Right down to the details

Not only did Dennis Kowal Architects design this new children’s room, they designed the furniture too!

What do you do when you need a child-sized chair that is fun and durable but nobody sells it?  Dennis Kowal Architects decided to design the chair and have it manufactured.    Because of the unique design, the chair can be flipped down for sitting close to the floor or used upright as a conventional seat.  Bright colors were added in an assortment of pastels to compliment the new children’s room.  A wood prototype was built by Dennis Kowal Architects to study the right height for a child and to understand ergonomics of the shape.  Once a comfortable profile was developed,  the design was modified for image and ease of manufacture.  Construction drawings were sent to Scotti Powers of Workplace Technology Furniture who manufactured the chairs in Vietnam for Dennis Kowal Architects.

The children’s Story Room contains another type of Dennis Kowal Architects designed furniture.  Wall murals of bedposts, refrigerators, and comfortable chairs adorn the Craft and Story Room.   Children’s favorite characters hide behind every corner ready to pop out and play.  Exposed wood trusses and a small-scaled covered porch entrance provide a cottage-like location for adventure and make-believe.

And when you can’t build the furniture, you can specify some very interesting stuff.  While the desk and bookcases were milled to Dennis Kowal Architects specifications including a special  grapevine inlay, this Young Adult area got some basket chairs and finger chairs to add the fun.

Dennis Kowal Architects designs interiors right down to the fine details!

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Design wins 2013 Green Building Award

The Virginia US Green Building Council (JRGBC) honored these offices with the 2013 Green Building Leadership Award.   Last year, the United States Green Building Council certified the project LEED Gold.

Taking a 1960′s, 25,000 square foot building in Richmond, Virginia, Dennis Kowal Architects transformed the existing building into a modern office environment and training center.   With only small additions at both ends and an imaginative infilling of an underutilized open courtyard, the total gut-renovation put back an energy efficient and low VOC office environment.

Even interior offices have views and daylight thanks to the new plan layout (see below) and use of “borrowed lights”, windows that open to adjacent rooms with natural light.  Outside offices have operable shades to control the light and glare-free indirect lighting fixtures are used in the major spaces.  The changes in lighting and equipment reduced the energy use by 15% and occupant satisfaction and comfort has risen dramatically from the pre-renovation building.

Low-flow plumbing fixtures reduced water usage by 30% and save 34,000 gallons of water per year.   All heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning equipment and controls were removed and replaced with a new variable system with energy recovery technology. The deteriorated single-pane window units were replaced with double-pane, thermally insulated units with low-emissivity coating to reduce solar heat gain and the skylight is made of a highly insulated translucent sandwich panel.   The existing metal halide site lights were upgraded to new light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures and new vehicle recharging stations were added to the parking lot.

The general contractor salvaged and recycled 87 percent of all construction and demolition debris, used regionally-manufactured building materials containing recycled content, and purchased wood products harvested from sustainably-managed forests.  Indoor air quality was protected from the start of construction and later by use of low-emitting building materials and furniture.  The owner is continuing with this effort using green cleaning products and equipment.

Even the old and leaking flat roof has been covered with a hipped standing seam metal roof that reflects the sunlight and lowers the heat island effect through the use of a reflective solar paint.

The project was a team effort with Dennis Kowal Architects as the principal designer and disability expert.  DKA partnered with Mosley Architects of Richmond to provide the construction documents and LEED submissions.   Colorado Architect, John Dickerson, was the project’s hearing impaired consultant.   Together, Dennis Kowal Architects, office building designers, and specialist in the design for the blind and physically handicapped,  designed this award winning plan for the renovated administrative offices and training center for the Virginia Department of the Blind and Visually Impaired center in Richmond Virginia.

Dennis Kowal Architects designs office environments with the occupants in mind.

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Humble on the outside and colorful on the inside

Phase One of the Praise Presbyterian Korean Church features a multi-purpose worship space, fellowship hall and administrative offices.

Like the Korean Culture, this new church is humble on the outside and colorful on the inside.  The Praise Presbyterian Church has services in Korean and English and is a mix of generations.  Since family structure is an important dynamic, the architecture of the new building exposes the elements of its structure.  The tops of columns branch out like a “family tree” and energy-saving translucent panels simulate rice paper screens.  The facility has a modern appearance and becomes an embracing backdrop for the colorful presentations of folk culture, classical music and worship.

