Pennoni Associates is pleased to announce it has won the award for Stormwater Best Management Practices for its green roof design on The Radian, located at 3925 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. The project, being developed by University Partners, broke ground in May. This statewide program; hosted by the Philadelphia Water Department, Office of Watersheds; recognizes innovative stormwater best management practices in Pennsylvania.

The project integrates green roof areas into the public terrace level of a mixed-use facility that includes lower level retail space and a 13-story residential tower for student apartments, opening August 2008. The innovative strategy for stormwater management drains runoff from impervious areas of the roof into the green roof structure, maximizes the water retention on the roof, and controls the release rate into two underground stormwater management basins. Additionally, the plant design of the green roof will serve as a valued amenity to residents and the community at large. Pennoni also designed the streetscape and main entry courtyard for the development.

”This project is an example of how ecology, economics, and aesthetics can be balanced to satisfy not only the owner and the users of the building, but also broader environmental goals,” stated Marc Morfei, Philadelphia Senior Landscape Architect.

The project architect is Erdy McHenry Architecture. Roofscapes, Inc. served as subconsultant to Pennoni and provided key technical expertise for the green roof design.

Pennoni Associates has received an “Honorable Mention” award from the NJ Concrete and Asphalt Association for its involvement in the New Hope Woodland Terrace Revitalization project. The award will be granted during an annual awards dinner at The Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Brunswick, NJ.

During Pennoni’s work on the New Hope Woodland Terrace Revitalization project, the firm offered major subdivision application and construction phase services for the 80-unit residential development. Pennoni prepared submission plans for Green Acres application, Treatment Works Approval (TWA) and BSDW permit application packages for sanitary sewer and water main extensions associated with the major subdivision. In addition, Pennoni developed stormwater management system design to control stormwater runoff. All stormwater design was in accordance with State stormwater rules utilizing BMPs as required to obtain a Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA) permit.

Over the course of the project, Pennoni employed a variety of innovative methods to improve cost efficiency. Many economic benefits were realized including, less shoring and dewatering expense, reduced labor expenditure, and a benefit to the project schedule.

Pennoni Associates received the Grand Prize in the Cast-In-Place Concrete--Outside of Chapter Boundaries Category in the 16th Annual American Concrete Institute’s (ACI) Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware Chapter Awards for the Our Lady of the Atonement Church & School Addition project, located in San Antonio, Texas. This award is the second grand prize that Pennoni has received in this program.

Working with John Gibson Martin Architect and Green Mountain Construction Company Ltd. for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, Pennoni designed the structural system for the 58,000 square foot addition to the church and school. They were responsible for all facets of structural design, ranging from studies to final documents. The project included tilt-up construction techniques throughout the design, which was cost-effective as well as unique. When construction was completed, the facility included the enlarged church with two towers constructed of stacked tilt-up panels, classrooms, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, and an administrative space.

The American Council of Engineering Companies - New Jersey Chapter has selected Pennoni’s Catto Demonstration Community School and Boys & Girls Club of Camden project for a Distinguished Award. The awards program recognizes the best of the engineering and land surveying projects in the State of New Jersey.

The new school provides an enriching educational space which is joined to the new Boys & Girls Club, creating a safe space for children to learn and then to go to after school. Additionally, the school is open to the community for meetings and special events.

Hired by architect RMJM Hillier, Pennoni provided MEP/FP engineering services for the building. The school is designed as a Green Building, following the guidelines and principles of the LEED program. It incorporates a number of LEED elements that minimizes the impact that the facility has on the environment, including the use of sunlight for illumination when available, the use of construction materials with low volatile content, and non-CFC refrigerant for air-conditioning systems.

10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania recently presented a Commonwealth Silver Award to the design team of The Philadelphia Museum of Art Landscaped Parking Facility and Sculpture Garden Project. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, in collaboration with Atkin Olshin Schade Architects, key design team member OLIN Partnership, Pennoni Associates and countless others, created a 153,937 SF, 4-story 442-car underground parking facility infill project most notable for its green design and landscape features.

Opened for use in February 2009, the institutional project, designed by Atkin Olshin Schade Architects and the OLIN Partnership with engineering by Pennoni, is located on 3.24 acres of Fairmount Park and is situated adjacent to the Museum in a recreational zoning district. It has been praised by the Environmental Protection Agency for its forward-looking, environmentally sensitive and responsible systems and design. Created to harmonize with the Museum’s hillside contours, the facility is located on the Museum’s west side, facing Kelly Drive. 

