© star-one

Ever since I received classroom instruction at West Virginia University in the mid-1990s, accessibility has been a key component to my design process. Of course, back then we merely worried about the basics by providing ramps, curb cuts, and accessible parking spaces. Today, accessibility is a complicated, multi-level set of regulations and design guidelines that reach into every aspect of our society and daily lives – as they should. Over the years, I was guilty of questioning the regulatory guidance and why we needed to provide such a comprehensive approach which complicated design, sometimes limited the final design, and absolutely increased construction costs.

Today, I’m proud to say that I fully embrace accessibility, and make it the very first priority on any site design. In addition to the comprehensive checks and balances now in place to ensure accessibility that force compliance, I have witnessed over the years all types of people struggle in some of the same places I designed. Additionally, you can learn a lot when you have two young children and a stroller to push around. It was these experiences that have me now incorporating Universal Design Principles, as accessibility guidelines truly help all users, no matter your physical or cognitive ability.

In order to get to this point, the regulations which need to be followed are long and complicated and ever changing. Never mind the complexities of the spatial requirements, type of curb ramp to use, or accessible routing requirements, the real challenge is knowing when the accessible guidelines take effect and what guidelines to utilize. Currently, there are many design guidance documents to consider, including 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, ICC/ANSI A117.1-2009 Accessible and Usable Buildings and Facilities, and Public Rights-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines. It’s these overlapping regulations which typically cause confusion among regulators, designers, and owners.

Usually it takes a professional design consultant to assist the Owner to ensure compliance. Accessibility requirements are governed through the Federal Justice Department and it’s considered a discriminatory act if your private or public facility is not in full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Any person believing they have been discriminated against can file a civil complaint against the facility owner. Additionally, the Justice Department completes random audits to ensure compliance.

ADA compliance is good for business. By addressing the needs of diverse groups including the elderly, young children, disabled veterans, and the physically challenged, a business’s client base increases and so do its profits. We can only participate in what is accessible to us.

Steven Beattie is a licensed Landscape Architect with Larson Design Group. Join him on July 18, 2013 for his PSAB Webinar discussion on Accessibility Fundamentals specifically geared toward local municipalities and how they can address their accessibility issues.

Further Reading:
#idontknow
Historic Truss finds new service life in Coudersport, PA
Trends in Parking Lot Design

Emily Diehl
Designer – Landscape Architecture

At Larson Design Group, we believe that our employees are our greatest asset. In this feature, we profile some of the staff members who contribute to our success. This month the spotlight is on Emily Diehl, Designer with LDG’s Landscape Architecture group.

Where did your career take you before joining LDG?
I worked full-time while attending Penn State to get my bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture. I worked a variety of retail jobs, managing employees and schedules, marketing, creating displays, stocking merchandise, and making sure my customers left happy. I am probably one of the few to say I truly loved working in retail. I loved being able to help so many people find things for their home, or that perfect shoe or tennis racquet. Yes, there is a lot of negativity surrounding the retail world, but I made it a goal to help people enjoy their shopping experience and in turn I enjoyed my job. I learned that you can’t make everyone happy; some customers will always find something to complain about. Also, the thought of leaving that comfortable work environment to come work in an office every day was very scary to me, but I did it and it turned out for the best. After 9 years, I still love being here.

What was your first Job? What did you learn from it that still influences the way you work today?
My first job was at a retirement village in State College. I was on the wait staff in their dining room. We served two evening meals to the residents, one at 5:00 and one at 6:30 p.m. I learned to multitask, as we had to take a lot of orders, and remember who ordered which meal, on top of any special requests they had. I also learned that it might seem impossible to please everyone, but if you take the time to form a relationship with that person, they are more likely to reach an understanding and leave happy. I learned to make time to create relationships with people in life; good communication is the key to making the best of every situation.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I enjoy spending time with my children and teaching them new things. I love to be creative, do crafts with my kids, make greeting cards, paint, draw, and most recently I started cake decorating! I also enjoy hiking, camping, traveling, and being around family and friends.

What has been your proudest moment in life so far?
Having my children; they surprise me daily with their little personalities, and their ideas about how things work in the world.

What trait do you admire in people and why?
The entertainment factor. Some people have it and some don’t! But when you can entertain, captivate, and teach your audience (big or small), you have a great talent.

