AIA-NJ Nominates Michael Graves to New Jersey Hall of Fame

Michael Graves, FAIA

AIA-NJ has nominated architect Michael Graves, FAIA, of Princeton, N.J., to the New Jersey Hall of Fame. The nomination was made by Stacey Ruhle Kliesch, AIA, president of AIA-NJ, which is based in Trenton, on behalf of the organization.

Graves has been in the forefront of architectural design since he founded his practice in Princeton in 1964. He is an influential theorist, as well as a diversified and prolific designer and an esteemed educator. In addition to his involvement in Michael Graves & Associates and the Michael Graves Design Group, he is the Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus, at Princeton University, where he taught for almost 40 years.

Graves’ architectural practice has designed over 350 buildings worldwide encompassing many building types. Since the early 1980s, his work has directly influenced the transformation of architecture from the preoccupation with buildings that reflect the abstraction of commercial modernism to those that display a sensitivity to geographical, architectural and historical context.

Turner Named to AIA Community Committee

Bruce D. Turner, AIA

TRENTON, N.J. (August 13, 2009) — Bruce D. Turner, AIA, a member of AIA South Jersey, was recently appointed to the 2009 Community Committee of the national board of AIA.

Turner, of Bruce D. Turner, Architect of Vineland, N.J., has been a member of AIA-NJ since 1985 and of AIA-NJ’s South Jersey section since 1986. He served as president of AIA-NJ in 2005 and president of the South Jersey section in 1995 and from 2000 through the present. He has also served on AIA-NJ’s Public Awareness Committee for eight years.

As a member of the AIA Board Community Committee, he will be charged with advising the board on a broad range of issues and initiatives bearing on the integration, facilitation and communication of the relationships of members to AIA, to each other and to society.

The focus of the committee for 2009 will be on what AIA can do to help increase member value, especially in light of the current economic downturn. The goal will be to identify actions that can be piloted in 2009. Turner will serve on a subcommittee that will also focus on membership issues.

“I’m very excited about this appointment, which will give me the opportunity to broaden my horizons beyond what is happening with AIA in New Jersey, as well as to make a contribution to the profession at large,” Turner said.

Turner is the sole proprietor of his firm, which provides architectural services to residential, commercial, retail and municipal clients. He holds a bachelor’s of architecture degree from the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Ind.

New Jersey Architects Inspire Students Through Mentoring Program

ACE Program Seeking to Expand in New Jersey

VINELAND, N.J. (JULY 24) – The highly successful ACE (architecture, construction and engineering) Mentor Program of America, in which building industry professionals, including members of AIA-NJ, serve as mentors for high school students seeking careers in the building industry, is seeking to expand in New Jersey.

The ACE program is seeking design and construction professionals to be mentors for the program, which now serves approximately 100 students in eight teams throughout the state, said Diana Eidenshink, manager of affiliates for the national organization. The program is seeking to double the number of participants.

“The program has been a huge success in New Jersey, thanks to the generosity of our volunteer mentors, cooperating businesses and participating schools and colleges,” Eidenshink said. “We want to expand the program to accommodate the growing demand from students who are interested in careers in the building industry.”

CANstruction at Prudential Center

(JULY 30, 2009) — AIA Newark and Suburban has announced that Canstruction, its annual design exhibition and contest to benefit community food programs, will be held for the first time this year at the Prudential Center in Newark N.J.

Through their “Jersey Hockey Fights Hunger” initiative, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils will host Canstruction, along with their annual food drive to be held during the Devils game on Nov. 14 vs. Washington at Prudential Center at 7 p.m. Almost six tons of food was collected last year by the Devils through their food drive and coaching clinics, which provided skills session for kids in exchange for canned food donations.

Update – Garden State Preservation Trust

On June 25, 2009, the State Legislature voted with strong bipartisan support in the Senate and Assembly to let the New Jersey voters decide in November whether to continue the State’s investments in open space. The timing was crucial, with the Garden State Preservation Trust essentially empty and no longer able to fund the NJ Historic Trust restoration grants or undertake new land preservation vital to New Jersey’s water supply, health and prosperity. The GSPT has been pivotal in supporting statewide and local efforts to provide for open space, parks, farmland preservation and historic preservation.

AIA-NJ, together with Preservation New Jersey and other coalition members of the New Jersey – Keep It Green Campaign, ask for your support. Please consider voting to support the funding of the Garden State Preservation Trust Fund this coming November.