Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Bathrooms can serve as sanctuaries, providing a warm tub to soak in after a long, weary day or a private place to retire for a few minutes of peace and quiet. Bathrooms also can be dangerous places, as various groups warn that most slip and fall accidents that occur at home will happen in the bathroom.

The combination of hard surfaces and moisture from sinks and showers can create dangerous conditions. Furthermore, bathrooms tend to be small spaces, so should a fall occur, it's more likely a person will hit various surfaces on the way down.

The risk of falling in a bathroom increases with age. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seniors over age 65 have a 25 percent chance of falling in the bathroom. Seniors generally have less flexibility and balance than younger people, meaning falls can be life-threatening. Bones easily can become fractured and internal bleeding may occur in serious cases. Bathrooms can be made safer in a few simple ways.

Any individual with a health condition that causes vision disturbances or difficulties with balance should work with a doctor to find a resolution. These conditions may contribute to falls.

Metro Creative Connection

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How to prevent slips and falls in the bathroom - theday.com

Sarah, a teacher in a rural Midwestern town, is always receiving compliments on her home. It has a cozy feel with soft lighting, shag rugs, and a beautiful cobblestone path leading to the front door -- what's not to love?

Unfortunately, her 80-year-old mother, who recently moved in with Sarah, has slipped several times. She ended up in the emergency department after one of the falls.

In Sarah's home, as in many homes, there are three significant trouble areas where older adults are most at risk of falling: the bathroom, stairs, and hallways or pathways.

If you're an older adult and want to make changes that will "fall-proof" your home and reduce your risk, here are some tips that might help:

The bathroom is the most common place for falls because it has a lot of wet and slippery surfaces; you have to step in and out of the shower or tub; and using the toilet requires you to sit and stand up -- which isn't easy if you have trouble keeping your balance.

Solutions:

Walking up and down stairs requires balance, lower body strength, good depth perception and endurance, all of which can be a challenge for some older adults. Falling down stairs, in particular, can have severe consequences, so it's important to have something to grab onto to keep that from happening.

Solutions:

The problem with hallways and other general living spaces is they can easily become cluttered, not have good lighting, or have uneven or slippery floors or rugs.

Solutions:

Sarah ended up installing grab bars in her bathrooms, installing additional lighting to the hallways and stairways, replacing the shag rug in the living room, and creating a smooth, concrete pathway next to the cobblestones for her mother to walk on when going in and out of the house.

Her mother has not had an at-home fall since.

In addition to fall-proofing your home, there are other fall-prevention strategies that you can try at home, such as modifying your diet and wearing proper footwear.

Nutritional strategies:

Supportive footwear (inside and outside the home):

Now that you have the knowledge you need to fall-proof your home, don't wait to make a change. Look around and see what you can do today to make your home a safer and healthier place.

This is the second blog post in the series, Reducing Falls For Older Adults. The goal of the series is to help older adults and their family members better understand how to reduce the risk and impact of falls. Patients referenced are composites, compiled from actual patient experiences

Claire Jacobson is a master's degree student in Community Health and Prevention Research at Stanford studying chronic disease prevention and healthy aging. Stanford professor and primary care physician Randall Stafford, MD, PhD, studies strategies to improve chronic disease treatment, including increasing the role of patients in their health care.

Photo by Sidekix Media

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Reducing falls for older adults: What are the trouble spots in your home? - Scope

Downtown Anchorages former Key Bank Plaza Building will be modernized and expanded into a sleek, glacier-inspired office building, courtesy of Perkins&Will.

The nine-story building was originally built in 1972 at 601 W 5th Avenue. The building required extensive structural repairs as a result of a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in November 2018 and, as such, will receive much-needed seismic reinforcements as part of the redesign. On the interior, all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems will be replaced, a new stair tower will be built, and modern elevators and a freight elevator will be installed.

The exterior is also set to undergo substantial work that pays homage to Alaskas natural wonders. This includes a 40,000-sf sloped facade that reconfigures the building to resemble a glacier, replacing the precast concrete cladding with floor-to-ceiling windows.

To account for dark, snowy winters, radiant heating, six new skylights, and drought-tolerant native plants have been incorporated into the projects master plan. Due to the sites potential for substantial pedestrian activity, onsite landscape and hardscape improvements have become a top priority for the design team.

