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.

November 21, 2016

Bialosky Cleveland Honored for Recent Work and Service at Cleveland Design Awards

On Friday night, a record-breaking 500 people from the Cleveland architecture and design community gathered at the sparkling new Hilton Cleveland Downtown for the annual AIA/IIDA Cleveland Design Awards. An impressive, diverse pool of projects by local architects were showcased and honored, by juries led by Roberto de Leon, FAIA and Christopher Stulpin, IIDA. It was a magnificent affair, with an uplifting spirit of collegiality and unity from the design community.

Bialosky Cleveland earned three design awards for recent projects. Also, three of our employees were individually recognized. Congratulations to our teams behind The Schofield, Roberta A. Smith University Library, and our own offices.

Congratulations to Chris Persons and Kate Walker, two of our recent grads, who also took home honors for their grad work at Kent State University! Also, the President's Citation was awarded to our own Hallie DelVillan for her service and leadership in the chapter, and her commitment to advancing equity in the profession.

More posts to come, that will profile these award-winning projects.
Congrats to all our peers who were also recognized, and to every firm who submitted this year!

Project Awards

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IIDA Best Small Corporate Office
Bialosky Cleveland Offices
Bialosky Team: Jack Alan Bialosky, Jr., Paul Deutsch, Paul Taylor, Mandisa Gosa, Philip Erb, Chelsey Finnimore

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IIDA Best Education Project
Roberta A. Smith University Library
Muskingum University
Bialosky Team: Bruce Horton, Brandon Garrett, Tracy Sciano Vajskop, Philip Erb, Nick Dilisio

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AIA Merit Award
Project Name:  The Schofield
Bialosky Team: Paul Deutsch, Ryan Parsons, Theodore Ferringer
Architect:  STUDIOCRM, Inc., Bialosky Cleveland and Sandvick Architects

 

Individual Awards

AIA Student Merit Award
Chris Persons, for Drydock No. 2

IIDA Student Honorable Mention
Kate Walker, for SCFBC

President's Citation
Hallie DelVillan

 

May 5, 2016

Bialosky Cleveland Receives Honorable Mention in 2016 COLDSCAPES Competition!

COLDSCAPES//Adapt is a multidisciplinary design competition seeking innovative responses to volatile weather conditions in winter cities organized by Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC).

Bialosky Cleveland received an Honorable Mention for their submission of HALO 22.  The project concept was inspired by the phenomenon from nature known as a 22˚ halo, an illusion caused by ice crystals refracting light in the atmosphere, forming a circular glow around the source. From this idea, the concept of HALO 22 was born, providing a critical step in survival for the homeless while beautifying the urban realm in the process.

halo 22_1-1

 

In Northeast Ohio there are 21 homeless shelters where people seek refuge from the elements. On freezing cold nights, the shelters overflow with people needing protection from the harsh conditions, and many are turned away due to the lack of space. With no resources to survive, HALO 22 provides those who were sent away with temporary shelter, food, water, first aid, and information.

Inspired by the 22˚ halo, circular light installations are attached to existing networks of infrastructure (such as bus signs and bus shelters). The halos appear suspended in a crystalline container that holds the supplies. In milder conditions, they appear as works of art, bringing light and interest to a space. However, in freezing, dangerous conditions, HALO 22 installations become beacons of hope, signaling help to those who need it the most.

halo 22_3

 

The competition team included Jeff Jasinski, Julie Roberts, Sai Sinbondit, Jeremy Smith, and Brad Valtman, with David Craun and Ted Ferringer serving as team advisors.

This year’s Coldscapes Competition was the second installment of an international competition hosted by the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative. For more information, please visit the Coldscapes competition website at http://www.cudc.kent.edu/cold/2016-coldscapesadapt-competition-winners/.

November 19, 2015

Ingenuity Festival Cleveland – The [switch] Box

Editor’s Note: The Bialosky team was proud to have Chris Persons be part of our team for a summer internship this past year. Chris is currently pursuing his Masters of Architecture at Kent State University’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design. This is a recap of an installation at this year’s Ingenuity Festival Cleveland that Chris and colleagues collaboratively designed, fabricated, and installed. 

The design team for this piece included myself  Adam Prtenjak, Greg Stroh; electronics and arduinos (an open-source electronics platform) by John Popple and myself; budget and grant acquisition by Greg Stroh and Nick Young; and construction was completed by Michael Carnessali, Adam Prtenjak, myself, and Nick Young.

Our original position was this:

Our original position was this:

The [switch] box is intended to be a low-resolution speculation on future architectural possibilities when digital technologies disrupt traditional built environments. Digital technologies< i.e. sensors, big data, smart cities > have the embodied potential to mediate spaces in a manner with no comparable historical precedent. In this case, the line drawn between user and observer of space in the form of a wall is blurred. Exterior passersby [observer] trigger, through an arduino-linked sensor, a binary color change of a specific interior module, thus informing the construct’s occupants [user] of ambiguous yet located activity outside. This tactic can not only be scaled up indefinitely; it can be implemented through digitally complex mechanisms to fundamentally alter the relationships between users, observers, architecture, and digital technologies.

September 30, 2015

Shortlists Announced! Bialosky Team in Two Big Interviews Today (Good Luck!)

Today is a busy day for the Bialosky team as we have two interviews today both close to home and away.

The first is the renovation/ rehabilitation of Taylor Hall at Kent State University, which today houses the College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED), the College of the Arts, the School of Communication Studies, and the May 4th Visitor Center. With the CAED moving to their new building in 2016, Taylor Hall will namely house the School of Visual Communications Design (VCD).

Taylor Hall Kent State University

Taylor Hall, the 1960's building set on "Blanket Hill", on the National Register of Historic Places, will be rehabilitated for Kent State's VCD program. The project is seeking LEED Silver Certification.

Shortlisted teams are:

  • Bialosky + Partners Architects
  • bshm architects
  • Payto Architects
  • Van Auken Akins Architects

The second interview for Bialosky today is in New York, for the renovation of the historic Carnegie Library in downtown Binghamton. Constructed in 1903 and listed on the registry of Historical Buildings, Carnegie Library will be renovated to house SUNY BROOME Community College's Hospitality Center.

carnegie

Over a century old, the Carnegie Library will find a new life as SUNY BROOME's downtown Binghamton campus, housing their Hospitality Program.

We are excited to team with Holt Architects for this endeavor! The architectural firm out of Ithica are also highly experienced in Higher Education projects, and ranked as one of Central New York's Best Places to Work (Sounds like we'd make a good team!)

Good luck to all of you today!