UrbanWorks’ Sustainability Coordinator, Tej Varpe, volunteered for the USGBC Illinois Chapter Green Built Home Tour of +Plus House in Pilsen on Saturday, July 22. +Plus Houses are affordable, LEED Certified homes. Eleven High Performance Green Homes were featured, including those with high efficiency envelopes, foam insulated foundation, smart furnaces, CarbonCure concrete and radon venting. Each +Plus House was also solar ready. Read more
Ann Panopio joins the Advisory Board of Girls 4 Science, an organization dedicated to enhancing (STEM) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math literacy to 10-18 year old girls through hands-on laboratory and field experiences. Girls 4 Science is making science a reality for over 500 young women in the Chicagoland area. It is Chicago’s only all-girls science initiative in a peer-to-peer environment of encouragement. Go Ann! Read more
Maria Pellot will be volunteering at “Folding, Fanning, Flying and Forming”, a Youth + Architecture event produced by AIA Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools. The program, held at the SAIC Ballroom on April 26th, and led by Linda Keane, AIA, founder of NEXT.cc and Professor of Architecture + Environmental Design at SAIC, will explore paper patterns, geometry, engineering and biomimicry for approximately fifty 6th grade girls. Read more
Patricia Saldaña Natke, UrbanWorks’ founding partner, has joined the board of the Chicago Women in Architecture Foundation (CWAF). “Chicago Women in Architecture Foundation is a not-for-profit that supports the mission of CWA by funding the yearly Scholarship award, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Art Institute of Chicago Lecture Series in addition to numerous educational and networking events through the year. ” Scholarships are awarded to female students in their last year of studies based on the most outstanding Design Studio Project submissions. Pat has been a member of CWA since 1986 and previously served as its President.
Ann Panopio, formerly a Project Manager at UrbanWorks, has been promoted to Studio Director/Project Architect. As Studio Director, she coordinates, manages and mentors the staff, ensuring projects are collaborative. She is focused on project teams delivering exemplary work. As Project Architect, she continues to work directly on the design, production and delivery of our wide-ranging projects, identifying innovative solutions to complex design solutions. Congratulations, Ann! Read more
UrbanWorks was a Featured Partner Firm as part of the University of Chicago’s 8th Annual Professional Services Symposium. The event, held by the University’s Office of Business Diversity, is an opportunity for senior leaders at the University to network and build sustainable relationships with minority and women owned firms. In a “Fireside Chat” between NBC5 Chicago’s Marion Brooks and UofC President Robert J. Zimmer, the President affirmed the University’s commitment to a diverse professional services vendor pool by saying, “Diversity and Inclusion-we need to do more, not less.”
UrbanWorks’ Maria Pellot, Ann Panopio, and Patricia Saldaña Natke participated in CMAP’s Big Ideas Forum: Designing the Future- Gen X and Millennials in 2050. By 2050, metropolitan Chicago’s senior population is expected to double. CMAP, Enterprise Community Partners, and Lifetime Communities Collaborative held a panel discussion on technology, design, and development. Panelists included Shelley Stern Gach from Microsoft and Matthew Phillips from Senior Lifestyle. UrbanWorks’ Associate Principal, Maria Pellot, and Project Manager, Ann Panopio, were Design Facilitators for the afternoon interactive Design Charrettes where real-life projects explored design solutions and provided technical assistance. Read more
Patricia Saldaña Natke, UrbanWorks’ Principal, will participate in an AIA panel discussion titled “Opportunities, Obstacles and Economics” at the Build America Summit, held in New York City on November 30, 2016. The summit, hosted by the American Institute of Architects on November 29th and 30th, will serve as “a critical conversation to renew and rebuild America’s social infrastructure—the public buildings and spaces that are the heart of our communities” and will conclude with “recommendations to the incoming Presidential administration and elected officials across the country.” Other panelists include Kermit Baker, Chief Economist of the AIA and Christopher Leinberger, Chair for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at George Washington University. Moderated by Alan Greenberger, Drexel University Distinguished Professor, Department of Architecture & Interiors, Distinguished Visiting Fellow of the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation. Read more
UrbanWorks is pleased to welcome Pablo Jones to our team as Project Manager. Pablo brings over a decade of architectural design, site planning, code review and project management experience to the firm. His design philosophy of synthesizing complex design challenges into simple, yet functional and elegant spaces has been reflected in a portfolio spanning a variety of sectors, including medical, industrial, commercial, mid-rise residential, restaurant, single-family housing, office interiors and sound abatement. Prior to joining UrbanWorks, Pablo served as a Senior Project Manager at a commercial architecture firm here in Chicago. Read more
Robert Natke, UrbanWorks’ Principal presents “A2: Automobiles + Architecture” at PuchaKucha Vol. 39: 20×20 on September 6, 2016 at Martyrs 3855 N. Lincoln in Chicago. 8pm – 10:30 pm. PechaKucha is a presentation style which began in Tokyo. 20 images are shown, each for 20 seconds. They are informal gatherings where creative people get together and share ideas, works, and thoughts. PechaKucha Nights happen in over 900 cities. Rob will highlight the intrinsic links of automobiles and architecture in his life. Read more
