TALLER PUERTORRIQUENO CULTURAL CENTER RECEIVES AIA PHILADELPHIA DESIGN AWARD

Taller Puertorriqueno Cultural Center received a Merit Design Award at the AIA Philadelphia 2017 Design Awards Gala. Known as El Corazón Cultural del Barrio (The Cultural Heart of Latino Philadelphia), Taller Puertorriqueño uses art to promote development within its community and the Latino Diaspora and build bridges to the Greater Philadelphia region. SITIO Principal Antonio Fiol-Silva lead the project from feasibility to design and construction as designer and Principal-In-Charge.

A SHINING STAR: NATIONAL DESIGN AWARDS HIGHLIGHT STEELSTACKS' IMPACT ON COMMUNITY AND NATION

InQ, ArtsQuest's Magazine, reflects on the meaning of SteelStacks' successes in A SHINING STAR: National Design Awards Highlight SteelStacks' Impact on Community and Nation.   Hear from Bethlehem Leaders and SITIO Principal Antonio Fiol-Silva in the What they're saying about SteelStacks sidebar.   Click here to access the article by Mark Demko.

DESIGN OF NEW RIVERFRONT PARK IN BRIDESBURG KICKS OFF

Langan Engineering and Ground Reconsidered landscape architects, together with SITIO architecture + urbanism, began work on the new Bridesburg Riverfront Park and facilities, which will become a significant trailhead and gateway to the North Delaware Riverfront/East Coast Greenways.  

The 10+-acre park on the Delaware River, developed by the Delaware River City Corporation in partnership with the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Parks and Recreation, will open access to a spectacular panoramic swath of the Delaware River just north of the old Pennsylvania Railroad Lift and Betsy Ross Bridges.

STEELSTACKS ARTS AND CULTURAL CAMPUS RECEIVES 2017 RUDY BRUNER AWARD

Bethlehem’s SteelStacks campus was presented with the national Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence on Thursday September 7th. This multi-phased project was a part of a public-private partnership that involved, among others, the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority, ArtsQuest, PBS39, and the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, who donated the land on the historic Bethlehem Steel plant site. On behalf of this multi-award winning project, Tony Hanna, Executive Director of the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority, accepted this gold medal award - the Rudy Bruner’s highest recognition of urban places distinguished by their economic and social contributions to America’s cities.  SITIO's Antonio Fiol-Silva spoke about the unique challenges of the site and the transformational impacts that enhanced a vibrant arts and cultural community.  Fiol-Silva lead the SteelStacks Master Plan, The Levitt Pavilion, and the Hoover-Mason Trestle projects as Principal-In-Charge and Planner, and Karen Blanchard was the Design Architect.

ANTONIO FIOL-SILVA SERVES AS A ULI EXPERT ON CREATIVE PLACEMAKING IN DETROIT

ULI Michigan hosted a workshop with national and local experts to generate placemaking ideas for the Henry Ford Health System’s new state-of-the-art cancer center, which will be located south of its campus in Detroit’s New Center.  Made possible by a Creative Placemaking grant from ULI’s Building Healthy Places Initiative, with the generous support of the Kresge Foundation, the workshop - Chaired by ULI’s Senior Visiting Fellow in Creative Placemaking Juanita Hardy - explored opportunities to create active living, nutrition, education and community green space that links the cancer center with other healthy lifestyle assets in Detroit. 

ANTONIO FIOL-SILVA SERVES AS JUROR FOR ULI NORTH TEXAS IMPACT AWARDS

For the second consecutive year Antonio joined four other ULI experts from across the country to jury the 2017 ULI Texas Impact Awards in support of transformative land use developments, best real estate practices, and creative visioning.  The selection process included visits to over thirty projects, ranging in scale and type from Toyota’s new North American Headquarters in Plano to the new Eagle Family Plaza at the Dallas Museum of Art.  On October 3, 2017, the third annual Impact Awards Event will spotlight visionary developers and outstanding developments in North Texas, with the winners of the four competitive awards announced that evening at Union Station. 

