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Timothy Paul Allen, AIA "Our goal is to maintain a general practice that is accessible to people who would not normally consider hiring an architect, whether that be a residential or commercial project. In other words, we do not specialize in a particular building type. It allows us to work on a wide range of projects." "I
see the people who are actually leading the
profession are the ones who are able to answer the
difficult questions about how you integrate
ever-changing technology into a very
tradition-bound profession, and addressing the
issues of pragmatically getting buildings
built."
"Personally, I think the "superstars," while they tend to be out in the public eye -- everyone knows Frank Gehry and Peter Eisenman --these guys are still practicing architecture after many, many years. Even though they seem to be the most visual at the moment, I don't necessarily see them as "leading" the profession because architecture is evolving as different challenges are encountered, and as different economic structures are put in place in the process of getting a building built. "I see the people who are actually leading the profession are the ones who are able to answer the difficult questions about how you integrate ever-changing technology into a very tradition-bound profession, and addressing the issues of pragmatically getting buildings built. We have more and more people on the project team. It's no longer just one architect posing an idea, there's a whole host of people, which may not have been that way in the past. There are certainly firms in Central PA that are doing a tremendous job. I got to know local architects a lot more when we were working on the Urban Studio Task Force. "This is a very tight-knit community. There are not a lot of architects around in this area, and generally speaking - we know each other. We get the same educational opportunities; we tend to go to the same social functions and so on. So there's an opportunity for the architects in the area to get together and fellowship. I wish there were more, and I wish all of us had time for more. "I didn't really understand much about the profession of architecture and the potential influences until I went to school in Philadelphia and saw some of the architecture that had come out of Philadelphia. In design school, I always enjoyed the modernists. I enjoyed Mies Van Der Rohe who had come over from Germany to Chicago prior to WWII. Also Louis I. Kahn from Philadelphia. I had several professors who were students of Lou Kahn in the '60's and '70's. "And I had some younger professors who were a big influence on me who are still practicing and who are doing some very interesting things in their own architectural practices. It seems to me, in college, while going through design training, the best influences were not necessarily the professors who had been there for 30 some years, who were a little bit stoic in their contemporary architecture. It was the adjunct faculty. The people who were only teaching part time, but who were spending most of their time building their own practices. They seem to be the most cutting-edge, and most up to date on what contemporary architecture was all about. They helped me tremendously, not only in my early years of design school, but also giving me a sense of direction." "I think there's been a bit of a lag or somewhat of a hiccup in the late '60's to the early '80's in Central PA. Not a lot of great architecture was being produced. I'm not sure why that was, but I think there was a lot of fantastic architecture produced in Central PA, particularly in Harrisburg in the 40's and 50's, but for some reason that had tapered off. "Perhaps people were not as accommodating to change and to changing attitudes. The architecture that is building today is a whole lot better because it seems to be addressing how society is changing, as well as creating a great environment in which to live." "I like that rural materials are being used. I'm not afraid to have a rural feel in the community. I also like that Cameron St. Corridor and Harrisburg University is on the move. I really feel there is a connection between Rural and Urban Architecture. I feel this area is parochial in terms of its limitations. There are many challenges with building code issues and the process of getting build approved. It's a relatively new process, and it will be worked out." "I
like that rural materials are being used. I'm not
afraid to have a rural feel in the community. I
also like that Cameron St. Corridor and Harrisburg
University is on the move. I really feel there is a
connection between Rural and Urban Architecture. I
feel this area is parochial in terms of its
limitations. There are many challenges with
building code issues and the process of getting
build approved. It's a relatively new process, and
it will be worked out."
I was working for a firm in downtown Philadelphia, but there was just no flexibility. I knew that if I was going to take some time off that I needed to start my own business. I began my business eight yrs ago in 1999 with the purpose of gaining some flexibility to potentially, in the future, go to graduate school. I became a registered Architect one year later. I stopped working at my other firm on August 31 and started my new firm on September 1. "It was a wing and a prayer sort of thing." "Cash in cash out." "I started with friends and acquaintances and with people I had worked pretty closely on individual projects with. From there, it was mostly just word of mouth. I did very little advertising. I started very slowly to build a client base. We were probably two or three years in before we were able to make a decent living. We were kind of struggling the first few years. I tried concentrating on smaller projects that I would have a little bit more of a competitive edge with lower fees and so on. "Our goal is to maintain a general practice that is accessible to people who would not normally consider hiring an architect, whether that be a residential or commercial project. In other words, we do not specialize in a particular building type. It allows us to work on a wide range of projects. That has its good and bad points. It has kept us flexible over the years, and we want to continue to be as flexible, but it hasn't allowed us to really concentrate on anything specific - building a portfolio of one particular style. For the most part, we like being generalists; we like to have our hands in a multitude of different projects. "Our competitive advantage today is that we are able to move very quickly. We are a smaller firm, which mean we have low overhead. We are able to work with other firms and jump on board with other professionals. I feel we can provide a local presence. When large projects present themselves we bring on other architects. I enjoy learning, growing, and finding out, "what makes other architects do what they do? "Recently, probably within the last year and a half, we have started working on larger-scale housing projects. We had been doing single-family homes, renovations and so on. We started getting in to multi-family housing. We like that kind of thing, because we like doing housing, but it allows us to kind of expand our design capabilities when dealing with more houses and dealing with larger projects. Now we can carry our single-family expertise to the next level, getting larger-scale experience. "In the past I've focused on general architecture - bank buildings, industrial buildings, some small educational buildings, a little bit of religious architecture and some residential architecture." Click
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