HKS Helps Pilot Design-Build Best Practices on $600M VA Health Care Center
HKS Helps Pilot Design-Build Best Practices on $600M VA Health Care Center
By Amy Eagle
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HKS, along with its joint venture design partner SmithGroup, is helping the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) improve project delivery by following design-build best practices on a $600 million health facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.
Design-build, sometimes called alternative project delivery, is a project delivery methodology that involves the designers and builders working together as a single-source, turnkey entity from the beginning of a project, rather than contracting separately with the building owner. Design-build is meant to help control costs, increase speed-to-market and improve client satisfaction by encouraging teamwork.
Due to the integrated nature of a design-build team, construction can begin before a project’s final design is completed. This critically important early start further speeds project delivery.
In December 2023, USACE, the VA’s procurement agent, awarded Clark Construction Group a design-build construction contract for a new VA Health Care Center designed by a SmithGroup+HKS joint venture. The 493,000-square-foot facility on its 36-acre site is scheduled to be completed in February 2028.
The health care center will provide outpatient services such as primary care, mental and behavioral health care, specialty care and ambulatory surgery.
“The successful construction award of the El Paso Health Care Center is the result of VA’s efforts to improve planning and implementation of a design-build project,” Michael D. Brennan, PhD, AIA, NCARB, SES, Executive Director of the VA’s Office of Construction and Facilities Management, said in a statement about the project.
“Most importantly, upon completion, the Health Care Center will service and improve access to world-class health care for more than 54,000 veterans in the El Paso area,” Brennan said.
Teamwork
To ensure the VA Health Care Center is delivered on schedule, on budget and with the highest quality design and construction, the design-build team is following best practices established by the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA). DBIA’s best practices for procuring and contracting for design-build services and executing a design-build project are outlined in a series of publications titled Design-Build Done Right®.
“Design-Built Done Right shows how to organize, nurture and train high-performance teams,” said Whitaker.
By creating an integrated team that includes the prime contractor, designers, subconsultants, skilled trade contractors and subspecialists, design-build project delivery strives to foster collaborative problem-solving and innovation. Design-build best practices seek to avoid cost overruns or schedule delays that can occur when design and construction professionals conflict with one another in dealing with adverse issues that can arise during a project. According to Whitaker, aligning expectations, fostering effective communications and setting common goals are essential for success on a design-build project.
Brent Willson, AIA, FHFI, DBIA, Studio Practice Leader, Federal Health, and a Partner at HKS, said that uniting designers and builders on one team from the outset of a project creates “the best of both worlds.”
He added, “As designers, we do know a lot about construction, but we don’t know all the things that a builder brings to the table, right? And vice versa.”
Bringing together design and construction expertise results in a stronger, more fully considered design that the project team can be confident in executing, Willson said.
As an example, he described a discussion about the VA Health Care Center design that included the prime contractor, architects, an exterior envelope glazier and a precast concrete subcontractor working together to resolve an issue concerning a curtainwall system. “We’re all talking the same language at the same time,” said Willson. “It’s real-time problem-solving.”
Singular Vision
In addition to cost containment and speed-to-market advantages, design-build can promote design excellence, according to Anthony Montalto, AIA, Chief Design Officer and a Partner at HKS.
“This scenario can result in better projects because you have the ability to align goals and processes and drive towards a single vision from the beginning,” said Montalto.
The Clark Construction Group/SmithGroup+HKS design-build team began working together in 2022 to develop a vision and design concept for the VA Health Care Center in response to the federal government’s request for qualifications (RFQ), and once shortlisted, request-for-proposal (RFP) solicitation for the project. SmithGroup focused on the interior medical planning while HKS focused on the exterior building design. The firms collaborated on the master planning and conceptual site plan.
Montalto said the design team was inspired by the VA’s longtime mission, which promises to “care for those who have served in our nation’s military,” as well as their families.
The monumental scale of the health center’s main façade is meant to provoke a sense of awe and honor. The face of the building features a vast expanse of glass and immense concrete panels that express “strength and boldness of mass, to pay homage to the great service and sacrifice of the veteran,” Montalto said.
