photo: Georgina Renee Johnson
Fine Arts
Architecture & Materiality, Philadelphia, PA
Georgina Renee Johnson
Architectural drafting and design require close observation of interrelated details as they relate to the whole. My work as a printmaker requires a similar process of slow, careful looking. Over the last few years, I have been merging these interests through stone lithography. Lithography differs from other traditional methods of printing, allowing one to create prints that look exactly like a drawing with varying shades of grey. Even within a limited series of a distinct image, each print carries an individual imprint and impression. My artistic practice in lithography requires precise drawing and the layering of subtle, gradated tones. The unique properties that emerge through the alchemy of stone, lithographic crayon, acid, ink, water, paper and press combine in my artwork to encourage viewers to look closely and appreciate complex architectural details and motifs through the organic textures imparted in a final image. My lithography practice has deepened alongside my work in architecture, and I believe my work in architecture benefits from my artistic practices as my understanding of and techniques in both grow and evolve. I am drawn to the beauty of classical elements and the transmission of light and shadow as they play across architectural details and find that the more time I’ve spent working in architecture translates into better composition, increased tonality and more refined rendering of my subjects. My recent works have been inspired by my experiences working in classical architecture firms and show a growth in understanding and fine attention to detail.
photo: John Milner Architects, Inc.
Historic Preservation
Krisheim, Philadelphia, PA
John Milner Architects, Inc.
George and Gertrude Woodward set their 40 acre estate, “Krisheim,” in Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill neighborhood at the center of a community they helped to shape. The c1912 Jacobean revival house was designed by Peabody and Stearns. Ten years prior, Olmsted Brothers Landscape Architects were enlisted to create a woodland and formal landscape so that, upon completion, the house would be nestled within a mature setting. The 28,000-square foot home features important examples of Yellin ironwork, Mercer tile, Willet leaded glass, and Violet Oakley murals. In the 1960s, the family donated the house to the Presbyterian Church. By the 1980s, it was renovated to create ten apartments. During its institutional and multi-family use, unsympathetic additions had significantly altered the home’s appearance.
In 2014, the family decided to restore the building to a single-family home. The painstaking five-year project included the removal of a four-story masonry egress tower, which required the reconstruction of the southeast façade. New Wissahickon schist and limestone masonry was meticulously detailed with hand-tooled patterns and textures. A second-floor porch was reconstructed, and the first-floor masonry porch was extended to its original width. The historic copper skylight was carefully replicated using the original glass panes. Historic materials were restored and reinstalled, including leaded steel casement windows and 1.5” thick slate roof tiles. Outdated building systems were removed, and new energy-efficient systems were skillfully integrated. The family’s collection of original art and furnishings were reinstalled using historic photos as a guide, neatly bringing the past into the present.
Key Partners
General Contractor: Dennis F. Meyer, Inc.
Structural Engineer: Larsen & Landis
MEP Engineer: IMEG (formerly Bruce E. Brooks & Assoc.)
Masonry Contractor: Joseph Manero and Sons, Inc.
Leaded Glass Restoration & Fabrication: Beyer Studio, Inc.
Metalwork Restoration: Holzman Iron Studio
photo: Jeffrey Totaro
Renovation / Sympathetic Addition
The University of Pennsylvania, Carey Law School, Silverman Hall, Philadelphia, PA
Voith & Mactavish Architects
Since 1850, Penn’s Law School has adapted to pedagogical shifts, technological innovations, and increased enrollment. The entirety of the school was once housed entirely in Silverman Hall (Cope & Stewardson, c.1900). Originally, Silverman’s second floor had large readings rooms. In the 1990’s, two of these grand spaces were divided into a conference event space and a classroom on one side, and two classrooms with a reading room in between on the other. Three phases of subsequent improvements serve as a model for adapting historic space for contemporary use while restoring character.
Phase one: The central corridor was reconfigured and refinished in the style of the surrounding historic architecture. A small original reading room subdivided into cubicles with partition walls, was returned to its original footprint and became a classroom which also serves as the school’s board room. Two other classrooms and restrooms were renovated.
Phase two: The three classrooms that were portions of the grand reading rooms, suffered from poor acoustics, outdated systems, and the postmodern partition walls were reconfigured, sensitively modernized, and thoroughly restored with the integration of new systems, new lighting, and new partition walls that are consistent with the original architecture. They are now considered the finest classrooms in the law school’s complex.
