Across every market, be it healthcare, education or business, people are understanding design in much more sophisticated ways. Fueled by growing consumerism and shifting generational preferences, people expect better experiences at the hospital, in a college student union and/or in the workplace. They expect immersive experiences that make their lives more enjoyable. Responding to these shifting expectations, building owners and design teams working in other markets now regularly embrace leading ideas from the world of hospitality and infuse them into their projects. Borrowing these ideas allow organizations to push new boundaries, achieve competitive differentiation, and/or bolster recruitment and retention. Why Hospitality Design? The hospitality market has long been delivering valuable…

Marisa Nemcik, AIA NCARB, an architect in our Boston office, and Tim Walser, an architect in our Chicago office, recently won a sponsorship to attend the 2018 AIA Conference on Architecture, held this year in New York City under the banner theme: “Blueprint for Better Cities.” They share their findings here: As the two lucky applicants selected, we were flown from our Boston and Chicago offices to New York for the AIA conference, a four-day event that had us walking the High Line, lunching with CannonDesign executive design director David Polzin and CEO Brad Lukanic, dodging Manhattan traffic and, of course, enjoying the myriad seminars and learning sessions offered. We…

The world of human resources and talent management is seeing exciting change – it was a consistent theme at CNBC’s inaugural Talent@Work event earlier this week. Part of CNBC’s new @Work series focused on making sense of the dramatic change occurring in the world of work, Talent@Work brought together HR leaders to focus on the workforce of tomorrow and how companies can best attract the brightest talent to fuel their business. It was an enlightening discussion powered by inspiring thought leaders, and CNBC deserves praise for the high quality of the event. I was thrilled to see the passion and analytical rigor as fellow leaders shared their experiences, journeys and…

Every day, millions of breastfeeding mothers head to work knowing they will need to express milk in dark conference rooms, converted closets and other makeshift spaces not appropriately designed for privacy, personalization of sanitization. These same women will also have to visibly pack and carry their equipment each time they need to pump and store the resulting milk in small refrigerators under their desks or in communal areas. To be direct, these women deserve better. Our team has conceptually developed a better solution called Sona that confronts traditional, segregated and clinically driven spaces typically devoted to new mothers for expressing milk. Taking into account the often taboo nature of “pumping”…

The Baltimore office is steadily deepening our roots into our local communities! As the workplace is our house for where synergy happens, we must remember to spread that energy with our friends for a better, healthier environment. Our partnership with Baltimore’s chapter of the Neighborhood Design Center (NDC), a nonprofit organization facilitating the development of healthy, equitable neighborhoods, allows us to explore pro bono services and involvement beyond the office. The NDC provided a monumental opportunity: to design storefront and streetscape guidelines for Pennsylvania Avenue. The site is in plain-view from our office. This corridor holds historical and cultural significance to everyone, ranging from public interest due to the 2015…

As temperatures (hopefully) start to warm up, construction projects should also pick up around the Midwest in advance of the summer crunch. But while April showers bring May flowers, the same isn’t necessarily true for construction turnaround in today’s market. The construction industry is facing challenges somewhat unique within the job market; labor shortages are bucking against previous trends of historically low unemployment. Unlike years prior, this round of labor tightening is accelerating new territory in technology and management. The US labor market is currently enjoying four percent unemployment. Bloomberg recently released a piece that provides more insight into what this looks like for communities that are already experiencing what…

What began as a casual introduction between our firm and the New England Aquarium last summer, has now developed in to an impressive display of youthful ideas for urban resilient design all highlighted during Boston’s recent Design Week 2018. Specifically, the New England Aquarium introduced us to the ClimaTeens – a group of nearly 50 15- to 18-year olds passionate about our planet, oceans, and forging a healthy, sustainable future for our community and the world at large. Teens accepted in to the aquarium’s educational program arrive with various levels of knowledge about climate change, but they are united by their collective desire to understand it fully and their commitment to…

It has been 48 years since 20 million+ people demonstrated across the United States of America in an unmistakable call for environmental reform and to mark the first ever Earth Day. The collective push of those 20 million+ individuals helped spur significant change in environmental policy and practice, including the extension and passage of both the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts along with the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency. The progress launched that day in 1970 has never really ceased. Earth Day is now celebrated in over 193 countries and is said to be the most widely-observed secular holiday in the world.  The annual event is broad…

Brian Skripac and I recently attended the Canada BIM Council Regional Conference in Montreal on April 12.  It was a fantastic event that united BIM leaders from various industries across Quebec. The Canada BIM Council (or CanBIM) is Canada’s collective voice for the construction industry, education community and owners who are working with Building Information Modeling technologies and practices. The group’s mission is to provide professional support, advocacy, learning opportunities and best practices for BIM in a Canadian context while maintaining a close relationship with international BIM groups. The organization hosts numerous sessions throughout the year to bring together members and guest speakers to openly discuss the latest trends, standards…

Our Boston office was proud to take part in Architecture Design and Thinking Day on March 23 when we hosted a group of local high school students and guidance counselors for a fun, activity-filled day that introduced them to life in a design office. A joint initiative between the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) Foundation and the Boston Private Industry Council (PIC), Architecture Design and Thinking Day sought to connect youth with workforce partners to provide opportunities for students to identify rewarding career paths. Our hosting team consisted of one facilitator (me) and two chaperones, Marisa Nemcik and Jamie Graham. The three of us share a passion for educating youth…