Natural light floods the interior of the church and spacious hallways become galleries that are used for constantly changing exhibits and art.   The translucent wall panels are 4” thick and contain a clear spun glass insulation that allows light to pass without the heat.

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The structure of the unique stair case is fully exposed.  The stair is actually hung by suspension cables and floats three stories within the translucent stair tower.  At night, the stair towers glow and become a beacon of hope to the community.  Begun by a handful of college students meeting at Rutgers University, the church is now a large congregation of young professionals with their parents and grandparents.  The facility supports their church services, fellowship, and many musical performances by the talented congregation.

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The acoustically tuned multipurpose room has movable seating and can transform into a gymnasium.  The carpeting is a “true bounce” carpet that performs naturally for basketball and other sports.  Sophisticated lighting, sound, and video systems give the facility great flexibility and use.

Dennis Kowal Architects design buildings that resonate with the culture of the organization.

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OZ comes to New Jersey

This dreamy new Library creates a world of its own on a mountaintop in Mt. Olive,  home to John Neill the illustrator of the famous Wizard of Oz books.

Mt. Olive, rich in iron deposits, attracted a number of famous artists who enjoyed the peaceful, wooded landscape and natural materials they could use in their art.  The foreman of the Louis Comfort Tiffany studios, the sculptor of the Atlas Statue at Rockefeller Center, and the illustrator of the Frank Baum Oz books all lived here.  Given  an eight acre site with sweeping views, DENNIS KOWAL ARCHITECTS was sure to include generous windows, natural  stone materials, and a tribute to John Neill, the illustrator of the famous Oz series.

The Library is “V” shaped  with an adult and children’s wing.   The local history section displays some of the original Oz books while the children’s wing is entered through a stone gateway that depicts the lion, the tin man and the scarecrow.  The Library interior reflects the agricultural history of the town with barn-like exposed heavy timber trusses and a carpet embroidered with Olive branches!

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The Children’s room features cloud-like light fixtures, a story room that looks like a cottage, and stone pillars that divide the sections.  The custom designed shelving units have end display cases that feature books and themes.   Residents feel that the Library is a perfect complement to their community.

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.Yellow brick appropriately covers the floor at the entrance to the Children’s wing.		John Neill first illustrated Dorothy as blonde and about ten years of age.

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Huff and Puff and blow your house down

Just 100 mph winds snaps this roof off a standard code house in this test chamber.  DKA is designing a new fortified home along the Jersey Shore using inexpensive techniques that exceed the new building codes.   These techniques were used on the house on the right and building envelope stays intact under test.   Click on the picture to watch a video of the test.

Simple design changes which add only 1% to the cost of materials for a new home or office can make all the difference in the world during a storm.    Some of the changes will be code required, but some of the changes must be requested by the Architect during the design process; these include high-wind rated shingles, high-wind rated siding, exterior doors that don’t blow in under high winds, 5/8” thick roof sheathing, and ring shank nails which have better holding power.  The insurance industry is the largest consumer of roof shingles and following these practices can reduce losses and claims.  If you lose your roof during a storm, it doesn’t much matter whether the rest of the structure remains, the contents and structure will be ruined anyway.

Stephen Malyszka of Dennis Kowal Architects completed a seven hour training day on redesigning safely for Hurricanes, Flooding, and Seismic activity.  Hurricane Sandy which affected 11 states and will be known as the second largest weather event to ever affect the United States has caused everyone to focus on better design practices when rebuilding.    Stephen is currently designing a home in Belmar, New Jersey, just two blocks from the coastline and at the center of the land fall during Hurricane Sandy.   Belmar lost all but 20 reusable feet of its boardwalk and had significant damage to many of its homes due to wind and storm surge damage.  Houses must be designed to resist lateral movement of storm surges that try to push a house off its foundation, braced against the toppling wind pressure and tied from roof to foundation with a continuous load path structure.     Foundations and pilings must be protected from scouring during riverine or coastal flooding and decks and porches often require and independent structures allowing them to break away cleanly from the main structure.