Throughout the design, the team strove to understand and respond to those veterans’ different health care journeys and stages of life, including younger veterans, people who are recently retired and senior citizens.
The team also endeavored to create a design that is “authentically El Paso,” Montalto said. This includes a material tonality and striations that take advantage of the surrounding views and context, as well as climate and comfort considerations that respond to El Paso’s desert setting.
‘Delivering Care Quicker and Better’
The VA Health Care Center design-build contract resulted from a rigorous procurement process. USACE’s adoption of qualifications-based selection (a DBIA best practice) ensures firms that are pre-qualified to submit final proposals to work on federal projects represent “the most qualified construction contractors, the most sophisticated design professionals, the most capable trade partners and the best engineers,” said Whitaker.
The highly detailed RFP for the VA Health Care Center specified a targeted cost ceiling. Qualifications-based selection allowed USACE to select what they considered the best proposal that met the RFP’s technical requirements and price considerations.
Transparency about cost during the procurement phase of a project allows design-build teams to put forward their most creative ideas for a beautiful, high-performing building that meets the stated requirements – rather than be concerned with a race to the bottom on price, which can compromise technical merit and design excellence.
After USACE awarded the project to the Clark Construction Group/SmithGroup+HKS design-build team in December, they finalized the contract in approximately two months. USACE issued a Notice to Proceed on the project in mid-February. Excavation is expected to begin this summer.
“Design-build is favorable to getting a design and construction contract – and a higher quality project to satisfy project requirements – in a shorter timeframe,” said Ross Davidson, DBIA, FHFI, Associate Executive Director of the VA’s Office of Construction and Facilities Management.
According to Davidson, design-build best practices helped the VA establish requirements for the health center and adhere to those requirements during planning. “The less deviation, the sooner you can deliver” the building, Davidson said.
Willson, who has nearly 40 years’ experience designing health facilities for the Federal sector, said, “In health care, we deliver buildings that change people’s lives. Doing this for our soldiers and veterans takes it to the next level. To be part of the VA delivering care quicker and better, with better facilities? Man, I’m really proud of that.”
Award-Winning Research Explores Facility Modifications for Future Pandemic Resiliency
Award-Winning Research Explores Facility Modifications for Future Pandemic Resiliency
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Deborah Wingler, PhD
Rutali Joshi, PhD
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HKS research exploring health facility preparedness has been recognized with several distinguished awards during the last year, demonstrating the value of partnerships in shaping health care environments of the future.
In collaboration with HKS and WSP, the U.S Army Medical Command conducted Functional Performance Evaluations (FPEs) of 15 medical treatment facilities (MTFs) within the continental U.S. to understand the effectiveness of existing COVID-19 modifications and to document recommendations for potential facility improvements to create a roadmap for future pandemic preparedness. The facilities we researched totaled over 15 million square feet. A framework comprised of five constructs: safety, flow, surge capacity, staff wellbeing and flexibility, was developed to evaluate all the facilities consistently.
EDRA recognized the project with “CORE Merit Status” in 2023. One jury member of the EDRA Certificate of Research Excellence (CORE) committee highlighted that HKS’ research on pandemic resiliency “sets a good precedent for the industry,” writing that the study had a large scope and many sources of data. The project, “successfully infused data science into the workflow and delivery.”
European Healthcare Design, which evaluates work according to its originality and how it creates innovative methods to address existing issues, also awarded the efforts in its award program’s research category last year. Most recently, the research received a Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) National Design Awards Program Merit Award. SAME granted the project a Special Recognition honor at its 2024 conference as part of its annual celebration of achievement and in support of the AEC profession, national security objectives, and the SAME Strategic Plan.
Retrospectives on the global response to COVID-19 pandemic has only begun. HKS’ research adds a large-scale study measuring the overall pandemic response and staff experience across over a dozen facilities—and it is this scope that allows critical insights. As the delta variant ravaged hospitals during 2021, the Center for Disease Control found that capacity reaching 75% or beyond was leading to 12,000 excess deaths per week. It’s not only an audit of surge capacities that’s needed, but a mixed-methods investigation of on-the-ground experience.
