Highland Associates Architect and Principal, Glenn Leitch and John Slattery, aka, Roger Sterling - separated at birth?

Highland Associates is a big fan of AMC’s Mad Men, along with millions of other fans who follow the weekly drama series about 1960’s Madison Avenue advertising agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.  Our interest in the world of advertising doesn’t stop there. Over the years Highland has designed office space for advertising giants such as Della Femina Rothschild Jeary & Partners, Grey Adverting and T3-The Think Tank.  So, with all of this experience designing for Ad Men that must be our connection to Mad Men, right? Wait, there’s more…… Highland principal and architect, Glenn Leitch, who led the charge on these projects, just happens to bear a striking resemblance to John Slattery, aka, Roger Sterling.  He has even been asked for autographs!

So, if your Monday consists of recapping Sunday night’s episode with your friends and co-workers, you will enjoy this post and the irony of an architect who designs for Ad Men and happens to look a lot like one of the Mad Men!  Click on the links above to view Highland’s work on these projects.

Look at it this way: when you cough or sneeze into your hand without washing your hands afterward, or (pay attention, guys) you use the restroom without washing your hands afterward, everything you touch afterward becomes a potential source of contamination.  The keyboard, mouse, door handle, refrigerator handle, coffee pot that you touch: anyone who touches them afterward is handling everything that has come in contact with your hands since the last time you washed them (if you think of it that way, it’s pretty disgusting, isn’t it!).

Most of us grew up in an era where we were told to cover our cough or sneeze with our hands, and it’s a hard habit to break.  But if you make a conscious effort to sneeze or cough into your sleeve or the crook of your elbow, it won’t take very long for the new habit to take hold.  And never, ever sneeze or cough into open air.  If you do catch your sneeze or cough in your hand, please take a few moments to wash or sanitize your hands.

As for bathroom hygiene, that should be a no-brainer.  It takes about 20 seconds to properly wash your hands (with soap!).  Is your day so busy that you can’t spare 20 seconds each time you use the restroom?  No.

If everyone takes just a few simple steps to be more meticulous about workplace hygiene, we will have a more healthy workplace.  Your coworkers will likely thank you for it; I definitely will.

Elie Tahari’s Flagship Store now serves as a model for future renovations in the village of East Hampton.

Highland Associates Principal, Glenn Leitch, AIA, LEED AP recently attended and presented at the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) 2011 CenterBuild Conference, the premier Retail Design & Construction Conference held in Phoenix, AZ.  Founded in 1957, the ICSC is the global trade association of the shopping center industry. Its 50,000 members in the U.S., Canada and more than 80 other countries include shopping center owners, developers, managers, marketing specialists, investors, lenders, retailers and other professionals as well as academics and public officials. As the global industry trade association, ICSC links with more than 25 national and regional shopping center councils throughout the world.

CenterBuild Conference is the dynamic, premier ICSC specialty conference for design and construction professionals dedicated to the issues of planning, development, design and construction of shopping centers and retail stores. It is highly interactive in addressing local and international development issues.  Glenn Leitch presented “Retail Design – Why is it Architecture,” in conjunction with Bruce Schmiedl, AIA, CSI, NCARB, Walgreen Realty Resources; Frankie Campione, AIA, Create Architects and David Shull, AIA, Fishbeck Thompson. 

The portion of the presentation contributed by Highland Associates featured two successful retail projects housed in historic buildings.  The first being the Bloomingdale’s SoHo store, located in a Landmarked building which mandated the preservation of the historical character of the building. Design concerns outlined during the presentation included, zoning restrictions, accessibility, inadequate utilities and time frames. The finished project resulted in numerous benefits including, the creation of a  real department store in a neighborhood sorely requiring one as well as providing Bloomingdale’s with the downtown presence they were looking for in their branding.  The project demonstrated how a modern intervention could work in a much older structure and stimulated the increase of development farther south to what is now the  “SoHo Shopping Mecca,” while restoring a historic building that was neglected for years. The second featured project was Elie Tahari’s flagship store located on Main Street in East Hampton, NY.  All buildings on Main Street are on the National Register of Historic Places. A variety of topics were discussed related to this project such as vision, challenges, solutions, concepts and accomplishments.  Some of the many accomplishments achieved with this project include the renovation becoming a model for future renovations in the village of East Hampton, stimulated retail growth on Newton Lane, and the store location becoming the gathering spot in town, with the familiar refrain of, “Meet me at the Elie Tahari store.”  This project was featured in Interior Design Magazine.

Over the last 29 years, thousands of design and construction professionals have attended this conference, emphasizing an interactive program and encouraging the exchange of ideas. CenterBuild affords maximum opportunities to meet and discuss issues with industry professionals and features nationally known speakers representing development, retailing, department stores, design and construction. Co

About Highland Associates

Highland Associates is a multi-disciplined firm specializing in Architecture, Engineering and Interior Design with offices located in New York and Pennsylvania.  Highland Associates offers a comprehensive list of services to satisfy the most difficult projects.  Working as a team, Highland Associate professionals analyze client needs and create practical solutions to meet the function, aesthetic and financial objective of any project. Concept-driven and problem solving, Highland Associates is an award winning design firm, guided by a design process and team approach.