Phase three: The Levy Conference Center and the small reading room were renovated, underwent a similar modernization and restoration, and is now a high-end venue for a wide array of events. Kabacoff Reading Room is a quiet space for studying in between classes.
Key Partners
General Contractor: Wolfe Scott Associates
General Contractor Ph 1: Bittenbender Construction
Structural Engineer: Keast & Hood
MEP Engineer: Burns Engineering Inc.
MEP Engineer Ph 1: IMEG (formerly Bruce E. Brooks & Assoc.)
Acoustic Consultant: Metropolitan Acoustics
Lighting Consultant: O’Donohoe Lighting
photo: McCrery Architects
Interior Design (non-residential)
Hillsdale College, Hoynak Hall, Hillsdale, MI
McCrery Architects
Hoynak Hall sits within the Dow Hotel and Conference Center on the campus of Michigan’s Hillsdale College. Built more than fifty years ago, its amenities and aesthetics had become outdated and uncomfortable.The college enlisted the design architect to beautify and revive the 8,100 square-feet of event-space.The year-long renovation was completed in November, 2021.
The hall posed a number of challenges: Cramped spaces, dated finishes, cantilevered catwalks causing low head-heights, and no access to natural daylight. These had to be overcome on a modest budget of $2.9-million.
A new mezzanine supported by free-standing columns replaces the original curtained overhangs. It opens to the hall below, widening and ennobling the space. The columns – based on Asher Benjamin’s “American Order” from The American Builder’s Companion – impart a practical but elegant architectural language, appropriate for a Midwestern college with 19th Century roots. The original brick walls are furred out with wainscoting and house climate-controlled built-in-cabinets for displaying historic artifacts.
A new formal staircase provides access from the hall to upstairs conference-rooms and allows guests to make a grand entrance. The staircase faces a fireplace, engraved with Hillsdale College’s motto. The room’s coffered laylight ceiling gives a greater feeling of openness, brightening a hall that long suffered from poor quality lighting.
Since the completion of the renovation, Hoynak Hall has become Hillsdale’s most in-demand space for lectures, conferences, and receptions. The project is a model for beautifying and ordering a poorly- designed existing space on a budget with simple improvements.
Key Partners
Architect of Record: Progressive A&E
General Contractor: Rockford Construction
photo: Jeffrey Totaro
Interior Design (residential)
Millbrook School Pulling House, Millbrook, NY
Voith & Mactavish Architects
Millbrook School required a new Headmaster’s House to replace the original. The design honors the essence of the original in its exterior and interior.
The interior presented a unique challenge: balancing the formal, public-facing spaces used for events along with private family areas. This family wanted a young, fresh outlook, allowing the public spaces to be welcoming to students, families, and alumni. The design clearly delineates the public and private areas. Two entries with a division between the kitchen and formal dining room create a functional boundary. A private staircase connects the family entrance to bedrooms, bathrooms, and a laundry room above. A separate staircase leads to visitors’ accommodation.
Project scope included the house and interiors for the public spaces, including the guest room. Our design approach used traditional forms and layouts while choosing colors, patterns, and textures that are bright and strong. The limited interiors budget was $150,000, and as an extra challenge, the school did not want to reuse any of the furnishings. We salvaged key architectural elements from the original house.
The Head of School wanted a contemporary study, and the result is a room that is influenced by mid- century modern. The dining room is a nod to Scandinavia and the kitchen’s informal country furniture accommodates the family’s lifestyle. The blues, whites, and greys reference the school’s colors, while the contrasting rusts and oranges give the palette life and vibrancy. The design of millwork, finishes, wall coverings, and furniture selection, balances Millbrook’s visual tradition with modernity.
Key Partners
Consigli
LRC Group
DiSalvo Engineering
Kohler Ronan
photo: Jeffrey Totaro
Large Architecture (non-residential)
Linda L. Bean Conference Center, Wilmington, DE
Michael G. Imber Architects
Set above the banks of the Hoopes Reservoir and adjacent to a historic 1930s mansion serving as the ISI headquarters, the Linda L. Bean Conference Center provides a rare opportunity to contribute to the landscape of the historic Brandywine Valley. Surrounded by rolling hills and dense forests, the new building takes cues from local vernacular architecture and Georgian details of the existing house that has served as the hub for the organization since 1994.
