PechaKucha Nights are informal, fun gatherings held in more than 1,000 cities world-wide, where creative people share their ideas, works and thoughts in a 20×20 format. PechaKucha Night is based on a simple, dynamic presentation style: 20 images x 20 seconds per image. It’s about artistic and creative celebration, and promotion of local talent. The event is constantly varied and dynamic, and always produces a relaxed, informal, and fun environment.
Meet, network, and show your work in only six minutes and forty seconds of exquisitely matched words and images!
Get tickets ahead of time - space is limited! Ample, free parking is available on-site.
Meet the Presenters!
Drew Armstrong: “Architecture at the End of the Line”
Drew Armstrong is director of Architectural Studies at Pitt and a specialist in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century architectural history. He is especially interested in the construction of the ‘self’ and how this concept shapes the relationship of the individual to temporal and spatial phenomena. He does not have a driver’s license.
Lee Calisti: “Home Town Architect: Greensburg, PA”
Lee Calisti, AIA, simply loves being an architect. Lee is licensed in Pennsylvania, NCARB certified, and is the principal of lee CALISTI architecture+design, Greensburg, PA. An active American Institute of Architects member, he currently serves as chair of the AIA PA Small Firm Exchange (SFxPA). Moreover, he is on the Greensburg Community Development Corporation’s (GCDC) board of directors. He is a 1991 B.Arch graduate of Kent State University, where he won the AIA Medal of Honor as the top member of his graduating class. Active in social media as an ardent but critical promoter of the profession, you can read his well-known blog think|architect or follow him on Instagram at @leecalisti
Walter Haim: “Restyling the Florence Stadium”
Walt lives in the Bloomfield neighborhood and is on staff at Rothschild Doyno Collaborative. Besides being known as a year-round bicycle commuter, he enjoys trail running , keeping a travel sketchbook, building architecture models at a scale of 1”=60’, and drawing the silliest of ideas for what could-be.
Allison Huchko: “Perspectives on Preservation: Vilnius, Lithuania, Summer 2022”
Allison graduated with highest honors and earned a B.S. in Architecture degree with a minor in Historic Preservation from Kent State University in 2018. She received her Master’s of Architecture degree with a focus in Urban Design also from Kent State University graduating during the summer of 2019. Allison is a licensed architect in the state of Pennsylvania and is a LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP BD+C). She currently lives in Beaver, Pennsylvania and works full time on Adaptive-Reuse projects at Margittai Architects located in Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood.
Carlos Kelly: “Building Performance Modeling… Is it for buildings or for people?”
As a Sustainability Consultant, Carlos Kelly has been helping clients whose ambitions are in line with a more sustainable future, through assisting them with building rating systems such as LEED, WELL & Fitwel, Building Performance Modeling and design of Passive strategies with the goal of Net-Zero Buildings and achieve the 2030 challenge.
David Rullo: “Beehive Coffeehouse: A Caffeinated Look Back”
David Rullo is an award-winning journalist and staff writer with the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. He has a book scheduled for publication in April, 2023 about the Beehive. In addition to his weekly stories in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, his work has appeared in NextPittsburgh, The Tribune-Review, Distinction Magazine, The City Paper, The Forward, Jewish Telegraph Agency, Sonic Boom Literary Journal, Nexus, Anthology of American Haiku and many other publications.
Stevo Sadvary: “Mosaics Alive”
Stevo Sadvary is a Pittsburgh based mosaic artist that has created hundreds of pieces of artwork hung in private homes, hotels, schools, hospitals, public art, garden art, and once he even tiled a swimming pool. His studio in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh is an alternative studio space that once was a parking garage. This studio filled with beautiful stained glass sheets serves as a work space as well as a gallery by appointment.
Diane Turnshek: “Welcome Aboard the Dark Skies Bandwagon”
Diane Turnshek is a lecturer in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. Her light pollution research focuses on measuring the light of cities with drones, aircraft, satellites and astronauts aboard the ISS.
Karl Zellars: “Unbuilding Pittsburgh: Deconstruction and Preservation in The Paris of Appalachia”
Used to wear a suit every day for work; has gone home covered in dirt from Construction Junction for the past 9 years.
PechaKucha Night will be hosted by Peter Margittai
Peter founded Margittai Architects in 2001 with the goal of creating thoughtful and tailored architectural and interior design solutions in a collaborative studio environment for his clients. His firm’s work has received numerous awards and acknowledgements. Peter has traveled extensively through the U.S., Europe, and Japan, and is active in several local and regional initiatives. He served as the President of Preservation Pittsburgh, is a member of the East Carson Street Local Review Committee and volunteered for the Design Center’s Design Consultants program,