Category Archives: Sustainable Design
Posted in Architecture | Building Systems | Energy Conservation | Innovative Solutions | Sustainable Design by Serena Wray, LEED AP+ (Brand Architecture) on January 3, 2013
© 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.
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Posted in Architecture | Current Events | Site Design & Land Development | Sustainable Design | Urban Development by Andy Keister, PE, PLS (Chief Operations Officer) on December 12, 2012
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.
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Posted in Alternative Energy | Communities | Energy Conservation | Innovative Solutions | Site Design & Land Development | Sustainable Design by Jillian Ibbs (Marketing) on June 12, 2012
The Laurel Hill Wind Energy Project is a Duke Energy Corporation initiative, located along Laurel Hill Ridge in Jackson and McIntyre Townships in northern Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Upon completion, the facility will consist of thirty individual wind turbines within a seven-mile long lease corridor. Altogether, the turbines will produce 69 megawatts of electricity.
Larson Design Group handled the land development design for the project, including boundary and topographic survey, Geographic Information System (GIS) base mapping, zoning application preparation, construction observation, erosion control plans, post-construction stormwater management plans, water/wastewater design, permitting, site re-vegetation plans, and alignment studies. LDG is also assisting Duke Energy with full-time construction management tasks.
The turbines are impressive structures. Manufactured by Siemens, they measure 424 feet tall at their highest point and run at any wind speed between approximately 8 and 55 miles per hour. A new two-mile long, 34.5-kilovolt overhead electric transmission line will convey electricity from the turbine corridor to a new switchyard and substation, which was designed and is being constructed in accordance with PenElec’s specifications. The switchyard will be turned over to PenElec for operation and maintenance after project completion. The turbine blades, which are 163 feet long, are fitted with serrated edging to aid in noise reduction. Each rotor blade automatically pivots in its socket to ensure it will catch maximum wind power from any direction.
The wind farm is expected to be completed in October of 2012. The electricity they will produce has been sold to Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation, which serves over 100,000 residents and businesses.
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Posted in Architecture | Building Systems | Client Service | Economic Development | Leadership | Sustainable Design | Urban Development by Robert J. Gehr, AIA, NCARB (Vice President - Brand Architecture) on January 3, 2012
What is Brand Architecture?
This is a question that I get asked on a consistent basis.
At LDG we only provide architectural design services for Retail and Brand clients.
“Brand” referring to an organization that utilizes a proven business model and architectural design strategy in the development and growth of that organization. Banks, restaurants, gas stations, hotels, convenience stores and others fall into this category.
This may seem a limiting position to take, however it is not an uncommon strategy and occurs quite often in other professional fields.
Let’s consider Doctors for example.
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Posted in Bridge Design | Communities | Municipal Services | Project Management | Structural Engineering | Sustainable Design | Transportation by David J. Johnson, PE (Project Engineer, Structural-Bridge ) on September 6, 2011
On July 12, 2011, a historic truss was set in its new location at 4th Street over the Allegheny River in Coudersport. The truss had spent the past 127 years three blocks upstream at 7th Street, carrying traffic to the Borough’s northeast corner and recreation park facilities. The historic bridge will now continue its service life as a pedestrian bridge at its new location.
The 7th Street Bridge was built in 1883 by the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, OH. The bridge is unique because it is one of the first bridges to be built entirely of steel and to still be in service. The bridge was retrofitted in 1983 with the addition of the steel arches. The decision to replace the bridge was made by the borough because it was functionally obsolete. The bridge was a one lane bridge that lacked adequate vertical clearance, proper barriers, or a sidewalk to provide access for pedestrians using the park.
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