What advice would you give to people who hope to follow a career path similar to yours?
Take advantage of internships in college, and take advantage of your professors—go sit and talk with them, and make connections that could help you in the future. Finally, don’t be afraid to ask questions.

What do you enjoy about working at Larson?
I enjoy the atmosphere at Larson, the teamwork, and the fact that there are a lot of knowledgeable people here for me to learn from. I like all the interaction between disciplines, because there are always opportunities to learn from other people, and LDG supports this cross-discipline interaction.

Further Reading:
Employee Spotlight: Ed Brown
Employee Spotlight: Karl Matz
Larson Design Group Salutes Veterans

Click image to enlarge.

I recently had the privilege of spending a couple of hours with some local high school students who are members of the Building Leaders for the Susquehanna Valley program. This group was picked among some of the brightest local students and they meet on a monthly basis. Their February session included an exercise where they were given a hypothetical 200-acre property in “Bright Hope”, USA and divided into groups to propose a development on the tract. After a brainstorming session, each of the five groups unveiled their plans, which ranged from a hospital to a golf course to a power plant.

Over lunch, I joined professionals from the Central PA Chamber of Commerce, Union County Planning Department, Bucknell University Small Business Development Corporation, and Susquehanna Visitors Bureau to quiz a group on their ideas and to provide real-world insight to refine their proposal. After some tweaks (from coal-fired power to natural gas at my table), each group took turns giving a final presentation to the entire group.

Presenters were required to take questions from the floor and, as you might imagine, inquiries from the peer group sometimes bordered on ridiculous. While the conspiracy theory-like questions were all in fun on this day, their content was not far removed from the sensationalism that often plagues developers and engineers at public hearings and municipal meetings. Afterward, each professional was asked for some words of wisdom.

I think the biggest takeaway was that the phrase “I don’t know” is sometimes an appropriate answer. This may not seem intuitive to a presenter whose goal is to captivate an audience with persuasive proposal delivery, but no matter how knowledgeable you are on a subject or how well you think on your feet, curveballs can be the norm. The integrity of saying, “I don’t know the answer to that question, but will be glad to research it and get back with you,” holds value with the type of clients and public servants that we want to be working alongside.

This comes pretty naturally for most engineers. Our Professional Code of Ethics even calls for us to practice only within areas of our competence and to issue public statements in an objective and truthful manner. But on my way back to the office, I wondered how this advice resonated with a group of students who are in their junior year of high school. These kids are saturated with available information and the answer is usually only a Google search and Wikipedia entry away. Social media has given everyone a forum to share thoughts, whether fact or opinion.

The design and problem solving technology available to this generation is already inconceivable, yet it continues to evolve. It’s an exciting time to be an aspiring architect or engineer, but some things never change. When someone knows all of the answers all of the time, it is usually good reason for a certain degree of skepticism. Seems to me that youngsters exhibiting old school values like respect, integrity, and customer service really have an opportunity to separate themselves and shine.

I’m pretty confident that I met a few of those future stars over the lunch hour. But I can’t predict what the method of transmitting their resumes to LDG will look like a few years from now.

Further Reading:
Old School Meets the Blogging World – Keeping It Real
Client Satisfaction: The Key to Growth
Sharing My Path with Future Leaders at My Alma Mater

The value proposition for Bid Plans includes:

• Reduction in paper and travel costs for clients
• Contractors avoid unnecessary print costs
• Contractors can view plans at their convenience and print only what they need
• Efficiency in staff time
• Gives clients an additional pool of contractors to review plans and bid on a project
• Provides automatic email alerts for project updates such as addendums and answers to questions

On March 2^nd, 2013, Larson Design Group introduced version 3 of Bid Plans.

Version 3 of Bid Plans was completely redesigned and engineered to deliver a better user experience to our clients. We combine some of the latest trends and technologies in web development with an intuitive, user friendly, and clean design.

Even though Bid Plans runs in your web browser, we wanted it to function more like an application in order to reduce the number of interactions it takes to achieve a desired result. We accomplished this by using technologies such as Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, also known in the web world as AJAX. AJAX allows us to process interactions a user makes without needing to refresh or go to another page. For example, previously when a user wanted to view the latest list of bidders for a particular project, the user would have to click the bidders list button, which would direct them to another page, making it a cumbersome process. Now users simply places their cursors over the bidders list and a tool tip containing the current list appears.