We leveraged a mixed-method investigation—an under-tapped mode of inquiry in the design industry. And we supported our investigation using several different modes of analysis to guide our conclusions. We not only studied the factors that contribute to the effectiveness of facility response during the pandemic, but the magnitude of their impacts. Facilities responded differently to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we explored the good and the bad. We found significant differences in the performance by certain factors, as well as the success between sites. After studying these factors, we also researched how facility, operations, and MEP considerations impact the overall effectiveness of facility response.
What did facilities do well, and how can they improve? Using a rule-based sentiment analysis, or a way of establishing the polarity of open-ended responses, we found that facilities developed the infrastructure to quickly mobilize telehealth appointments, creating flexibility for staff rotations, providing visual cues for safe personnel flows, and providing additional space modifications for COVID-19 testing. Many facilities also did not provide the infrastructure necessary for telework, nor did they provide clear policies and leadership in the transition to working from home. Supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) were also lacking. Our findings corroborate the reporting that hospitals were understaffed, which exacerbated poor patient care and staff burnout.
Lessons learned from this study will help to inform how to make existing facilities more resilient, as well as to inform the planning criteria for future capital investments. Here are a few key insights that directly impact how we will approach future facility design and care delivery:
Digital first solutions are challenging the status quo.
Digital health has proliferated across the healthcare industry. Emerging technology blended with physical spaces can help make care more personalized and responsive. Considering which service can be effectively delivered virtually and which cannot also helps to support more nimble and resilient care delivery during a health crisis.
Staff well-being has become table stakes. Clinical spaces must be designed for patient well-being—but also for those who deliver care. Designing for those who administer care is crucial to maintaining a resilient health system that adjusts and evolves over time. Environments and amenities may attract and retain top talent by addressing the emotional, cognitive, physical, and social needs of staff.
Optimized flows are vital for agile care delivery. Implementing agile solutions that allow healthcare to optimize flows – people, equipment, supplies, medication, and information – and avoid bottlenecks are essential to the success of efficient and effective care delivery process that can quickly pivot based on rapidly changing census and care needs.
Communication is key to building trust. Coronavirus pandemic demonstrated disconnect between front-line workers, administrators, and policy makers. Communication from leadership that is both informative and comforting is essential to bridging the chasm and building trust. Empathizing with personal stories of staff can help facilities build stronger and purpose-led teams.
The study is authored by Dr. Deborah Wingler, Dr. Rutali Joshi and Brent Willson from HKS, Dr. Abhishek Bhargava and Nolan Rome and from WSP, in collaboration with Brenda McDermott from the Defense Health Agency. The research team is actively pursuing publication in an academic journal.
FBI Innovation Center at Redstone Arsenal
Project
FBI Innovation Center at Redstone Arsenal
A Training Ground for the Cybersecurity Crimefighters of the Future
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is expanding operations at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama with new facilities dedicated to attracting and developing a rising generation of technically advanced agents — a “graduate school” for the cyber crimefighter. The FBI envisioned a 240-acre Science and Technology District with a central building for cybersecurity crimefighter training and education plus offices that would support its critical mission to protect Americans now and into the future.
The Design Solution
HKS and its design-build partner at Clark Construction Group committed to creating the FBI Innovation Center as a signature centerpiece for the new campus. The three-story building includes classrooms, offices, digital laboratories, and an attached training center. Together, these facility functions enhance the FBI’s capacity for research and development as well as its operational, tactical, and technological capabilities.
Early in the design-build process, the HKS team devised a plan to decouple the workplace and training components of the building, ensuring that each was distinct yet unified with the other for a cohesive design. The academic and workplace building is clad in glass and metal panels, and offers a welcoming environment for agents, trainees and government officials. The practical training facility has a unique metal fin design and acts as a forward-looking extension from the primary building.
