With a school design portfolio spanning 60 years and 51 Tennessee school systems, Red Chair Architects will team with McGinnis to provide vulnerability assessment, threat reduction, and design implementation and oversight services to mitigate threats specific to school facilities and in keeping with client school systems’ priorities, budgets and schedules.

McGinnis brings nearly four decades of experience in law enforcement and federal security services planning and strategy to the Red Chair team, providing client school systems an expansive knowledge base for understanding safety and security threats that can be mitigated with proper facility planning and personnel training.

McGinnis served as founder and CEO of Echota Technologies, Inc., for 16 years, in which he oversaw numerous multi-million-dollar federal contracts for operations and training programs for the U.S. Army’s Special Forces.

McGinnis’ firm also managed operations of the National Training Center for the Department of Energy in Albuquerque, NM, including anti-terrorism, force-on-force and advanced special weapons teams.  Other areas of training the firm provided included counter-terrorism and electronic counter measures. In addition, Echota performed numerous vulnerability assessments for the Department of Energy in the United States and abroad.

Prior to founding Echota, McGinnis spent 18 years providing security under the Department of Energy, where his responsibilities included threat detection and deterrence, covering physical implementation of man power, electronic surveillance, as well as serving as a member of advanced tactical response teams.

McGinnis started his early career as a patrol officer and detective with a police department for five years.

“Post-Sandy Hook, the public outcry for better school security has been consistent in communities throughout the country, and Tennessee is no exception,” said Red Chair Architects CEO David Cockrill.

“In recent months since the tragedy at Newtown, the drumbeat for a serious focus on school security only seems to be intensifying, and the most effective way for systems to address security – one that actually has the potential to save lives in an emergency scenario – is to approach it holistically with facility planning, design and a seamless integration of known best-practices in threat detection, deterrence and response,” Cockrill said.

“It is also critical for local school administrations to achieve total integration of shared information and planning scenarios related to facility layouts with local law enforcement agencies – just one of many factors that our team can help school systems plan, implement and sustain over time.”

According to McGinnis, many school systems’ sole focus on hiring school resource officers represents a major expenditure with an inadequate level of proportional security value.

When it comes to providing a significantly enhanced security profile for a public school, “a school resource officer isn’t the answer,” McGinnis said.

“The only real answer: Buy time,” McGinnis said.  “The majority of perpetrators of school-shooting events are insiders or former insiders to that school, meaning that they may have direct and informed access to the facility at any given time.  If a perpetrator knows who the resource officer is and eliminates him or her as a first course of action – then what?  Isolation and containment become the end-games of greatest importance – including mechanical restrictions of the facility that minimize damage and allow law enforcement the most time possible to arrive at the scene.”

“Time saves kids,” McGinnis said.  “If you can isolate students through physical aspects of a building, away from a perpetrator for 30 minutes, there is a far greater opportunity to save lives. Many of a building’s typical physical security features only go so far.  A perimeter fence, for example, buys you 22 seconds.  School systems are going to have to examine their systems and facilities through a realistic lens of what they are providing in security value.”

According to Cockrill, the goal from a design and planning standpoint should focus on minimizing injury and loss of life by helping school systems identify beneficial actions by staff, achievable facility corrective measures as well as isolation and containment scenarios intended to buy precious time for emergency responders.

“Our strategic alliance offers specialized security planning services to school districts that can maximize the dollars allocated to address safety and security concerns,” Cockrill said.  “Our collaboration has resulted in a solid methodology that provides strong, practical and consistent measures that fit each school system’s – and each school building’s – own unique needs,” Cockrill said.

Gowanus by Design is a community-based urban design advocacy group that proposes strategic development for the Gowanus area in Brooklyn. Read more about the competition and other winners here.

Amanda has had two summer internships in the past with KieranTimberlake in Philadelphia, PA, where she worked on the facade team for the New London Embassy project and with Hnedak Bobo Architects in Memphis, TN.

During her school career, Amanda has been a leader in the College of Architecture serving onn countless organizations and committees, including a term as AIAS Chapter President.

