Alumni
Architect Values Collaboration, Challenging the Norm
Tim Hartung (’73 B.S. Arch) is all for challenging the rules—when it’s for the common good. “I believe architects should question rules and policies when changing them will ultimately benefit the community,” he explains.
Hartung,
a partner in Polshek Partnership in New York City, practices what he preaches. His firm recently designed
a new housing project located directly above a subway tunnel. Traditionally the new building would have been
designed to sit right on the tunnel—with reinforcements as required and lengthy and unpredictable reviews
by regulatory agencies during the design process. But by demonstrating that they could design a building that
was able to cantilever over the tunnel, the risk to the design schedule was eliminated. The design required
creative engineering and the use of nontraditional housing materials to achieve both the aesthetic goals for
a unique building image and the structural requirements to make it cost effective. According to Hartung, “the
result is a very special building that everyone is excited about.”
Hartung says his Penn State education in the early 1970s shaped his belief in challenging the norm and helped him embrace a collaborative approach to architecture. Raneiro Corbelletti was department head and, in a reflection of society at the time, emphasized “thinking outside the box” and working together with community stakeholders. “The message was that architecture should be a collaborative process to achieve both aesthetic and social results,” Hartung explains. Along with Corbelletti, professors such as Richard Plunz and Mike Pyatock had a major impact on Hartung’s current philosophy. “Tradition was thrown out the window; we were taught to question the rules and to work creatively for the collective whole, looking for ways to build consensus toward a quality solution.”
Hartung says Corbelletti was always looking for ways for his students to do something “different.” “He wanted to open doors for us, and give us opportunities,” he explains. One such opportunity was a threeyear collaborative project in San Leucio, Italy, with Eugenio Battisti, an art history professor from the Politrenico di Milano who later joined the Penn State faculty. Hartung, along with classmates Mike Graybrook, Jim Kells, Mark Liebendorfer, George Miller and John Sysko, analyzed the history of the community, documenting the evolution of the buildings while tracking the social consequences of the changes in order to make recommendations for future development. Some of those recommendations were used, as Hartung discovered when he recently returned to Italy to visit with the local families who assisted in the project, and with whom he remains close.
Hartung, who won a 2004 College of Arts and Architecture Alumni Achievement Award, says that honor is recognition that Corbelletti’s “scheme” for teaching architecture worked. With Polshek Partnership since 1978, he has served as management partner for many of the firm’s award-winning projects, including the Santa Fe Opera, Seaman’s Church Institute, Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Oklahoma City Music Hall, to name a few. He admits he never planned on a long career at the firm. “But I’m still here because of the environment that we [Hartung and partners Joseph Fleischer, Duncan Hazard, Richard Olcott, Jim Polshek, Susan Rodriguez and Todd Schliemann] have been able to create and grow with us. We maintain a studio-like atmosphere: sharing, learning, having fun and making good architecture.”
Before joining Polshek Partnership, Hartung spent five years at Pittsburgh firm Damianos and Pedone, where he worked on numerous projects at the Carnegie Museum. When he was interviewing with Jim Polshek, Polshek looked at his portfolio, saw the “Carnegie experience,” and hired him on the spot. Polshek Partnership had just been selected to design a master plan for Carnegie Hall. That was Hartung’s first project with his new firm and has evolved into a 26-year relationship for the organization, recently celebrated with the opening of Zankel Hall, a new 650-seat hall under the historic Isaac Stern Hall.
Hartung says collaboration and consensus-building are the foundation of all his work at Polshek Partnership. “I believe great architecture is a result of a team working together to build consensus, and it all starts with the client. There needs to be mutual respect and trust amongst all team members,” he explains, adding the design work is just the beginning. “I don’t think you can ever truly appreciate the interwoven aspects of economy, politics, engineering and art in architecture—these are all things architects need to think about. It’s not just designing buildings—it’s about finding opportunities to turn typical projects into something more that not only benefits the client, but gives back to society at large.”
Considering Hartung’s philosophy of teamwork and experimentation, it’s no surprise that he encourages aspiring architects to challenge conformity and to put themselves into situations where they have to collaborate. “Sometimes it’s a struggle to get younger people to work together, because too often they have been overeducated in the ways of self-indulgence,” he says. “But it’s the architect’s role to ensure that the environment evolves for the common good, to work together with other professionals to prolong the life of our planet, and to design buildings that are not only elegant, but also socially responsible.”
