Penn State Architecture Students Visit Masonry Lab

Published 03.03.2009

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Penn Staters are instructed in proper block-laying Along a line of bricks, students learn from Anthony V. Mirarchi, a field representative/apprentice director for the bricklayers' Harrisburg union local and a member of the college's Carpentry/Construction Technology Advisory Committee An exercise in mortar-spreading Building an arch against a template, which later will be knocked down to test stability Students work with irregularly shaped chunks of mountain stone Penn College's School of Construction and Design Technologies welcomed nearly 50 architecture students from The Pennsylvania State University on Monday. Moving through workstations in the school's masonry lab, the Penn State students traveling with Ute Poerschke, associate professor in Penn State's Department of Architecture took trowels in hand to lay brick, block and stone. Organizers said the annual program gives architecture students a better idea of what's involved in bringing their designs to reality by pairing them with Penn College students for a valuable, hands-on primer on actual construction techniques. Richard R. Motter and Glenn R. Luse, instructors of building construction, were among the Penn College faculty mentors, with industrial backup and generous donations from Glen Gery Corp., Watsontown Brick and Beavertown Block; representatives of the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Union; and help from the Quikrete mortar-mixing system.