The buildings owners hope the project will reinvigorate Anchorages downtown area, which has not seen any new construction for the past 10 years. The $30 million-project is slated for completion in 2022.

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Anchorage to receive new glacier-inspired office building - Building Design + Construction

House remodeling has become an important task for people to give their house a new look. In the US, people call general contractors and subcontractors to remodel their existing homes on a large scale. It helps them remodel their external structures and internal environment to make their residential properties comfortable to live in.

Out of many home remodeling contractors, Smart Remodeling LLC company enjoys a big demand among the Houston people in the US. It would not be wrong to call it the best remodeling contractor in Houston due to its exceptional services.

The remodeling company is one of the top Houston remodeling contractors that have expanded to a massive form from a local family-owned business. It is basically because of its splendid service to its clients. Smart Remodeling LLC just focuses on the utmost expertise and quality for the clients it serves.

Smart Remodeling LLC is actively serving its clients in Houston for over the last 10 years. It has always focused on providing comprehensive home remodeling services to its clients. Experts at this remodeling company specializing in home renovations and remodeling of all types.

The set of services provided by it includes home remodeling, kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling, outdoor kitchen, closet, patio cover, and additional rooms. Since more people in the US are opting for home remodeling, the concerned services including Smart Remodeling LLC enjoy more demand in the country.

According to Statista, the total US home improvement expenditure stood around 407 billion US dollars in 2019. And the projected total home improvement sales in the US are expected to reach 510 bn in 2024.

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Smart Remodeling LLC Serves Houston Homeowners with its Exceptional Home Remodeling Services - The American Reporter

Some time during the 1920s, poet Hayim Nahman Bialik took an unauthorized shortcut through the grounds of Jacob Gluskas construction factory. Gluskas brother caught Bialik on the property and rebuked him. Bialik, an arrogant Tel-Avivian who was also Israels national poet, did not appreciate the remark, and they came to blows.

In 2009, almost a hundred years after the slap that stopped Bialik from taking any more factory shortcuts, Bialiks home was restored to its former grandeur and opened to visitors as a museum and cultural center. Gluskas son was the one who recreating its original patterned tiles.

In the early 20th century, Tel Aviv had a distinguished industry of beautiful decorated tiles, which can still be seen in some private homes, apartments, stairwells, and public buildings. After peaking in the 1920s, the tiles have become more and more scarce over the decades. Now, theres a renewed appreciation for them.

German Christians of the Temple Society sect, who immigrated to Palestine late in the 19th century, were the first to bring the painted tiles to Tel Aviv. But [d]uring World War II, the British army deported the Templar families to Australia, and that was the end of their involvement in the local tile industry, says Avi Levi, a landscape architect and hunter of derelict buildings and decorated tiles.

Between 1921 and 1925, Tel Avivs population went from 2,000 to 34,000. The new citys architects were European Jews who trained in art schools in Eastern and Western Europe. Their building style came to be known as Eclectic. Architect Professor Nitza Szmuk, the guru of historical building conservation in Israel, says Eclectic architecture represented the attempt to create a synthesis between East and West, thereby generating a local notional style. The architects perception of Palestine and the Near East remained Orientalist, even when walking in the Tel Aviv sunshine or buying a tomato at the local grocer. The tiles in their buildings were part of this European Oriental fantasy. In the words of Architect Yossi Klein in a Domus magazine article, the contrast between the Oriental style and the European building technique allowed Zionists to return to a sterile Orient, while maintaining European modes of living.

The European tile workshops developed a wide variety of patterns with floral and geometric motifs, influenced by renaissance, art nouveau and art deco styles, ancient Egyptian art and ancient Greek pottery. The Tel Aviv tile industry mimicked these motifs, but not all of them. Jews and Muslims in Palestine skipped the Christian motifs that were common in the European industry, such as the cross or the lily. Some of the local tile factories, mostly those owned by Muslims, were also influenced by the Moroccan tile industry, characterized by its vivid colors.