Class Notes
Architecture
Jack “Jake” Swerman (’35 B.S.) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 19, 2004. As of that date, he stopped offering the full architectural services he had provided for the past 60 years and now limits his work to architectural consulting. Although he will continue to work out of his personal office in Wallingford, Pa., he has become an associate of the Murphy Architectural Group of West Chester (www.murphygrp.com).
John Peter Barie (’65 B.Arch.) presented the continuing education program “The 75-Minute Project Management Primer” at the AIA’s South Atlantic Region convention in October 2003. At the national convention in June 2004, he presented “Tactical Project Management.”
Randy Hudson (’74 B.Arch.) is managing partner of the State College and Harrisburg offices of Hays Large Architects (www.hayeslarge.com). Among his current and recent projects are Penn State’s Eastview Terrace, a new 800-student undergraduate housing complex; the new Centre Region Public Library in State College; and projects for schools and universities in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. He also serves on the board of the State Theatre as it carries out its conversion to a new performing arts center for downtown State College. He is married to Cynthia Nixon (’74 M.Ed. Art Ed.).
LouAnn Fornataro (’80 B.A. General Arts) launched an online presence for her firm earlier this year at www.FornataroArchitecture.com.
Duane Phillips (’80 B.S.) continues to run his own firm, Phillips Architektur und Städtebau, in Berlin, Germany. Recently, his book, Berlin – A Guide to Recent Architecture, was released in its second edition. More information may be found on Phillips’ Web site, www.dp-arch.de.
The firm dommertphillips, where Andrew Phillips (’88 B.Arch.) is a partner, created the exhibition design of We Were There: Voices of African American Veterans, an exhibition that opened on May 22, 2004, at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The show will be on display at the center through November 30, 2004, and will then start a two-year national tour. More information may be found at www.constitutioncenter.org and www.wewerethere.net.
Richard Alderiso (’91 B.S. and B.Arch.) was named a principal of Tomaino Tomaino Iamello & Associates, P.A. (www.ttiarchitects.com) in March 2004 and became director of operations and production. His recent design work for the Deal, N.J. firm includes the Marlboro Early Learning Center and the Marlboro Memorial Middle School, which were both award-winning projects.
Integrative Arts
Jesse Colaizzi (’03 B.A.) recently became a broadcast graduate assistant and executive producer at Point Park University in Pittsburgh.
Landscape Architecture
Frederick Jarvis (’66 B.S.) joined the full-service planning, urban design, landscape architecture and graphic design firm EDSA (www.edsaplan.com) as an associate principal this year. He is based in EDSA’s Baltimore/Washington-area office, which opened in January 2004.
Jonathan Rybacki (’91 B.S.) is currently working as an environmental consultant with Apex Environmental, Inc., in the Philadelphia area. He lives in Sanatoga, Pa., with his wife, Kimberly, and their three daughters.
Judd Carstens (’03 B.L.A.) recently joined the Hilton Head, S.C. firm of Wood+Partners as a project planner.
Music
Lee Appleman (’76 B.S. Music Ed.) is on tour with The Producers, working as a drummer. The tour will take him through cities across the United States, including Washington, D.C., where he performed in the Kennedy Center this summer.
Susan Manus (’79 B.A.) was co-chair of the 2003 International Conference on Music Information Retrieval (ISMIR) in Baltimore, Md. In addition to her job as digital media project coordinator for the Library of Congress, Manus is active as a freelance violinist in the Washington, D.C. area.
Jim Villani (’84 B.M. and B.S. Music Ed.) was recently appointed to once again serve as interim conductor of the NOVA-Manassas Community Orchestra and as an adjunct assistant professor in the communications technologies and social sciences division of Northern Virginia Community College at Manassas. This is the same position he held during the 2002–03 season, when the conductor was on sabbatical.
Performing Arts
Dorrie DeLuca (’75 B.S. Ed., Concert Blue Band) received her Ph.D. in business administration from Temple University in 2003 and is now an assistant professor at the University of Delaware in Newark.
Class Notes continue on page 10
