Every month we’ll be touching base with past 40 Under 40 honorees to see what’s been happening in their professional and personal lives since winning the award. (U40 alums are invited to participate by sending an update to: jhigginbotham@sgcmail.com.) This month: An accomplished author of test-prep books and an architect who headed to China when the American economy turned sour.
HOLLY WILLIAMS LEPPO
AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Vice President,
Principal Architect
SMB&R, Camp HIll, Pa.
Class of 2009
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Leppo continues as Principal Architect at SMB&R, a design and structural engineering firm. Recent work includes a 72,000-sf office building and numerous adaptive reuse and renovation projects.
Since 2009, she has continued to write and publish exam review books for Professional Publications Inc. The latest: a series covering the Green Associate and LEED AP BD+C, ID+C, O+M, and Homes exams.
EXTRACURRICULAR
Received the Penn State Alumni Association Alumni Achievement Award in 2010, as well as the Young Alumni Award for Distinction from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis.
Named one of 25 Women of Influence in central Pennsylvania by the Central Penn Business Journal in 2011.
Named to the Board of Directors of the Central Pennsylvania AIA in 2010.
Serves on the Board of Directors of Central Pennsylvania for Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership, an international development organization for high school students.
OFF THE CLOCK
Leppo stays busy raising two young sons while grappling with a residential reconstruction job. “I am still—still!—working on fixing up our old farmhouse. This is a never-ending project.”
CLAY VOGEL, AIA
Co-President, Design Principal
KaziaLi Design Collaborative
Tianjin, People’s Republic of China
Class of 2008
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
In the wake of the 2008 economic crash—which devastated his Chicago firm, Kazia Design Collaborative—Vogel joined forces with Chinese partner Li Chunguang to regroup in Tianjin. Renamed KaziaLi, the firm later expanded to London and Shanghai, and re-established Chicago operations through an alliance with PFB Architects. Currently eyeing growth opportunities in Africa and India.
Working on: Changhong Electric Technology Company’s International R&D Center in Chengdu, comprising 38-floor and 20-floor office towers connected by a 10,000-sm podium level for amenities, plus a 2,000-sm museum and exhibition space. The design incorporates both Western and feng shui principles.
EXTRACURRICULAR
In 2010, Vogel opened a real estate firm to deal with development issues outside the scope of the primary architectural practice.
With local partner Wang Jianli, KaziaLi recently built a pro bono facility for the 200-student Chihui School in Tibet, which had formerly operated only in tents.
OFF THE CLOCK
Vogel often combines work with recreational travel, from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia to the mountains of Sichuan to the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong. “Having an open mind and a willingness to accept other people’s culture has landed me in tricky business dinners where I have consumed snake’s blood and the gallbladder, ears, feet, lungs, and hearts of various other animals,” he says.
Related Stories
| Oct 23, 2014
Santiago Calatrava-designed church breaks ground in Lower Manhattan
Saturday marked the public "ground blessing" ceremony for the Saint Nicholas National Shrine, the Greek Orthodox Church destroyed on 9/11 by the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.
| Oct 23, 2014
Prehistory museum's slanted roof mimics archaeological excavation [slideshow]
Mimicking the unearthing of archaeological sites, Henning Larsen Architects' recently opened Moesgaard Museum in Denmark has a planted roof that slopes upward out of the landscape.
| Oct 23, 2014
China's 'weird' buildings: President Xi Jinping wants no more of them
During a literary symposium in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged architects, authors, actors, and other artists to produce work with "artistic and moral value."
| Oct 23, 2014
Architecture Billings Index shows strong demand for institutional, mixed-practice design
AIA reported the September ABI score was 55.2, up from a mark of 53.0 in August. This score reflects an increase in design activity.
| Oct 22, 2014
Customization is the key in tomorrow's workplace
The importance of mobility, flexibility, and sustainability in the world of corporate design are already well-established. A newer trend that’s gaining deserved attention is customizability, and how it will look in the coming years, writes GS&P's Leith Oatman.
| Oct 21, 2014
Passive House concept gains momentum in apartment design
Passive House, an ultra-efficient building standard that originated in Germany, has been used for single-family homes since its inception in 1990. Only recently has the concept made its way into the U.S. commercial buildings market.
| Oct 21, 2014
Hartford Hospital plans $150 million expansion for Bone and Joint Institute
The bright-white structures will feature a curvilinear form, mimicking bones and ligament.
| Oct 21, 2014
Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid release plans for resorts in Nanjing and Wuhan, China
Jumeirah Group, a hotel group forming a part of investment group Dubai Holding, has chosen Zaha Hadid and Norman Foster to design two of three of its proposed resorts in Nanjing, Wuhan, and Haikou.
| Oct 21, 2014
Inside LEED v4: The view from the MEP engineering seats
Much of the spirited discussion around LEED v4 has been centered on the Materials & Resources Credit. At least one voice in the wilderness is shouting for greater attention to another huge change in LEED: the shift to ASHRAE 90.1-2010 as the new reference standard for Energy & Atmosphere prerequisites and credits.
| Oct 21, 2014
Perkins Eastman white paper explores state of the senior living industry in the Carolinas
Among the experts interviewed for the white paper, there was a general consensus that the model for continuing-care retirement communities is changing, driven by both the changing consumers and more prevalent global interest on the effects of aging.