Higher Education Overview

higher EducatioN At LaBella, we’ve always understood that educational facilities need to be high performing and maintenance friendly. Our projects are designed to respond not only to program need, but also long-term operational expense.

As our practice has grown, we’ve coupled our expertise in building design with an advanced understanding of educational design. Academic buildings are no longer driven by ratios of students to seats or seats to classrooms.

Our methods of instruction have changed in tandem with the technology of our lives.

Colleges and universities are tasked with solving the problems of today, but must also provide facilities equipped for the advances of tomorrow. This requires facilities that are flexible, sustainable, and cost-competitive.

design for

higher Education

Campuses everywhere are balancing maintaining their older facilities that are “steeped in tradition” while simultaneously requiring new spaces designed for modern learners and the technology that comes with them.

Each project’s diversity of requirements is matched only by the diversity of today’s student body. Community colleges in particular have full-time, part-time and adult learners to consider.

With many predicting upcoming financial challenges for smaller institutions, recruitment and retention are priorities for many campuses. Prospective students regularly indicate that quality of facilities (and the community life they create) is among the top criteria in selecting a school.

From maintenance projects and infrastructure upgrades, to new buildings that present big questions about programming, priorities and pedagogies, we’re able to expertly execute projects from start to finish.

When our clients have a need, we respond. The result? Diverse service offerings for your entire campus.

No matter the project, we build a team that has demonstrated reliability and accountability. We provide a long list of in-house expertise and engage outside partners where appropriate.

From the utilities powering your campus, to the traffic entering it, we have expertise in infrastructure. Our environmental team protects your community from regulated building materials, and our buildings team can address anything from targeted upgrades to new construction.

Collaboration and “collision” spaces continue to be in demand as colleges provide experiential spaces that online learning can’t.

Interdisciplinary, informal spaces are creating campus learning experiences that can’t be replicated in traditional environments.

New furniture options can provide classrooms with integrated technology and the ability to experiment with new pedagogies.

Our interiors team works with campuses to identify how technology should be integrated into learning spaces, and facilitates sampling and testing furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) that support that culture.

ff&E + Technology

laboratories Specialty learning labs and simulated environments are at the forefront of active learning environments.

But, if these spaces are not designed to provide multiple functions, we run the risk of over-building.

Reasearch and innovation is at the heart of many colleges and universities. Laboratories present opportunities for handson, experiential learning, be it traditional academic science laboratories or experience labs that use technology to simulate real world environments.

Our experience includes tracks, tennis courts, and single or multipurpose fields. We balance your vision with the opportunities and constraints of the site, determining the optimal layout for athletes, coaches, spectators and facility staff.

Athletic facilities are in more demand than ever.

We educate our clients on differences in maintenance, price, longevity and injury risk.

athletics

building performance LaBella’s engineering team specializes in the design of energy efficient, high performance educational facilities.

We can provide full-service engineering and energy design services. Our team understands the many challenges faced by colleges and universities with respect to energy savings, operations, and continued maintenance of their campus facilities.

Our grant writers are well versed in funding opportunities and rebate programs. LaBella has performed numerous building condition studies and commissioning projects as well as assisted in the execution of energy performance contracts (EPC’s) for many of our clients.

We have experience in utilities distribution, central plants, classrooms, natatoriums, residence halls, as well as other specialty spaces found on today’s campuses.

student life Students are looking for spaces with a sense of community.

Incorporating lounges, game rooms, retail and other socially oriented amenities play a role in making on-campus education attractive to students. Our work has included external partnerships (like Starbucks at SUNY Fredonia at right), as well as campus-owned facilities like dining halls, campus centers, athletic complexes, and residence halls.

infrastructure Investments in infrastructure are crucial to maintaining your campus’s essential services. With a full service team of environmental, civil, transportation and utility engineers, we’ve tackled it all - from bike paths to bridges.

Master planning, term contracts, expansions, and rehabilitations are all in our wheelhouse.

Improvement projects often utilize our in-house asbestos laboratory and abatement designers, as well as our planning team’s grant writers and environmental review specialists.

At LaBella Associates, our job is to create—structures, plans, ideas, results. As a nationally recognized Design Professional Corporation, that’s a given, right?

But here’s what really drives us: creating partnership between our team and our clients. So much so that we become one team, unified in the unrelenting pursuit of exceptional performance on each and every project. Reliability.

Accountability. Collaboration.

Respect. Not skills we went to school for, but innate in LaBella team members.

The pursuit of partnership is embedded in our culture—has been since our inception in 1978.

And it affects client outcomes in profound ways. It means we’re built to expertly execute projects from start to finish. That we have the talent and resources to take on any challenge. That projects are completed on time, on budget, and beyond expectations.

And that we win awards— not just for our talent, but also for our ethics, employee culture, and growth.

Today, our wheelhouse is broad, with four key service offerings: Buildings, Energy, Infrastructure, and Environmental. Our staff of over 800 team members is spread across more than 20 office locations. We’re headquartered in Rochester, NY—but our impact is seen, felt, and experienced around the world.

buildings

infrastructure

Architecture

Transportation Engineering

Interior Design

Municipal Engineering

Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Engineering

Construction Engineering

Structural Engineering

Planning & Grant Writing Surveying

Site Development Hazardous Building Materials

energy

environmental

Electric & Gas Transmission and Distribution

Environmental Remediation & Compliance

Hydropower

Full Service Solid Waste

Renewables

Air Permitting

Program Management

Environmental Contracting

Construction Management

Pipeline Recycling

Visit us at www.labellapc.com to get a glimpse of some of the things we’re working on right now.

But don’t let us do all the talking— tell us about your goals by calling (877) 626-6606.

877.626.6606 | www.labellapc.com