{site _url} en mandilee@aclaworks.com Copyright 2012 2012-01-24T19:42:16+00:00 http://www.aclaworks.com/news/east_port_of_spain_design_charrette/ http://www.aclaworks.com/news/east_port_of_spain_design_charrette/#When:19:42:16Z Last week acla team Gary Turton and Mandilee Newton participated in a design charrette on East Port of Spain. acla are the local architects [in conjunction with Jenifer Smith] on an international collaboration with Dover Kohl and Partners. It was an intensive ten day workshop based in East Port of Spain analysing the 'Comprehensive Development Areas' -- these include Port of Spain South, Quarry Street/ John John, Picton/ Eastern Quarry, Laventille/ Trou Macaque, Success Village and Sea Lots. The exercise is part of a larger effort being initiated by the East Port of Spain Development Company to uplift the area.  Participants at one of the daily evening pin-ups/ critiques. Yes, that's the back of Gary's head, right. 2012-01-24T19:42:16+00:00 http://www.aclaworks.com/news/100_local_100_success/ http://www.aclaworks.com/news/100_local_100_success/#When:17:03:28Z Recently, the Building & Construction Magazine in the Trinidad Guardian published an article by the Trinidad & Tobago Institute of Architects, hailing a local team of architects, designers, contractors and suppliers. It was a highly positive, highly motivating article for the local construction industry that has been hard hit by the goverment's predilection for using foreign skill and labour. Read the article here.  News, The Caribbean, The Profession, Current Affairs 2011-12-05T17:03:28+00:00 http://www.aclaworks.com/news/an_architects_view_of_port_of_spain/ http://www.aclaworks.com/news/an_architects_view_of_port_of_spain/#When:16:49:56Z The latest issue of the Trinidad Guardian's Building & Construction magazine has an article on downtown beautification by acla:works director Gary Turton. Gary offers a ten-point perspective: [1] improved drainage and underground services, [2] better sidewalks and tree lined streets, [3] mass transit system within city limits (see: Transit Oriented Development), [4] multi-story car parking on perimeter of city, [5] maximise retail shop frontage, [6] green roofs, [7] public art, upgraded museums and a museum of modern art (see: Percent for Art program), [8] preserve and protect built heritage, [9] higher density, mixed-use, mixed income developments, and, [10] planning. Read the article here. News, Education, The Caribbean, Our Company, Sustainable Design, Publications, Urban Planning and Design, The Profession, Current Affairs 2011-11-30T16:49:56+00:00 http://www.aclaworks.com/news/court_design_in_session/ http://www.aclaworks.com/news/court_design_in_session/#When:18:54:59Z Recently, Directors Junior Thompson and Gary Turton participated in a workshop entitled Court Facilities: A Primer for Planning, Design and Construction. The workshop was delivered by a partnership of the National Center for State Courts in the US and the Judiciary of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Junior and Gary are currently engaged in acla:works projects involving the design of court facilities. Junior is involved in completing the final report for the CDB funded Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Halls of Justice Project in 9 jurisdictions in the OECS; acla:works won this commission in the final quarter of 2010. Gary is involved in refurbishment works and accessibility upgrades to the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, originally designed by UK architect HKPA in collaboration with Anthony C. Lewis Associates [now acla:works] back in 1981. The workshop provided acla:works with up-to-date information on the latest trends in court facility planning and design, as well as an opportunity to do an in depth review of a case study: the St. George West, Magistrates Court in Port of Spain. The workshop was equally useful for members of the judiciary, and other key users of court facilities in Trinidad and Tobago. It afforded the participants a broad view of the complex issues related to users, security, spatial adjacencies, and support systems, which are required for the proper function of a modern court. Whilst acla:works holds considerable experience in this area, the firm constantly welcomes opportunities to improve its expertise, and therefore is grateful that the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago invited the firm to participate in the workshop. (above) Hall of Justice, Trinidad  News, The Caribbean, Projects, Current Affairs 2011-11-15T18:54:59+00:00 http://www.aclaworks.com/news/speaking_of_design/ http://www.aclaworks.com/news/speaking_of_design/#When:18:09:41Z Last month, a couple of acla:works team members were invited to speak at separate conferences. On September 15 acla:works associate, Mandilee Newton, presented at the Institution of Structural Engineers' conference, Environmentally Sustainable Construction – Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change. Mandilee spoke about the applicability of the LEED rating system to the region and offered anecdotal advice on the challenges one can expect to face as an architect and LEED practitioner in the region. [For reading on this topic, check out Mandilee's 2010 white paper, LEED – A Caribbean Architect’s Perspective.] On September 28 acla:works director, Gary Turton, spoke at AmCham T&T's 15th annual HSSE Conference. Gary spoke about green design and sustainability – opportunities and barriers. acla:works projects – Ministry of Public Information and Administration [MPAI], Environmental Management Authority [EMA] and acla:works' new offices – were used as case studies in the presentation. Gary's presentation was well received and stimulated a lively discussion within the audience.  Above: acla:works' projects – MPAI, EMA, and our new offices. News, Education, Our Company, Sustainable Design 2011-10-24T18:09:41+00:00 http://www.aclaworks.com/news/new_manikin_review/ http://www.aclaworks.com/news/new_manikin_review/#When:14:04:16Z It's been almost two years since acla:works published Manikin, a book on the work of Anthony C. Lewis – our firm's founder and Trinidad and Tobago's first local architect. On publication of the monograph, there were several book reviews, notably "A Manikin for All Seasons" by B.C. Pires and "New Book Captures Lewis' Architectural Legacy" by Simon Lee.  