Company Profile
CICADA Architecture/Planning, Inc.
Company Overview
CICADA Architecture/Planning, Inc. offers a full
range of professional architectural services,
from initial programming and site selection
through interior design, furnishings and post-
occupancy evaluation. We provide our
institutional, educational, arts, and community
development clients with comprehensive,
interdisciplinary support to define and meet
their project objectives.
Our primary strength lies in the inclusive,
collaborative approach we bring to every project,
developing and encouraging open communication
among all involved parties. We recognize that,
for every project, there is a depth of unique
expertise available to inform and guide the
process - in addition to the professional and
technical expertise of the architects and
engineers involved, the projects’ owners and
users have specialized knowledge, experience, and
insights that impact the design. This recognition
informs our approach; the process identifies
opportunities, constraints, and concerns early in
the process to allow them to be integrated in an
efficient manner, and fosters investment in a
successful outcome on the part of everyone
involved.
CICADA Architecture/Planning works to integrate
an awareness of the surroundings into the design
of every project, integrating sustainable design
elements through solar orientation, site
opportunities, and massing. We strive to achieve
simple, elegant structures that balance an
economy of means of construction with durability
and flexibility over the long term. The goals of
the firm are clear: 1) to design projects that
are responsive to the immediate needs of our
clients, 2) to design durable buildings which are
flexible enough to respond to inevitably changing
needs and users over time; 3) to use
environmentally responsible materials, systems,
and concepts; 4) to develop built environments
which are economically responsible in both the
short and long term; and 5) to enhance our
cultural heritage as represented by our built
environment.
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
A quick review of CICADA’s projects by a
layperson would reveal little commonality of
style. The design images of our projects arise
from the surrounding context, including built and
man-made forms, the landscape, natural
determinants such as solar angles and prevailing
breezes, and available local materials. A closer
analysis, however, would reveal common design
threads tied less to image than to philosophy,
functionality, flexibility, and economy. We
strive to achieve a clear, efficient, easily
comprehensible spatial composition. We attach
great importance to the achievement of pleasing
proportions: well-proportioned spaces are more
functional than those that are not, well-
proportioned elevations need not rely on
excessive ornamentation to be pleasing. Our goal
is to create comfortable, well-designed
environments which are sensitive to context and
to the needs of the users, and which are well-
crafted, durable, and adaptable to changing
needs. We aim to create an everyday beauty that
reveals itself more and more fully over time.
DESIGN PROCESS
Our design process has as its foundation a team-
building approach that continues through every
phase of the project, from initial planning
through building occupancy. Each project team is
unique, including a partner of the firm who
becomes immersed in the project, typically a
representative of the client who does the same,
and a multitude of staff architects, engineering
and specialty consultants, client and user groups
and representatives and, ultimately, contractors
and subcontractors. Inclusive working sessions
and planning charettes are tools we commonly use
to identify and balance project criteria. This
inclusive process informs the participants of the
basis for decisions at the outset of the project,
minimizing the revisiting of early scope
decisions late in the process.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
CICADA Architecture/Planning consists of three
interrelated studios that, in their totality, are
able to respond to the firm’s overall goal of
contributing to the creation of strong
communities. Each studio, headed by a principal
of the firm, provides design expertise in a
defined component of that overall goal:
Educational Facilities; Cultural Facilities; and
Community Development Projects. Key core staff
are assigned to carry each project from inception
through completion; this staff typically consists
of one principal acting both as Principal-in-
Charge and Project Manager, a Project Architect,
and, depending upon the scale of the project,
additional permanent staff. Core staff for each
project are supplemented as needed by additional
staff, and interim design and quality reviews are
carried out by one of the other partners of the
firm.
The firm considers each professional employee to
be a potential partner in the firm, and
encourages staff development accordingly.
