The S/L/A/M Collaborative, a leading architectural firm based in Connecticut, expands its footprint to the West Coast and in the healthcare and Higher Ed sectors through its recent merger with Frank Webb Architects, a Los Angeles-based firm with 17 employees.
Frank Webb Architects’ leadership team, led by its president Gregory Coles, AIA, is joining S/L/A/M’s executive team. The company, which was founded in 1990, will operate under The S/L/A/M Collaborative brand.
Healthcare, civic, interiors, and recreation are FWA’s four main sector practices. Its healthcare and education clients have included Kaiser Permanente, the City of Hope, the University of Southern California, and the University of California at Los Angeles.
S/L/A/M, which was founded in 1976 and has nearly 200 employees, ranked 41st among Architecture/Engineering firms on BD+C’s 2018 GIANTS list, with $40.25 million in bookings in that category. The firm’s services include architecture, planning, structural engineering, landscape and interior design, sustainable design, and construction. Its practices include healthcare, education, and corporate and sports facilities.
Robert Pulito, S/L/A/M's president and CEO, sees his company's merger with FWA as having immediate benefits for its healthcare and education practices. Image: The S/L/A/M Collaborative
Prior to this merger, which became effective on September 1, S/L/A/M had offices in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Georgia. Among its more recent projects are the $21.6 million renovation of the 69,000-sf Pierre Toussaint residence hall at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., and the upgrading of public spaces at the UMass Memorial Medical Center’s campus in Worcester, Mass.
S/L/A/M’s president and CEO, Robert Pulito, AIA, tells BD+C that his company had been looking to merge with a West Coast company “for quite a while.” But finding the right cultural fit was difficult. “Many companies have a misconception about their worth. What was good about FWA was that they were not selling to get out. They saw potential for growing their business.”
The untimely death of one of FWA’s top partners made S/L/A/M’s merger proposal more auspicious. And Pulito believed it would be easier to insert S/L/A/M’s higher-ed practice into the west coast by teaming with a partner that was established in that sector.
FWA’s management will continue to run the business from its office in L.A., and Pulito says that S/L/A/M intends to add resources to expand its west coast operations. He notes that FWA “is extremely well organized and managed, so there’s no need for significant changes.”
Gregory Coles, FWA's president, is joining S/L/A/M's executive team. Image: Courtesy of The S/L/A/M Collaborative
The merger with FWA is part of a larger strategy to increase S/L/A/M’s workforce to between 250 and 300 employees over the next few years. Pulito says his company is looking for merger partners in the Midwest and South.
“My biggest concern now is cultural integration,” he says about his company’s growth plans. “We want to lead through inspiration, and by making sure that everybody understands our strategy.”
Related Stories
Architects | Jan 27, 2022
Gensler’s latest design forecast is also a call to action
The firm urges the AEC industry to take the lead in creating a fairer, cleaner built environment that faces many obstacles.
Architects | Jan 26, 2022
HMC Architects Welcomes New Director of Sustainability
The Sacramento studio of leading national architecture and design firm HMC Architects has announced the appointment of new Director of Sustainability Jennifer Wehling, who joined in December
Market Data | Jan 26, 2022
2022 construction forecast: Healthcare, retail, industrial sectors to lead ‘healthy rebound’ for nonresidential construction
A panel of construction industry economists forecasts 5.4 percent growth for the nonresidential building sector in 2022, and a 6.1 percent bump in 2023.
Sponsored | Steel Buildings | Jan 25, 2022
Structural Game Changer: Winning solution for curved-wall gymnasium design
Sponsored | Steel Buildings | Jan 25, 2022
Multifamily + Hospitality: Benefits of building in long-span composite floor systems
Long-span composite floor systems provide unique advantages in the construction of multi-family and hospitality facilities. This introductory course explains what composite deck is, how it works, what typical composite deck profiles look like and provides guidelines for using composite floor systems. This is a nano unit course.
Sponsored | Reconstruction & Renovation | Jan 25, 2022
Concrete buildings: Effective solutions for restorations and major repairs
Architectural concrete as we know it today was invented in the 19th century. It reached new heights in the U.S. after World War II when mid-century modernism was in vogue, following in the footsteps of a European aesthetic that expressed structure and permanent surfaces through this exposed material. Concrete was treated as a monolithic miracle, waterproof and structurally and visually versatile.
Urban Planning | Jan 25, 2022
Retooling innovation districts for medium-sized cities
This type of development isn’t just about innovation or lab space; and it’s not just universities or research institutions that are driving this change.
Sponsored | Resiliency | Jan 24, 2022
Norshield Products Fortify Critical NYC Infrastructure
New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.
Sponsored | Resiliency | Jan 24, 2022
Blast Hazard Mitigation: Building Openings for Greater Safety and Security
Coronavirus | Jan 20, 2022
Advances and challenges in improving indoor air quality in commercial buildings
Michael Dreidger, CEO of IAQ tech startup Airsset speaks with BD+C's John Caulfield about how building owners and property managers can improve their buildings' air quality.