BOXWOOD ARTS WITH SITIO'S ANTONIO FIOL-SILVA DEBUTS PLANS FOR NEW DOWNTOWN THEATER & CULTURAL CENTER

Boxwood Arts Group along with SITIO’s Antonio Fiol-Silva, recently unveiled plans for The Boxwood Arts Theatre and Cultural Center to Haddonfield Commissioners.  This new 26,000 sf Center includes a 365-seat theater, paired with a 4,000 sf ballroom and various art galleries set to elevate Haddonfield New Jersey into South Jersey’s premiere performing and visual arts. For recent press click here.

STEELSTACKS ARTS & CULTURAL CAMPUS NAMED 2017 RUDY BRUNER AWARD FOR URBAN EXCELLENCE GOLD MEDALIST

THE STEELSTACKS ARTS AND CULTURAL CAMPUS HAS BEEN NAMED THE 2017 RUDY BRUNER AWARD FOR URBAN EXCELLENCE GOLD MEDALIST!  This biennial award celebrates transformative places distinguished by physical design and contributions to the economic, environmental and social vitality of America’s cities. A nationwide committee of urban experts determined the winners from among five finalists, naming SteelStacks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Gold Medalist and recipient of $50,000 to enhance the project. Completed in 2016, SteelStacks is the $93.5 million transformation of an abandoned steel mill into a mixed-use art, cultural, and entertainment district that hosts over 1.5 million visitors annually for a variety of events.

This transformational project was created by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Bethlehem under the leadership of Executive Director Tony Hanna, and continues to enhance and honor the historical Bethlehem Steel site with a vibrant arts and cultural community symbolizing the rebirth of the region. SITIO's Antonio Fiol-Silva lead the SteelStacks Master Plan, The Levitt Pavilion, and the Hoover-Mason Trestle projects as Principal-In-Charge and Planner, and Karen Blanchard was the Design Architect.

SITIO WELCOMES BROOKE KERVI

SITIO welcomes Brooke Kervi to our team! Brooke joins us from Montana, bringing a variety of architecture experience from past internships while completing her studies at Montana State University. New to Philadelphia, Brooke is excited to explore this city and others along the east coast.  In her spare time Brooke is a soup aficionado and enjoys cliff jumping when back home in Bozeman.

REVIVING PHILADELPHIA'S CITY HALL COURTYARD

We’re excited to see City Hall’s Courtyard brought into the spotlight! As one of the City’s most iconic locations, the Courtyard is the obvious next public space to add to the recent revival of Dilworth Park and the soon to be completed Love Park.  While at WRT, SITIO’s Antonio Fiol-Silva was Principal-in-Charge and Karen Blanchard was Project Architect of this project that produced a historical report and proposed a design vision for this unique space. Additionally, Fiol-Silva also served as a juror for the place-making grant from Southwest Airlines.  For more information click here.

SITIO'S ANTONIO FIOL-SILVA TALKS IMPORTANCE OF EQUITY IN GRAND RAPIDS FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

SITIO’s Antonio Fiol-Silva, as faculty member of the Rose Center for Public Leadership in Land Use, collaborated with the National League of Cities and the Urban Land Institute to study equity in development of public land in Grand Rapids. The national experts spent the week in Grand Rapids to learn more about community plans and programs, local development tools, and conducted interviews with key stakeholders. As part of their investigation they sought to answer: How can Grand Rapids align its community and economic development policies, practices, and incentives to achieve a more equitable city? Antonio Fiol-Silva remarked that there is broad recognition that inequities exist in the city “In this community, all need to have access to opportunity for the community to succeed.”

For more information on this collaboration click here.

ROSE FELLOWSHIP FACULTY ADVISOR, SITIO’S ANTONIO FIOL-SILVA, GUIDES GRAND RAPID’S MAYOR

The Rose Center for Public Leadership, jointly operated by the National League of Cities (NLC) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI), is working this week with Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss to explore new and innovative ways the city can best utilize public land and finance incentives to support the community’s vision of vibrant neighborhoods with high-quality parks, a riverfront recreation trail, more mobility and housing options and economic opportunity for people from all walks of life. The Rose Center's mission is to encourage and support excellence in land use decision-making by providing public officials with access to information, best practices, peer networks and other resources to foster creative, efficient, practical and sustainable land-use policies. Each year, the center's Daniel Rose Fellowship program invites the mayors of four large U.S. cities to select a team with land use decision-making authority to receive technical assistance on a local land-use challenge. More information can be found by clicking here.