-by Steve Cooper, LC, CLCP and Norm Russell, LC “I’m being quite useful. This thing is a Thneed. A Thneed’s a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need! It’s a shirt. It’s a sock. It’s a glove. It’s a hat. But it has other uses. Yes, far beyond that. You can use it for carpets. For pillows! For sheets! Or curtains! … Continue reading Don’t let Multi-Use become Multi-Useless: A Lighting Designer’s Perspective →

– by Ron Cochran 2020 changed the way people communicate and congregate. We all had to get used to seeing family, friends, and coworkers from afar via a variety of video/streaming apps. Businesses and schools were forced to make drastic changes to approximate business as usual. However, prior to 2020, many churches already enjoyed a … Continue reading Churches: Redefining Ways to Reach Their Communities →

-by Julie Fischer INCE, LEED AP BD+C “Unnecessary noise, then, is the most cruel absence of care which can be inflicted either on the sick or the well” — Florence Nightingale, Notes on Nursing, 1859 Anyone that has stayed in a hospital knows that the above statement is completely accurate. You aren’t feeling well and … Continue reading The Sounds of Healing: How Proper Acoustics Can Support Patient Wellbeing →

-by Ian Bryan Hoffman, AIA Room acoustic design for performance and assembly spaces continues to be a rich and engaging pursuit that bridges technical analysis with a healthy understanding of human aural perception and building design. Relatively speaking, room acoustics remains a young field – just more than 120 years as a codified science – … Continue reading Six Acoustics Myth-Understandings in the Design of Performance and Assembly Spaces →

-by Justin Meyer, LEED AP, INCE As acousticians, we get to see and hear a wide array of interesting things that many people don’t. It may be taking sound level measurements of wind turbines scattered across rolling hills, the manufacturing process of a consumer staple that we all have in our cupboards at home, mechanical … Continue reading An Acoustical Ghost Story →

– by Julie Fischer INCE, LEED AP BD+C Although acoustics is one of the top complaints in occupied buildings, it is typically a secondary consideration due to its non-visual nature. In some cases, acoustical design provides an overall auditory improvement to a space. In other cases, acoustics can have a much greater impact on the … Continue reading A Case for Auralization: The Ear Succeeds Where Words Fall Short →

— by Nick Shirley, Perry Artese, and Greg Coudriet For many companies, one of the biggest surprises from the great work-from-home experiment is that…it actually works. Employees can be productive and effective when they’re not in the office. Our group at NV5 was ahead of this curve in some respects, as the bulk of our … Continue reading SOUND MATTERS IN THE WORKPLACE: The Open Office Meets Acoustical Paradise →

— by Norm Russell LC An ancient proverb states that it is better to “light one candle than to curse the darkness.” And humanity found a means to conquer the darkness, evolving from a burning stick to a candle, to a gas light, to an electric lightbulb, and finally, electroluminescence: the light-emitting diode (LED). The … Continue reading How Humanity is Conquering the Darkness: From a Burning Stick to the LED →

— by Ernie Beck CTS-D and Matt LeFeber CTS As we optimistically approach a post-pandemic world, some corporate and university campuses will consider responsive and adaptive facilities as key to a successful future. Many are familiar with the promise of intelligent buildings to deliver the triple bottom line of energy savings, operational efficiency, and increased … Continue reading Intelligent Building Strategies: The Next Step in Planning More Connected Facilities →

by Craig Park, Associate AIA, FSMPS For most design practices, the last eighteen months reframed (upended?) our perspective on remote engagement, both internally and externally. Client connections that were almost exclusively in-person were flipped to virtual meetings practically overnight. Design teams that had used video for coordination meetings on rare occasions now found Zoom and … Continue reading A Look to The Future: The Hyflex Workplace →