UCI Architects’ Fon S. Wang MS ’07 to be Honored by Business Journal
Philadelphia (March 2010) – UCI Architects Inc., an award-winning Architecture, Historic Preservation, and Planning firm, has announced that principal Fon S. Wang, AIA, LEED AP will be honored by the Philadelphia Business Journal for her professional accomplishments and community involvement.
The Philadelphia Business Journal has named Wang one of “40 Under 40” outstanding young professionals in the Philadelphia / Southern NJ region for 2010. Wang, 34, is the only architect named and one of few women. The program recognizes forty businesspeople under age 40 that are proven performers in their industries and communities.
According to the Business Journal, “These dynamic leaders have shaped our community in ways that have made greater Philadelphia a better place to do business and live.” Wang and others will be honored at an awards banquet on May 18th at the Sheraton Society Hill and in the May 7th issue of the Journal.
The Business Journal noted Wang’s service to the Philadelphia region:
- Actively involved with the professional group Commercial Real Estate Women, she was elected to the board as Community Action Charitable Events Co-Chair during her first year of membership.
- Working with the award-winning Community Design Collaborative, Wang is the volunteer project manager for a feasibility study of an industrial building on Market Street, as part of an effort to spark development in the Millbourne section of Philadelphia.
- Serving on the Buildings and Facilities Committee, Wang aids the landmark Fleisher Art Memorial in the management and maintenance of its multiple historic buildings.
She is a principal and owner of the Center City design firm UCI Architects and is currently working on the historic restoration of Humphreys Hall, the first building on the campus of Cheyney University of PA, and a new facility for the Education Commission of Foreign Medical Graduates in the University City Science Center area. The firm’s design for new stations on the Market Street Philadelphia Elevated Train Line recently won a Smart Growth award from the community action group 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania.
A resident of Center City, Wang graduated from Syracuse University and the University of Pennsylvania PennDesign.
UCI Architects Encourages Community Activism in Beijing
Philadelphia (July 2009) — Ignatius C. Wang, AIA, founder of UCI Architects, recently delivered a lecture at School of Architecture of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China entitled “The Architecture Journey – Forty Years in Philadelphia.” Wang told architecture students and teachers about his forty-year involvement in the Philadelphia communities, and evolution of his architecture practice.
Quoting from Buddhist teaching, Wang compared his relationship with the community as a grain of salt dissolved in a glass of water – the salt and the water became one and influence one another. Using projects as a way to explain, Wang described the roles he played as a professional, as a neighborhood volunteer, as a community advocate, as a business owner, as a planning commissioner, and as a private citizen. Wang stressed that it is the civic duty of architects to also be community activists. The lecture was held as part of a series of events at Tsinghua University on the subject of citizens’ involvement in public projects in the Chinese society.
Tsinghua University is the top ranking university in China for architecture studies. Students with the highest results in the national college entrance examination are admitted to study at Tsinghua. Many graduates have become prominent architects both in China and overseas.
UCI Architects Honored for Infrastructure Project
Philadelphia (June 2009) — UCI Architects’ new stations for the SEPTA Market Street Elevated subway in West Philadelphia have received the 2009 Commonwealth Bronze Award from 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania. The new stations at 46th, 52nd, 56th, 60th and 63rd Streets were honored for reflecting the scale, materials, and style of the neighborhoods, while enhancing the safety and efficiency of the transportation system.
“Our vision for the reconstruction of the Market Street Elevated Stations was to overlay the values and character of the community with the materiality and form of new construction,” said Fon Wang, AIA, LEED AP, principal of UCI Architects. “This project presented the opportunity to spark revitalization in West Philadelphia neighborhoods.”
The Market Street Elevated Line was constructed in 1903, and by 1995 was in need of structural repair. Beyond its functionality, the Elevated and its stations had become a prominent part of the West Philadelphia Cityscape. While the primary goal of the reconstruction was to redesign the weakening elevated guideway support system, the project also provided an opportunity to improve commuter access and enliven and revitalize a part of West Philadelphia.
The new stations have an openness, visual interest and appropriate massing; they are responsive to the “Blue Line” theme and address the programmatic requirements of durability, code compliance and functionality. Previously dark shadows deterred pedestrian traffic and patronage. Now, station entrances are situated in plazas back from the street corners and lit naturally by sunlight. Platforms can be accessed from stairs, and ADA compliant elevators and escalators and feature safe, central waiting areas and prominent signage that celebrates the neighborhood.
“We are very pleased by the quality of design award winners in this year’s program,” remarked Judy Schwank, President and CEO of 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania. “The projects…represent the very best examples of smart growth principles at work in the commonwealth.”
Urban Conservation Students to Tackle Shanghai
Philadelphia (March 2009) — Fon S. Wang, AIA LEED AP, principal of UCI Architects, and Randall Mason, Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design, will take a group of historic preservation graduate students to Shanghai in the hope of retaining and integrating areas of the city’s rich but rapidly vanishing architectural history.
The Philadelphia group arrives on March 8 to investigate two Shanghai sites for potential conservation interventions. Partnering with colleagues from Tongji University’s School of Architecture and Planning, the group will document, analyze and interpret sites in the Tianzifang area of the French Concession and along Hongkou Creek north of the Bund.
“The astounding pace of development in Shanghai means the loss of important elements of Chinese heritage,” said Ms. Wang. “Dr. Mason’s graduate students and their Chinese peers are in a unique position to advise Shanghai’s planning, development and preservation policy makers. I am honored to help further the important work of this world-class program.”
Ms. Wang (a PennDesign graduate) will direct students in fieldwork, which will include interviewing residents, local officials, and conservation experts to understand the stories behind the buildings; photo-documenting, mapping, and diagramming the structures; and, with this information, determining the buildings’ historic significance and integrity. At the conclusion, students will present their findings, including recommendations for conservation or adaptive reuse of the structures. The highly selective semester-long course is limited to a dozen students.