Tag: Volunteer (4)

AIA Leadership | Kyle Palzer

At Kodet, we encourage all our employees to participate in volunteer opportunities that help strengthen the architecture community. Kyle Palzer, Assoc. AIA a designer here at Kodet, has been actively involved with the AIA North Central States Region Emerging Professional Committee as the Regional Associate Director, to help guide policy matters for the national professional organization. The committee has continued to strengthen its regional bonds over the last year with monthly working calls taking place between the four states of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. This past year the committee put into action the initiatives it laid out last year, resulted in the following: aiancsr.com was launched, a new Emerging Professional focused website which provides resources, blogs, and recognition geared specifically for this AIA member category. The fourth annual Regional EP Summit took place in Madison, WI at the start of October hosted by AIA Wisconsin. The regional Emerging Professional Friendly Firm Award was introduced, similar to the former IDP Firm Award, it recognizes firms that do an outstanding job supporting young professionals. Kyle has been able to connect the region’s Emerging Professional leaders together and spearheaded the NCSR EP Friendly Firm Award.  Kyle’s term as the Regional Associate Director ends at the end of the year. However, he will continue to represent Associate AIA members as he steps into a new role on the AIA National Associates Committee, serving as one of four National At-Large Director for 2020-21 leading the Influence + Innovation work group. The goal of the workgroup will be to plug the voice of the Emerging Professional into the future initiatives AIA is working on. These include the 2021-2024 AIA Strategic Plan, “The Next Big Thing” – AIA’s committee and knowledge community restructuring plan, and AIA’s Climate Action Plan, known as “The Big Move”. To help foster this collaboration, the National Associates […]

CANstruction 2017

CANstruction 2017 The story of our 2017 Canstruction sculpture takes inspiration from a captivating children’s book “My Father’s Dragon.” After receiving the 2016 Canstruction International Citywide Competition Award for “Beat Meal,” Kodet again teamed up with the Minneapolis City of Lakes Rotary Club and numerous other generous sponsors to participate in the 12th Annual Canstruction Minneapolis exhibition. Canstruction is an event where architecture, engineering, and construction firms participate in a competition creating structures entirely out of cans. Canstruction was created to help raise awareness of hunger, and over 150 cities across the globe host Canstruction events to benefit local hunger relief. The Minneapolis exhibition benefits Second Harvest Heartland. This was the third year that we participated, and the sculpture is described below by Kodet team members: This sculpture depicts a young boy reading his own story. Looking over his shoulder is the blue and yellow dragon he freed from captivity. “My Father’s Dragon” is an enchanting children’s book about a young boy collaborating with his animal friends to create a better world. Our Canstruction story is very similar. Kodet Architectural Group collaborated with the Minneapolis City of Lakes Rotary Club and many other sponsors to donate this sculpture. Together with Second Harvest Heartland, we are “dragging-away” hunger. “My Father’s Dragon” carries a special significance to our prime supporters at the Minneapolis City of Lakes Rotary Club. Each week, the Rotary Club’s guest speaker will sign a book to be donated to Way to Grow, a Minneapolis non-profit dedicated to early childhood education.  For our structure, you will find our characters sitting on clouds made of cream corn.  The boy and the dragon are made of different tunas, chicken, and albacore as these types of items are greatly needed at food shelves. We felt the theme “Dragon Away Hunger” fit well as […]

Little Free Library

LITTLE FREE LIBRARY Recently, the City of Lakes Rotary Club collaborated with the team here at Kodet to create a unique Little Free Library for a Project for Pride in Living site. The Little Free Library has gained worldwide attention as it aims to promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide. Members of the Project for Pride in Living collected and delivered hundreds of books to start off their two new Little Free Library Sites.  Their goal to build a sense of community rang true as the Kodet team and Rotary Group put their heads to create their own Little Free Library. The team was comprised of Sean Leintz, Mandi Tauferner, Kelly Martinez, and Ken Stone. Early on in the process, each member of the team created sketches as to each would approach the project. After reviewing the creative sketches the team decided on a colorful library with a unique roof. Originally the design sought to have 2-levels, with sliding shelves moved with a “rotary” wheel incorporating the City of Lakes Rotary Club. In the end, the team collaborated to create a library which features a creative curved roof with pops of acrylic colored panels for windows. As you open the colored panels to grab a book the user is able to move the shelf back and forth to grab the book of his or her choice. Below are some images which depict the process the team went through in sketching and creating detailed plans for the project. Sketch by Sean Figuring out the specs! Materials + Details created by Mandi Rendering of the Final Product by Mandi! The team constructing the Little Free Library We would like to thank the Little Free Library organization and Project for Pride in Living the opportunity to work […]

ACE Mentor Program

Earlier this month dozens of people gathered in a University of Minnesota auditorium to see the Architecture, Construction, & Engineering efforts of 8 local high school teams in a friendly but fierce competition. The ACE Mentor Program helps high school students and inspires them to pursue careers in design and construction. With a mission to engage, excite, and enlighten high school students in our industry, Kodet’s own Mandi Tauferner, mentored at Edison High School this school year. The goal of the ACE mentor program is to expose students to real-life architectural experiences, and this event was the culmination of an 18-week, nationwide program. The presenting students had committed themselves in an after-school program that completely immersed them into the construction world. They were exposed to everything from design and feasibility, structural systems, construction scheduling and estimating, and working as a team. Teams competing this year came from Como Park, Washburn, Harding, Humboldt, St. Louis Park, Irondale,  Edison, and Shakopee. This year’s competition focused on Historic Revitalization, students were given the choice of directing their attention to 2 familiar locations, Minneapolis Armory or the Ford Plant site. Students presented their project ideas and the team from Shakopee High School was selected the winner and will go on to compete in the National competition. Other winners include 8 scholarship recipients but most importantly all of the students as they begin paving their way into the profession. Edison High School More info: http://www.acementor.org/index.php/affiliates/minnesota/twin-cities/about-us/