All project information can be retrieved without ever needing to go to another page.

If you’re an existing Bid Plans user, please share your comments below. If you’re not a user and are a client of Larson Design Group or an interested party, you can register at http://bidplans.larsondesigngroup.com.

LDG’s Stefanie English, PE, recently co-presented at the inaugural Residential Building Design & Construction Conference, hosted by Penn State’s Pennsylvania Housing Research Center (PHRC). The conference took place February 20-21, 2013 at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, PA. Read the presentation she developed in conjunction with Bill Brown, “An Introduction to Steel and Concrete Modular Construction”, below.

ABSTRACT
For many years, wood framed modular construction has been a useful and cost-effective solution in the residential market. While this type of construction has been a good solution for one- and two-family residential construction, it has been limited by factors such as available beam spans, lateral force resisting system requirements, and fire resistance, affecting its use in larger multi-story projects, such as hotels and dormitories. This presentation will explore the benefits of using steel-framed modules to achieve greater exterior opening distances, increased floor plan flexibility, LEED® certification, and non-combustible occupancies.

Additionally, we will discuss the concept of the off-site “Build Together” process used by one manufacturer to ensure a precise fit of components, including structural, plumbing, electric, HVAC, and fire protection systems.

To read the full white paper, click here:
http://www.ldgblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/An-Introduction-to-Steel-and-Concrete-Modular-Construction-20130129.pdf

Further Reading:
Trends in Parking Lot Design
The Value of Home Sewer Inspection
Is there a Brand Architecture Specialist in the house?

© drouu

When Governor Corbett proposed his 2013 budget in early February, the PA transportation industry was pleased to see that one of his main initiatives is for funding transportation improvements. It has been a long time coming since release in August of 2011 of a comprehensive report from the Governor’s Transportation Funding Advisory Council. This report made a strong case for funding the $ 3.5 billion gap in transportation funds needed yearly in our state. (See an earlier LDG Blog for more information: The Transportation Funding Advisory Council)

New revenue is sorely needed to maintain and improve our transportation infrastructure in PA. In Governor Corbett’s words, “Our most costly option would be to do nothing.” In a February press release, the Governor pitched his approach to funding transportation, as proposed in his budget and outlined these initiatives:

• Reducing the “flat tax” portion of the gas tax by 17 percent over two years.
• Gradually deregulating and uncapping over five years the artificial ceiling on the Oil Company Franchise Tax that is levied on the wholesale price of gasoline.
• Creating a pool of matching funds for private or local improvements to a nonstate road if the improvement benefits the state system.
• Replacing Pennsylvania’s current annual vehicle registrations with a two-year registration and the current four-year driver’s license with a six-year license.
• Eliminating vehicle registration stickers.
See the entire press release here.

For comprehensive statistics and explanations of the funding needs and resources available, check out this great website put together by the Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition:

http://www.paconstructors.org/KTFCFACTS/

Everything you need to know about our PA transportation funding and infrastructure situation can be found there.

At Larson Design Group, Inc., we strongly support these worthwhile changes to funding transportation in Pennsylvania. Be sure to check out the fact sheets and resources from the KTFC above, and let us know your opinion on these new funding initiatives.

Further Reading:
Public Private Partnership Bill Passes
If it Ain’t broke, Don’t fix it?
The Transportation Funding Advisory Council

Ed Brown, PE
Senior Design Engineer

At Larson Design Group, we believe that our employees are our greatest asset. In this feature, we profile some of the staff members who contribute to our success. This month the spotlight is on Ed Brown, PE, Senior Design Engineer with our Williamsport office’s Water/Wastewater Group. Ed recently won LDG’s Greenest Employee Award for his commitment to sustainability. In 2012, he rode his bicycle to work over 100 times, a 32-mile round-trip.

Where did your career take you before joining LDG?
I spent two summers while still in college and one summer after graduating working for P. Joseph Lehman, Inc. in Hollidaysburg, PA. I did construction inspection on bridge projects, and inspections, structural analyses, and ratings of existing bridges.

I worked one year as Clerk of the Works/Construction Inspector for the Borough of State College on the construction of the Fraser Street Parking Garage.