A few Highland Associates employees who are taking part as “Secret Santa’s” this year are front row, from left to right, Don Kalina, Principal, Bridget Goryeb, Ronda Beemer. Back row, from left to right, Jim Augustine, Taras Mihalko, Dave Campbell, Gene Romaldini, Michele Yadouga, Debi Hewlett and Dorothy Mroz.

For the last eleven years, employees at Highland Associates in Clarks Summit, have partnered with Friendship House, Scranton, to help children in need by participating in the Friendship House “Secret Santa” program. Each child who receives care at Friendship House creates a Christmas paper symbol (star, bell, angel, etc.) on which they have written an item wished for. Employees at Highland Associates who would like to become a “Secret Santa”, select one of the children’s wishes for Christmas, purchase the item, gift wrap it, and place the child’s cutout on the gift. This year, in addition to the “Secret Santa” gift, employees were given the option to donate monetarily towards two larger gifts that will benefit all children at Friendship House, a Nintendo Wii Game System and a Fisher Price Smart Cycle.  Enough money was raised to purchase the game systems as well as several games.

The Mission of Friendship House is to provide a continuum of quality programs and services designed to enhance the emotional, behavioral and social well-being of children and families in the communities they serve. Today, well into its second century, Friendship House continues to grow and change in order to be able to address children’s needs in our ever-changing society.

In a letter to Highland Associates, Debra Dudley Director of Development for Friendship House had this to say, “It’s difficult to put into words the impact your gifts have on these children and their families, especially in light of today’s economy.  Parents who didn’t know if they’d be able to provide gifts for their children this year were overwhelmed by the generosity, with one or two shedding tears and other sending in notes of gratitude.”

Featured design elements include the creation of tinted and angled conference rooms meant to reflect perfume bottles.

Highland Associates is the recipient of an AIA Northeastern Pennsylvania 2011 Design Award for the firm’s work on the Elizabeth Arden Corporate Offices, Stamford, CT. AIA Northeastern Pennsylvania is a Chapter of The American Institute of Architects and held its Annual Awards Dinner at the Colonnade in Scranton on Friday, November 18, 2011. Highland Associates received an Honor Award, presented to projects that exemplify extraordinary design quality.

Eligibility requires that the firms submitting must be AIA Northeastern Pennsylvania Member Firms and/or Architects in good standing and must be listed as Architect of Record for the proposed project.

Highland Associates has enjoyed a long standing working relationship with Elizabeth Arden having completed their Flagship store on New York City’s famed Fifth Avenue in 2008. The relationship continues with this most recent project for Elizabeth Arden, a 50,000 square-foot build-out and rebranding of their corporate offices located in Stamford, CT. Highland Associates Principal and Architect, Glenn Leitch, ingeniously integrated beauty products as metaphors, playfully injecting color, form and texture throughout the space. Featured design elements include the creation of tinted and angled conference rooms meant to reflect perfume bottles; a 40 foot curving acrylic wall made with 8,000 actual makeup brushes and supergraphics of product shots splashed across the building atrium, filling the space with color and energy. The pièce de résistance is a rectangular chandelier made of L.E.D. lights integrated into real, glass perfume bottles.

“The project generated a fair amount of debate within the jury, but in the end it was agreed that it was a beautiful study in transparency that elevated what could have been benign office space,” stated Roger M. Williams, RA, AIA, and President of AIA NEPA. “The design is particularly well suited to the client and is strongly theatrical, which is appropriate given the brand.”

For a comprehensive look at Highland Associate’s design and branding of the Elizabeth Arden Corporate Office, please visit: http://www.highlandassociates.com/portfolio/commercial/?project=96

Chris is relocating to Northeast Pa. from Denver, Co. where he worked as a project architect for Fentress Architects and served as President of the Denver Revit Users Group, a non‐profit educational resource in the Rocky Mountain region.

So, what does a BIM Manager do? As Highland Associates BIM Manager, Chris will lead the effort in the development and implementation of the BIM standards and must be able to evaluate new BIM related technologies and stay informed of best practices. A core team of Revit users, representing all disciplines within the firm, will advise the BIM manager on the day to day issues that arise on projects and ensure the implementation of the BIM standards. Available to provide support for all of the BIM projects, the BIM manager assists in: coordination, modeling, detailing, clash detection, project setup, maintaining up-to-date templates, and content creation. The BIM manager regularly conducts internal training sessions and continuing education for the BIM software utilized within the firm.

With more clients becoming savvy in the realm of BIM, the BIM Manager reviews all contracts for new projects that have any BIM requirements or deliverables and contributes to the marketing of the firm’s BIM services by identifying industry trends and business opportunities relating to BIM. Highland Associates is pleased to welcome Chris and fully engage his skills and knowledge as our firm becomes more and more engaged in BIM.