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The tattered boardwalk in Belmar showing the destructive power of the storm against an engineer’s best design efforts.		Belmar flooded from both the ocean side and bay side.
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Welcome to Belmar and a pile of debris that once constituted a lot of houses.		DKA is practicing fortified house design to prevent the kind of damage seen after Hurricane Sandy.
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Dennis Kowal Architect believes that beautiful homes are also safe homes.  No one expects a disaster. Too often short cuts during construction compromise a structure.  DKA provides construction administration to monitor construction and enforce quality.

Stephen Malyszka of Dennis Kowal Architects attends an in-depth training on reinforced house design.

Dennis Kowal Architects improves the way we build!

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Does lightning strike twice!

More than ornament, lightning rods played an important role in building safety for over a century and long before the invention of electricity.  DKA is restoring such a structure.  American lightning rods in the 18^th century were pointed like this one while the British counterparts thought a metal ball at the tip was more likely to attract the lightning charge.

Apparently, lightning strikes twice often, because it was common in the late 18^th and early 19^th Century to add 4 1/2” decorative glass balls to the top of lightning rods to inform the owners if their barn had been struck by lightning.  The lightning strike would break the glass and the owner would know to check the conductor cable and ground connection, as well the structure, for damage.  Restoration is underway on four lightning rod terminals that adorn the historic Hendrickson-Atchly Farmstead (shown above) as one small part of the 18^th Century Farmhouse historic restoration.  Two lightning rod terminals were somewhat intact and two terminals were badly damaged and missing components.

Dennis Kowal Architects did not want to lose this piece of history and determined to restore the lightning rod terminals.  After showing the existing broken rods to a blacksmith, the firm was told that they couldn’t be re-tapered.  It was suggested that tapered rods could be duplicated by working from new material.  Dennis Kowal, preferring restoration over duplication, said “If specialized blacksmith skills are needed to restore the lightning rods, I will learn those skills and restore the rods myself.  This piece of history should be saved and not lost or replaced with a modern look-alike if at all possible.”

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First invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1749, the lightning rod works by allowing the lightning charge to reach the ground through an external cable that is isolated from the structure. (Note how the cable is held off the metal roof by ceramic stand-offs.)  Without this diversion, the lightning would pass through the less conductive elements of a building like the timber.   Lightning that uses the wood superstructure for grounding super heats the wood moisture as it attempts to pass through and causes destruction and fire.		This Kretzer Brand lightning rod is missing some isolators, the glass ball, and the vertical tip also known as the Franklin rod or air terminal.   It was hoped that two badly degraded lighting rod terminals could be restored.   After no success in finding someone able to repair the existing lightning rods, DKA decided to restore them with their own hands.
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Dennis J. Kowal AIA,  apprenticed as a blacksmith in Guillford Connecticut to master the art of re-making the missing iron components.		The lightning rod is inspected for missing components and damaged welds.  Work begins by re-forging the missing pointed air terminal.
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Pieces of 100 year iron from abandoned cabling in the original lightning grounding were reclaimed for reworking into the air terminals.  The iron was heated in a coal forge to 2500 degrees which allowed it to be drawn and re-shaped.		Dennis drew the ends to a taper and then forged a point.   The metal can only be worked a few seconds at a time before it must be reheated; otherwise the metal fractures instead of yields.

Kretzer Brand lightning rods were manufactured in St. Louis Missouri.  The glass balls came in dozens of colors and finishes to personalize the lightning rods and were often sold by salesmen traveling from farm to farm by horse and carriage. The glass globes in this project were actually clear when originally installed and are a bit rare.   Today, collectors value and collect these glass globes.  The lightning rods on this house were probably installed in the early 1900’s because they match the patent drawing from the Kretzer company from about this time period.  Nearly finished, the lightning rod now has ceramic isolators, a glass ball, and a restored air terminal.

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Thomas Edison endorses the concept of a lightning rod in this letter used in a 1919 Michigan Cass City Chronicle newspaper ad stating “…I would say that in my opinion a building may be protected from lightning by a properly installed system of continuous conductors of ample capacity, WELL INSULATED FROM THE BUILDING.”		Sidney D. Kretzer received patent number 42173 in 1912 for this lightning rod which matches the design of the rod on the Atchely Farmstead.  Sometimes weather vanes and attractor balls were added to the top.  There have been over 329 patents for lightning rods since the 1850’s.

