Few volunteers have been as involved with the Collaborative as Joe Matje, Project Engineer at Bruce E. Brooks & Associates.  He has volunteered on eleven projects and now serves on the Board of Directors.

Through the Collaborative, Joe has been able to help nonprofits with the nuts and bolts of sustainability. He utilizes his expertise in construction engineering, building systems, and energy use to help nonprofits renovate and construct new buildings that are energy efficient and have well-functioning mechanical systems, like heating and air-flow. “I try to not get too complicated but make simple and basic recommendations for the clients that will have big impacts for their dollars,” says Joe. Read Full Story

Dedicated Collaborative volunteer Mami Hara of WRT.

Mami Hara, ASLA, AICP,  a principal at WRT, has brought her passion and knowledge to volunteering with the Collaborative for over 10 years, first as a volunteer and currently as a member of the Collaborative’s board.

Mami has a wealth of expertise in urban design and planning. Her work primarily focuses on large-scale civic projects in urban settings. Among Mami’s projects are waterfront and river corridor plans for Philadelphia’s Central Delaware Waterfront, D.C.’s Anacostia Waterfront, and Indiana’s Wabash River. She also developed GreenPlan Philadelphia, a sustainability framework to guide long-term open space policy for the city.

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Karena works on the Collaborative's PARK(ing) Day Installation.

Intern architect Karena Thurston is something of a jack of all trades for the Collaborative. She’s volunteered on design projects, written policy papers, and created installations.  The common thread in all her roles has been her passion and wide-ranging expertise , which have helped the Collaborative incorporate green design into  its work and explore the relationship between design, community-building and sustainability.
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Landscape improvements along 63rd Street in Overbrook Farms designed by Sara Pevaroff Schuh.

Pedestrians and drivers along the 63rd Street Commercial Corridor in historic Overbrook Farms will get a treat this spring when the sidewalk planters built by the Overbrook Farms Club emerge from the snow and begin to bloom.

The landscape improvements were designed by Sara Pevaroff Schuh, Principal of SALT Design Studio and a regular Collaborative volunteer, as part of a larger effort by the Overbrook Farms Club (OFC) to enliven its neighborhood commercial corridor, which extends from City Line Avenue to Woodbine Avenue. The initial idea for the project came from a master plan for the corridor that Collaborative volunteers developed in 2007 to provide OFC with a vision for revitalization and strategies for beautification, façade improvements, and site identity.

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Tavis Dockwiller, principal of Viridian Landscape Studio, a long-time Collaborative volunteer.

The Community Design Collaborative and local nonprofits have benefited many times from the sustainability savvy of landscape architect Tavis Dockwiller. Tavis, principal of Viridian Landscape Studio, has volunteered on five Collaborative projects.  For her, landscape architecture is not just about understanding biological processes but enhancing the spaces in which we live, “Design is important because it reveals the beauty in place and people need beauty.”

Tavis and her firm had a hand in developing a conceptual design for a sustainable master plan at the Cook-Wissahickon School in Roxborough and a neighborhood open space for the Mural Arts Advocates that will highlight local ecological diversity and help reunite adjudicated youth with their community.  More recently, she lent her expertise as part of a design charrette organized by the Collaborative as part of Infill Philadelphia to explore the temporary use of former industrial sites.

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Collaborative volunteer Matt Huffman with his son Renzo.

Matt Huffman is a project architect at Brawer & Hauptman Architects and received a 2009 Outstanding Volunteer Award from the Community Design Collaborative.  Matt volunteered on a project with the Center for Literacy to help assess their needs and provide them with guidelines and advice on selecting a new site.

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Tom Halliwell of Duffield Associates received a 2009 Outstanding Volunteer Award.

Tom Halliwell is a civil engineer who works as a Project Manager at Duffield Associates and was named a Community Design Collaborative 2009 Outstanding Volunteer for his work on the Greening of Greene Street Friends project.  With Tom’s assistance, the volunteer team developed a conceptual landscape plan for Greene Street Friends School that would incorporate sustainability measures and enhance the students’ play experience.

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