February 7, 2012 – 1:40 pm
My six-month internship at Centerbrook Architects proved essential to my architectural education. The internship not only complemented my coursework, it also expanded upon that preparation by incorporating the real life consequences of dealing with colleagues, budgets, and clients. The collaborative atmosphere of firm work – between client, designers, and consultants – instilled a tangible appreciation [...]
November 9, 2011 – 4:23 pm
The original Yale Bulldog, Handsome Dan I (1889-1897), was the first live collegiate mascot, and this month he is reborn and then some. Larger than life and bronzed, he stands guard at Jensen Plaza outside the Yale Bowl – installed just in time for The Game against Harvard on November 19. The Bulldogs have lost to [...]
September 9, 2011 – 10:01 am
As a teacher serving a month-long “externship” at Centerbrook this summer to gain insight into “real world” applications of my curriculum, I was particularly interested in learning how the firm approaches academic design, which represents a substantial portion of its work. I teach pre-engineering courses, including architecture and design, at Old Saybrook High School, and [...]
September 2, 2011 – 2:48 pm
I just finished constructing a 3- by 5-foot tiled shower in place of the cramped, one-piece shower stall where I’ve been banging my elbows every morning for 15 years. And it only took 3 months. Once again, I discovered that hands-on construction experience improves design decisions. The things I learned from summers building decks and [...]
I teach pre-engineering courses, including architecture and design, at Old Saybrook High School, and to improve my own, and ultimately my students’ understanding of real world applications of these subjects, I am working this month at Centerbrook Architects and Planners. I sit in on design meetings, observe how Revit, Navisworks, and other new 3D technologies [...]
February 28, 2011 – 3:17 pm
Our academic and institutional clients sometimes express an initial wariness about Centerbrook’s inclusive and interactive design workshops that can involve a wide spectrum of stakeholders. They worry that too many people participating with too many ideas will generate an unrealistic and unaffordable wish list, leading to disappointments and controversy. In fact, the workshop effect is [...]
February 14, 2011 – 11:43 am
Learning from others, and from experience, and sharing that knowledge is what separates homo sapiens – most of us, anyway – from other species. Sometimes, however, we learn something and then forget it – or fail to heed it and pass it on. The consequences of not getting smarter and smarter can be devastating. Take [...]
February 3, 2011 – 5:17 pm
Editor’s Note: Architect Scott Allen was a member of the Centerbrook design team led by partner Jim Childress for the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Center for Community. Revit is the 3D modeling software that, along with other new technologies, has revolutionized how and where architectural design and planning can be conducted. Below, Scott recounts [...]
December 28, 2010 – 9:54 am
It was standing room only as Nobel Laureate Dr. James Watson and award winning architect William Grover, FAIA, explored their 36-year collaboration developing and improving the renowned research campus of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island. The pair’s presentation, part of the Essex Library’s Centerbrook Architects Lecture Series, drew some 200 people to the [...]
October 18, 2010 – 1:27 pm
I never walked five miles to school in a blizzard, but I did ingest my share of character-building cafeteria food while a dyspeptic, cholesterol-ridden scholar. Remember the latex cheese on those academic burgers that clung like Crazy Glue to the bun, rather than to the patty? Or the mystery meat enclosed in Plaster of Paris [...]
