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Eastern Gateway Community College

May 4, 2021

When Eastern Gateway Community College decided to expand their Youngstown campus due to growing enrollment, the former East Ohio Gas Building served as the ideal location. With its large, open first floor – formerly the payment lobby – and expansive corner windows that flooded the space with natural light, it would serve as a spacious…

Stambaugh Building – Double Tree Hotel

May 4, 2021

Nearly destroyed by a previous owner, the restoration and transformation of the Stambaugh Building into the Double Tree Hotel was a true passion project for RBF Colab. RBF became the project’s lead historic architect in 2013, laying groundwork for the development team and supporting a successful bid for $9 Million in Historic Tax Credits The…

Greek Revival House by RBF CoLab

RBF Colab named best Greek Revival Architect in the US

July 6, 2020

“A collaborative laboratory of architecture and design.” These words serve as the mission statement of RBF CoLab, a studio that offers residential, commercial, and restoration services. As its name suggests, partnerships are a major component of the firm, ingrained in its process through extensive coordination with other specialists and the firm’s clients. The Youngstown practice…

RBF CoLab Honored for Restoration Work

March 7, 2019

YOUNGSTOWN – For Paul Hagman of RBF CoLab Architecture and Design, 2018 was a year of education, accolades and celebration. “My priority this past year was to continue to grow my knowledge and enhance my expertise in historic building restoration,” said Hagman, whose firm has renovated city buildings and historic homes in the region. “Continual…

DoubleTree Adds Final Touches Ahead of Opening

May 15, 2018

“…Working on the building has been “a professional moment of pride,” said Paul Hagman, president of architecture company RBF CoLab. Hagman specializes in historic preservation and adaptive reuse. For Hagman, one of his favorite moments was the discovery of prism glass that was in the building’s storefront. The band of glass was shown in the…

RBF Colab recognized for Best Traditional Home by Fine Homebuilding magazine

April 20, 2018

The 2018 Fine Homebuilding HOUSES Awards recognized RBF Colab Architecture with the ‘Best Traditional Home’ award for a local residence in Poland Village, OH. Held annually by Fine Homebuilding magazine and Taunton Press, the HOUSES Awards seek excellence in six building, design, and performance related categories. With a mixed magazine readership that includes both professionals and homeowners, each of the…

Architect Provides Rotary with Stambaugh Project Update

February 7, 2017

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Asked which floors the building trades are working on as renovation of the Stambaugh Building advances, architect Paul Hagman had a simple response Wednesday: Pretty much all of them. Hagman is president of RBF CoLab. Following several months of cleaning the downtown building of debris, workers in the building trades are busy…

Career Inspiration Came Early for Architects

October 24, 2016

Paul Hagman: A Good Fit “The details in every building, the small things that are required to make a building work, have always been of interest to me,” says Paul Hagman, president of RBF CoLab. “It’s not necessarily about the building itself,” he continues. “Oftentimes it’s about the processes and the method that you use…

Downtown Hotel Project Begins with Terra Cotta Work

August 3, 2016

Pictured: Architect Paul Hagman shows plans for the conversion of the Stambaugh Building into a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel. Downtown Hotel Project Begins with Terra Cotta Work YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The DoubleTree by Hilton hotel downtown, planned for the Stambaugh Building downtown, should to be complete in late 2017, an architect affiliated with the project…