In addition to designing the Innovation Center, HKS also worked with landscape architects and civil engineers to amend the FBI’s master plan so that adjustments would support better building integration into the overall campus. As construction on the main building proceeded, the team worked closely with Clark Construction Group to adjust design elements, ensuring critical program features could be realized in keeping with the latest FBI security standards.
The Design Impact
The Innovation Center is designed to optimize energy performance, limit impact on environmental resources, and provide a healthy environment for those who learn and work there. FBI is a nationwide leader in the adoption of Design-Build Done Right® —the best practices of the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) — and with these practices, the Innovation Center sets a new standard of design excellence. The building is designed to attract and retain top talent for the FBI including young professionals who desire contemporary training and workplace amenities. As a home and training ground for a new wave of cybersecurity crimefighters, the building will play a large part in helping the FBI protect Americans throughout the 21st century.
Project Features
Approximately 266,500 square feet (24,762 square meters)
Three Ways HKS Deploys Design-Build Best Practices for the FBI
Three Ways HKS Deploys Design-Build Best Practices for the FBI
By Kathleen M. O’Donnell
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Located on the emergent 243-acre Science and Technology District at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, the FBI Innovation Center is a training facility for agents learning the latest cybercrime combat tactics. Set to open in 2024, the project — designed by HKS through a design-build contract with Clark Construction Group — exemplifies best practices set forth by the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA), also known as Design-Build Done Right®.
Design Build Done Right® (DBDR®) outlines how architects and contractors, engineers and trade contractors can achieve the highest levels of quality in procuring and contracting design-build services and executing project delivery. In addition to universal best practices, the DBIA also establishes more specific standards for certain markets including the federal sector.
Design-build can reduce challenges and inefficiencies that often accompany traditional design-bid-build projects, according to Jim Whitaker, FAIA, FDBIA, HKS Global Practice Director, Government & Alternative Project Delivery and Principal-in-Charge of the Innovation Center project.
“Contracts don’t legislate good behavior, but project delivery methodologies can encourage good behavior and design-build does that,” Whitaker said, adding that DBDR® best practices are a great tool to enhance overall project outcomes.
David W. Triplett, DBIA, MBA, the FBI’s Chief Contracting Officer and Facilities Acquisition Unit Chief has been instrumental in advocating for and educating others about DBDR® within the FBI. Triplett, who has presented about the Innovation Center to industry groups across the country with Whitaker, is passionate about project outcomes that better support the FBI’s mission and said the building will do just that.
“The Innovation Center will be the centerpiece of the new academic campus at Redstone Arsenal, and we are very proud of it. It’s a fantastic design,” Triplett said.
HKS architects and designers have brought dozens of large-scale federal facilities such as the FBI Innovation Center to life on strict timelines and budgets with airtight coordination. Here are three of the essential ways HKS and the firm’s partners deliver such projects by deploying design-build best practices:
1 – Building Trusting Relationships
On traditional building projects where there are multiple contract holders, team relationships are often established in a “command and control” environment, according to design-build expert Lisa Washington, Executive Director and CEO of DBIA. Design-build projects are different — they have a single source contract holder, the design-builder — and clients, contractors, and designers must collaborate from the beginning. Teamwork is fundamental to the process.
As the Innovation Center building owner, the FBI fully embraced DBDR® principles and established a network of design and construction experts who would be advocates for and talented executors of the design-build process.
“When done right, design-build allows the owner to select a team with culture alignment that will help them achieve goals. The FBI learned the best practices and were able to select the right team for this project,” said Washington, who attended an Innovation Center presentation at the 2023 Federal Design-Build Symposium by Whitaker, Triplett, and Barbara W. Wagner, DBIA, an industry-recognized DBDR® expert from Clark Construction.
Selecting, organizing and training a high-performing team where members’ strengths complement one another is non-negotiable in design-build, Whitaker said.
“Because construction starts before design is done, the requirement to cooperate and plan activities is essential,” Whitaker said, noting that the first 30 days after the project is awarded is “the highest value, most impactful period of performance for the whole contract’s duration.”
