The RBA EcoLogic Studio

RBA's EcoLogic Studio is a "virtual place" where multi-discipline experts collectively approach a project in a process that allows for creativity and emphasizes the tools for enhancing sustainability in a project's development. This forum allows for an efficient collaboration that from the start has sustainability as a goal and is achieved through a team of experts working affectively toward this same goal. This is accomplished by using an Intense and focused involvement of all necessary disciplines at the outset of a project and at key project stages that does not cost more but provides cost effective options. The EcoLogic Studio provides a sustainability audit from the start of a project that analyzes the environmental-social-financial implications of a project to determine what will make the project environmentally sound, strengthen community qualities and is fiscally responsible. Decisions are then made in the project development that result in cost savings and a quality product that is designed to meet the needs of today with the future in mind.

RBA's EcoLogic Experts are pre-selected for participation in the studio and include LEED Accredited Professionals and sub-contractors. The Studio's creative process is not prescribed but the product of experts collaborating on specific ways to enhance sustainability of a project. The Ecologic process recognizes that sustainability is a way of thinking.

Evaluates the project scope, work plan and schedule to incorporate green opportunities in the process that enhances the sustainability of a project.
Identifies any changes to the Project Team to assure that the "right" discipline experts are part of the process.
Experts adjust work plan and Quality Assurance plan.
Engage design studio on project development with accountability checks to assure sustainable merit is being employed at each phase of the project development.
Ecologic team members work independently on tasks specific to their expertise but are brought together collectively as a studio at key milestones that creates a checks and balance throughout the process for sustainability - readjusting as needed to achieve the desired result.
Studio recommendations are synthesized and presented on "Green Sheets" identifying decision-making items for the client
Client decides on merits of the recommendations based on cost, schedule, and ability to achieve LEED Certification, if desired.
Complete tasks based on EcoLogic Studio recommendations approved by client and any pre-defined local and national sustainable design requirements for the project.

We imagine a future where all places are sustainable, where built form and landscape connect to ecology, people, history and culture, and where all design reflects the spirit of the place.

The RBA Group's collective expertise and collaborative approach has resulted in the creation of an innovative and holistic solution to planning and design. RBA's Ecologic Studio is a flexible, creative, skillful, multi-disciplinary team dedicated to enriching the human experience, creating healthy and sustainable communities and preserving the life system which connects us all.

For more information on RBA's Ecologic Studio, contact:

Jackson Wandres, RLA

Director of Landscape Architecture - New York

27 Union Square West, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10003
Phone: 212.741.8090 Fax: 212.633.1205

40 Marcus Drive, Suite 201
Melville, NY 11747
Phone: 631.694.3131 Fax: 631.694.3864
jwandres@rbagroup.com

Bettina Zimny, AICP/PP

Director of Planning - New Jersey

7 Campus Drive, Suite 300
Parsippany, NJ 07960
Phone: 973.946.5600 Fax: 973.898.9472
bzimny@rbagroup.com

Robert Nelson, PE

Vice President, Maryland Operations

7164 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite 205
Columbia, MD 21046
Phone: 410.312.0966 Fax:410.312.0897
rnelson@rbagroup.com