It was important that the Center take advantage of its site and the views, but also be complementary in its composition and scale, not detracting from the headquarters while meeting the programmatic needs of a new events space that reflects the values of the institute.
The conference center combines a welcoming, residentially-scaled Foyer and a pavilion-like and barrel-vaulted Event Hall to provide flexible public spaces that will host lectures, banquets, and seminars for the students and members of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, while the Entry Court and Courtyard provide additional outdoor space to be used during both larger public events and their day-to-day operations.
The materiality of the project—including oak flooring harvested from the woods of Maine owned by the name benefactress, an antique King of Prussia marble fireplace surround, decorative iron detailing, slate roofing, cut stone columns, the richly textured reclaimed local field stone, and elegantly detailed oak millwork—tie the project to its landscape, the history of the property, and the rich tradition of American building arts in this region.
Key Partners
Contractor: Wohlsen Construction Co.
Masonry: The Borsello Companies Inc.
Roofing: Farrell’s Roofing
Iron Work: Summit Steel Inc.
Trim & Paneling: J. C. Snavely & Sons Inc.
Entry Doors: Historic Doors, LLC
photo: The D. H. Ellison Co.
Small Architecture (non-residential)
Remodeling at the Sheoga Hardwood Flooring Company, Cleveland, OH
The D. H. Ellison Co.
The project began with a casual conversation about improving the work environment and customer experience at Northeast Ohio’s leading hardwood flooring manufacturer. It quickly became a comprehensive make-over of the showroom, offices and the corporate image of Sheoga Hardwood Flooring Company. The site is located east of Cleveland in the rolling hills of the Western Reserve. Simple, Greek Revival-style and vernacular buildings characterize the area’s neatly kept Amish farms. 50-some years ago, the owner’s father and business partners built the facility in a practical style, splurging on brick veneer and a large gabled roof supported on slender posts. With a generational transition, the owner wanted to convey an image of a modern business while referencing the area’s historic and classically inspired architecture.
A few modifications to the roof, windows and exterior walls helped transform the non-descript building into a destination. Inside the showroom, simplifying the presentation of Sheoga’s wood flooring products made it easier to illustrate different species, cuts, and finishes. Remodeling the offices created opportunities to showcase hardwood countertops and moldings made related enterprises, The Hardwood Lumber Co. and Mouldings One. Minard LaFever’s building manuals inspired many of the oldest homes in the region. Tudor, French, and Georgian period interiors fill the Gilded Age and early 20th-century homes of nearby Shaker Heights. The restorations at Colonial Williamsburg set the tone for post-war suburban developments. Each office offers builders, designers and homeowners a chance to recall the building and decorating traditions of Northeast Ohio and inspiration to carry them on.
photo: Jeffrey Totaro
Small Architecture (non-residential)
Millbrook School, Anthony House Alumni & Development Office, Millbrook, NY
Voith & Mactavish Architects
Anthony House, a center for alumni relations and development, is a prominent new addition to Millbrook School that supports important campus programs with contextual sensitivity. Although only a few years old, it already looks and feels like a well-established part of the campus fabric – just as the school intended.
Millbrook, founded in 1931 in Dutchess County, NY, has maintained a deliberately residential scale on its rural campus. Anthony House sits at the “heart” of the school, Pulling Circle, which defines the core of the original campus plan. The square, two-story building is traditionally detailed with a symmetrical brick façade, quoining, and rowlock base. A brick belt course accents the second-floor windowsills and a classical Georgian cornice, inspired by historic campus buildings, terminates the façade and graciously supports the slate hip roof. A formal extension breaks the façade while creating a connection between the primary reception room on the first floor and a stone terrace overlooking campus.
The interior is organized around a double-height atrium, illuminated by a large laylight. The reception room, on axis with the atrium and directly visible upon entering, balances the durability requirements of an institutional space with the home-like experience Millbrook wanted to evoke. Visitors can relax among the comfortable soft seating, or they can leverage the adjacent office as a touchdown space to work. In addition to staff offices on both floors, the program also includes a flexible conference room and a staff kitchenette that also helps support catering prep for meetings or events.
