Collaborative Volunteer and Bowling Ball Co-Chair Greg Hart

Graduate Architect Greg Hart’s first introduction to the Collaborative was attending our annual Bowling Ball four years ago, and he’s been a part of the event ever since. So it’s fitting that he’s now leading the Bowling Ball Committee, along with fellow volunteer Eric Heidel. As Co-Chairs. Greg and Eric have put their heads together to find creative ways to make the Bowling Ball environmentally-friendly and extend participation in the event.

Greg graduated from Drexel University in 2002, and he’s currently studying for the AREs. He has volunteered on several projects with the Collaborative. His most memorable project was creating a Master Plan for Renewal for St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. Greg recalls that the Victorian – era church, “was structurally sound but needed extensive masonry repairs and stained-glass and lead window restoration … I was exposed to historic preservation on a level I hadn’t been before.”

When he’s not helping out at the Collaborative, Greg can be found jogging on Kelly Drive or rooting for Philly’s new soccer team, the Philadelphia Union.

Congratulations to this round of Collaborative service grant recipients!

The Collaborative is pleased to award service grants to eight outstanding nonprofits. They are:  Central Germantown Council; Legal Aid of Southeastern PA; Northwestern Stables; Nueva Esperanza, Inc.; Pennhurst Memorial & Preservation Alliance ; Visitation BVM School; Wissahickon Neighbors Civic Association, and Wynnefield Overbrook Revitalization Corporation.

Thank you to everyone who has offered to volunteer on this round of projects. We will contact everyone shortly to finalize team placements.

No need to drive to the lanes this year - hop on our Bowling Ball shuttle for a $5 round trip and help reduce the event's carbon footprint by 1 ton! Departs from Center for Architecture at 6pm and returns at 11pm. If you're interested, please email Carryn Golden at email hidden; JavaScript is required no later than June 5.

With the event just three weeks away, lanes are selling out quickly! Don’t have a lane yet? Be sure to register and send in your payment by June 5!

Register online: 13th Annual Bowling Ball

Questions? 215-587-9290

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More than just a coloring book: Community heritage projects funded through small grants from the DC Community Heritage Project are yielding big results, and might be a model for Philadelphia.

One of my favorite places in Philadelphia is a brick archway between two houses in East Falls with a narrow driveway of blue-gray glazed bricks that leads to a work yard. When was it built? What was it used for? Each of us has a neighborhood place, whether modest to grand, that we’re curious about and want others to appreciate. Philly preservationists are trying to tap into that feeling.

Patsy Fletcher Community Outreach Coordinator for the DC Community Heritage Project,  offers up a good model for getting people to dig deeper into their neighborhood histories and heritage. Fletcher recently visited Philadelphia as keynote speaker for the Preservation Alliance’s A Sense of Place: Preserving Philadelphia Neighborhoods conference.

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Here's looking at you: The Collaborative on the road in Logan's neighborhood commercial corridor on North Broad Street.

Cicely Peterson-Magnum, the Executive Director of Logan CDC, recently updated us on the CDC’s work with the Community Design Collaborative via a press release sharing the  design team’s advice. 

Recently, the Collaborative’s volunteer team presented the Logan community with some preliminary ideas for improving the appearance of the 4800 to 5000 blocks of North Broad Street. The meeting provided one last opportunity for local residents and businesses owners to offer suggestions for conceptual design.

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A rendering of the 100K House, one of four under construction in East Kensington. Courtesy of ISA

Good news for green, affordable design! The 100 K House is featured in Inga Saffron’s latest Changing Skyline column, “Building a McMini.” Described by Saffron as “the antithesis of the McMansion,” the 100K House is being developed by Chad Ludeman,  founder of Postgreen, and designed by Brian Phillips, principal of Interface Studio Architects and a Collaborative Board Member and volunteer.

In Saffron’s column, Brian notes that the design for the 100K House is the close cousin of ISA’s green affordable housing design for APM on Sheridan Street as part of the Infill Affordable Housing Design Challenge. “Both projects [...] are trying to boil a house down to – not exactly the essence – but to an understandable series of components. Reducing the number of components is the key to affordability.”

ISA received the 2006 AIA Philadelphia Silver Award from AIA Philadelphia in 2006 for the Sheridan Street design.

A rendering of the Sheridan Street design by ISA

Here’s a heartwarming story that illustrates, once again, why we love our volunteers.  Michelle Robinson Architects wanted to sponsor a bowling lane this year, but Michelle was unavailable to bowl on the day of the event.  Michelle offered to share a lane with another firm or donate it to a group.

Enter stage right: Nicholas Moose of the AIA Associates Committee. Nick really wanted to bowl, but was having difficulty finding a firm to sponsor his team of young architects. Wallah! Nick and the Associates AIA committee now have a team sponsor and couldn’t be happier.

You too can be a ghost bowler! If you’re interested in sponsoring a lane or otherwise contributing to the Bowling Ball, Carryn can help you out.  Get in touch by sending her an email at email hidden; JavaScript is required