Spring Lecture Series: Baltimore Penn Station Renovation & Expansion

AIA Baltimore and Baltimore Architecture Foundation presents the 2024 Spring Lecture Series, taking place on 4/04, 4/10, 4/17 and 4/25 at the MICA Brown Center.

This lecture offers 1.0 AIA LU. 

AIA, ASLA and NOMA members may register at a discounted rate.

We are offering school students, faculty and staff free admission! Please bring your school ID to show upon arrival.

Join us on April 10 at 5:00 PM for Baltimore Penn Station Renovation & Expansion with Dana Verbosh and Alan Gombera, AIA of Gensler and James Smith, AIA of Quinn Evans Architect. 

Registration begins at 4:30PM. Join us for a reception at The Brass Tap immediately following the lecture! There will be apps, open bar for the first hour, and specialty cocktails available! 

ABOUT THIS LECTURE

A true multimodal hub, Baltimore Penn Station marks an evolution for the passenger experience – and for the city of Baltimore itself.

Every once in a while, a project comes along that puts a firm's full toolkit on display and helps an entire city rethink its future. Baltimore Penn Station - reimagined by Gensler & Quinn Evans alongside Penn Station Partners & Amtrak - is one of those projects. Consisting of a refresh to the historic head house, a station expansion, a commercial office development, and the addition of connective public plazas, BPS puts an exclamation point on the idea of inclusive and forward-facing design.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS 

Alan Gombera, AIA

Alan is a Zimbabwean born Architect and Studio Director at Gensler Baltimore. Alan has background in a wide range of project types having worked on various residential, national & local government, institutional and developer driven work in South Africa. Having relocated to the United States, Alan worked for three different firms prior to joining Gensler and has experience in Multifamily, nonprofit, Institutional, developer and higher education projects. Having been both a project Manager and project Architect, Alan is adept to both roles and is Licensed in South Africa, Texas and Maryland as well as being a LEED green associate.

Outside of the office, Alan enjoys spending time with family and staying involved with the community trough volunteer work such as teaching Art and Architecture, for three years to young students ranging from second to fifth grade in Texas through the Southwest school of Art initiative. Alan also finds comfort in cooking for and feeding the homeless at Haven for Hope shelter in San Antonio as well as volunteering for nonprofit organizations such as Architects for humanity and Inscape Publico in Washington DC.

Dana Verbosh

Dana Verbosh, a design director at Gensler Baltimore, has more than 15 years of experience focused on creating unique and highly functional interior spaces in a wide range of project typologies.  Her passion lies in finding the stories her clients want to tell and lives to find unique and thoughtful ways to tell them.  Dana is well rounded in her approach to projects, considering constraints as tools in her arsenal and follow through in every detail as essential to carrying out the vision.   Purpose may be at the heart of her process, but her superpower is her ability to build trust in relationships.  Dana works to connect on a real level with her clients and colleagues, emphasizing a team player attitude and finding the fun together in the process.  With respect, she relies on these relationships to challenge, push, and question all with the intent to better serve the project, client, and team.  At the end, she usually walks away with new friends, a happy client, and a product that exemplifies how healthy relationships can produce amazing results. 

Jim Smith, AIA

Jim Smith is an insightful, highly experienced architect who brings thoughtful, creative solutions to each project. He has a deep understanding of traditional construction methods, providing a strong foundation for the incorporation of new materials and unconventional techniques. Jim appreciates well-detailed buildings that reflect a careful consideration of materials and how the details convey the design intent His portfolio includes residential, educational, non-profit, cultural, athletic, and mixed-use projects. His experience in adaptive reuse design includes the award-winning conversion of a historic grain elevator into a luxury residential building.