Professional development, continuing education,
involvement in professional organizations, and
community service are actively encouraged for all
staff. In committing itself as a firm to each
employee’s individual professional growth, CICADA
achieves a high level of commitment amongst its
staff to the growth and success of the firm. This
is in turn manifested in a very high quality of
the firm’s work overall.
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN OBJECTIVES
Sustainable, or “green”, design is integral to
our practice of architecture and planning. This
is not apparent in the appearance or our
projects, but it is apparent in their operation.
We include our checklist for environmentally
sustainable design in the design process for each
project from its inception. We include
discussions of such sustainable-design topics as
life-cycle costs, locally-available materials and
systems, recycling, and quality of life in all
design discussions. We practice an integrated
design approach that involves the engineering
disciplines in the design discussion from the
outset, a process that is crucial in achieving
efficiency in the design and operation of the
building as a whole. We believe that, before the
next two decades are over, sustainable design
will be standard and expected; our goal is to
anticipate that standard, and to lead the
profession in attaining it.
INSTRUMENTS OF SERVICE
We have completely integrated the use of computer-
aided drafting and 3-dimensional modeling into
our practice and produce drawings using AutoCAD
Architectural Desktop Release 2; these drawings
can be saved to earlier AutoCAD formats at the
client’s request. Specifications are produced in
Microsoft Word for Windows ’97, in MasterSpec
format. Marketing and presentation materials are
created in a variety of software platforms.
We recognize that the design process will,
increasingly, be web-based and have the
capability to create password-protected, project-
specific websites for where up-to-date
documentation can be accessed.
COST CONTROL EFFECTIVENESS
CICADA Architecture/Planning is committed to
providing a quality product, on time, within
budget, at a fair profit. To accomplish this, we
have instituted an effective project cost control
process within the firm.
· All projects involve a “design-to”
cost, and cost control is integral to the overall
design process.
· At the outset of each project, a
thorough evaluation of the fit between scope and
budget is conducted prior to the start of design.
If the two are incompatible, we so inform our
client, and work with them to achieve a realistic
fit.
· One of the firm’s principals, not
closely involved with the project on a day-to-day
basis, provides quality control in each phase of
its development. It is his/her responsibility to
review both quality assurance and cost control.
· Design parameters are defined at the
outset of the project based upon the level of
design freedom inherent in the “fit” between
program, budget, and project aspirations.
· By including all engineering
disciplines in design meetings from the outset,
we avoid designing in extraneous costs.
· Cost estimates are prepared by an
outside consultant at design milestones, to
provide a further check on internal cost-control
measures. If the project is in jeopardy of
exceeding the “design-to” budget, the same
outside consultant works with the Principal-in-
Charge of the project, our engineering
consultants, and our internal quality-control
watchdog to develop recommendations for cost
reductions.
· In order to minimize design-related
change orders, CICADA utilizes a quality control
manual and procedures, overseen throughout by the
partner in charge of quality control for that
project.
Company History
CICADA Architects and Planners was formed as a
partnership in 1995 in Philadelphia,PA by
Christopher Heaven, Mary Holland, and Kurt
Raymond to offer primarily architectural and
planning services to private, community,
institutional, and governmental clients. The
firm was incorporated in mid-1999, first
operating as an S-corporation as of Jan. 1, 2000
under the corporate name of CICADA
Architecture/Planning, Inc. In May of 2003,
Christopher Heaven left the firm; his shares were
bought out by Ms. Holland and Mr. Raymond, with
Ms. Holland assuming majority ownership of the
firm.
Notable Clients
Cornerstone Christian Academy, Elkins Park Library, Fairmount Park Commission, Independence Charter School, Ivyland Borough, Lehigh University, Morris Arboretum, Pennsbury Manor, Pennypack Environmental Center, Philadelphia Capital Programs Office, Philadelphia Housing Authority, Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Plymouth Whitemarsh School District, St. Joseph's Preparatory School, Swarthmore College, University of Pennsylvania
Benefits
Full-time staff also receives 3 personal days/yr.
& paid holidays.