Contrary to popular belief, lighting rods do not “attract” lightning any more than the plumbing vents, old TV antennas, or any other roof structure.  Instead, lightning rods re-direct the energy (when lightning does strike) keeping it outside of the structure and running it safely to ground.  Church steeples, often the highest point in town, do have a deserved reputation for being struck by lightning.  Early Americans knew to stay away from them during storms.

DENNIS KOWAL ARCHITECTS are preservation architects that are serious about preserving the great and small buildings of our history.

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DKA to design a safer Daycare in Connecticut

Discussion about school safety used to center around round edges and the ability to wash and clean surfaces such as this previous DKA design for a nursery school.   After the string of school tragedies that recently culminated in the shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut, schools now have emergency crisis plans including lockdown drills.  

As life would have it, Dennis Kowal Architects is designing a Day Care and Nursery School in Connecticut just blocks from the St. John’s Cemetery where one of the Sandy Hook students is now interred.   Safety was already a priority for this project, but the madness that occurred at the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School  has naturally prompted more discussion and design.   Some of the design features being incorporated into the plan include moving the parked cars away from the building and locating the playgrounds directly outside the school doors as much as possible creating a land buffer.   Also, fire walls are being used inside to compartmentalize the facility and unrelated uses are being moved out of the classroom zones to reduce the amount of casual intrusions.

Disasters don’t always strike the same way twice, so an effective design approach considers natural disasters, a variety of attacks, and various vulnerabilities.   Since the 1999 Columbine massacre, many agencies such as FEMA and the Department of Education have provided schools with design guidelines;  such as not selecting sites in a depressed land area which would tend to collect and hold toxic gases in the event of a spill.    Common sense has resulted in limited entry points with controlled access and administration or other supervision close to the entry.   Some schools mark the exterior windows with the interior room numbers for quick navigation by first responders.

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DKA designed this classroom with two interior exit doors and one door that opens directly to the playground for ease of supervision and safe movement.		Safety provisions in this religious education wing, such as the DKA Dutch door solution prevent parents from entering classrooms when they sign out for their children.  Color coding from floor tiles to the matching color chairs and carpets help small children navigate; whether an emergency or normal day.
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Earlier designs for the Noroton Presbyterian Church classrooms included two level playgrounds attached to the building and a glass stair tower that provided instant views around the entire five acre site as well as over the playground areas.		Translucent window shades were used in this Maryland classroom by DKA to allow natural light while eliminating direct views in from outside.    Emergency crisis plans typically involve covering classroom windows, locking the doors and having students pause in silence under their desks.
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DENNIS KOWAL ARCHITECTS designs safe environments for learning!

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Taking Health Care to the next level

This hospital room was designed to coordinate all finishes, colors and materials such as the Stryker Bed headboard, wall art and flooring.  Furthermore, many of the materials, finishes, hardware and fabric are specially designed to naturally kill germs for the life of the products.

One of the first hospital renovations under the new Health Care Law has been completed at the Bayonne Medical Center.   Seamless surfaces, products that naturally fight bacteria between housecleaning cycles, and new standards for patient comfort have guided this project.  Upon seeing the new Transitional Care Unit, nurses remarked “Oh my gosh, this place is awesome,  it feels like a hotel room!”   Two husband and wife teams from Dennis Kowal Architects made the transformation possible.  Project Manager Steven Malyszka was responsible for the project from estimating through construction while his graphic designer wife, Anna Malyszka attended to details like the new patient information boards which were custom designed to fit into the floating foot walls.    And principal designer Dennis Kowal brought some of the latest concepts in hospital design to the project while his interior designer wife, Susan Kowal coordinated all of the finishes, hospital equipment, fabrics and interior design.     The foursome produced an integrated project which unites artwork, drapery, graphics and all of the Department of Health required features that assure security, sanitation, privacy and cleanliness.

Dennis Kowal Architects has specialized in the design for the health community for thirty years completing many medical facilities from doctor’s offices to thallium imaging centers.  The project at Bayonne Medical Center breaks new ground by tailoring the design features to raise the HCAHPS scores (patient supplied grading that affect hospital health care reimbursements).   Features such as reduced glare, sound absorbing flooring, and surfaces that fight the spread of infection directly improve patient satisfaction.   Another feature of the design was to detail all of the construction so that it could be accomplished within 90 days; the maximum amount of time that the hospital could afford to close the floor for renovation.