Key Partners
Consigli
LRC Group
DiSalvo Engineering
Kohler Ronan
photo: Ferguson & Shamamian Architects
New Residential Architecture (5,000+ square feet)
A New Residence and Barn, Chagrin Falls, OH
Ferguson & Shamamian Architects
This project in Ohio is comprised of a new house, a salvaged barn, and a renovated existing horse barn set on twenty-five acres outside Cleveland. It was executed during the COVID pandemic and completed entirely via remote video meetings. There were no in-person site meetings.
The owners wanted a home for their young family and were inspired by farms and equestrian estates in Virginia where they spent many years. The site is laid out as a cluster of buildings, all accessible for living, entertaining, and caring for animals. The team conceived many iterations and video models to create an approach to the main house that would take advantage of the setting and let the house reveal itself slowly.
The main house is inspired by Federal and Georgian profiles and has high ceilings and large open spaces, including hallways and landings. In place of a formal dining room, there is a “tavern room”, echoing colonial paneled taverns with several tables for large and small gatherings. Main floor features also include a coffered ceiling billiard room, a library rich in detailed custom millwork, and a mudroom with oversize sliding doors and transom window.
The barn is divided into three sections that serve as an entertainment space, an office, and a workshop and includes modern systems and insulation. The 100-year-old structure was salvaged from central Ohio, disassembled and rebuilt on site. During reassembly each beam was custom tapered to correct a century of warping, and original windows were faithfully recreated and reinterpreted.
Key Partners
Associate Architect: David Ellison
Interior Designer: Jennifer Merriman
Landscape Architecture: Kendra Taylor Landscape Architecture, LLC
General Contractor: Brookes & Henderson Building Co.
Lighting Designer: Ron Friedman Lighting Design
Civil Engineer: Hess & Associates Engineering Inc.
photo: Elizabeth Hentges-O’Loughnane
Student Project / Portfolio
Winchester Care Home (unbuilt), Winchester, Hampshire, UK
Elizabeth Hentges-O’Loughnane
As an aging population, the United Kingdom must consider the future care of its citizens, who are facing a crisis of care. At its core, care begins within the home, an integrated and personal community of loved ones who look after one another. The historic urban fabric of Winchester creates these opportunities implicitly, yet today architects must make conscious decisions to create spaces that knit communities together and dignify their beloved members. The method of Winchester’s continued development is entirely a choice and the ethical framework for that choice must be articulated.
In recent years, the United Kingdom has moved away from the more traditional approach to care, involving communal accommodations such as church-run almshouses (the earliest example still sits in the Itchen River Valley), or even private care homes, and has opted for a National Health Service at-home approach to care. This approach requires plentiful care staff, which are not able to meet the current or likely increasing demand for care.
The reality of elderly isolation in the UK was especially evident during the pandemic, when many people fell into worsening health scenarios, or even passed away, without the notice of their communities.
In response, I am proposing to reimagine the medieval almshouse for Winchester as a new care home, with 27 cottages, a commons, chapel, refectory, and gardens be incorporated into the new Central Winchester Regeneration Plan underway right now.
Key Partners
Thesis Design Advisor: Professor Christopher Miller
photo: Patrick Whalen & Trace Chitwood
Student Project / Portfolio
Corcoran School Addition (unbuilt), Washington, DC
Patrick Whalen & Trace Chitwood
In seeking to design an addition to the George Washington University’s Corcoran School of Fine Art and Design, presently located at the Corcoran Gallery, one of the primary objectives that influenced the development of the expansion was the need for a strong presence on the west side of the site. As the Corcoran Gallery is isolated from the main concentration of the University’s campus, strengthening the connection to that concentration through Rawlins Park to the west was a key requirement. This is addressed by a remarkable and distinctive facade that is oriented to provide a symmetrical appearance across Rawlins Park. This posed an additional challenge, as the axis established from Rawlins Park is discrepant from the main axis of the existing Flagg Building of the Corcoran Gallery by approximately 50 feet. Fortuitously, it would be precisely at the critical juncture where the addition must meet the existing building that Charles Platt, in his 1928 addition, would himself shift the primary axis of the Corcoran Gallery in his stair hall. The expansion builds upon this shift, leveraging it as a step to bridging the axes. The connection between these axes is then made by the grand court, the superposed orders of which are intended to perform a didactic function for the School’s Interior Architecture program in addition to providing a beautiful space for the School.