KSS Speaks at ERAPPA 2024

Partners Mayva Donnon, AIA, and Petar Mattioni, AIA, represented KSS Architects during the ERAPPA 2024 Annual Conference in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Both Mayva and presented alongside industry peers and valued institutional leaders sharing insights and lessons learned from in-progress and built college and university projects.

Mayva Donnon, AIA, presented Building Team Alignment Around Emerging Technologies with Kerry Phillips, RA, Lake/Flato, and Ken Schell, Gilbane.

Building Team Alignment Around Emerging Technologies

Innovation can be stifled by resistance to change. From procurement to construction to facilities management, this session explored various techniques to build buy-in for emergent technologies, such as mass timber, that will help organizations meet sustainability goals. Using Penn Engineering’s Amy Gutmann Hall, the first six-story mass timber building in Philadelphia as a case study, panelists discussed how to build buy-in through strategies that minimize risk and maximize the benefits of carbon reduction solutions. Attendees gained tools to advocate for emergent technologies while stewarding institutional resources and achieving long-term goals. The session covered tools to build a process addressing early risks, including budget, agency approvals, and code compliance.

Presented by:

• Ken Schell, Senior Project Executive, Gilbane Building Company
• Mayva Donnon, AIA, Partner, KSS Architects
• Kerry Phillips, RA, LEED AP BD+C, Associate, Lake|Flato

Petar Mattioni, AIA, presented Maximizing Institutional Resources with Multimodal Design with Kate Farewell, Zubatkin, and Laura Berman, Rutgers University.

Maximizing Institutional Resources with Multimodal Design

In higher education, strategic facilities optimization can create institutional resilience, energize campus life, and ensure long-term institutional success. Realizing these goals requires careful planning and strategic application of institutional assets. How does this process work, and what are the best practices for planning and designing for the future?

This panel used multiple projects across scale, institution type, budget, building typology, institutional goals, and more to explore how pre-existing campus assets can be reinvigorated and reimagined for maximum impact on current and future student bodies. By facilitating student engagement in the planning and design process and utilizing a human-centric approach to design, facilities can become multimodal, experiential environments that meet evolving campus needs and support strategic growth.

To address macro and micro facets of the process, the panel shared several academic case studies from a bird’s eye view, including a strategic renovation of Connecticut College’s Crozier-Williams Campus Center, which supports student well-being and underscores the importance of sustainability, an innovative reimagining of Penn State Hazleton’s library, and master plan updates from Sarah Lawrence.

Further, panelists from Rutgers University, Zubatkin, a Cumming Group Company, and KSS Architects took a deep dive into the transformation of 50-year-old Proctor Hall into a streamlined, wellness-oriented student services experience, giving attendees an up-close look from beginning-to-end of their strategic process.

Presented by:

• Laura Berman, Assistant Vice President, Architecture and Design, Rutgers University
• Kate Farewell, Vice President, Zubatkin, A Cumming Group Company
• Petar Mattioni, Partner, KSS Architects

What is ERAPPA?

ERAPPA is the Eastern Region of APPA: Leadership in Educational Facilities. Throughout its history ERAPPA has been dedicated to supporting the common interests of planning, maintenance and operations of facilities within the region’s educational institutions. It has aligned itself as a source for the promotion of professional ideals and standards designed to better serve its membership, and to continually foster a professional spirit among those engaged in this work.