For the past 50 years, interior designers, architects, and manufacturers have converged on Chicago at the Merchandise Mart’s one-million square feet of event space to showcase and experience cutting edge design products. The three-day event features everything from textiles and floor coverings to furniture and hardware. This year, interior designers Michelle Coady, IIDA, Jackie Driscoll, CID, IIDA, and Danielle Lewis, CID, IIDA, attended the event to experience and be inspire

Note: a condensed version of this interview appears in the Spring 2018 issue of our K-12 digest, In Session. We're pleased to present the extended interview online here. With the shift to the classrooms of the future and the evolution of technology based learning, more and more school districts are looking at ways to modernize and renovate their facilities. When integrating 1:1 learning into your design, not only will you be looking at furniture and finishes, but the technolo

Brian Houston presented a novel Risk-Based Infrastructure Management approach at the 17th Annual North Carolina American Water Works Association - Water Environment Federation (NC AWWA-WEA) Spring Symposium in Asheville on Monday. The approach he presented, called Capital Efficiency (CapEff for short), uses a customized predictive failure algorithm and monetizes all risks (much like insurers do) to remove and/or clarify subjectivities that are pervasive in widely-accepted poi

The old adage says that Thomas Edison did not fail a thousand times when creating the lightbulb - he instead discovered a thousand ways how not to create a lightbulb. The issue we now face as a country is how to keep the lights on. During the most recent ASCE Report Card, the U.S. energy system scored a D+, stating that “…most electric transmission and distribution lines were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s with a 50-year life expectancy”. According to the same report card

Mark Gregor, our Manager of Municipal Environmental Programs, was a presenter at this year’s Brownfields Conference, held Dec. 5-7 in Pittsburgh, PA. Cosponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), the National Brownfields Training Conference is the largest gathering of stakeholders focused on cleaning up and reusing formerly utilized commercial and industrial properties. Mark has attended the conf

LaBella was recently ranked #5 on a list of the nation's largest K-12 engineering firms! Building Design + Construction publishes an annual issue looking at Giants in various marketing sectors. You can view the list here. Along with the annual list, BD+C publishes a market trend report that offers insights into the issues impacting educational design. According to the article, "some long-term K-12 trends—like beefing up safety and security, and designing for more natural l

On Wednesday, September 13th Director of Planning Ed Flynn presented at The New York Conference of Mayor’s Fall Training School. The training draws approximately 400 city and village officials from across the State together to attend a variety of innovative training sessions specializing in municipal law, government operations and local finance issues. Ed’s presentation explored the basic steps to identify, evaluate and apply for grants to support community development object

As a commercial interior designer, I'm introduced to hundreds of new materials, fixtures, and furniture throughout the year. It can be daunting to maintain a comprehensive awareness of all of them, much less evaluate the new options for our clients. That's why the annual NeoCon Interior Design Conference is an amazing opportunity to get the whole picture on the industry's latest introductions. In June, I made it to NeoCon for the first time, accompanied by my colleague Stepha

Comprehensive planning is big-picture, long-range planning. Many communities avoid comprehensive planning because they don’t want to invest in a plan that they think will “just sit on a shelf.” A lack of understanding about what the plan can – and should – do compounds “comp plan aversion syndrome." Towns, villages, counties and even regions can engage in comprehensive planning. While these entities are naturally interested in seeing projects as opposed to planning, a good co

It was only a few decades ago that CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) dramatically changed the practice of architecture. For clients, however, working with an architect still meant reading two dimensional drawings of three dimensional spaces, resulting in limited understanding and communication. Since then, 3D modeling and animations have helped close the visualization gap by allowing unprecedented presentations that clearly illustrate the architect’s proposed design. While this

As schools, universities, and municipal parks become increasingly landlocked, our clients are constantly looking to balance the high demand of their sports programs with the maintenance and safety issues that come with overused fields. The National Federation of High School Sports (NFHS) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) estimate that in the 2015-2016 season over 8.3 million students across the country participated in high school and collegiate level spo

LaBella is proud to be the K-12 Education Sponsor of the Imagine RIT Innovation + Creativity Festival. Our sponsorship supports the many K-12 groups who make field trips to the festival to see STEM education come to life. Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival is a campus-wide event that showcases the innovative and creative spirit of RIT students, faculty and staff. Visitors experience the breadth and depth of RIT through interactive presentations, hands-on demonst

Giving Justice To the Past: Our investigation into a historic building's original hues New paint is a given in most interior building renovations, expansions or capital improvement projects. It’s one of the quickest and most cost-effective methods to spruce up a tired interior. While these upgrades can address worn surfaces, selecting new or evolving styles and trends can skew the original design intent and feel of a building. When new colors are part of a more extensive reno

Last month, members of our educational design team joined the Webster Central School District team for a tour and presentation of Google’s New York City offices. As Webster CSD prepares to begin a capital project, our design team has worked closely with their leadership in exploring topics of district culture, use of technology, and preparing students for new work environments. We were fortunate to be invited to visit one of the global leaders in innovation, workplace cultu

New funding is available from NYSERDA for colleges and university energy initiatives. Hear from our sustainability planning expert Barbara Johnston as she outlines the new funding program and breaks down how organizations can get started. Good news for New York State colleges and universities that want to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions! NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) now offers 50% to 100% cost sharing for plans and studies

Have you ever heard the terms "Environmental Due Diligence" or "Phase I ESA" from a real estate agent, broker, attorney or colleague?  Do yo

War of the Words: Communication in the Age of Buzzwords Ask a client for their project wish list and it will probably consist of “something ‘green’ that’s open and light, with collaborative space and a timeless feel.” Ask an architect about their design, and it might be described as “a celebration of hierarchy that juxtaposes the dynamic procession with the porosity of the interstitial space.” Why, one may ask, is there such a linguistic disconnect between these two parties w

Attending the 2016 Association of Towns conference in New York City? Take note on your agenda: LaBella's Barb Johnston will be presenting on Monday, February 15th at 4 pm. Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Strategies for Towns Reducing energy use and increasing renewable energy generation can reduce costs, increase resiliency of utility infrastructure, encourage “green” economic development and respond to constituents’ priorities. Designed to give town officials a fun

If you're planning a project that requires tree removal, new regulations for the protection of the Northern Long-Eared Bat could impact construction schedules. Our planning division has kept LaBella's project managers up to speed on the newest regulations, which we've outlined below. The Northern Long-Eared Bat (NLEB) was officially listed as a “Threatened Species” under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) in May 2015 and is also listed by New York State as a Threatened

Here at LaBella, we have been designing athletic fields for over 15 years. When it comes to athletic fields, there are many surface options available to choose from. Every project has different needs and priorities to take into account when choosing your surface. Factors that will affect your surface preference can include cost, safety, maintenance requirements, playable hours per year, time until playable, and lifespan. We developed an in-depth report and infographic to give