July 6, 2017

Bialosky + Rust Belt Riders

A proud partner of Rust Belt Riders composting since 2017, we wanted to share how far we have come since then. We have diverted over 3,700 pounds of food waste from landfills and kept 3,270 pounds of harmful greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere.

This year, Bialosky Cleveland took a leap towards a more environmentally-friendly office, by separating our food waste from our landfill trash. Sustainability is an important principle at Bialosky Cleveland and we strive to act more green-minded. We focus on sustainability in our work, as many of our employees have LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications and our firm takes on many LEED projects. By adding an environmental initiative to our everyday lives, we remember the purpose behind the sustainable principles we apply to our projects.

Since mid-February, Bialosky Cleveland collected over 528 pounds of food waste. This is equivalent to keeping 464 pounds of greenhouse gasses from entering the atmosphere. When food waste goes into a landfill, it cannot break down properly and it produces large amounts of the harmful greenhouse gas, methane. By separating our organic food waste and allowing it to decompose naturally, we prevent methane from being created and keep the air a bit cleaner.

Our food waste is picked up every Friday afternoon by a Cleveland composting company called Rust Belt Riders and is transported to various local community gardens, where it is used as organic fertilizer.

 

Rust Belt Garden in downtown Cleveland, OH.

I recently toured Rust Belt Garden in downtown Cleveland with Michael Robinson, CFO of Rust Belt Riders. At this location, people in the neighborhood take care of the garden and receive fresh fruit and vegetables grown with compost in return.

Plants were grown with compost in Cleveland, OH.

The employees at Rust Belt Riders are knowledgeable about the biology and business of compost and they ensure Bialosky’s food waste is re-used in ways that best serve the community and environment. The company also services other well-known Cleveland businesses, such as University Hospitals, Spice Kitchen, and City Club of Cleveland.

Rust Belt Riders are creating compost with food waste.

We recently added an architectural touch to our composting bin – a wooden cover cut with our in-office laser cutter out of reclaimed wood. A few Bialosky architects and designers collaborated on the design and creation of the cover.

Compost cover made by Bialosky designers.

Composting our food waste keeps sustainability on the minds of Bialosky employees and reminds us to be more environmentally conscious in our professional and personal lives.

January 30, 2014

Fight Hunger in 2014 with Bialosky + Partners and CANSTRUCTION 2014

Bialosky + Partners Architects (BPA) is excited to once again participate in this year’s Cleveland 2014 Canstruction Design/Build competition which benefits the Cleveland Foodbank during their Harvest for Hunger Campaign. Canstruction is a national charity of the design and construction industry created by the Society of Design Administration devoted to increasing public perception of hunger through gallery-style sculpture of canned goods in public locations. (Below please find photos of BPA structures from previous years.)  With the help of our sponsors last year: · BPA raised a total of $4,557! · Our sculpture included over 5,500 canned goods, all of which have been donated to the Cleveland Foodbank. · Constructing the sculpture took 6 hours & 14 team members · After purchasing all required items for our sculpture, we were thrilled to have the ability to contribute an additional $120 cash donation to the Cleveland Foodbank. · Our team’s sculpture, featuring Farshid Moussavi’s design of the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), was given the title “can-spirit” for most amount of cans and team enthusiasm!

 

This year, our goal is to have our sculpture consist of 6,000 cans (or cost approximately $5,000)! We respectfully request a donation of $250-500 as a company or $50.00 as an individual. However, your generosity at any amount will be greatly appreciated as we try and reach our goal. Your contributions will be recognized on signage next to our sculpture during the exhibit and featured in our BPA Cleveland Design Blog.Please follow the link below to place a donation to help us build our structure!

  Our sculpture will be on display at Beachwood Place Mall from March 21st to March 30th, 2014.  We kindly request any assistance you could provide by Monday, March 3, 2014 Please accept our gratitude for your time, thought, and consideration. We look forward to the potential collaboration with you for this charitable event.

