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Maria Pellot Passes Planning Certification Exam

By Professional Development, Staff Happenings

Maria Pellot of UrbanWorks has achieved a career milestone by passing her planning certification exam. She joins an elite membership of approximately 15,000 professional planners worldwide that hold AICP certification. The exam and certification is managed by the American Institute of Certified Planners, the professional institute of the American Planning Association. AICP certified planners stand out within the planning profession for meeting rigorous standards and maintaining their expertise through continuing education and serving community interests. Passing the AICP exam is the final step in earning the status of a certified planner. To take the exam, individuals must fulfill a series of requirements including education and job experience. “Achieving AICP certification is not easy and requires a high level of personal and professional commitment,” said Felicia Braunstein, director of Professional Development for the American Planning Association. “The certification demonstrates an individual’s credibility and knowledge, and serves as a standard for the planning profession.” Certified planners bring extra value to their employers and community, demonstrating a higher level of leadership, education and professionalism. As a certified planner, individuals are required to operate in a professional manner and uphold a code of ethics. APA and its professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners, are dedicated to advancing the art, science and profession of good planning — physical, economic, and social — so as to create communities that offer better choices for where and how people work and live. The American Institute of Certified Planners provides recognized leadership nationwide in the certification of professional planners, ethics, professional development, planning education, and the standards of planning practice. For more information, visit www.planning.org.

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SAH April 2015 Conference: Magnitudes of Change

By Panels, Tours

Patricia Saldaña Natke, UrbanWorks Design Principal, is a panelist at the SAH (Society of Architectural Historians) Saturday April 18, 2015 National Conference at the Gatz Center, 126 E. Chestnut. The half day program will address the issues of community and preservation in Chicago neighborhoods and Chicago Waterways. The day’s other panelists include Martin Felson, Jeanne Gang, Carol Ross Barney, and Robert Bruegman. Keynote address by Charles Waldheim of the Harvard School of Design. Read More

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FieldNotes: Architect as Trailblazer

By Panels

UrbanWorks Principal, Patricia Saldaña Natke, participated as a design panelist for “FieldNotes: Architect as Trailblazer”. The platform created an opportunity for critical thought, discourse, and hands on experience between professionals and students from IIT, SAIC, and UIC. It highlighted  makers who are developing tools to generate form, analyze design and construct physical objects through the use of digital fabrication. Patricia joined Gordon Gill of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, Keith Besserud of SOM Black Box Studio, Kelly Blair of Central Standard Office of Design and Tristan d’Estree Stert of ORAMBRA as guest panelists on October 10, 2014 at the Offices of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill. Read more

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Old Cook County Hospital Adaptive Reuse Charrette

By Lectures/Presentations

Invited civic organizations presented their visions for the Adaptive reuse of the Old Cook County Hospital. The Metropolitan Planning Council’s team: UrbanWorks, Brininstool Lynch, DLA Piper, Jones Lang LaSalle, Gorman & Co., MacRostie, Kretchmer, Primera Engineers, Sterling Bay, and the Chicago Public Art Group envisioned a new EPICENTER to serve as a hub, locus, nerve center for the City of Chicago. UrbanWorks’ concept – EPICENTER: WORK, LIVE, HEAL led by Principal Patricia Saldaña Natke, Associate Principal Maria Pellot and Designer Jose Esquinca, celebrated and captured the spirit of the original building as an urban office campus with conference space, student housing, assisted living, a child care center, and healing gardens. Presentations were held at the Chicago Architecture Foundation. View the full design presentation here Read more

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CAF/CWA Emerging Chicago Tour

By Tours

UrbanWorks’ Galewood Charter School was part of the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Annual Emerging Chicago bus tour. The tour began at the CAF with an overview of the Lecture Hall Exhibit, followed by a stop at the GEMS World Academy, Clark Park Boathouses, and ending at the Galewood Charter School. Read more Also noted in NEWCITY’s July 30 Design Roundup: Pinups, Provacateurs, Proposals Read more

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CAF/CWA 40 Year Anniversary Exhibit

By Exhibits, Staff Happenings

Maria Pellot, UrbanWorks’ Associate Principal, Ameera Ashraf-O’Neil, UrbanWorks’ Senior Project Manager, and Patricia Saldana Natke, UrbanWorks’ Design Principal, are featured in the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Women Building Change-Celebrating 40 Years of Chicago Women in Architecture Exhibit. UrbanWorks’ Veterans Memorial School Campus, Catholic Charities All Saints Senior Residences, and the Galewood Charter School are on display. The exhibit is both a historical retrospective and a modern reflection on the process of design. Open to the public until December 2014. Read more

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AIA National Convention Tour of UrbanWorks Veterans Memorial Campus on the Chicago Schools: Designing for the 21st Century

By Tours
This 2014 AIA National Convention tour, Designing for the 21st Century, visits four Chicago schools to see how architects are designing and renovating spaces for the 21st century. UrbanWorks’ Veterans Memorial School is a 180,000 sq ft facility located in Chicago’s Archer Heights. Over 110 architects toured this abandoned baked goods manufacturing buildings which was transformed into two elementary schools and a high school, serving 1,800 students.  Veterans Memorial School is the receipient of the First Place Dreihaus Award for Excellence in Community Design and an AIA Chicago Distinguished Building Award.
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Granderson Stadium Grand Opening

By Milestones

UrbanWorks’ and Populous’ designed UICs Curtis Granderson Stadium officially opened on April 17, 2014. Granderson, a Flames Hall of Famer and current New York Mets outfielder was present to throw the first pitch. Granderson’s gift of $5 million to UIC is the largest one-time donation from a professional athlete to their alma mater. The new ball bark has total capacity of 1,784 seats, a press box, media suite, training room, team room, and two outdoor turf practice fields.

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Newcity 50 Designers

By Publications, Staff Happenings
Patricia Saldaña Natke is selected as one of the 2014 Design 50 by NEWCITY. “Design is no longer an afterthought. At this cultural moment, design has come to embody both the capacity for creative vision and the means of realizing it. Newcity’s 2014 Design 50 entries celebrate this cultural shift. For the second annual issue, we’ve sought out Chicago’s most respected-and most promising-designers from across industries. They are visionaries and doers. They are Chicago’s top creatives.” by Newcity’s F. Philip Barash. Read More
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