Case Studies Institutional

Bill Swarbrick Jr. used to light the lamp as a productive forward on Northern Arizona University’s Division 1 hockey team, scoring 42 goals over three seasons during the 1980s. Since then, he’s done even more lamp lighting at Superior Lighting Inc., which has offices in Omaha, Nebraska, and Des Moines, Iowa. Co-founded in 1968 by […]

Most people look at the Cleveland skyline and see a wall of glass and steel; Patricia McElroy, CEO and CFO of Duct Fabricators Inc., sees a legacy of jobs well done. Founded in 1962, her family’s business has installed HVAC ductwork in many of Cleveland’s most notable buildings, including the Quicken Loans Arena and the […]

Russ Ellington remembers installing his first set of flood panels. It was 2013, and a post-Hurricane Sandy and Katrina world. The U.S. government, in response to the hurricanes, required larger geographic areas to have flood protection in order to be federally insured, and general contractors and engineers were scrambling to include such protection for buildings. […]

When the city of Pasadena, California, or one of the nearby communities, tinkers with its zoning code or elects a new Planning Commission, principals Rob Tyler and Javier Gonzalez pay attention. The firm they co-founded more than 30 years ago, Tyler Gonzalez Architects, has a vested interest in reading the pulse of the community. Much […]

Institutional clients like schools and healthcare providers are increasingly willing to invest long term, both with the incorporation of renewable energy and sustainable design. That makes them ideal clients for architecture firms like NK Architects. NK Architects is a full-service architecture, interior design, planning and structural engineering firm based in Morristown, New Jersey. It works […]

Before 2007, most general contractors self-performed at least a few different trades. This involved hiring a larger staff of skilled workers and giving them work through busy and lean periods. But after the financial crisis in 2008 killed projects and forced thousands of workers out of the industry, many contractors started subbing out almost all […]

Originally the nation’s first public high school for African-Americans, Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., had fallen into such disrepair that in 2011, the district opted not to renovate but to raze and rebuild. “A dark, dingy and nearly windowless high-rise,” the Washington Post deemed it. Its principal likened it to a prison. Its replacement […]

Sixty-five years ago, when Capform Inc. founder Mario Dozzo applied to emigrate from Italy, he told the Italian consulate that he wanted to get as far away as possible; they handed him tickets for Vancouver, Canada. Dozzo spent weeks traveling to Spain, crossing the Atlantic by boat and traveling through Canada by train. When he […]

In psychology, there is a German term, “gestalt,” that has no direct translation. It refers to the idea that, often, objects or systems are perceived as greater than the sum of their parts—for instance, an image made from paint strokes isn’t just a blob of many colors, it’s a portrait. Urban infrastructure has long been […]

While pursuing industrial engineering at Rutgers University, William Amann worked for a mechanical contractor and couldn’t believe how little attention was paid to energy. In one instance, he found a huge two-inch gap between the walls and roof that went completely around a large commercial building. But it wasn’t until March 28, 1979, when the […]