Her leadership and past work experience will be an exciting addition to Red Chair’s team.

Welcome Amanda!

Year one of the new firm was both a blur and a blast. The merger and new moniker have been very well received. Apprehension was quickly replaced by acceptance of our new and unorthodox firm name. The “coolest business name in town” (ref. Roger Harris – Rant$ and Rave$, Jan.3, 2012) was a home run for us and we’ve had a lot of fun with it this year. With “the red chair” present with us in Nashville, Miss Tennessee, Chandler Lawson, asked to be photographed in the red chair…we quickly obliged. Our photo album featuring those we have served has progressed nicely in our first year and we are very excited about the opportunities to add to our red Chair family photo album in the new year and for many years to come.

It’s only coincidence that the opportunity to merge two successful firms occurred in a very serious downturn in the economy. The merger, while consuming much time and resources, has sustained and strengthened us during a very slow economy. Marrying our histories, portfolios and experience while simultaneously reducing our overhead, has provided a strong ballast against a turbulent economy. In this current economy, price, and more specifically in our case, fee-based competition is increasing (as opposed to quality-based selection of professional services required by law). Often, competitors suggest that our designs are expensive to build and our fees too high – which is not true. Design excellence / good architecture is not dependent on budget nor the high-fee provider.

Architecture is the use and arrangement of light, form, color and materials to provide for our inspiration, comfort, shelter and function. Budget should never be an obstacle in creating good architecture. We have been consistently recognized for our ability to create memorable facilities which inspire and are enjoyable spaces in which to live, work, and play. We excel at creating exciting and award-winning design solutions with cost effective and sustainable materials while asking only fair, market-driven fees necessary to support the effort required.

Red Chair Architects’ projects consistently bid in the lowest “quartile” (25%) of projects reported, yet win an inordinate amount of recognition for design excellence. Red Chair’s most recent six projects completed / submitted in the 2010-12 timeframe were all recognized for design excellence by either the American Institute of Architects and/or Tennessee School Board Association and with one project (Algood Elementary from a pool of over 900 projects)  featured on the cover of the national magazine, American School & University.

As we begin a new year Red Chair Architect’s philosophy still rings True… design excellence / good architecture is dependent on the best design thinking and talent comfortably focused on the individual or entity for whom the design is being created.

Aaron is a Senior Project Manager and Associate at the firm who has spent much of his career designing schools throughout the state of Tennessee all the while striving to create healthy and sustainable environments for children to learn in. “The environment affects their education. Studies have shown the more daylight there is in an educational space, the more it improves grades, test scores and students’ attention to what’s being taught,” he said.

According to Red Chair CEO David Cockrill, ”Aaron brings ‘ hands-on’ knowledge to each and every project with a highly desired background in construction. In addition to architecture and planning, Aaron has a tireless work ethic and pursuit of making good things happen for friends, family and the beloved architecture firm for which he works.”

We are very proud to have Aaron in the Red Chair family. Congratulations on receiving this great honor!

Photo By J. Miles Cary/News Sentinel

I heard on the radio this morning that an original member of the Tuskegee Airmen of the 99th Fighter Squadron, Col. Herbert E. Carter, died yesterday at age 93. The African-American pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen were among the most heroic of World War II. Col. Carter flew 77 missions in the war. Today the flags in Tuskegee will fly at half staff honoring him until his burial.

When I learn of a veteran’s story such as this it’s almost unimaginable that this is just ONE incredible account amongst the thousands from the courageous men and women who have served our country for over 200 years. The dedication and sacrifice of those who have gone into battle, and still daily defend us from the ugly brutality of terrorism, humbles me to the core and instills a deep sense of pride of being an American.

In a very small way, Red Chair has been honored to serve our area’s veterans through our design work at the Department of Veterans Affairs James H. Quillen Medical Center in Mountain Home, TN. Whether our designs have made it easier for a veteran to find their way to the hospital lab or nursing station or we’ve simply provided a little daylight and cheerful color in a waiting room, we are thankful for opportunity to make their day just a little better.  Whether it’s the staff or the patients we engage at VAMC, we remain inspired by all we meet there.

