Case Studies December 2020

To live is to learn, to learn is to live. What a desirable place to do both, the University of California San Diego, where environments are being reshaped for like-minded students, faculty and staff. It’s here where the undergraduate division is organized into seven residential colleges, each headed by its own provost and with its […]

Amy Hunn was in college at the Art Institute of Colorado and she needed a job. She got one answering phones, scheduling appointments and sweeping hair at an original Floyd’s 99 Barbershop in Denver. It’s been more than 18 years since she’s picked up a broom as part of her daily work duties, but she’s […]

The Amazing Brentwood, scheduled to open in spring 2021 in Burnaby, British Columbia, is nothing like the city bordering Vancouver has ever seen. It pierces the skyline with three glass towers, two at 60 stories, one at 54, on 8 acres. Those towers, with 1,500 residential units, rise out of a 500,000-square-foot mall and podium on top of 1.2 million […]

A 17-year-old Wesley Cooper would never forget the haunting screams of a woman burning to death in a car fire—and he never imagined his efforts to save her life would lead to a multiple careers. Seeing her car aflame in a ditch as a passerby, the teenager rushed to her aid, attempting to break the […]

For much of 2020, in California and along the West Coast, the day and night skies took on a permanent orange hue, a vivid reflection of the raging fires down below. Plumes of stinging, acrid smoke swirled into the sky, then settled as an uncomfortable haze shrouding houses, roads and businesses. The forest fire-induced haze […]

There’s no shortage of strange stories when dealing with an annually revolving menagerie of college students. One day, you’re managing normal facilities-related issues—a clogged toilet or a broken pipe. And then you get a call you never imagined getting, the voice on the other end at once panicked and amused. “There’s an octopus in a […]

He’s doing all he can to sustain a sense of normality for academic and social life at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. Safety is Bruce Boyer’s priority as he tells Blueprint during an autumn interview when the small, Catholic liberal arts campus is quieter than usual. Residence hall occupancy is at 1,500, down from its usual […]

Sawyer Mill, stretching along the Bellamy River in Dover, New Hampshire, is a solid place to call home. Inside, the brick, exposed beams and pock-marked posts are reminders of New England’s manufacturing past—and now 226 apartments and a fitness center offer comfortable modern living. The Bellamy River passes between the mill buildings. Once the power […]

It’s the story of a green campus forced to go virtual and experiencing growth in multiple ways as a result. The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator manages the La Kretz Innovation Campus in partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. A showcase of cutting-edge environmental tech, the campus is WELL Gold- and LEED […]

From farm animals and drones to striking architecture and on-site input from students, the new STEM facility at Broken Arrow Public Schools in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, is designed to educate—for life. Built in the Oklahoma soil and surrounded by 80 acres of usable land, the main building is a split-level design constructed to make the […]