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Adjustable chairs serve the many nursing shifts while undercounter lighting reduces patient glare.		Visitors are greeted by trendy pendant lighting and cast resin panels that contain imbedded dried ginko leaves.   The flooring is anti-microbial and sound deadening while the counter tops are durable cast quartz.
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This new dayroom serves both as a common dining area and recreation room. The comfortable chairs can stack out of the way when not needed.		The new facility is barrier-free, low maintenance, and durable.  Complete with acrylic panels that are both decorative and scratch resistant.
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The patient footwall has become a restful combination of natural reeds cast into an acrylic panel complemented by adjustable window mesh that blocks out the sun’s rays while allowing a translucent views to the outside.  Note how the visitor chair folds neatly out of the way.		This custom graphic on the patient footwall helps patients remember their room number, phone number, schedule and even helps describe their comfort level.
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Small details were used to create a residential feeling in the hospital.   Indirect lighting, drapes, and  patterned privacy curtains add warmth to the patient rooms while wall hooks for visitor chairs, day chairs that convert to sleepers and niches for bulletins and notices keep the floor and wall consuming elements to a minimum.    Interior designer, Susan Kowal, remarked “Natural light, an uncluttered room and clean lines all figure into the healing process.”

The two tone wood theme is carried into the patient night stand giving a residential feel to the environment.   The floating table top allows the underneath storage and quick access of books and magazines without the loss of table space.

Dennis Kowal Architects takes health care design to the next level.

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Giving Thanks at Thanksgiving in Ships Bottom

Dennis J. Kowal AIA uses a microphone to notify residents of Long Beach Island that hot Thanksgiving Meals are being served.

As a Board member of the Central Chapter of the American Red Cross, Dennis J. Kowal AIA, principal of Dennis Kowal Architects realized many of the Red Cross volunteers needed a break on Thanksgiving Day so they could join their families.  He and his interior designer wife, Susan Kowal, were happy to forego their own traditions and head out at 6am to serve Turkey Dinners to allow some of the Red Cross staff to take the day off.    One hundred and nine Red Cross Vehicles like the one pictured above canvassed Sandy-ravaged New Jersey to deliver meals prepared by volunteers from the Southern Baptist Convention.    Susan commented “I’d rather be doing this than anything else today!  These people on Long Beach Island have no heat, no natural gas, and not a single store or food establishment open today.     If it wasn’t for the Red Cross, they would be alone without a meal.”

During a meal distribution at the Buccaneer Motel where displaced residents were relocated who  no longer had homes, cars, or possessions, one resident was heard to say that they only thing they had in their room was a can of nuts and “we really appreciate the daily meals brought to the Island by the American Red Cross”.  Down the street other residents were shoveling four feet of sand out of the first floor of their homes and appreciated the meal and water delivery.  Amazingly, on the opposite corner, the homes did not have sand at all but only muck from the bay.  Apparently, flooding from the Ocean side met the flooding from the bay side at this corner and left two different scenarios for homeowners to face.

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Susan Kowal serving hot turkey, string beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, apple sauce and a snack pack of goodies and water from the window in the side of the Red Cross truck known as an ERV (Emergency Response Vehicle).  Families were even given a Thanksgiving table cloth but the best gift is sometimes just compassion or chance to talk about each situation.		Despite the 27 degree early morning temperatures, strict Food handling guidelines and procedures assure that the 7,500 meals served every day to the Jersey Shore storm residents are safe, tasty, and steaming hot.  Red Cross volunteers came from every state in the nation on three week rotations to help with shelters, meals and assisting residents with paperwork and re-starting their lives.
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House Calls in Ships Bottom, New Jersey!   Dennis, led by a neighbor who knew this woman was alone, crippled and isolated on Thanksgiving, brings warm blankets and a turkey dinner.  This resident was forced to move to the second floor of their house as the entire first floor was flooded and is now just an empty shell.		A spontaneous Thanksgiving prayer during a lull offered by volunteers from various partner groups was interrupted when the Team Leader shouted “Incoming!”   (meaning a group of residents was walking toward the ERV’s.  Workers had to jump back into the vehicles to get the serving lines running again…so much for a break!).
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Sand had to be shoveled out of many homes.		It’s odd to see more debris than cars or people on a popular Long Beach Island street.
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A thankful young woman surprised Dennis with a hug after he offered her a  sweatshirt on this cold morning.  JC Penny’s and many other businesses donated thousands of coats and sweatshirts.