As we’ve just watched the Veteran’s Day parade roll by our office, for this Veterans Day 2012 Red Chair offers our most sincere and deep gratitude to those who have served and are currently serving our nation. Through the tremendous sacrifice of our veterans and their families, our country with all its challenges, remains one of greatest and most blessed nations in all of history.

On the thirtieth anniversary of the Knoxville World’s Fair it was good to see the recent news report that the Sunsphere is once again occupied and operational.  During the years, it’s been unfortunate to see the most recognized structure in the Knoxville skyline lie dormant as downtown became increasingly more vibrant each day.

Red Chair Architects had its main office downtown when we were designing the iconic structure for the fair (22^nd floor of “Jake’s bank”) and I recall many evenings watching the fireworks over the park from those 22^nd floor office windows.  At that time it was hard to find a restaurant or a bar off the fair site and Knoxville was lagging behind other American cities in its revitalization of their downtown area.  My thoughts then were that the fair would be a catalyst for multiple downtown developments after the fair. I envisioned happy days for architects and developers for years to come.

Many don’t realize that Red Chair actually served as both the architect and developer of the Sunsphere.  Bill Denton, who was with Red Chair at that time, put together a group of investors (of which Red Chair was a 25 percent partner) to develop the project.  Hubert Bebb, the founder of Red Chair, was the creator of the concept for the Sunsphere and Don Shell carried that design through for Red Chair to create the structure we see today.  Red Chair even wrote and published a book on the Sunsphere that others have followed suit in more recent days.  We even designed and produced bottles, pins, and other memorabilia to sell during the fair and for a number of years maintained a copyright of the image of the Sunsphere.  Had we maintained that, we would be collecting royalties from about half of the businesses in town because it seems everyone likes to use the image in their marketing and advertising.

After the summer of 1982 the tremendous catalyst of the fair was de-energized with the failure of the bank that had helped create the exposition.  For a number of years the fair site languished in missed opportunities and fears of repeating failure.  The Sunsphere struggled with the same restrictions, sitting empty at times and being occupied at times with less than ideal tenants, infamously earning its role in the seventh season The Simpsons, “Bart on the Road.”

We wish the new tenant – Icon Ultra Lounge – well.  Our hopes are that the downtown community, of which Red Chair is again an intentional part, will support the continued use of the building to serve the public at large.  And for those of us that remember the sights from atop the Sunsphere during the fair, and recall our dreams of a new and better future with bold and creative ways to use energy, hopefully those ambitions can be rekindled as we can once again sit and enjoy the impressive views from the gold embedded glass and cast a new vision over what is yet to be for Knoxville.

Daniel has completed two previous internships with TheMooreGroup Architects in his hometown of Kingsport, TN and with The CFP Group in Nashville, TN.  During his studies, he spent extensive time abroad including a tour of Sweden and a summer study at the Aalto University School of Science and Technology both of which have greatly influenced his development as a designer and will be a great asset to the firm.

Welcome, Daniel!

Science Hill High School received the First Place School of the Year Award in the renovation category. Along with renovations to the existing campus, Red Chair developed a 9th grade academy and Master Plan for Physical Education and Athletic Facilities for the growing Johnson City school.

Dibrell School received 3rd Place in the renovation category. Economy was a major driver for the Dibrell Scheme in Warren County, using simple volumes with simple and consistent roof spans. Red Chair was able solve many of the existing schools daylighting and heat gain issues with the expansion while planning for future growth.

A special thank you to both the Johnson City and Warren County School Districts for being such wonderful clients making these projects possible.

His most recent endeavor as an interior designer on the Blackberry Farm Design Team provided him with a wide range of experience from acting as lead designer on a new spa to smaller retrofit projects. His educational background in both interior design and architecture is unique and will be a tremendous asset to the firm.

Please join us in welcoming Todd!