Since then, naturally, press on the book has died down. So, earlier this month, when we received Issue 037 of Archivos De Arquitectura Antillana magazine, we were happy to see a new review . . . in Spanish. Thankfully, acla:works director, Peter Chandler, is fluent en Español and translated the piece into English so we could all read it. You can read it, too, here. For the Spanish version, click here. Education, The Caribbean, Our Company, Projects, Publications 2011-08-22T14:04:16+00:00 http://www.aclaworks.com/news/brians_photo_blog_5_sedona_workshop/ http://www.aclaworks.com/news/brians_photo_blog_5_sedona_workshop/#When:14:34:57Z In June, I attended the Hasselblad Medium Format & Panoramic Photography Workshop in Sedona, Arizona. Led by Peter Lorber and sponsored by Hasselblad, this five-day workshop focused on the Hasselblad H4 camera series. Assisted by Eric Peterson, Field Application Specialist from Hasselblad USA, and Courtenay Gilbert of Custom Photo Images, Lorber demonstrated the use of specialised panoramic robots using Hasselblad cameras and software by Phocus, PTGui Pro, Autopano Giga and Pro, and Adobe CS5. It was five days of grueling work and often involved waking early so as to make it to stunning panoramas in Sedona to catch the dawn light. This was followed by long hours in a computer lab being taken through the various software programs. With only six to eight workshop attendees, there was plenty of personal tuition, and each of us had a dedicated Hasselblad camera with access to a full range of lenses. Specialised panoramic robots from Novoflex, Seitz Roundshot VR Drive, and GigaPan Epic Pro were used to make sweeping panoramas well beyond 180º. This took over 10 minutes shooting over 100 images [50 MB each], then stitching all the photographs together in a single panorama of such density that you could print stunning, high resolution images exceeding 48” x 240”. The workshop was a lot of fun and hard work. Below are a couple images of the group in action, and one of my favourite shots. Additional Sedona workshop photos can be viewed on acla:works' Flickr page. Above: At work in the field. Image © Courtenay Gilbert. Above: At work in the lab. Image © Courtenay Gilbert. Above: River scene, Sedona. Image © Brian Lewis. Photography 2011-07-14T14:34:57+00:00 http://www.aclaworks.com/news/developing_an_fm_culture/ http://www.aclaworks.com/news/developing_an_fm_culture/#When:15:29:08Z Last week Thursday, acla:works associate Mandilee Newton presented at the 3rd Annual Caribbean Facilities Management and Maintenance Conference held by the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Mandilee – who was invited to speak in her capacity as acting VP [Research & Development] of the Trinidad and Tobago Green Building Council – presented on the topic of greening existing facilities. Other presenters included Gerard D'Arcy of RGM Limited, Bruce Melizan of Interserve, and Iain Murray of Europa. The conference was opened by Minister of Public Administration and Information, Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan. Above: Mandilee delivers her presentation. Image © Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce. For more photographs of the conference, click here.   Education, Our Company, Sustainable Design 2011-07-11T15:29:08+00:00 http://www.aclaworks.com/news/reigle_writes_about_us/ http://www.aclaworks.com/news/reigle_writes_about_us/#When:13:02:44Z How did acla:works land the honour of being a case study in the new book, Positioning for Architecture and Design Firms? Well . . . For the past 5 years, I have routinely attended the annual American Institute of Architects [AIA] Conventions. At the 2009 convention in San Francisco, I signed up for a course on Strategic Planning for Architects, which was led by Jack Reigle of SPARKS. I was very impressed with Jack and we chatted about the possibility of him coming to Trinidad. I also read a copy of his book, Silver Bullets, and decided that he would be the best person to benchmark our firm against other cutting edge firms that he would have met in the U.S. Jack agreed to visit and, in June 2009, he led a three-day strategic workshop at our office. Because we had already envisioned the Caribbean Outreach approach and the formation of Mesh – a group of consultants that could offer an integrated project delivery service across the region – we also decided to include the full group in one of the half-day sessions during the workshop. Jack thinks best on his feet and was able to work with the group to refine the Mesh concept to what it is today. Obviously, Jack was suitably impressed with our inputs and we are proud that he decided to include acla:works as a case study in his latest book, Positioning for Architecture and Design Firms. You can read the entire acla:works case study chapter here. [Kindly note that this PDF is © 2011, Jack Reigle, and reproduced with the permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.]   News, The Caribbean, Our Company 2011-06-27T13:02:44+00:00 http://www.aclaworks.com/news/better_together/ http://www.aclaworks.com/news/better_together/#When:18:56:46Z If you happen upon the current issue of MACO Caribbean Living magazine, check out an article called "The Mesh Solution" – it highlights the strategic alliance that acla:works formed in 2009 with six other industry professionals: BBFL Phillips Ltd [civil and engineering], ENCO [mechanical engineering], idesign Ltd [interior design], Prime Project Managers Ltd [project management], Skinner & Joseph QS Practice [quantity surveyors], and Talma Mill Studios [landscape architecture].  The main focus of the article is how our alliance, Mesh, works in order to streamline project delivery within the region. According to the text: "Although Mesh relies heavily on innovation and technology to move projects forward, the personal relationship with clients—no matter how large or small the project—remains crucial to the group's practice. Brian Lewis, a director of acla:works, noted that 'The value Mesh brings is that it provides state-of-the-art project delivery services within the Caribbean.'" For a PDF of the article, click here. 2011-06-09T18:56:46+00:00