From the onset of the Innovation Center project, the HKS and Clark team — having previously worked together on more than 30 projects, many federal and design-build — understood the importance of fostering a supportive team atmosphere. Before and during the procurement process, they held extensive, confidential meetings to formalize teaming agreements with designers and trade contractors and to ideate design solutions. After they were awarded the project and project execution proceeded, they collaborated to validate building program requirements, and develop the project’s full design and a detailed project schedule.
By putting this amount of effort into building and maintaining relationships, the team was able to accomplish what Washington calls the “most important aspect” of design-build.
“There is no magic bullet or piece of equipment that will make a project successful— it’s how the people work together, engage with the owner and have mutual trust and respect,” Washington said.
2 – Committing to Design Excellence
Throughout a design-build process, there are many opportunities to produce exceptional design outcomes, especially in federal projects. Whitaker said projects at Redstone Arsenal have been procured — or are being procured — using a best-value technique with a fixed stipulated cost, which means the contractors and designers all “get a chance to shine” because they are not reduced to a low-price bidding war. For the Innovation Center, the FBI set its price and chose the Clark and HKS team with this best-value, qualifications-based selection (QBS) method, which isan adopted best practice of DBDR®.
HKS committed to designing the Innovation Center as a signature centerpiece for the new campus capable of supporting learning and exchange of ideas. The design is also intended to attract top talent for the FBI — young professionals who want to train and work in dynamic, modern surroundings. The building itself is a recruiting and retention tool.
The project features a three-story academic and workplace structure with an attached practical problem training facility. Though these elements were initially intended to be unified in one building, the HKS team came up with the idea to decouple the components and make them elegantly stand out while maintaining the highest levels of security in design. HKS also worked with landscape architects and civil engineers to advise on master plan adjustments that would support the FBI’s goals for the overall campus, again illustrating how teamwork and coordination are required to fulfil design-build best practices.
Washington said that design excellence like what the Innovation Center designers have achieved goes well-beyond aesthetics to include building performance, environmental context and sustainability features. Design-build as a process, she noted, is perfectly suited to help teams create high-design, high-performance buildings that will last a long time and provide federal agencies value into the future.
“The FBI understands that best value and low cost are two very different things,” Washington said. “[With this design] …they’re getting the best value for the taxpayer dollars, a facility that is state of the art that they and this nation can be proud of.”
3 – Anticipating and Managing Change
Federal building projects often come with challenges related to cost, bureaucracy, and aversion to risk. And just like on any building project, goals and expectations are subject to change throughout the process.
Unlike traditional building projects where most major design solutions are generated in early phases, design-build projects allow for the development and implementation of new design solutions during completion of design and into construction. The design-build process inherently enables instantaneous response and quick decision making when modifications are required, Whitaker and Washington said.
By adopting design-build best practices of DBDR®, the FBI Innovation Center team could overcome significant hurdles as the project progressed. First, the team navigated trials of procuring and contracting the project during the height of the COVID-19, which meant team members had to be extremely flexible and detail-oriented with technology, schedules and virtual communications to maintain lockstep coordination. Due to pandemic restrictions, the FBI and the design-build team never met in person during the entire procurement period.
Later, after construction had already started, unforeseen mission critical requirements necessitated changes that presented a challenge to the original design and construction schedule. Whitaker said the HKS team jumped into action immediately, creating new design solutions that still met project goals while reacting to the real programmatic needs of the FBI as Clark proceeded with construction.
“With design-build, we could actually prosecute a change in a timely manner,” he said. “Nimbleness and adaptability are crucial.”
As the FBI Innovation Center swiftly moves toward opening its doors, the project team continues to demonstrate that its ability to support clients with efficient, flexible responsiveness can lead to exceptional design and construction outcomes. And exceptional outcomes are exactly what federal building owners such as the FBI need, so they can carry out their mission in high performing environments. By implementing DBDR® best practices from day one, project teams and federal clients can create such places that stand the test of time. And Whitaker says the key to success is getting a good start.
