In The News

A more humane, effective urban prison courtesy of two UPenn students

Fast Company Tuesday, April 17, 2012

University of Pennsylvania architecture masters students Andreas Tjeldflaat and Greg Knobloch are re-thinking the urban prison, reports Fast Company.

499.SUMMIT would be composed of three violently geometric arches that’d rise, and overlap, in the heart of Jersey City. First, a word on why they selected Jersey City: In part, that was the assignment (for a course at Penn taught by HWKN’s Matthias Hollwich). But they also believe that a prime urban location could set the backdrop for a more humane prison experience. “Compared to the typically isolated sites chosen for prisons, this location would have several advantages: It would be close to family, friends, work opportunities, services and professionals needed and most of all; close to society, or rather, feeling as being a part of society,” Tjeldflaat tells Co.Design in an email. “This could make the transition back into society softer.”

Original source: Fast Company

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Inside NovaThermal Energy's bold move to warm a building with heat from sewage

Forbes Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Forbes dives into NovaThermal Energy's first project to warm a building using heat from sewage.

The building, the Southeast Water Pollution Control Facility in Philadelphia, will house the 1 million BTU/hour unit in its basement, where it will directly access and transfer heat from an adjacent sewage channel.

Original source: Forbes

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Philly's green brand works despite shortfalls

Triple Pundit Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Triple Pundit assesses Philadelphia's green initiatives and resulting brand.

Just as private companies are using green branding to build business, Philadelphia has been using the sustainability model to improve its economic outlook. Last year, the city’s Navy Yard was tapped as a sustainable energy innovation hub by the U.S. Department of Energy, which is already paying off in new green jobs.

Original source: Triple Pundit

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Center City-based eResearchTechnology purchased for $400M

Wall Street Journal Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Center City, Philadelphia-based eResearch Technology, a large provider of medical devices and services to biopharmaceutical and health-care organizations, was purchased by San Francisco-based private equity giant Genstar Capital for $400 million, reports the Wall Street Journal.

ERT Chief Executive Jeffrey Litwin said the deal, expected to close during the third quarter, will provide the company with acquisition capital to expand its offering and better serve its clinical research clients.

Original source: Wall Street Journal

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Kensington artist takes renovation work on the road

Eastern Iowa Life Monday, April 09, 2012

Philadelphia artist Lewis Colburn's exhibition, called "After the Architect Has Gone," is on display in April in Iowa City, reports Eastern Iowa Life.

Colburn places a model of his row house, portrayed in a serious state of renovation, on top of a chest of drawers. Experimenting with new architectural-modeling software, Colburn creates a landscape form in one of the open drawers that represents an afghan or quilt, a sign of comfort. The landscape models appear again on a drawing table, serving as places of rest for coffee mugs. The piece also hints at a dining room table set for dinner, another emblem of domestic comfort. A leaky faucet runs into a china basin; a bowl set in a bathroom vanity that is either being repaired or constructed.

Original source: Eastern Iowa Life

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Philly schools could get hands on India's $35 tablet

TechCrunch Monday, April 09, 2012

Philadelphia's Wilco Electronics is aiming for a procurement deal to bring Indian company DataWind's $35 tablet to Philadelphia schools, reports TechCrunch.

It can show video, administer quizzes, mirror class resources, and so on. A tool any teacher would love to have, if it isn’t more trouble than it’s worth. And there are many practical considerations. Charging the devices, keeping them clean, secure, and updated, preventing inappropriate usage, creating class-administration software… the list goes on and on. But that is, of course, part of what pilot programs are meant to explore.

Original source: Tech Crunch

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Philly's role in learning the language of the Web

The New York Times Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Girl Develop It is among the locals featured in The New York Times' look at classes in Web programming and construction.

“Inasmuch as you need to know how to read English, you need to have some understanding of the code that builds the Web,” said Sarah Henry, 39, an investment manager who lives in Wayne, Pa. “It is fundamental to the way the world is organized and the way people think about things these days.” Ms. Henry took several classes, including some in HTML, the basic language of the Web, and WordPress, a blogging service, through Girl Develop It, an organization based in New York that she had heard about online that offers lessons aimed at women in a number of cities. She paid around $200 and saw it as an investment in her future.

Original source: The New York Times

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The E-Lane's fleeting reality and how Philly pedestrians walk on

City of Philadelphia; Prevention Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Further proof that Mayor Michael Nutter is lining up a second career as an entertainer is the E-Lane video and weeklong April Fool's joke that shed light on the real problem of distracted pedestrians.

