SEI Design Group BlogBlog about news, information, happenings and mojo at SEI Design Group

After the much planned and anticipated Canstruction Build Day, the results of the SEI team build are in below.  As always, you can click to enlarge the photos.  Judging is today, but results will not be announced until the award dinner on Friday.  Wonder how many calories in that piece of lemon meringue pie?

The Casio EX-S10 is about the most compact and slim 10 megapixel camera that you are going to find, and the performance is great!  This is so small (even tinier than the EX-S770), that you can take it everywhere.  As when ordering the S770 that this replaced, used this vendor.  If you add a card (we got a 2 GB turbo), you get a free 2nd battery, case, card reader and LCD protector. However today, found a better deal at Buy.com for $212, and you can use a $10 off coupon if first time buyer.  Oh, and have to say that it is sad, but true - even though I was eyeing this for a while, Vic got his first!

How come Brian doesn’t look happy?  Our clients over at University of Rochester pulled a little prank on Brian and it appears everyone enjoyed it more than he did.  BTW, who are those masked men?

SEI Design Group was one of this year’s recipients of the 2008 AIA New York State Design Awards. SEI received one of 18 Awards of Merit for the Parry Building Office Renovation project in Rochester. SEI was one of 294 entries and will receive the award on Friday, September 26 at the Crowne Plaza in White Plains. In March, SEI was recognized for this project when they received top honor for the 2008 AIA Rochester Design Award.

The Parry Building Office Renovation project involved the first floor conversion of the former Parry manufacturing facility in the historic High Falls District to house SEI’s Rochester-based architectural office.

The four-story brick structure was built in the late 1800s. The interior consisted of heavy timber beams and old wooden columns. Into that setting, SEI integrated an office layout of new glass walls and wood veneers.

Yesterday’s Democrat and Chronicle had an article about Wegmans facade renovation at Ridgement Plaza.  SEI Design Group is the architect for this project which is currently under construction.

Tomorrow is SEI Design Group’s 2nd Anniversary.  It has been a great experience!  In today’s RBJ, our Rochester office was ranked #8 out of the Top 25 Architectural Firms (up from #11 last year).  A few months ago, our Albany office was ranked #8 of the top 25 Capital Region firms. 

Partners Brian Cieslinski, Mike Ebertz, Steve Klempa, Bari Lee, Matt Monaghan, and Vic Tomaselli want to thank our staff for their hard work and dedication, and our clients for their confidence and support. 

The Life Without Buildings blog has an excellent explanation and photos that give an architectural perspective of Spiderman and the New York TImes Building.  Photoshop sure is amazing.  Enjoy!

As a member and supporter of the USGBC and Green Projects, SEI was glad to see that one city (Los Angeles), is being proactive in requiring that any new building project over 50,000 SF be LEED certified. In a city known for smog and traffic, this could reduce carbon monoxide emissions the equivalent of taking 15,000 cars off the road.

According to the Rochester Business Journal, a Rochester Institute of Technology task force is exploring the possibility of opening a school of architecture. If it becomes reality, the school could recruit students as early as 2009-2010, officials said. It would be the Rochester area’s first architecture school.

In honor of Steve, we post a video of the Da Vinci Tower in Dubai.  The floors on this 78 floor skyscraper all rotate independently.   With each floor rotating 360 degrees every ninety minutes, your view is always changing.