Architecting Insights

Peron Development and USA Architects have teamed to work towards a multi-year revitalization of the former U.S. Pipe campus in Burlington, New Jersey. Taking full advantage of the waterfront and the blossoming revitalization of the downtown region, the U.S. Pipe Site promises to make a grand impact and symbolize a new age of revitalization for City of Burlington.

USA Architects Associate and Director of Sustainability, Marlene Borruso AIA,  breaks down what makes the Triad 1828 Centre in Camden, NJ, a LEED Certified building.

Associate and Project Manager, Marlene Borruso AIA, discusses in detail the everlasting impact the Children's Home Society of New Jersey's New Early Childhood Center will have on its community.

USA Architects’ CEO, Paul Swartz, was interviewed by LancasterOnline over the summer regarding the potential of a new Lancaster County correctional facility. 

USA Architects has one of the most accomplished Building Envelope Studios in the region from having managed and designed hundreds of millions of dollars in building envelope repair and replacement projects over the past 30 years.

Architect Doug Margaretta reviews a recent course that offered an engaging and practical overview of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), Health Product Declarations (HPDs), and the importance of these documents in the new LEED v4 rating system scheduled to go into effect this fall.

Allow me to describe to all of you what is currently occurring on several of our projects, regarding slate roofing, as food for thought on your next project if it has a place for slate.  When Shyam had to specify slate roofing on the Schaefer Auditorium @ Kutztown University he contacted the Evergreen Slate Co. in Granville New York.  They own and operate a huge slate quarry that straddles the New York /Vermont border and several smaller satellite quarries in the area.  The Sales Rep. gave us a Lunch & Learn on slate which piqued my interest, even though we have never used much of it in this office due to the high cost associated with it.

Light colored (reflective) roof tops, solar panel installations, and roof top gardens, are three viable green energy-saving solutions for businesses and homeowners to consider, that help reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Too much greenhouse gas traps heat in the atmosphere which causes gradual global warming.

When I was young I spent many hours brainstorming with one of my best friends, attempting to come up with a way to convince our parents to buy us a horse. We figured if we shared one, our chances went up considerably, right? From riding lessons and horse shows, to my high school job as a groom and trail guide, to my college job as a stable hand, to volunteering at Mylestone Equine Rescue in Phillipsburg, NJ, I’ve spent the last 20 years working with horses.

A library with no books normally would be considered vacant, but for Elizabeth Public School District this is the way of the future. At the John E. Dwyer High School students can expect to walk into a new Multi-Media center in the Spring of 2012 void of the traditional aisles of dusty texts. Instead, they will find comfortable couches, study carrels, and technology covering every inch of the space. The faculty at Dwyer is taking the leap into the 21st century and moving all of the books out of the library. The faculty is already using iPads to track attendance and grades and soon the students will be able to check out a laptop or iPad instead of the old textbooks that used to line the shelves. The cost savings in using technology over updating the texts is what has lead to this great push. 'Embrace technology' is the new anthem at Dwyer - a high school dedicated to teaching students with technology about technology.