Meanwhile, Philly rates as the ninth most walkable city according to Prevention, which utilized Walkscore's grades to build a top-25 list.

This spring, Sister Cities Park in Center City opens, with attractions like a family-friendly café, children's discovery garden and play area, and a fountain commemorating Philadelphia's global sister cities—adding to the city's already 10,000 acre park system.

Original source: Prevention

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Introducing the Academy of Natural Sciences' museum exhibition and book

The New York Times Tuesday, April 03, 2012

The exhibition, which opened last weekend, takes visitors along with academy scientists as they search for new species and study humanity’s collective impact on the environment. The book embraces a larger agenda.

To wander through "A Glorious Enterprise: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Making of American Science" is to absorb the 19th century's passion for botany and zoology; the 20th century's mania for exploration of distant, difficult or desolate places; and present-day preoccupations, particularly environmental issues like water quality.

Original source: Academy of Natural Sciences

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United By Blue's marriage of mission with money

Inc. Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Inc. magazine dives into Philadelphia-based, organic apparel company United By Blue and the success of its mission-oriented approach.

Linton graduated from Temple University with two passions: entrepreneurship and water conservation. He was appalled by the fact that an estimated 14 billion pounds of trash are dumped into oceans annually. So when he founded United By Blue in 2010, he was determined to use the business to make a difference by connecting every sale to a cleanup project. It would be good for the environment -- and for marketing.

He designed a line of T-shirts, found a manufacturer in India, and began cold calling retailers. A year later, the shirts were in 175 stores, including six Whole Foods and 20 Urban Outfitters locations.

Original source: Inc. Magazine

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Park it here: Philly ranked among world's best cities for parks

Frommer's Tuesday, March 27, 2012

We're not exactly sure of the criteria, but we can't help but agree with the folks at Frommer’s who think pretty highly of our parks, naming Philadelphia to its list of the world’s 10 best cities for parks.

Highlights include Wissahickon Valley Park with 50 miles of rugged terrain for mountain bikers and hikers, plus trout fishing in Wissahickon creek; Pennypack Park along the Delaware River; the Azalea Garden; Boathouse Row; Batram's Garden; the Japanese House and Garden; Franklin D. Roosevelt Park ("The Lakes"); and East and West Parks.

Original source: Frommer’s

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Betty's Speakeasy cupcake shop ditches cash register, card-swipe reader for iPad

PCWorld Monday, March 26, 2012

PC World writes about Betty's Speakeasy in Philadelphia's Graduate Hospital neighborhood, which is employing the new Square Register app for iPad to replace its traditional card-processing service.

“Right now we’re paying $69 a month in merchant services to swipe credit cards,” Snow said. “We won’t pay that with Square. [The new iPad] pays for itself very quickly.”

Such stories are behind the growing market for iPhone- and iPad-based card-swiping systems like those offered by Square. PayPal recently announced that it is launching its own card reader and app for iOS; it joins a sector that also includes big players like VeriFone’s Payware and Intuit’s GoPayment. (That list doesn’t even include Google Wallet, which is currently compatible with only the Nexus S 4G Android phone.)

Original source: PC World

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Kensington's New Paradise Laboratories recreates theater for a connected generation

Mashable Monday, March 26, 2012

Mashable writes about Kensington's New Paradise Laboratories and its incorporation of social networks into the production and presentation of its shows.

This innovative experience takes audiences through a rabbit hole on a visually stimulating online adventure. Stories evolve on social networks with multimedia components from YouTube and Sound Cloud. It can be hard to decipher what’s real and what’s fiction.

Original source: Mashable

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DuckDuckGo's radical moves vaults it into search engine stratosphere

Time Friday, March 23, 2012

Time magazine's Techland digs into Paoli-based search engine challenger DuckDuckGo, its commitment to user privacy and minimal aesthetic.

On Valentine’s Day, DuckDuckGo started to record more than a million searches a day. Sure, Google averages a billion, but that’s not bad for a company that previously consisted of a single employee (Weinberg recently upped that number to the full-time equivalent of six or seven staffers).

Original source: Time
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Notes from the urban landscape in Kensington

Paradigm Magazine Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Check out Kensington urban farmer Nic Esposito's Notes From the Urban Homestead series in Paradigm Magazine.

For many people, the concept of farming in any city is strange, let alone in this neighborhood. No matter that there’s a family who lives out of their car, or a heroin addict who sleeps in the park all winter, or a woman who prostitutes herself just for a bed to spend the night and maybe a hot shower: I’m the weird one on the block. But that doesn’t bother me. We all have to fit somewhere in this world.

Original source: Paradigm Magazine
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