This was the golden age of the painted tile, says Avi Levi, a landscape architect and hunter of derelict buildings and decorated tiles. They became a local fixture and the connection to the European origins was forgotten. The decorated tiles prevailed during the early 20th century in houses in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. They were found in luxurious villas and humble apartments. However, after three decades, people started to think of the tiles as old-fashioned, expensive and excessive. Ultimately, this style flourished only for a short time, Klein writes, and as the conflict with the Arab community escalated, Modernist tendencies prevailed. The romantic, Eclectic style gave way to the clean, modernist Bauhaus. Decorated tiles were abandoned in favor of simple, cheap, industrial tiles. As a result, most of the factories have closed. But at the end of Herzl Street, a street of woodworkers and craftsmen in southern Tel Aviv, the small tile factory of the Gluska family is operating to this day.

Avner Gluska, 82, started working in his familys Tel Aviv tile factory as a child, with his father Jacob Gluska. Today, he toils there with two workers, using materials and equipment developed 150 years ago. The tiles are handmade, and each worker at the small factory is capable of producing up to three square meters (30 square feet) of tiles a day.

My grandfather had two wives back in Yemen, recounts Avner Gluska. When one of them died, he embarked for Israel with his second wife and his eight children. The family settled in the Yemenite Neve Tzedek neighborhood in Tel Aviv. My father Jacob, who was eight years old, went to work in construction, carrying buckets of clay. Jacob Gluska worked odd jobs until he opened a factory. In 1936, he teamed up with Abu Khalil Shindy, a Palestinian Arab living in Jaffa, and the pair specialized in tiles. The Jewish and Arab workers didnt get along, Gluska recalls, so they divided the factory and worked in two locations. My father and his Arab partner were as close as brothers, and we, their children, grew up as one family.

Some Palestinians were expelled by force in 1948. Many others believed that the Arab armies would retake their towns and villages. They abandoned their homes and left for other countries to wait for victory. The wait became permanent. Abu Shindy made the biggest mistake of his life: He left everything and fled to Amman, says Gluska. This was the moment that destroyed the camaraderie between him and my father. One was furious that the other was leaving him to the mercy of the Arab armies, and the other never forgave the Israeli armies. After the Six-Day War they met again once, for the last time, in Gaza.

Avner Gluska replaced Abu Shindy at his fathers side, while also studying art. During that time, the factory was manufacturing terrazzo tiles, which became the most common tiles in Israel up until the early 1990s. The demand for painted tiles declined. The large orders I get today are from house conservation projects, says Gluska. Over the last two decades, Tel Aviv skyscrapers with doormen in the lobby have lost their popularity in favor of a new status symbol: Historical buildings, restored and renovated at great expense.

Meanwhile, Avi Levi wanders the city, exposing the original tiles. My love for painted tiles started about 20 years ago, he says. My work as a landscape architect brings me to the alleys of Tel Aviv. My love for photography, along with a great fetish for old and deserted buildings, join my love of the first Hebrew city and related nostalgia. So I created a large collection of photographed materials, including tile photos.

Before Tel Aviv-Jaffas 100th year celebrations in 2009, City Hall decided to create a huge carpet of flowers that would represent the city definitively. According to Levi, The brilliant idea came from veteran landscape architect David Skali: Building a huge flower tile, with decorations inspired by tiles and wall paintings from the homes of the founders of Tel Aviv. Levi, who participated in the project, was sent in 2008 along with his colleagues to a flower carpet laying event in Brussels, to learn how it was done. About a year later, on the morning of September 16, 2009, trucks unloaded 500,000 begonias, tuberoses and dahlias in Rabin Square, and an hour later, a colorful carpet stretched over 1,250 square meters, says Levi. After years of hunting old tiles, it was a mystical moment of closure.

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Secrets From Tel Avivs Eclectic Era Are Hiding All Over the City - Atlas Obscura

Im often asked to recommend a horticultural professional or company for tree care, landscape maintenance or landscaping. Its not really appropriate for me to endorse particular businesses or individuals, but I am more than happy to provide some advice on what to look for when choosing businesses that provide these services.

First, you need to know that the green industry in Louisiana is regulated by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, specifically by the Louisiana Horticulture Commission. The following statement is from their website: The Louisiana Horticulture Law states that no person shall receive fees, advertise, or solicit business in a regulated profession or occupation unless they hold the appropriate license or permit, or have a regular employee who holds the appropriate license or permit, or is employed by a person who holds the appropriate license or permit.

This law authorizes the commission to govern the qualifications and practices of people engaged in the green industry. The commission is empowered to prevent fraudulent practices, to encourage participation in continuing education and to ensure that only high-quality products and services are provided to the public by green industry professionals.

