In my first design job out of college at a capital ‘A’ architecture firm, I was beyond excited to have the opportunity to attend a major national conference on green building. And by ‘attend,’ I mean that an architect named Todd let me borrow his nametag and attend all the sessions that he could not. I was an imposter at the conference, but I had the best of intentions to master the world of ‘green’ in those select lectures. I wondered what the sustainability hype was all about and what my role as an emerging designer was to embrace green-ness.
According to a famous 1956 study on memory, cognitive psychologist George Miller demonstrated that the average number of pieces of information a human being can manage at one time is seven (plus or minus two). “Miller’s Law” led, among other things, to the creation of the seven-digit phone number. If you’ve ever attempted to dial a new phone number while someone in the background is talking, particularly about numbers, you’re probably familiar with the frustration of losing a digit or two and having to start again because your memory has hit capacity. We can only process so much at once.
In recent years we have watched many industries (such as retail with the growth of Amazon and transportation with Uber) transform almost overnight through disruption and innovation. Our construction processes, however, are in many cases tied to outdated practices which better suited previous generations. A 2017 report from the McKinsey Global Institute entitled “Reinventing Construction: A Route to Higher Productivity” explored the emerging factors which could drive the construction industry toward disruption and positive change, and identified a number of key strategies which have the potential to dramatically increase productivity across the entire construction sector. Here in the Lowcountry, we haven’t come across many teams with wholesale modified approaches to prefabrication, but prefab is coming. It has to.
Biologist E. O. Wilson defined biophilia as “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.” In architecture, the concept of biophilia is rooted in the idea that humans are innately drawn to the natural world and seek out natural elements within the built environment as well as outdoors. Biophilic design is more than just adding plants to a workspace; it creates a meaningful connection between the people who use a space and the environment through patterns, textures, and natural materials. Enhancing connections to nature within a design is a timeless practice which has found a renewed popularity in recent years as sustainable design and wellness have become high priorities for building owners.
Lighting is more than just illumination; it also sets the tone, influences our moods, and enhances our emotions. Simply stated: lighting inspires. We have come to expect beautiful lighting in restaurant, theaters, and other welcoming and creative environments. We also expect that the design of fixtures and their layout within a space provides adequate illumination for each task at hand. Building codes typically regulate metrics such as foot-candle levels and energy usage, but seldom address other aspects of lighting design.
I became a LEED Accredited Professional on September 29, 2006 during a firmwide push to have everyone in the firm become LEED accredited. Becoming a LEED AP was a big deal at the time; however, in the past twelve years, I have only had the opportunity to certify a single project. Does that mean that my project designs are not sustainable? On the contrary; USGBC and LEED have brought sustainable design to the forefront my thinking. Whether or not any particular project pursues LEED certification, LEED provides an invaluable knowledge base and a checklist for monitoring the sustainable ideas and elements within a specific project that can easily be confirmed and validated. As a measure of a building’s sustainable design, LEED has set the standard for the industry and continues to raise the bar for building performance.
Restaurant design provides opportunities to welcome, inspire, and engage guests and create high-performance culinary work spaces for owners and staff. In addition to aesthetics, restaurant design involves many design and cost considerations which will impact decisions from the earliest project stages. Planning for these unique elements up front can streamline the design and construction process, and help architects to deliver the best possible design for their clients. Whether designing an intimate café or expansive cafeteria, the architect should consider these ten critical factors at the front end of design.
Last century’s model of high school typically included two tracks: an academic path that prepared students for college, and a vocational path that prepared students to enter directly into the workforce after graduation. Today’s economy demands greater flexibility and broader options, and our 21st century models of education recognize that all students benefit from hands-on learning. Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs offer this flexibility and real-world skills development, giving all students a head start on the future with coursework which transfers to college, technical college, or the workforce.
LS3P works across a wide variety of project types, but certain specialized spaces present interesting design challenges across market sector boundaries. One such program area is a high performance room, a type of program space which might include a worship center auditorium, a corporate meeting space, or a performance space at a fine arts center. Our recent project work has included high performance rooms at Elevation Ballantyne’s new worship center, the “stairitorium” for the office’s town hall at AvidXchange, and auditoriums for Cape Fear Community College’s Wilson Center and Charlotte Christian School. Though these projects serve different functions, they draw from a similar tool kit of strategies to create a specialized space and a world-class user experience.
Unlike the compartmentalized, lecture-based school models of the past, today’s educational facilities are blurring the lines between disciplines and encouraging collaborative, hands-on learning. On a community scale, our school systems are likewise breaking down educational silos to create centers for multidisciplinary teaching and learning. Rather than building single-use, single-user facilities which will function in isolation and meet one particular need, school systems are increasingly focused on creating spaces for new paradigms of teaching and learning and building meaningful partnerships in the process.
Working on the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) campus has been an exciting experience, and one which has challenged me as an architect to explore and implement next-level strategies for sustainable design. Clemson University is deeply committed to building sustainable campus facilities, as evidenced by the recent LEED Gold certification of its Center for Emerging Technologies (CET). The design team had a mandate to achieve at least LEED Silver certification, and by using a holistic, integrated approach to sustainable design from the earliest project stages, we were able to exceed expectations and ultimately achieve LEED Gold status.
We live in an era marked by rapid progress in technology. One of our most exciting challenges as architects is to create innovative building solutions to support emerging technologies. The zenith is when our buildings support a variety of systems in a manner that sustains the ongoing real-time evolution of the emerging technology. The transportation industry in general and the bus-transit sector in particular, is experiencing a monumental technological shift. LS3P recently had the opportunity to design a facility for the City of Seneca, SC in support of the city’s recent acquisition of the latest transportation technology - a new fleet of electric buses.
It was a beautiful 1964 ½ Mustang. It was fast, and it belonged to my mother. Fortunately, she often handed the keys over to me, a teenager, and I happily put it through its paces. I remember how exhilarating it felt to drive that Mustang alongside other teenagers on the streets of 1960s Charleston.
Not so long ago, freshman orientation was a daunting experience. A college acceptance letter kicked off a lengthy administrative process: packets of forms to be filled out and submitted in hard copy, followed by long lines for student IDs, parking passes, tuition payments, and financial aid questions. Even registering for classes was an in-person, on-paper chore. Getting set up for your first semester on a new campus could take several days of navigating from building to building, waiting for your turn to submit a form or ask a question. Your first days on campus felt like a prolonged trip to the DMV.
As school districts nationwide plan for long-term maintenance and construction costs, they share a number of common concerns. Districts ask, “How much is a typical monthly maintenance bill, and what does it include? How much does it cost to bring a school up to ‘21st century learning’ standards? How much would it cost to build new? What’s the monthly maintenance cost difference between a renovated building and a new facility? What is the up-front cost difference between renovation and new construction?”
On October 27, Clemson University will break ground on a new leading-edge building for the College of Business. This 176,000 SF building will double the University’s business education space, and will enable the College of Business to build a new paradigm of 21st century learning based on collaboration and creative collisions in our increasingly interconnected world.