I worked about 8 years for BCM Engineers in Plymouth Meeting, PA, and then 5 years at Gannett Fleming, Inc., in King of Prussia, doing water/wastewater engineering. While at BCM, I participated in the design of the new Water Treatment Plant and related facilities for the Williamsport Municipal Water Authority.

What was your first Job? What did you learn from it that still influences the way you work today?
My first job was a paper route; I learned about providing a service, satisfying customers, and making a profit. I also learned that some people are simply unhappy and it may not be about my service.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
• Gardening; I am learning organic techniques, composting, and am planning to add rain barrels to my house this spring.
• Collecting and listening to music. My favorite genres include Pub Rock, Punk, Garage, Rockabilly, Surf, and Psychedelic.
• Collecting and reading books, especially history books.

What has been your proudest moment in life so far?
I rode a bike to the top of Trail Ridge Road in the Colorado Rockies. This is the highest continuous paved road in North America, elevation 12,183 feet.

What trait do you admire in people and why?
I admire the ability to use few words to say much.

What advice would you give to people who hope to follow a career path similar to yours?
• Never delay in delivering bad news. Problems usually don’t go away if you ignore them – they usually get worse with time. Be straight with people without having to announce it.
• Don’t be intimidated by anyone. People are still people, no matter what their position.
• In engineering, it is better to be “approximately correct” than to be “exactly wrong.” Complex calculations or computer models can hide flaws and give a false sense of accuracy. Find ways to break down complex problems into simple problems to get an approximate solution. If you can’t do the hand calculations, you have no business doing computer models.
• Turn off the TV and the electronics. Read some good books. Spend some quiet time, listen to your own thoughts, and learn to think for yourself.

What do you enjoy about working at Larson?
I learn something every day.

Further Reading:
Employee Spotlight: Karl Matz
Green…or Greenwashing?
Employee Spotlight: Rachel Wolfel

© Poofy

When I was a little kid, I was a tree-hugger. Literally. My mother recalls that at age four, I occasionally wrapped my small arms as far as they could go around my favorite tree in the backyard.

As the years went on, I became enamored with recycling in elementary school, energy efficiency in high school, and building reuse in my college architectural classes. Now, with “green” as the buzzword heard on every TV channel and seen in every store, you’d think I’d be in my glory.

But, while I appreciate that the consumer’s interest in sustainability is gaining momentum, I can’t help but to feel disillusioned by the plethora of claims by companies who say, through loud advertisements, that their product is somehow good for the environment. “Eco-friendly” bottles of water and “natural” disposable diapers? Most people recognize that many of the advertisements are simply “greenwashing” the products; companies are intentionally misleading the consumer so that people feel good about what they buy.

While this phenomenon is certainly happening in the stores you frequent, it is perhaps less recognizable in the building industry. As an architectural designer in the Brand Architecture group, I see advertisements for building products claiming to be environmentally-friendly on an almost daily basis, many of which fall short of being truly sustainable. Likewise, while many buildings are labeled by their designers or owners as “green”, there is often little evidence to substantiate their claims.

So how do you demonstrate that your company is truly sustainable and make your building really stand out in a sea of not-so-green competitors? It takes some experience, and LDG’s multi-disciplinary team has knowledgeable professionals who can help. Through our services, your brand can demonstrate a true, meaningful commitment to sustainability through building design. In addition, LDG offers services to help your building achieve a green building certification so that the world can see that you mean business. Contact me at swray@larsondesigngroup.com for more information.

The best part? Buildings with true energy savings, water efficiency, and resource management don’t have to cost any more than the ones you already build. Really.

Makes you wonder why you’d put any effort towards faking it.

Related links:
Is there a Brand Architecture Specialist in the house?
LDG Employee Sets World Record for Wood Powered Car
Do the Pieces Fit?

The parking lot at Lycoming College before and after LDG’s redesign.

The rapid pace of change seems to affect everything in the engineering and construction world, even something as established as parking lots. First, let’s talk about design methods.

When I started doing retail/commercial site design 20 years ago, configuring a parking lot was a hit or miss process that involved analyzing multiple stall, aisle, and angle options in an effort to meet the client’s required stall count while complying with local zoning requirements. Once you developed a layout that met the numbers you needed, it was time to work around any stormwater and grading constraints that the site might offer, which may or may not require you to change your original layout.

