issues of office vacancies, DesignGroup’s Alan Schlossberg joins David Robinson and Brian Bernstein on the Montrose Group’s Podcast Series: The Development Debate. The discussion covers the need to be open and flexible about the use type for a successful office conversion, the neighborhood impact, and actionable steps for owners, developers, and communities. With office vacancies at 18.3%, it's clear we need to rethink our approach to struggling buildings, including those in Downtown Columbus. And it’s important that residential uses aren’t the only conversion options being considered. Listen here! https://lnkd.in/ew-eZEtA

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#neglectedmodernism #cincinnati The appreciation for these more modern background buildings is an important topic in preservation today. They go against the norm of what we typically cherish, but now are begging for our attention. Urbanism benefits from a diversity of building typologies represented over time. They imbue a sense of the history of a place regardless of whether one agrees with the particular aesthetic or not. That’s the richness of #cities. And, of #citybuilding.

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While technology is a powerful tool in housing development, quality must remain a top priority. Success in housing means combining cutting-edge technology with high standards of quality. Steve Ross, Onsite ICF #socialhabitatfortheregion #HabitatforHumanity #NationalHousingSymposium

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CEU Presentations: More Than Just Lunch CEU presentations offer significant benefits for both manufacturers and design professionals. For manufacturers, these sessions help establish trust and showcase their expertise, facilitating the specification and broader adoption of their products. They also provide a platform to directly engage with customers, collect valuable feedback, and boost brand visibility and sales. For design professionals, CEU presentations provide updates on the latest products, technologies, and industry standards. These sessions offer expert insights and practical tips that can improve project outcomes and ensure regulatory compliance. Moreover, attending these presentations helps design teams stay current with industry trends, earn necessary continuing education credits, and advance their careers. Overall, CEU presentations are a win-win, enhancing knowledge, relationships, and understanding of industry advancements for all participants. While CEU presentations often include lunch, their primary focus is on providing valuable educational content and professional development opportunities. The inclusion of lunch simply adds convenience and encourages attendance, making it easier for busy professionals to participate without disrupting their workday.

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Understanding the property landscape of your downtown is key to imagining new uses for vacant and underutilized spaces. The Building Opportunities on Main Street (BOOMS) Tracker provides a simple and approachable interface that designated Main Street programs can use to help unlock the potential of their vacant properties. Learn more > https://bit.ly/4cY0nVl

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We are frequently asked about how we design climbers to reflect a specific city or region, i.e.: How would a Baltimore climber be distinctly Baltimore... and not Tacoma... or Denver...? This is a big and important question-- one that many designers and architects grapple with, but for brevity's sake, we'll assert that the underlying desire in this question is that people want to invest and build beautiful things that mark them as special, unique, and valuable to their community. If Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" (aka "The Bean") were in every city, would it be as special? For us, a great climber design possesses deeper decisions about the character of a place: Rustic or slick? Iron clad or warm embrace? Bold adventure or unexpected whimsy? Floating and ephemeral or rooted to the center of the Earth? Every climber we design is a conversation, taking (and hopefully providing) inspiration from the place in which it will live.

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According to Joanne Horton, RA, prioritizing relationships is one of the best ways for #affordablehousing industry leaders to achieve transformative solutions. In the article below she says, "The best projects happen when all team members are invested in forming long-term, strategic relationships within a design team." Read more here: https://bit.ly/4bLxTgv

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Being connected to nature is important in learning. DLR Group K-12 Education Client Leader Todd Ferking, AIA, A4LE, shares some of his favorite outdoor learning environments. Take a tour of these spaces that positively impact student and educator well-being.   #design #learningenvironments #outdoors #studentwellbeing #teacherwellbeing

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One of the steps to allowing incremental housing and addressing the housing crisis is nurturing local, small-scale developers. But how do you actually do that? South Bend, Indiana, offers a few suggestions: - Provide pre-approved development templates to simplify and expedite the building and approval process. - Reduce regulatory barriers by eliminating parking minimums. - Reduce cost barriers by offering reimbursements for infill development utility hookups. - Provide workshops and support on planning, financing and navigating regulations. Learn more:

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How do you save a building? Start with this ten step guide! https://lnkd.in/gUPmCtY5

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🚀 From planning to implementation, PM Design Group is your one-stop A&E shop for development programs: ground-ups, renovations, re-imaging programs, and tenant improvements. ✨ Check out our broad in-house suite of services! 🛠️🏗️ #pmdg #pmdesign #architecture #engineering #rollouts #construction #multisite #project

