The in Rocky Mount, Va., is the first public school to use the energy-efficient Passivhaus technology, which has enabled it to use 68 percent less energy than conventional schools.
By Steven Lichtenberger, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP. Lichtenberger is a managing principal for the architecture department in the Phoenix office of AECOM and serves as principal in charge of project management for selected projects.
Michael Weingartz, PE, LEED AP, director of mechanical and electrical engineering at SmithGroupJJR’s Detroit office, has been promoted to Vice President. During his 25-year career as a professional electrical engineer, he has provided the design of power distribution, security, lighting, fire alarm, life safety and communications systems. His responsibilities include work with Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.
ORLANDO — SchenkelShultz Architecture recently won two first-place awards for its design of a high school and an elementary school from the Florida Educational Facilities Planners’ Association at its winter 2012 conference.
SchenkelShultz Architecture, a leading green design firm based in Orlando, Fla., won for its completion of Hernando County School Board’s Weeki Wachee High School in Weeki Wachee, Fla. They also took first place for Lake County Schools’ Sorrento Elementary School in Sorrento, Fla.
Maintaining and operating schools today, as always, remains a daunting task for administrators. Challenges constantly arise in the form of older schools that need to be seriously updated to meet today’s educational needs, new structures with their own unique issues and the overall lack of funding available.
Columbus, Ohio-based architecture firm DesignGroup is designing the city’s first public middle/high school designed for emotionally disturbed students.
SmithGroupJJR hired Jon Romig to lead the planning group in the firm’s Detroit office. As head of laboratory planning and programming activities, mentoring staff and offering project planning and design expertise, he will also aid in business development pursuits throughout the Midwest. He has nearly 30 years of experience in facility design.
LOS ANGELES — Teamwork may flow a little more freely in the two-story, 60,000-square-foot renovation of the University of California Los Angeles’ Charles E. Young Research Library.
DAVIS, Calif. — The University of California at Davis has received a $10 million donation for a new art museum that will cost an estimated total of $30 million.
