Case Studies May 2021

John Neal remembers many moments where his Boise State University lacrosse teammates relied on him to put the ball in the net or to make a big defensive play. That was six years ago, and while he’s retired his lacrosse stick, he says he’s kept the leader mentality. Case in point: in 2017, Neal took […]

Glance at a map of the Philadelphia metro area and one thing you’ll notice are the colleges and universities. There’s Villanova, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple, La Salle and Saint Joseph’s—known as the Big Five. There’s also Drexel, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore and others. That’s meant, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, administrators could pool their […]

There are many ways to prepare for the unexpected, and Jacob Linhart has made them part of his job as market director of facilities operations and construction for the Carondelet Health Network. Linhart won’t claim he foresaw the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. However, his background in construction, heating, ventilation and air […]

The climate in Houston can be unforgiving to people and machinery. Long hot summers are humid enough to steam eyeglasses when someone steps outside from an air-conditioned building, and the area has been lashed by hurricanes and tropical storms, including Hurricane Harvey in 2017.  Then, a climate rarity occurred in February: a winter storm that brought snow and record low temperatures to Texas and the Gulf Coast, shutting down energy grids and the petrochemical industry.   Troy Donaldson, director […]

For Eric Brigante, the adage “without hard work nothing grows but weeds,” sparks memories of his childhood. As early as five years old, Brigante was working full time on his family’s vegetable farm in Vermont, where he spent many a long summer day learning the importance of building honest relationships—ones built on mutual integrity. What’s […]

Like most in-person organizations in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the YMCA of Three Rivers in Ontario, Canada, did the smart thing: closed its doors and figured out how to operate remotely. Except for one area. With local homeless shelters closing or at capacity due to new distancing requirements, and gymnasium space freed […]

By all appearances, when Chuck Corneau chatted with Blueprint in March, he was taking time from a Florida vacation. And though he had escaped a New England winter for some sunshine, when he needed to wrap up the call, it was not for a round of golf or a walk on the beach. Instead, he […]

Students are often attracted to community colleges for the practical programs they offer. But Monica Davis knows that it’s also where the programs are taught—facilities that are comfortable, well-equipped and modern—that keeps students enrolling. That’s the gamble being made by the community college where she’s senior director of construction and facilities planning. As with other […]

He can be just what the doctor ordered when it comes to upgrades and retrofits of healthcare facilities in the South and heartland. Director of construction management for Holladay Properties’ healthcare services division in Nashville, George Phelps is readying his team for a 16,000-square-foot MRI specialty area and clinic in the Brentwood, Tennessee, area. His […]

Municipal zoning questions about construction projects rarely make for exciting conversations, even as they determine what will be built and where. Kyle Hardie’s work as director of design and construction for Indiana University Health involves zoning, but it’s often the spatial zoning—what’s inside those facilities—that occupy him, particularly as he assists the system enter a […]