With the rising pricing of heating fuel to record levels, it is even more important to increase the efficiency of your home in order to keep more money in your pocket. While the installation of solar panels, wind turbines and replacement windows and doors are certainly worthwhile sustainable upgrades; here are some easier weekend retrofits that...
This past month, STA entered the Allsteel / Union Office Interiors "Fall in Love" with Allsteel design competition, themed around Valentine's Day. The focus of the competition was to design collaborative meeting spaces to showcase the range and flexibly of the Allsteel Gather, Clarity, Merge and Involve lines. (more…)
On February 7th we held our 2013 celebration, at our studio, to formally announce our new company formed with map-lab …… STA Inc. (version 2.0). With the help of two companies who guided us through the process of our new brand, we feel we have emerged in our 16th year as a stronger and more...
Ninety-three percent of consumers believe that small businesses should have a social media presence. Now more than ever, business owners feel pressured to utilize social media outlets. However, as more online marketing channels materialize, it can be overwhelming to master just one. I recently attended a class that emphasized the prominence of social media and...
This weekend I will be traveling to London to see a soccer match between Chelsea FC and Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. Unlike stadiums in the rest of the world, standing terraces are prohibited in the upper divisions of England. The prohibition of standing terraces came about because of the violent hooliganism of the 80s and...
With the holidays in full swing and the new year approaching, we at STA want to take a moment to thank our clients, partners, collaborators and team members for an exciting, inspiring year, and to wish you all a very happy holiday and a happy new year! To our clients, we can’t express enough...
Felice and I recently had the pleasure of visiting Prague, Czech Republic on our way to Vienna, Austria. While in Prague, we stumbled upon (quite literally at times) and learned about the many miles of stone sidewalks that decorate this wonderful city. Stone sidewalks are found throughout the more historic sections of Prague and they...
STA is growing as a progressive design firm and looking to become a thought leader in our industry. Lately, I have found myself thinking a lot about the most effective way for the STA leadership team to move us forward. I have been asking myself, what are the important qualities of a good/effective leader and...
Last week I attended IIDEX Canada http://www.iidexcanada.com/, Canada’s National Design and Architecture Exposition and Conference. I was there representing the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and had the opportunity to engage with several Interior Design professional organizations, including Interior Designers of Canada (IDC), American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC), National...
On Thursday, November 15th, Dan Connolly will be part of a panel discussing what attracts and detracts emerging professionals from living in Downtown Boston, and urban living for Generation-Y in general. You can register for this panel here. There will also be a fullscale mock-up of an "innovation unit" on the floor of the expo....
There is a time and a place for wild imaginings, but around here, we’re not just winging it. STA has integrated the brain trust of map-lab, an architectural laboratory. The collaborative power of STA + map-lab is designed to push the boundaries of architecture, interior design, and evidence-based research for the purpose of solving problems,...
With the recent integration of map-lab into STA, we have started to think about how we can leverage our new collaboration for the benefit of our clients and to the world at large. Our collaboration is about integrating the diverse disciplines of architecture, interior design, and evidence based research for the purpose of solving problems,...
The International Living Future Institute launched the Living City Design Competition in 2010, seeking designs for our cities in the year 2035. map-lab's submission was ResilienCity. ResilienCity seeks to set the vision for the future of Boston’s Innovation District, a new neighborhood built on greyfield and brownfield sites that will provide residences and workplaces for over 300,000 people....
The AIA 2030 Commitment program is the AIA’s cornerstone effort to demonstrate the progress AIA members are making toward reducing the operational energy use of their designs, while encouraging other architects to do the same. The program is a voluntary call for action for member firms to join and demonstrate progress toward the industry’s widely adopted 2030 targets...