The Commonwealth Awards help 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania put smart design and smart growth in the spotlight. Through these awards, 10,000 Friends aims to raise awareness of projects that successfully demonstrate sound land use principles around the Commonwealth -- development and redevelopment projects from urban to suburban to rural.

Sustainable development is the foundation of LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), a third-party certification program that consists of building and industry-specific rating systems to encourage and promote sustainable property development and green building practices. LEED provides a benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings. The LEED program is based on a "whole-building" approach to sustainability. The program measures and recognizes performance related to human and environmental health in terms of sustainable site development, water and energy efficiency, selection of materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.

Pennoni's multi-discipline team of over 25 LEED Accredited Professionals has worked on various aspects of the LEED Certification process from product registration and management through to the provision of technical expertise on LEED Credits.

When it comes to education, the campus fabric of green spaces, roads, parking, and walkways surrounding the buildings becomes the first and last impression of the institution for students, faculty, staff and visitors.  Good campus design through Landscape Architecture can enhance the image of a campus, improve vehicular and pedestrian circulation, and create a place of distinguished character.

Pennoni Associates interactively collaborates with representative members of the education institution; administration, faculty, staff and/or students as appropriate to develop and document an understanding of project goals.  A successful plan requires interaction and the confirmation of goals throughout the design process.  Our design expertise includes campus roads, gateways, parking, green space, landscape, walkways, plazas, athletic fields, play areas and selection of standard site amenities.  Our campus services include master planning, feasibility studies, detailed design, construction documents and construction observation.

Depending on the campus, Pennoni’s project design teams can consist of landscape architects supported with engineers and/or land planners whose combined knowledge and creativity leads to successful design solutions.  Pennoni’s design approach to campus projects is to analyze and design in context with the site and to leave a good lasting impression.  The lasting impression becomes a reflection on the education system and reaches far beyond the confines of the campus.
 

Frank F. Ulisse, PE, serves as Vice President and is Principal-in-Charge of MEP Engineering. Frank is responsible for managing the growth, operations, and quality control of the firm’s mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering services. Frank joined Pennoni Associates in 1994, and is an experienced project executive for multi-discipline engineering projects involving the design of electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and fire protection. Frank’s expertise specifically consists of medium and low voltage power distribution, lighting, grounding, power quality, and life safety. Frank is an Electrical Engineering graduate of Rutgers University, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New Hampshire.

Escalating energy costs, increasing awareness of greenhouse gas emissions, and an emphasis on sustainable design practices requires qualified, experienced energy professionals. Pennoni’s professionals enable their clients to achieve their energy consumption and greenhouse gas reduction goals. We provide energy evaluations, energy audits and planning, commissioning and renewable energy and alternative fuel solutions to our commercial, industrial and institutional clients. 

Pennoni has considerable experience in renewable energy and energy efficiency analysis and design, and can evaluate the economic and operational impacts of these technologies on a client’s facility.   New technologies are consistently being introduced to this market, and Pennoni can evaluate the impacts of these technologies on a technical, financial and company level.  Pennoni is an Energy Star partner and a corporate member of the United States Green Building Council.

To assist oil and gas companies in their mission to acquire and utilize domestic oil and natural gas reserves, Pennoni has developed substantial expertise to address the current growing demand for well permitting and engineering consulting services. Pennoni Associates’ environmental, survey and engineering teams have assisted industry providers in all phases of exploration, permitting and construction of oil and gas wells as well as distribution pipelines.  Our teams have surveyed and platted more than 40 gas wells in the Southwestern Pennsylvania Region (Greene, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties).  Pennoni is also providing GPS and Base Mapping, field staking, platting, Erosion and Sedimentation Control Plans and gas well permitting services for more than 160 additional wells across Pennsylvania.  Our staff has undertaken permitting for the Marcellus Shale assisting producers in well sites, water permitting, local agency approvals and highway occupancy permitting.

 Escalating energy costs, increasing awareness of greenhouse gas emissions, and an emphasis on sustainable design practices requires qualified, experienced energy professionals. Pennoni’s professionals enable their clients to achieve their energy consumption and greenhouse gas reduction goals. We provide energy evaluations, energy audits and planning, commissioning and renewable energy and alternative fuel solutions to our commercial, industrial and institutional clients. 