Hire professionals who have the equipment and training to do the job safely if your trees need trimming after a storm. By law in Louisiana, the individual or company you hire to do tree work must be licensed by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

The following professions require licenses: landscape architect, landscape horticulturist, landscape irrigation contractor and arborist. Also, utility arborist, retail florist and wholesale florist are licensed through the commission, and the commission permits the occupations of nursery stock dealer and cut flower dealer.

In order to obtain a license, individuals must pass a test specific to their field of work. Passing the test indicates that they have a basic level of knowledge and helps ensure quality work. When hiring a green industry professional, always ask to see a copy of their state license to make sure the person you are hiring is practicing legally.

Also, feel free to interview more than one licensed professional, as there are differences in prices, levels of experience and ability to understand and carry out what you need done. Ask for references. Ask to see examples of their past work. Check with the Better Business Bureau. Its always best to have signed contracts that clearly spell out the work to be done and fees. If you can, it is a good idea to be on-site when work, such as tree pruning, is being done.

If you are not satisfied with the work done by a licensed professional, you may file a complaint with the state Department of Agriculture and Forestry. This affords you protection from inferior work, shoddy materials or unscrupulous practices.

What a year 2020 was. During time working from home, home schooling and dealing with COVID-19, many people turned to gardening as a way to kee

Many of the licenses require licensees to obtain continuing education hours annually to renew their licenses. This ensures that they are keeping up to date with current research and recommendations.

An arborist license authorizes the holder to make recommendations or execute tree surgery-type work including tree evaluation, removal, pruning, trimming, cabling, fertilization and cavity work. Licensees must enter into a written contract with property owners specifying work to be done and the sum to be paid. Continuing education hours required.

Working on trees is one of the most dangerous professions in the green industry, and arborists are required to carry liability insurance $25,000 per person for bodily injury and $50,000 per person for property damage. Before you hire an arborist, ask to see a current copy of the arborist's certificate of insurance.

The landscape architect license authorizes the holder to prepare landscape plans, grading plans, studies, designs, construction details and more for a fee. This license requires the most extensive educational background and testing.

After moving from LSU in Baton Rouge to New Orleans when I began my career as a horticulture educator, I soon realized that the locals used ma

While there are avenues to get a landscape architect license without it, the vast majority of licensees have a degree in landscape architecture from an accredited university (such as LSU ). Licensees are required to pass the national Landscape Architect Registration Examination and the Louisiana Landscape Architect Examination. Continuing education hours are required.

The landscape horticulturist license allows licensees to install and maintain interior or exterior landscapes. To that end, they may sell or lease nursery stock (plants), prepare beds, install plants, lay sod, prune, fertilize and other landscape maintenance and operate a nursery.

While they may prepare drawings that indicate plant selection and placement, landscape horticulturists are not landscape architects and cannot draw designs for a fee. They must have the licensee's name, the words landscape horticulturist and license number on all drawings. While landscape architects have intensive education in landscape design, licensed landscape horticulturists have no design education requirements.

Note the Department of Agriculture and Forestry does not regulate simple yard work, such as cutting lawns, edging and hand weeding beds. People carrying out only this type of work are not required to be licensed.

My three lemon trees have borne a ton of fruit but really look raggedy. They are in desperate need of pruning, but I dont know how. Any info

If you are having an irrigation system installed or worked on, the person must have an irrigation contractor license. This authorizes the holder to construct, install, connect, repair, maintain, improve or alter any portion of a landscape irrigation system, including the required wiring for that system.

This license requires the licensee to obtain a water supply protection specialist endorsement from the State Plumbing Board before connecting to a public or private water supply system or installing a backflow prevention device. Licensees must enter into a written contract with the property owner specifying the landscape irrigation services to be performed and the sum to be paid for the services. Continuing education required.

None of these licenses permit the use of pesticides. If insecticides, fungicides or herbicides will be applied, a separate commercial pesticide applicators license is required. Ask to see it.

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For landscape projects, know which type of professional you need to hire and how to find one - NOLA.com

Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter designs the Breitenbach Landscape Hotel in Breitenbach, France, with Scandinavian traditions and builds on the regions culinary, wellness, and nature opportunities.Photo Florent Michel

The Breitenbach Landscape Hotel proposes a holistic ecotourism experience in Alsace, a historical region in northeastern France. The project is inspired by Scandinavian traditions and builds on the regions culinary, wellness, and nature opportunities.