“The very best design-build teams know that you have to build the team first before you build the building,” he said.
HKS Launches HKS xBE to Cultivate Inclusion in Architecture & Design Industry
HKS Launches HKS xBE to Cultivate Inclusion in Architecture & Design Industry
By HKS
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HKS announces the launch of a new partner diversity program, HKS xBE, that gives xBE firms (a term inclusive of all disadvantaged businesses) and their members access to opportunities to build relationships, pursue new work and bolster innovation within the architecture and design professions.
The HKS xBE Network aims to increase diversity among the firm’s myriad partnerships for architecture and design projects.
“HKS is committed to building a more diverse workforce and partnership network across the AEC industry,” said HKS CEO & Chairman Dan Noble. “We value a wide range of different ideas and perspectives that we believe enrich the profession of architecture, foster design innovation and increase the community value of our work.”
HKS invites xBE firms and their employees to enroll in the HKS xBE Network, so that we better understand your culture, expertise and business goals in hopes of fostering future collaboration. Eligible firms will hold one of the following certifications: Minority or Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE), Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses (SDVOB), Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUB), Disability-owned Business Enterprise (DIS), Small Business Enterprise (SBE) or LGBT Business Enterprise (LGBTBE).
Please contact Ashli Hall, HKS Director of Social Equity, with questions about HKS xBE.
HKS is a firm committed to exploring new building methods and materials, community health, design excellence and sustainability. That’s why we are a major proponent of the advantages of mass timber construction. Even though mass timber buildings represent only a fraction — less than .000189 percent — of the country’s commercial buildings, there are many reasons why this building type is a smart choice.
While some claim mass timber can be as much as 5 percent less expensive than steel and concrete construction, additional cost savings are possible through shorter construction time of prefabricated panels, less labor required for installation and in lower foundation costs due to less structural weight than in the material itself, which can cost as much or slightly more than concrete per square foot.
Mass timber also sequesters CO2 and its manufacture is far less carbon intensive than either concrete or steel. In addition, mass timber has a high strength-to-weight ratio that allows it to perform well during seismic activity, and its fire resistance properties meet or exceed most code requirements.
Mass Timber Buildings Have Health Benefits
There are also considerable health and aesthetic benefits of mass timber construction.
Research shows a link between exposed wood structural elements and greater workplace satisfaction and productivity. Studies also point to a growing body of evidence that natural materials, plants, natural light and access to nature relieve stress, the underlying cause of many forms of physical and mental illness. Variations in color and texture of wood and its tactile qualities can be both healthful and beautiful.
Health facilities have been wary of mass timber due to the need for infection control. Because mass timber is engineered, its surface is smooth, free from cracks and knots seen in raw wood. It can also be coated creating a surface that can withstand industrial cleaning agents. Unlike other building materials, it also has reduced off-gassing, which translates into better air quality.
HKS Principal Kirk Teske notes the advantages of bundling underfloor air distribution (UFAD) with mass timber.
“Because UFAD doesn’t mix the air in the occupied zones like traditional forced air systems, it’s healthier,” Teske said. “UFAD also allows you to keep the HVAC ducts, electrical conduits, and data cables under the floor leaving the wood structure exposed. Done correctly, you feature the biophilic aspects of the wood structure with only the sprinkler piping and lighting systems remaining as a part of the ceiling structure.”
Considering the post-pandemic state of the commercial office market, Teske believes this combination would provide that sector with a unique niche offering that is especially attractive to corporate users that value environmental sustainability and healthy alternatives for their employees.
The Flexibility of Wood
Our practice spans a multitude of building types from senior living to commercial mixed use, education to hospitality, health to sports and more. Regardless of the building type, our clients are interested in creating spaces that are highly functional, adaptable, affordable and celebrated by users and the community-at-large.
Mass timber products, which come in a variety of sizes and forms, can help fill the bill. Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), is a wood panel system that uses wood stacked crosswise at a 90-degree angle and glued into place. Its strength, dimensional stability and rigidity make it suitable for use in mid-and high-rise construction. Nail-Laminated Timber (NLT), is dimensional lumber placed on edge with individual laminations fastened with nails or screws.
