MGA Partners Architects

BOO Screen of Death is uncannily a familiar, anxiety-inducing encounter, but for once the dreaded fatal error screen gives back!  Check out MGA Partners’ installation for this year’s CANstruction.  Our five-member design team has pulled off a formidable 1450 can contribution to Philabundance and a knockout, ghoulish play on everyone’s worst nightmare. Up through Nov 3 at Cherry Street Pier.

Have a look at our recently-completed stair renovation, part of a comprehensive re-envisioning and overhaul of the main library at Northeastern University, which was just reviewed by the school's online publication. Leadership and design by Dan Kelley, Katie Broh and the entire MGA team comes forward in the crisp photos and narrative. Check the link in our bio for the full article "Renovations push Snell Library 'ahead of the curve'." Photo credits: Alyssa Stone / Northeastern University.

A remarkable re-visioning for Cleveland’s Temple-Tifereth Israel to become a multi-disciplinary arts center for Case Western Reserve University involved MGA Partners’ comprehensive preservation of the landmark and its adaption to fully support the acoustic and programming requirements for an advanced university and civic performance hall.  Firm partners Amy Stein and Katie Broh will lead a tour of the center for AIA Ohio’s Design Symposium, Friday, September 23.

The Wall Street Journal featured a pictorial of Dan Kelley and Mary Keefe’s home, and a nod to their decades-long commitment to Bingham Court. I.M. Pei’s designs for Society Hill, including his townhouses at Bingham Court, are often cited as critical contributions to the revitalization of the historic neighborhood. The accompanying text pairs Dan’s reflections as a resident, with a shared affinity by both architects for a domestic scale resonant with Society Hill’s surviving 18th and 19th-century fabric.

MGA Associate and Architect, Aisha Braham, NOMA, LEED, will speak at this year’s NeoCon on “Creating the Room; Ruminations on the Craft of Timeless Spaces in Turbulent Times.” This presentation aims to elucidate how we understand and can implement the idea of 'the room' as a social art, starting with a brief chronological journey in design and the development and impact of the “Philadelphia School,” viewed through the design approach of Romaldo Giurgola's firm, Mitchell/Giurgola Architects, and contemporary interpretations of 'the room' by MGA Partners Architects.

For those attending NeoCon 2022, the presentation will occur on Tuesday, June 14th, 10.00 am-11.00 am CDT; please see the link in our bio. The presentation will also be available to view online through Friday, July 15th.

MGA’s development director, Doug Schaller will speak at Docomomo’s US National Symposium on Temple University’s campus development, focusing on the period between the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority involvement starting in the early 1950s and the 1970 Community-Temple Agreement.

In addition to the conference program, Philadelphia’s steering committee has organized special access for a number of modernist sites in the region, with tour schedule and descriptions.

Registration is still open, link in our bio.

Images description:
2. Protesters at Girard College, 1965, by Jack T. Franklin (American, 1922-2009) ©African American Museum in Philadelphia
3. Dedication of Cecil B Moore Avenue (formerly Columbia Ave.), 4-11-1987, Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, Amy Huntoon, photgrapher, SCRC
4. Image of North Central Philadelphia, with Broad Street, in center running North-South, with The Temple and its educational annex marked, from the 1895 G.W. Bromley Atlas, Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network, Athenaeum of Philadelphia.
5. Thomas Lonsdale, Grace Baptist Temple, 1889-91, Broad and Berks Streets, image c. 1900-1910, Library of Congress
6. Architect’s model of campus master plan with Park Avenue cleared of row houses and replaced by a campus quad,
c. 1950s, SCRC
7. SCRC TU administrators looking at model plan, 1-21-1964, connected to board meeting.

MGA Partners’ Amy Stein and the GSA’s Donna Andrews and Kerry Rose will lead a rare public tour of Pittsburgh’s Joseph F. Weis, Jr., U.S. Courthouse as part of the Society of Architectural Historians Annual International Conference later this month.  The building’s restrained Classical design by Trowbridge & Livingston and its granite and limestone facade embody the most august Federal designs of the period and buildings initiated by then Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon.  Originally designed to serve as the city's central postal operation and house Federal courts, MGA Partners led the restoration of the former Post Office Lobby Entrance and its Guastavino-tiled vaults and interiors—the culmination of a decades-long initiative by GSA’s Design Excellence Program.

MGA Partners toured Circus: Bouroullec Designs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art with its curator, Jack Hinton.  Industrial designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have worked in tandem since beginning their Paris-based practice in the late 1990s. Recipients of this year’s Collab Design Excellence Award, the exhibit highlights the breadth of materials and processes that have defined their practice over that time and a witty, minimalist aesthetic applied to architecture and designs for the home.

MGA Partners toured Circus: Bouroullec Designs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art with its curator, Jack Hinton.  Industrial designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have worked in tandem since beginning their Paris-based practice in the late 1990s. Recipients of this year’s Collab Design Excellence Award, the exhibit highlights the breadth of materials and processes that have defined their practice over that time and a witty, minimalist aesthetic applied to architecture and designs for the home.

MGA Intern Architect Katie Nguyen submitted Mile Revival for her Drexel course final review--a planning and programming study conceptualized for the Philadelphia gem, Bartram’s Garden.  Since the beginning of the year, Bartram’s has hovered in our imaginations as Katie shared progress and we’ve been inspired to see the design development.  Bartram’s Garden provides an ever evolving perspective on the environment and ecology and Mile Revival offers a fresh take on ways to expand it. Congratulations Katie! 🌟

On a quick stop in Philadelphia hosted by Doug, Drew Armstrong, Director of Architectural Studies and Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh enjoyed several Center City landmarks including seeing the interior of the First Unitarian Church. Drew is co-chairing the upcoming SAH International Conference in Pittsburgh.