August 15, 2013

A Guide to Green Furniture

“Sustainable” and “Green” are commonly used when speaking of interior finishes, and are becoming even more present in the world of furniture. Whether you’re purchasing new or replacing existing there are several things to keep in mind when selecting furniture. 1. Sustainable furnishings have a broad range of attributes which may not encompass all of your desires within one product, so decide what is most important to you in your search for green solutions. Attributes to look for:

  • Recycled/Salvaged content
  • Durability & Longevity
  • Rapidly renewable
  • Bio-based materials
  • No or Low VOC
  • Recyclability
  • Companies Environmental Policy
  • Reconfigurable
  • Easy replacement
  • Serviceability of components
111 Navy Chair from Enemco is made of recycled content, specifically 65% Recycled PET and 35% Glass Fiber. Featured on Bialosky + Partners Architects Cleveland Design Blog

111 Navy Chair from Enemco is made of recycled content, specifically 65% Recycled PET and 35% Glass Fiber.

Steelcase-Dash

The Dash task light from Steelcase, and designed with Foster + Partners, is a good example of a product with longevity. Dash uses a mercury-free LED and a wireless current to eliminate PVC.

2. To aid in your search, look for third-party verification certificates. These certificates are based on industry best practices and require an extensive application process. Bialosky + Partners Architects Green Furniture Guide

3. Consider a product's complete lifecycle which covers a products origin, creation, shipping and disposal. Through established relationships, companies such as Humanscale aid in the disposal of product through, donation, refurbishment or recycling.

HumanScale Bialosky + Partners Architects

HumanScale's Diffrient World Chair is a mesh-based chair known for easy replacement and serviceability.

There is a whole sea of furniture in the green market, so use these tips when buying your next piece, whether for a client or for your own home!

February 20, 2013

BPA Achieves LEED Silver for OSU’s Mason Hall Rennovation

Bialosky + Partners Architects teamed with Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects, a Boston-based firm with an outstanding international reputation for excellence in design in the last forty years, to design the renovation of Mason Hall for the OSU Fisher College of Business. The project included conversion of library stack and study space into a first floor student resource center with breakout rooms, conference rooms, a reading room and a café, and second floor offices, a learning center, shared flex space for students and temporary workers and multipurpose space for group study, receptions, presentations and symposia. Additional student and staff space was also renovated on the 3rd and 4th floors.

 Some quick facts about the project:

Year of completion: 2012

Total square footage: 31,000

Construction Budget: $4,000,000

Project team: Bialosky + Partners Architects in association with Kallmann McKinnell & Wood

Principal in charge: Bruce Horton

Project manager: Ryan Parsons

Interior designer: Tracy Sciano-Vajskop

MEP: Korda Engineering Inc, a sustainable-minded engineering firm, based in Columbus,OH, who has won over 90 engineering design awards.

Once we got the good news about the LEED Silver Certification, I sat down for a quick Q&A session with our Project Manager, Ryan Parsons, about the design choices and LEED process:

Q: What obstacles or opportunities were unique to the sustainable strategy for Mason Hall?

A: The greatest challenge was coordinating all of the supporting documentation with the many team members involved and making sure the information was formatted properly for submission  and/or translated correctly to the on-line forms.  Constant issues with the use of LEED On-Line with the newest versions of Adobe Reader or Acrobat made this challenge even more difficult.

Q: How fantastic to incorporate recycled content and recycled materials – what are the most special instances of this materiality at Mason Hall?

A: Many components of the project included recycled content – lay-in ceilings, acoustical ceiling plaster, acoustical wall and ceiling panels, metal studs, cabinetry, aluminum windows, structural steel, and de-mountable partitions are just some examples, but one with a “cool factor” was the unique solid surface material comprised of recycled paper with a 100% water-based binder system  used for work surfaces in the Café and Reception areas.

Q: When we think of green buildings, we typically think of systems. What innovative system strategies were put into play?

A: An energy saving lighting control system was provided that automatically adjusts light levels in each space based on the amount of natural lighting the space receives.  The system is flexible in that each space was provided with individual controls to override the system should tasks require more light.

Q: What was the most important take-away from this LEED project that can be applied to future projects?

A: It takes considerable time and effort from all team members to collect and format the information required for LEED Certification.  The earlier everyone starts the process the better.  Coordination and organization are critical in creating a LEED success story.