Dowel-Laminated Timber (DLT), panels are stacked like NLT and friction-fit together with hardwood dowels. Its strength comes from friction of the dowels, so it doesn’t use adhesives, nails or screws making it more sustainable, easier to mill and attractive for exposed structures. Glued-Laminated Timber (Glulam), is a structural engineered wood product commonly used for beams and columns. It allows for long spans of exposed framing as well as curvature.
So, Why Aren’t There More Mass Timber Buildings?
While hailing the energy-saving features of mass timber, some skeptics have expressed concern for deforestation due to wood’s increasing popularity.
“Most of the wood used in mass timber comes from trees that can be sustainably managed through responsible forestry practices,” explained Teske. “With smart design and planning and collaboration with knowledgeable manufacturers and contractors, we can mitigate any possible downside to using wood. A 2014 study stated that using wood as a building-material substitute could save 14%-31% of global CO2 emissions and 12%-19% of global fossil fuel consumption. The positives greatly outweigh any negatives.”
Another reason cited for not using mass timber is that it is not as cost effective as its purported to be. According to Ryan Ganey, HKS Structural Engineer who has worked on several mass timber buildings in the states of Washington and Texas, selecting consultants with experience in mass timber construction can help alleviate cost concerns.
“It’s important to work with a contractor who has had some experience in mass timber to recognize the full benefits,” Ganey said. “Some contractors price mass timber higher because they have not had as much experience with it and they want to cover themselves. But as it becomes more popular, contractors better understand the cost of materials and labor and can price more accurately.”
Another possible reason for not using timber is building codes. But in 2019, the International Code Council (ICC) approved a set of proposals that would allow tall wood buildings as part of the 2021 International Building Code (IBC). If design meets these code requirements, buildings can be built up to 18 stories.
In a fire, heavy timber chars on the outside while retaining strength. That slows combustion and allows occupants to evacuate the building. According to David Barber of Arup, in recent fire testing, a seven-inch wall of CLT lasted three hours and six minutes — one hour longer than code requirements.
A few years ago, the only mass timber manufacturers were in Canada or Europe. Today there are about a dozen scattered across the United States making sourcing easier and further reducing the carbon footprint of the material by eliminating importing and shipping. In addition, mass timber can be beautiful and might make a significant difference in the speed of leasing or sales of commercial, mixed-use and residential space.
As of December 2020, 1,060 commercial mass timber projects had been constructed or were in the design phase across the U.S., according to Woodworks — Wood Products Council. Developers, investors and corporations are embracing the idea that mass timber may give them an edge in the leasing or sale of real estate and in recruiting and retaining top talent. We can’t wait to help them achieve their goals.
U.S. Southeast’s Growing Economy Spurs New Design and Development Trends
U.S. Southeast’s Growing Economy Spurs New Design and Development Trends
By Kathleen M. O’Donnell
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For the past 50 years, population growth in the Southeastern United States has outpaced the country’s overall growth rate by nearly 40%. The region is now home to more than a quarter of the nation’s residents and a slew of major employers, including dozens of Fortune 500 companies.
Even more people and businesses flocked to the Southeast from Northeast and West Coast cities during the pandemic as Americans looked for temperate, less-dense living environments and were able to work remotely.
“We’re seeing a lot of growth particularly in the Southeast related to peoples’ shifting priorities for what they want out of life and what they want out of work,” said HKS Regional Director Shannon Kraus.
The exploding Southeast population has led to a flourishing regional economy that grew over 10 percent in 2021 alone. HKS is working with clients and communities to understand the impact these shifts are having on the region’s built environment — and expanding our design services for a resilient future.
Commercial Real Estate Re-evaluation
In Raleigh and Atlanta, an influx of companies re-locating to or opening regional headquarters has caused a surging need for commercial office space.