The hotel was designed by Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter, an architectural firm based in Norway and Denmark, in collaboration with ASP Architecture.

Perched on the heights of the Alsatian village of Breitenbach, the landscape hotel 48 Nord reinterprets the traditional Scandinavianhytte, a place of retreat and reconnection with wild nature. At the heart of a protected Natura 2000 site, the project was designed to fit into a preserved setting without ever disturbing it.

The project is born from the meeting of two cultures (France and Scandinavia), two passions (nature and architecture),two men (Emil Leroy and Reiulf Ramstad), and the enthusiastic and supportive local community of Breitenbach.

A Franco-Danish client, a Norwegian architect, and a common attraction for design and natural materials: it was from this meeting that the 48 Nord project was born. The Breitenbach Landscape Hotel encapsulates daring architecture and design, a spirit of well-being, and a sharp culinary culture. By uniting local identity with the landscape through forms still unseen in the region, the architect gave 48 Nord a unique architectural expression.

The project goal was not to build a hotel per se, but create a place to live, a habitat to welcome people, and take them on a sensual journey by experiencing a new universe in natural surroundings. It is a place where guests come to meet people and have a moment, whether to share a meal, a weekend of rest, or to hike the Vosges hills and valleys. The architectural approach of 48 Nord echoes this philosophy. The projects clean design and signature lines evoke the Nordic countries. However, the vision is also to disseminate an art of living in harmony with the landscape. Despite its simplicity, the Breitenbach hotel 48 Nord does not go unnoticed, but surrounded by nature, sobriety guarantees integration within its landscape.

Amidst the trees, natural hedges and wild grasses, and heirs to the Norwegian hytte, 14 cabins dot the hillside like boulders on a slope, balancing privacy and outlook. Small, light, discreet, they are simply placed on the hillside. Built on stilts, they are even removable, so the landscape stays preserved and natural, untouched. The untreated and locally sourced chestnut tree (cut on the hill opposite the hotel) clads all volumes, combined only with large glass openings.

Four distinct typologies compose a family of forms with diverse qualities. The Grass hytte, on one level universally accessible, are grouped near the main building. The Tree and Ivy, towering thin and slender, combine verticality and offer panoramic views. Lastly, the Fjell, atop the hill, welcomes families with protected outdoor spaces.

When entering the site, you meet the main building dedicated to hospitality, catering, and wellness. Its volume is wrapped in Alsatian chestnut shingles fashioned in an integration workshop in Saverne. Responding to the Passivhaus construction label, this intimate setting padded with dark stained wood and finely detailed opens widely onto the landscape and offers a unique place of meeting, exchange, and contemplation.

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French hotel combines nature and architecture - Construction Specifier - The Construction Specifier

Nottinghamshire and London-based landscape architect Influence is starting the year on a high following a record year in 2020 which saw a 50% increase in projects compared to 2019.

The practice recently hit the headlines with its bold and ambitious green vision for Nottinghams now redundant Broadmarsh, on behalf of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

The plans showed a transformed and reimagined Nottingham city centre, with a proposed 100% greenspace in place of the shopping centre. Put forward to Nottingham City Council, the plans have attracted hundreds of comments from members of the public backing the scheme.

Despite the challenging conditions of 2020, the chartered landscape architect which delivers landscape architecture, urban design, environment planning and expert witness services has had a record 12 months in business during that time and plans for further team expansion this year.

Last year, the company worked on major developments across the country. In the midlands, projects included; Special Educational Needs schools in Lincolnshire, the countys major flood defence scheme the universitys medical school. In Northamptonshire, the team worked on the recently designated High-Street Heritage Action Zones.

The team are also delivering residential developments in Manchester and are the go-to practice for specialist tall building assessments in London protecting the capitals famous skyline.

Sara Boland, managing director of Influence, said: While 2020 was a year of uncertainty, it was also a year that I saw the very best from our team who worked together to achieve our record year in business.

Due to a number of challenges last year the pandemic, social distancing measures and mental wellbeing green space has been catapulted to the forefront of peoples minds, and we have seized the opportunity to respond. Green, open space plays an incredibly important role in our wellbeing and more of a balance needs to be found within commercial schemes to accommodate this.

