Our experts lead the discussion

HERA Senior Laboratory Planner Michele Pollio, AIA and HERA Laboratory Planner Allison Edmonds, AIA recently led an interactive session guiding STEMtech conference attendees through developing the best program for their nursing and allied health facilities.

STEMtech is the annual conference for the League for Innovation in the Community College, an international nonprofit aimed at cultivating innovation within community colleges. The conference brings the best of STEM, analytics, big data, advanced technology and learning management architecture.

Michele and Allison helped participants explore the elements to building an ideal facility, starting with programming all the way through design. They guided audience members through a process to teach them to develop a program and ultimately see the results of early-stages planning and design.

Michele, with HERA Laboratory Planner Joshua Evans, also led a roundtable discussion aimed at designing laboratories. Through a proprietary, hands-on process, they helped participants design a laboratory using a physical model. The model helps those not accustomed to drawings and renderings to visualize what their lab might looks like.

When not in sessions, HERA sponsored a booth where Michele, Allison, Joshua and Intern Architect Leila Rzyska-Filipek interacted with conference attendees with the model. Booth visitors learned what options they could expect when designing a lab, and faculty members used the model to describe their current labs and communicate problems that they hoped to remediate.