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Housing is a loss leader: it's expensive to create and it's intensive to build. But it's necessary to house the people who bring the 24/7 vibrancy which attracts businesses and economic development. This is clearly evident in cities like Minneapolis. Something to consider: Whether you're converting a building or building new, the cost of creating housing can rarely be covered by the rents that (most) people can afford. The private market cannot create enough housing on its own, but neither can our public agencies. This is truly a complicated problem that needs multiple stakeholders and financial tools to be successful. #housing #historicbuildingreuse #development

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As urban landscapes evolve, fire stations remain crucial to community safety and emergency response. To keep up with changing needs, architects and designers are innovating fire station designs. Download our insights on the top three design trends shaping the future of fire stations here: https://ow.ly/LwqU50TkJ3G #HEDadvances #firestations #communitydesign #communityfacilities #firestationdesign #emergencyresponse #design

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The AIA's tire fire is getting hotter and smellier. In the most generous use ever of the word "Breaking!" in a headline, AIA National announced -- via Architect magazine, its contract-published house organ -- how it will respond to folks who've been asking questions of the CEO's questionable conduct. It will attack them. The article froths about "a coordinated campaign... to publicly discredit the EVP/CEO and the wider 2024 AIA Board." Those believed to be part of the dastardly plot have now been hit with an AIA ethics council complaint for "allegations of misconduct." (https://lnkd.in/e7C9U4yW) Whoa. And, yikes. 1. The article uses the term "vindicated" and states the "coordinated campaign" as fact, without sourcing, when it should attribute both as assertions of the board. No reputable journal, even the AIA's official magazine, should be putting out an unabashedly one-sided press release and calling it "news." 2. An outside law firm hired by the board "found no evidence of wrongdoing" by the CEO (that's a little less word-salad than before: https://lnkd.in/erziC3ZU). So why won't they show the report to anyone else, despite calls from members of the College of Fellows to do so? (https://lnkd.in/eZpXuKhH) 3. Ethics council decisions between 2014 and 2020 (the most recent year available) were all practice-related, mostly disputes between firms and their clients or employees (https://lnkd.in/e_QX9y-p). The board wants the ethics council to do something totally unprecedented, and totally unconnected to practice: inject itself into an internal AIA dispute, and sanction members for criticizing "leadership." 4. Boards are meant to have an independent fiduciary duty. With the reflexive circling of wagons, doubling and tripling down on nothing-to-see-here-ism and attacking insufficiently loyal members, this one has done a good job of discrediting itself, no need for shadowy influence ops. In the years to come, the AIA will need to explain how its board could be so easily captured, and stray so far from the interests of the practitioners it is meant to represent. We can only guess who concocted this self-destructive strategy of escalating internal conflict, but thanks to the Architectural Record article linked above, we have a good idea of when and where it was hatched: earlier this month, during a three-day retreat for senior staff and board members at a resort where rooms start at $600/night. This was one week after the AIA fired 28 people, or 16% of its total staff. Recall that the major event kicking off this drama was a full-staff retreat to the Dominican Republic in March, while the AIA grappled with a $13.5 million budget gap (https://lnkd.in/eCpY4CUi), and you see what I mean by doubling down. For the record, I'm not part of the secret conspiracy Architect magazine says is behind everything. But if those guys are like the AIA National crew, and doing their conspiring on exclusive luxury retreats, maybe I need to be!

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The National Housing Preservation Database (NHPD) has just been refreshed! 🌟 With the latest updates, including new data on properties assisted by Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), the NHPD remains the most comprehensive source of address-level data for nearly 80,000 federally assisted rental properties across the U.S. 📍 This powerful tool helps housing stakeholders—like non-profits, government agencies, students, and individuals seeking affordable housing—gain a clear picture of housing needs in their communities and make targeted investments. 👉 Register now to explore the latest insights from the NHPD: https://lnkd.in/gDV4kwy6 #AffordableHousing #HousingData #NHPD #Research #Preservation

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The National Housing Preservation Database (NHPD) has just been refreshed! 🌟 With the latest updates, including new data on properties assisted by Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), the NHPD remains the most comprehensive source of address-level data for nearly 80,000 federally assisted rental properties across the U.S. 📍 This powerful tool helps housing stakeholders—like non-profits, government agencies, students, and individuals seeking affordable housing—gain a clear picture of housing needs in their communities and make targeted investments. 👉 Register now to explore the latest insights from the NHPD: https://lnkd.in/gDV4kwy6 #AffordableHousing #HousingData #NHPD #Research #Preservation

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