Case Studies January 2022

Ken Bennett clearly remembers his first “aha moment” with contemporary art. He was helping install the exhibition, “Between Action and the Unknown: The Art of Kazuo Shiraga and Sadamasa Motonaga,” at the Dallas Museum of Art. Sixty works by the two Japanese artists were on display from February to July of 2015. When Bennett, the […]

When college students at Vancouver Island University have an issue in their room, say a flickering light or broken heater, they submit a maintenance request to the facilities department. While not all work can be completed immediately, students are typically satisfied if the problem is fixed in a few days, Burke Gulbranson says. However, if […]

Grounds are breaking for multiple projects in the Southeast where a perfect storm of job growth, migration and high housing prices creates rental demand. The high-end Devon Pointe II in Goose Creek, South Carolina, is slated for 56 more apartments. Not too far away in Summerville, 152 units are in the engineering stage at Dorchester […]

Ear protection clamped securely, John Barella steps onto the nearly four-acre flight deck atop the USS Kitty Hawk. Around him, jets refuel and takeoff every 20 seconds. His head on swivel, he tracks a F/A-18 Super Hornet jet that slingshots off the deck to pierce the skies at a top speed of nearly 1,200 mph. […]

Simon Smith was not alone in assuming his company’s shift to remote work because of the COVID-19 pandemic would not be long-term. As the associate director of facilities and operations at Rightpoint, he says he expected the company’s offices to reopen about two months after they closed in March 2020. More than 18 months later, […]

The Kenilworth Apartments were built solidly enough during the 1960s to still be home to several hundred dwellers, but Avanti Residential saw need for upgrades after buying the Prairie Village, Kansas, complex last year. “Though well maintained, the place still feels like it need modernization,” says the young but very seasoned man who’s been directing […]

Like so many places, the wellness center at the Medical University of South Carolina shut its doors in March 2020. Unlike other buildings, though, this one was converted by the MUSC hospital in just two weeks into a field hospital—300 cots replacing exercise equipment. As James Tomsic recalls, the university’s hospital had seen the state […]

Caitlin Summers’ unorthodox first steps on the road to sustainability were taken on a softball pitch. Playing across the nation, Summers learned how to cope with high pressure situations, wisely manage her time, and deal with different personalities to work as a team. She also received a softball scholarship from LaFayette College, where she went […]

Those adhesive medicated patches and films can be quite the comforter, bringing relief to chronic pain, opioid addiction and Parkinson’s, to name just a few conditions. But while simple in appearance, so-called oral thin films and transdermal delivery systems are quite intricate, each a complex dosage delivery system that requires a sophisticated and robust manufacturing […]

Ask Corey Jackson and he’ll tell you that if there’s one thing America’s high schools should be emphasizing, it’s training in the trades. Now the vice president of facilities for Bancroft—a nonprofit providing day and residential services for people with autism, intellectual disabilities, strokes and brain injuries—Jackson has built a career with his hands. In […]