2020 was a real journey of highs and lows but we are so pleased to be able to share such positive business news going forward into 2021. There is still plenty of opportunity and movement in the property and construction sector and we are seeing this across all areas of our business.

Shona Hatton, director of the practice, added: It goes without saying that we are proud of our teams achievements in delivering brilliant work over the past 12 months, and to work on such an incredibly important and high-profile project with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, is really the icing on the cake.

We have worked hard to provide the best possible training for our team and further build our portfolio and this strategy is reflected in our results this year. We have lots of exciting plans for 2021, and wish to thank our clients who choose to work with us.

Influence supported a number of charitable causes throughout 2020 including mental health charity Mind and will be choosing its charity of year in early 2021.

Originally posted here:
Midlands landscape architect begins the year on a (green) high - Premier Construction Magazine

Architectural practice is a difficult task at all times. Architects should understand their clients needs and desires and work with urban or regional designers, surveyors, engineers, landscape architects, and even interns or technicians who might be able to design some of the structures detailed components.

Gloria Kotlers name has been associated with some of the most excellent and luxurious properties in the US and the rest of the world because of her unique design elements and precision with construction. She likes to design spaces that inspire and excite all the senses, but with strict discipline and structure, remain true to traditional and formal architecture.

She is a well-known architect and designer in Florida who has registered her name as an award-winning architect and interior designer at AIA, NCARB, CODIA. With a Bachelors degree in Architecture Design and a Masters degree in Interior Architecture, Kloter is a leader in the architecture and design industry and currently operates as an architectural licensing consultant for AIA, Florida.

The work of Kloter is recognized by top magazines worldwide, she has been seen in several magazines and blogs, which ranked her as the most suitable and reliable architect for any given project. Thanks to more than 15 years of national and international architectural and design experience, Kloter can design any large or small project at a given time.

As one of Florida and the Dominican Republics best architects and interior designers, Kloter often finds a way to give back to society and has been instrumental in helping foreign architects get the license to practice in the United States.

She says, I became the Florida State Architect Licensing Advisor through AIA Florida, and that gave me a lot of attention from other immigrants who were trying to get their Architect License in the USA. I did a lot of one-on-one, but at some point, I felt overwhelmed. I woke up one day and had over 100 WhatsApp messages with people asking me questions about the process.

Kloter has also recently launched her design business in the United States. From turning private challenges to going beyond borders to building a great design and architecture brand, she is a growing market leader worth watching.

If you want to know more about her business, visit their website https://www.glowarchitects.com

If you want to know more about her personal life, follow her on Instagram: https:///www.Instagram.com/gloriakloter

Published January 19th, 2021

Opinions expressed here are the opinions of the author. Influencive does not endorse or review brands mentioned; does not and can not investigate relationships with brands, products, and people mentioned and is up to the author to disclose. VIP Contributors and Contributors, amongst other accounts and articles, are professional fee-based.

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Gloria Kloter: Bringing the Industry of Architecture and Design to Even Greater Heights - Influencive

New York, NY The New York Real Estate Journal (NYREJ) sat down with Thomas Perrino, this months executive of the month, for a question and answer session. Perrino is the president and CEO of the Spiezle Architecture Group, leading the companys nationwide expansion. The firm has opened two new offices since 2019, has hired 29 new employees and has been named one of the Fastest 50 Growing Companies in 2020 by NJBIZ. Spiezle is listed in the Top 100 Green Design Firms by Engineering News-Record and in the Top 300 U.S. Architecture Firms by Architectural Record.

NYREJ: Tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up in the architecture space?

Perrino: I tell people I was born into architecture. My father is an architect and I grew up under his mentorship, studying architecture, reading plans, visualizing spaces, etc. Starting in middle school, I spent most of my summers working for his firm, CJP Architects, in various roles and continued this through college. The best advice he gave me was to get out and experience architecture by working for different types of architectural firms to build a diverse background and have a better understanding of the profession. Fortunately, I had some great opportunities to join and learn at growing firms where I helped contribute to their expansion and success. Ive been fortunate to have built good relationships with clients and many have followed me to Spiezle. In some cases, these are over 25-year-old connections that are still going strong today.