These volunteers are a long way from their families in North Carolina and are seen here preparing one order of mashed potatoes, enough for 100 off-site meals.  The Waretown kitchen, K-3, was a fully inspected commercial kitchen set up in temporary tents and these workers will not get home for the Holiday.  The day begins by loading the ERVs with enough food to serve 300 people each and the day ends at dusk with cleaning everything for use again tomorrow.

Early on Thanksgiving morning, some of the 43 ERVs lined up to receive their day’s supply of hot food at K-3.  Some trucks go to shelters, some to street corners, and others make set rounds. Other ERVs left from two other kitchen locations to serve the entire State.

  Susan and her friend, Linda Blair-Cusumano, baked ten homemade pumpkin pies to surprise the North Carolina kitchen workers.    Since the kitchen workers would be going back to hotels and tent cities at night to eat prepared foods for their own belated Thanksgiving, Susan thought it would be great to treat them with a little taste of home cooking.  Unfortunately, the gas oven broke at this point and all the raw pies had to be carried to a neighbor’s house to finish!  Mission was accomplished in time and the workers loved being appreciated this way at the end of a long day!

Donations for Hurricane Sandy can be made to the Red Cross at www.redcross.org

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Exxon goes Green in Style!

The Lobby of Exxon Energy Systems uses natural Vermont slate on the floor to absorb the heat from the low angle winter sun.  The heat is redistributed to the offices by heat pumps.    Visitors get a great view inside and out and are sometimes unaware of the natural energy systems working around them.

Who says sustainable design must be colorless and drab?  When Exxon Energy Systems wanted a 100,000 square foot office/research building at Princeton’s Forrestal Center,  Dennis J. Kowal, AIA, LEED AP,  combined a strong design with energy saving features.  The four story building is sheathed in insulated metal panels  and special window systems which are different at each sun exposure:  north, south, east, and west.   On the exposures where summer sun is not an issue, the walls are flat and the windows are in the plane of the exterior wall.   But  windows exposed to the strong summer sun are designed to allow the skydome light in and keep the solar gain out.  The windows  are permanently tipped away from the direct solar gain (see photo above which is similar to the offices) which provides natural shading in the summer.   The low angle winter sun is able to shine into the space, warm the surfaces and floors and warm the offices.

Another feature of the design includes incremental heat pumps which reduce the length of duct work runs; thereby reducing embodied energy in the manufacture process and  consumption of extra resources.  Because the window system is designed to bring in natural light without the glare and summer solar gain, the offices are less dependent on artificial lighting and thereby conserve energy.

A geothermal system was designed for both the air conditioning and heating of the building, but the Department of Environmental Protection declined the permit because it was a new concept to them.  Did we tell you…..this building was designed and constructed over 25 years ago! … ahead of its time in concept and development.  Today, geothermal permits are routine and day-lighting is all the rage, but this is one of the projects that started it all.

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The deep profile of this southern exposure allows for super-insulation and great energy efficiency.		The wall section acts like a periscope bouncing natural light in and keeping direct solar gain out.   Day-lighting reduces the energy cost for artificial lighting and increases occupant satisfaction and efficiency.
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The four story building mixes window profiles based on exposure to the summer sun.		Natural light is bounced into the offices (note the bright sloped wall above the window) while glare and heat remain outside.

Dennis Kowal Architects integrates master planning, space planning, building design and Interior Design to a variety of corporate and industry clients. 

The site design  introduced concepts that were new at the time, such as bioswales, that used vegetation and root systems to purify parking lot runoff before returning the water to the ecosystem and pervious pavers at the entry plaza that naturally absorbed rainwater.

Also, mature trees were brought into the parking lot to provide substantial shade to the vehicles which reduced off-gassing of car fuel tanks and reduced the heat-island effect of the pavement.  The Exxon building is still a stellar example and precursor to the LEED concepts that are just starting to take hold in America.

Dennis Kowal Architects help corporations reduce building energy costs while making them look good!

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