Pennoni has considerable experience in renewable energy and energy efficiency analysis and design, and can evaluate the economic and operational impacts of these technologies on a client’s facility.   New technologies are consistently being introduced to this market, and Pennoni can evaluate the impacts of these technologies on a technical, financial and company level.  Pennoni is an Energy Star partner and a corporate member of the United States Green Building Council.

The world of Education has made the shift from notebooks to laptops. Facilities today need to be equipped, both inside and out, to handle new technology and resources while still maintaining a pleasant atmosphere for students to thrive.

Pennoni Associates has excelled in providing professional design services to educational clients for more than four decades.  Our strongest asset is the ability to provide a specialized design team with the skills and talents necessary to provide quality and functional solutions within budget and on schedule to meet the needs of K-12 and higher education.

Pennoni has a history of developing excellent working relationships with the school staff to make sure their needs are being met. We successfully complete education projects on time and on budget, both through open-end contracts or individual project assignments. Pennoni Associates, whether directly or through an architectural client, interactively collaborates with representative members of the education institution, administration, faculty, staff and/or students as appropriate, to develop and document an understanding of project goals.  A successful plan requires interaction and the confirmation of goals throughout the design process.

Educational facilities are also challenged to not only keep up with changing technology, but to also be environmentally responsible. From kindergarten to college, schools are going “green.” Pennoni Associates successfully integrates sustainability and environmentally sensitive design with state of the art engineering and technology. We have experience with LEED certification and have several LEED Accredited Professionals on staff to ensure the stringent LEED guidelines are met.
 

Water, sewer, roads, and bridges; these are the interconnected physical elements that are the backbone of keeping our business and life flowing in our community.  Civil infrastructure is the foundation for the building blocks of a society, and must be properly designed, maintained, and preserved.

The importance of our critical infrastructure cannot be overemphasized. Whether it is damage from a natural catastrophe or simply the fatigue caused by usage and age, it is essential that money and expertise be invested to keep a community’s infrastructure healthy. Pennoni Associates has focused on keeping our region’s infrastructure in service and our communities thriving for more than four decades. We recognize the major areas of focus in today’s world: energy, water and sewer systems, education, and transportation. Green and sustainable design have become key to the future of our infrastructure, both in realizing cost savings through operation, and for receiving grant money at the local, state and federal levels.

Pennoni’s infrastructure project approach has always been a global one and one that requires the latest in technological advancements. We do not approach each design project as an individual effort; instead, we examine how that project influences all the systems around it.  Pennoni is collaborating with the leading academic institutions around the world in an effort to implement the latest technology and research in our quest to maintain our nation’s infrastructure systems. Combining technology with asset/program management protocols permits us to partner with our clients and assist them to best utilize their limited dollars in maintaining effective management of their infrastructure systems. 
 

Funding shortfalls and increased need are forcing state, county and local governments to do more with less.  Pennoni Associates has been helping government clients to do just that for more than four decades. We help our clients to maximize available funding to get the most out of each project completed.  We fully understand that this requires not only excellent technical skills, but also a project management approach that will keep completion and delivery of projects on time and on budget.

With our multi-discipline capabilities, Pennoni can help you conceptualize, plan, design, and construct your infrastructure and facilities projects. We work from the ground up, conception to completion, on public sector projects that improve the safety, efficiency, and functionality.. Pennoni has completed engineering design, planning, landscape architecture, and construction services for clients as small as a community of a few thousand residents to projects that impact an entire state.

Pennoni professionals are knowledgeable in local, state and federal regulations and permitting programs involved with planning, zoning, subdivisions, environmental, demolition, land development, utilities, stormwater management, wetlands, soil erosion control, code reviews and building permit applications among others.  We understand the complexities of doing work for the government, and help our clients to navigate the complicated processes necessary to gain both the funding and approvals necessary to bring projects to fruition.

We also bring our clients perspectives into how to better maintain and preserve the environment through sustainable and green design.  This approach provides annual operational energy savings to our clients.

Pennoni’s strength in project management is an essential component of our success in government projects. Pennoni managers take a global systems approach to each assignment, looking at not only the project itself but how it impacts the environment around it. We understand the  difficult balance between what the community needs and controlling the costs and schedules necessary to do so.  Our passion for engineering, commitment to serving the communities where we live, work, and play, and dedication to preserving the environment comes through in each project completed.