A New Century
In 1981, I succeeded my father as President. A few years later, he followed George Arendt in retirement. Nils Lindfors was promoted to Vice President in 1983 followed by longtime employee Michael Lippy in 1991, filling out the third generation of leadership.
The firm began a 20-year period of steady growth, increasing staff from less than twenty to more than sixty thanks to the growing number of military and federal projects and the gradual return of the education market.
During this time, CAD and other computer-based technologies were fully implemented throughout the firm. We also established a formal marketing department, which proved essential to expanding our client base and obtaining larger and more complex projects.
A new eight-story patient care tower for Anne Arundel Medical Center is our fifth major facility on the medical campus in Annapolis, MD since 1994. Photo © Alain Jaramillo
Many of these projects involved well-known historically significant buildings, and the staff gained a reputation for its ability to incorporate modern systems in a sensitive and creative manor. As our reputation grew with institutional and government clients, nationally prominent architectural firms were soon approaching us for teaming opportunities on similar projects.
The opportunity to work with these firms matched up with our goal to develop a more diverse practice of project types and clients. We had learned the lesson well not to overly rely on the education market.
The 1990s into the 2000s was a period of professional growth for the staff and recognition of the firm’s abilities to design major educational, institutional, and government facilities. We worked on renovations of several significant monumental buildings, including the 1.5 million square foot Bancroft Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy and two large Congressional Office Buildings for the Architect of the Capitol.
We also revived our long dormant healthcare practice with a number of buildings for the new campus of Anne Arundel Medical Center. This relationship continues to the present day with a major new acute care pavilion opened in spring 2011.
The education sector returned to full demand, and we were retained as the prime firm for large systemic renovations and as consulting engineers for modernizations of the aging stock of school facilities, as well as new schools needed to accommodate population shifts. Our K-12 education practice expanded to outlying county school systems and an increasing number of independent and faith-based schools.
We have competed dozens of projects at Gilman School in Baltimore, MD over the past 25 years, most recently expansion of the Upper School.
Photo © Alain Jaramillo
With a growing clientele of sophisticated institutions and architectural firms, we looked to the highly regarded architectural engineering program at Pennsylvania State University as our main source of recruiting engineering talent. The education and creativity of these young engineers combined with mentoring by senior staff has allowed us to make great strides in our professional qualifications and stay current with advances in sustainable design and the introduction of Building Information Modeling.
Starting in 1996, the third generation of leaders—Reese Williamson, Nils Lindfors, Michael Lippy, and myself—began a 10-year period of phased retirements. In 1999, Rich Lang was promoted to Vice President followed in 2002 by Stephen Hudson and Timothy Cech, and they began to form the fourth generation of leadership. They were joined by Kevin McCarthy in 2007 and Jeffrey Caldwell in 2009. Stephen Hudson was elected President in 2005 and continues in this role as he enters his 45th year of service with the firm.
Into the Future
Despite a recession that hit the design and construction industry especially hard, we are heartened by some signs the economy is starting to recover. Our firm has been very fortunate to come through the downturn relatively unscathed. We attribute this to a strong marketing push into a wider diversification of proven market segments, along with our continued commitment to always produce the highest possible quality of work.
The firm currently enjoys a record backlog of work, our average staff tenure is now 12 years, and the young engineers hired over the past decade are advancing to accommodate the planned growth of the firm and anticipated future retirements. As we embark on our second century, the future is further ensured by the promotions in 2010 of Thomas Clippinger, Patrick Marquez, and Michael Sherren to Associate Principals following our proven tradition of developing leadership from within the firm.
The slogan for our centennial is “Celebrating a Century of Excellence”. Although none of us has a crystal ball, I believe that by adhering to the guiding principles established by Mr. Posey a century ago the firm can look forward to another 100 years of excellence.
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A Century of Excellence
JPA is celebrating the centennial of the firm founded by Baltimore engineer James Posey
in 1911.Continue Reading
Featured Project
Coppin State University
Baltimore, MD
Providing a major addition to this urban campus, the new 253,000-SF complex includes a state-of-the art sports facility, facilities management/public safety building and a satellite central utilities plant (SCUP).
Featured Project
U.S. Capitol Visitor Center
Washington, DC
JPA designed the MEP infrastructure for a 580,000-SF underground facility for the five-million visitors to the U.S. Capitol each year.
Featured Project
Peninsula Regional Medical Center
Salisbury, MD
Phased implementation of the Master Plan to significantly expand facilities at this premier regional tertiary care medical center on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
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National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD
Renovation of the first floor in Building 49 transformed existing office and laboratory space into a BSL-2 research area.
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Great Seneca Creek Elementary School
Germantown, MD
This was Montgomery County’s pilot LEED project and is the first LEED certified school in Maryland, achieving Gold status.
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Roland Park Country School
Baltimore, MD
A new 60,000-SF athletic center for this college preparatory girls’ school features an eight-station indoor rowing tank facility, the first of its kind in a Maryland school.
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Fairfax County Public Safety Operations Center
Fair Lakes, VA
Fairfax County and the Commonwealth of Virginia consolidated regional public safety and transportation functions to a new government office park near Dulles International Airport.
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Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens
Mount Vernon, VA
Two new facilities totaling 71,200-SF added 23 galleries and five theaters to the historic family home of our nation’s first president.
Featured Project
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD
Opened in 1915, this 146,000-SF academic building is the oldest and largest on the Homewood Campus.