Recently, AutoCAD introduced add-ons that allowed a designer to input all design variables such as stall size, angles, aisle widths, direction of travel, and boundary constraints. With a few clicks of the mouse, you could see several design options and stall counts. Now we’ve progressed to the point where our design software not only allows us to optimize our parking stall layout, but at the same time it can create preliminary grading and stormwater plans and estimate the cost for the site work.

All of these improvements allow our designers and engineers to look at more options than we ever could before at a much earlier point in the design process. We are also able to get a good idea of how the construction cost is impacted by each design change we make, so we are able to determine the most efficient design for a specific site. The result is that we are able to create sustainable, long-term solutions for our clients and move projects more quickly through the approval process.

Looking at the details of design, we are seeing a number of trends. Stormwater management continues to drive design in many ways. In most cases, gone are the days of supersized parking lots draining to massive detention basins. To meet current regulations, it’s necessary to deal with stormwater on a much smaller scale. Landscaped islands are becoming more important, not only because they are aesthetically pleasing, but because they reduce thermal impacts and can be designed as rain gardens to manage stormwater.

Stormwater volume is being reduced through infiltration in bioretention swales that often become a feature of the parking lot. The large, centralized stormwater basins are being split up and spread throughout the site to deal with runoff more directly. Stormwater runoff volume is being reduced through infiltration in lawn areas, subsurface chambers, and through pervious pavement. The popular LEED© certification system rewards many of these approaches.

About 5-10 years ago, we saw larger retailers trying to reduce site construction costs by minimizing the amount of pavement they placed in their parking lots and trying to limit heavier vehicles to certain sections of the parking lot. In the northeast, we have started to see some of these pavement structures start to deteriorate from freeze/thaw cycles and vehicular traffic. As a result, we are beginning to see a trend back to heavier, more traditional pavement structures.

They say the only thing constant is change. This is certainly true in the engineering industry. I think that’s why I enjoy it so much.

Related links:
What Do Bridge Engineers Do and Why Do We Need Them?
Take a Virtual Tour of a Wind Farm with LDG
Understanding the Smoot

Karl Matz, PE
Director – Energy Group

At Larson Design Group, we believe that our employees are our greatest asset. In this feature, we profile some of the staff members who contribute to our success. This month the spotlight is on Karl Matz, PE, Director of our Energy Group.

Where did your career take you before joining LDG?
After getting married, my wife and I moved out to Colorado, where I worked for three years with a consulting firm that specialized in land development. The farthest away this job took me was to Germany. I worked on a vacuum sewer collection system, and the manufacturer flew the design team (and their wives) to their corporate offices and into the field to look at the vacuum stations and collection system construction projects. That was a truly enjoyable trip. Lots of good beer and sightseeing mixed in with German engineering design and construction.

What was your first Job? What did you learn from it that still influences the way you work today?
I worked at Little Caesars Pizza in high school and through college. Working in a fast food environment teaches you two primary things. The first is the importance of preparation and contingency planning. You know you’re going to get slammed from 5 to 7, and you need to be ready when things go wrong, as they inevitably will. The second thing it teaches you is crisis management. There will also come a time when you have a lobby full of not-so-patient customers and you realize that tickets got mixed up and the wrong pizzas have already left the building. Now you have to explain to someone already “patiently” waiting that someone else took their pizzas. They can either wait another 10 minutes or take the other pizza (hoping the first customer didn’t come back for the exchange).  When you’re prepared for any situation, you know how to make the client happy no matter what unforeseen circumstances may arise.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
We have four kids, so that keeps me pretty busy outside of work. I’m active with their soccer teams. I enjoy the outdoors, but don’t seem to get out much. I also spend a good bit of time doing some light construction work on improvement projects.

What has been your proudest moment in life so far?
Wow…that’s tough. Becoming a father was huge. Seeing a passing score on the PE exam felt pretty good, but completely different. If I had to choose, I would pick the former; I like my job and profession, but my family comes first.

What trait do you admire in people and why?
Honesty means a lot to me, and work ethic is real important.

What advice would you give to people who hope to follow a career path similar to yours?
Work hard and do what you think is right. Don’t be afraid to make decisions, but ask as many questions as you can. You need to have some confidence that you have the best available information at the time you make the decision.

Further Reading:
Employee Spotlight: Bob Murphy
Employee Spotlight: Rachel Wolfel
What Do Bridge Engineers Do and Why Do We Need Them?