NYREJ: How would you describe Spiezle to a new client?

Perrino: Spiezle is a diverse, award-winning, employee-owned, 66-year-old architecture and planning firm with 95 employees and several offices across the U.S. We provide clients with a one-stop-shop, offering design, planning, construction administration services, interior design, landscape architecture, furniture procurement, urban planning and electrical engineering. Our primary focus is on academic, healthcare, corporate/commercial, government, hospitality, multifamily, recreational and religious market sectors.

NYREJ: What is the unique difference between Spiezle and other architectural firms?

Perrino: We provide clients with a robust team of professionals across multiple disciplines and we look at every project from a unique perspective. For example, a client may need us for an urban planning exercise, but we also consider the overall architecture and landscape architecture perspective the project warrants. Additionally, we have a great in-house Marketing and Graphics Department and we often help our clients collaborate on efforts to promote a project. Lastly, Id say that we have thought leaders in every market sector and practice groups who stay informed about trends within the industries we serve which helps drive innovative design and education to our clients.

NYREJ: What are some unique projects Spiezle is particularly excited about?

Perrino: While each market sector has experienced growth this past year, we have seen some of the largest amount in the healthcare space. As an example, we recently designed a pop-up hospital in response to the pandemic and we are working towards several major healthcare projects in 2021, especially in the Northeast. We are particularly proud of being able to support our healthcare workers during this crisis. Additionally, education and senior living continue to remain strong markets and we are excited that this year, we expanded our footprint in Florida where we are seeing a lot of new development and investment.

NYREJ: What is your vision for Spiezle?

Perrino: Spiezle has always taken a Smart Growth approach to expansion into new markets. We continue this approach while we plan our next phase of growth and delivery of exceptional service to our clients. Over the last few years, we have completed three acquisitions and hired numerous employees. As an employee-owned company, we feel that growth, both organically and by acquisition, is critical to our future. Recruiting the right talent from all parts of the country, especially since we have proven that working remotely can be successful, sets us apart from others in the industry.

NYREJ: What do you think are the biggest opportunities for Spiezle in the New York/New Jersey market?

Perrino: The pandemic has left us all with varied perspectives and we have seen a tremendous amount of redesign in the healthcare sector, especially in the Northeast region. We are helping our clients expand outdoor spaces, including nurturing places for healing and areas where families can spend time with loved ones and maintain social distancing. We have also focused on designing systems that mitigate the spread of infection such as touch-free entryways and new, properly engineered ventilation to keep everyone safe. Corporate workspaces are also adapting to provide employees with more dynamic, flexible environments that account for safety while still offering a pleasant working experience. Many companies may rethink their use of large office spaces and opt to provide smaller work hubs in 2021 and beyond.

NYREJ: What, in your mind, are some of the most important challenges facing the architecture sector now?

Perrino: There are many unknowns and a great deal of conjecture right now. We dont know where clients will allocate their funds next or which public referendums will come back on the ballots. While the pandemic is a short-term issue, it has affected many areas from supply chain, to building codes, to project delays or postponements. For instance, senior housing has slowed down recently. There is an obvious demand for change in design; however, in the interest of resident safety, several facilities have restricted access of outside entities. It is for a good reason, but it has affected construction schedules. Additionally, we are seeing a need to redefine the physical workspace so that employees can come back into the office or adapt to a hybrid model with both onsite and work remote schedules. Once we have the vaccines in 2021, this should change, but for now we must wait and see.

NYREJ: What are some new trends we can expect to see in the architecture industry?

Perrino: Architecture is arguably one of the most transformative sectors of the economy. And it evolves, along with the human condition. Prior to the pandemic, we were focused on efficiency, culture and technology. Now, adding to that, we are reevaluating sustainability measures and integrating adaptations to keep everyone safe. We are designing spaces that seamlessly blend the indoors with the outdoors to help boost peoples morale and increase productivity. Our projects include usable green roofs, natural conditioning through cross-ventilation, photovoltaics, touch free devices and rainwater collection systems to name a few. As weve seen this year require more flexibility, agility and adaptability in our lives, we anticipate this trend continuing in our healthcare, educational and workspaces.

Continued here:
Exec. of the Month: Thomas Perrino president and CEO of the Spiezle Architecture Group leads nationwide expansion - New York Real Estate Journal...