Lynn Dunn, Office Director of HKS’s new Raleigh location, said that companies in industries ranging from finance to pharmaceuticals are keen to set up shop in fast-growing North Carolina as employees and corporations “seek the tremendous benefit of quality of life” that can be obtained there.
“It’s fairly inexpensive for corporations to come to this area from an investment standpoint. For years, we’ve had companies consistently moving here from across the country,” Dunn said, noting the top recognition North Carolina recently received in CNBC’s “Top States for Business” survey and Raleigh-Durham area’s repeat inclusion in national “best places to live” reports.
Dunn and HKS Atlanta Office Director Julie Volosin said that building owners, property managers, brokers and developers are collaborating to keep up with evolving desires of employers and employees. Companies moving into their cities are interested in building new high-performance offices as well as repurposing existing spaces.
“Atlanta is a broker-driven market and we’re seeing brokers courting corporations around the country to relocate here. There is also an increased interest among brokers and building owners to reposition buildings with more robust amenities and technology-rich infrastructure,” Volosin said
As organizations determine new policies for employees’ in-office and hybrid working models, they are evaluating real estate changes and how to best utilize the spaces they invest in. HKS is designing corporate workplaces to optimize versatility.
“We really focus on creating the most flexible kind of space that will support their work and business plans. We consider the flexibility within the footprint of the real estate as well as the external ecosystem that surrounds it,” Volosin said, noting that offices located near ancillary spaces for working or conducting meetings, such as parks or coffee shops, are increasingly popular.
Designers and researchers across HKS offices are exploring workplace habits and environmental conditions in “living labs.” Along with improvements in technology and policy shifts, HKS is investing in spaces that will entice employees, clients, and the community to use offices with intention and purpose.
This year, HKS’ Atlanta office is leading the firm in how workplaces can best accommodate and support a hybrid workforce. The design for the new Atlanta office, located in the Buckhead business district, is the result of a multidisciplinary process that combined research, place performance advisory, and commercial interiors teams. No longer a sea of workstations, the Atlanta office has design havens, idea exchange centers, agile team pods, and a communal hospitality plaza — all of which offer abundant choices for where to work, interact with clients and serve the community.
“We’re in a state of transformational discovery right now. It’s a journey as we continue to learn and leverage a truly hybrid workplace,” Volosin said.
Changing Job Markets Prompt New Design Needs
Among the Southeast’s most attractive relocation destinations, Florida has a job market in the throes of major transformation due to its growing population.
In Central Florida — which has a historically tourism-driven economy — incoming science, technology and health companies have begun to diversify the job market, according to HKS Orlando Office Director Nathan Butler.
“Our area’s legacy is deeply rooted in the service industry with a transient population that far outweighed the permanent population. Resources have historically supported tourism disproportionately,” Butler said. New emphasis on non-hospitality industries, he added, has created better balance in the local economy and provides exciting opportunities to design new health, commercial and mixed-use developments.
HKS designers in Central Florida are also answering the call to work on public sector projects as local governments invest in building places that support the area’s expanding permanent population. New community venues for sports and the performing arts, transit system facilities and civic buildings are among the types of design projects rising in number, particularly in Orlando, Butler said.
Another of Florida’s major cities, Miami, is also experiencing rapid population growth and a diversifying job market as many people from the Northeast moved there during the pandemic.
Although Miami is a tourist destination like other Florida locales, it has the unique quality of being an international business hub with large financial institutions and deep connections to the global hospitality industry. Borrell said that the inflow of new residents, combined with big business interests, is driving a wave of mixed-use developments.
“There’s a big market here for commercial mixed-use,” Borrell said, adding that the HKS team there is building relationships with local clients who want to provide more connected and vibrant 24/7 destinations throughout Miami.
HKS leaders from the region said a strong desire for mixed-use properties permeates most cities in the U.S. Southeast. What “mixed use” means, however, is evolving in light of population and economic growth, expanding to include more types of properties than a traditional blend of residential and commercial.
“In middle markets, developers are very interested in multi-modal transportation and mixed-use developments,” Kraus said. “And the mix of uses can be a broad range.”
In Raleigh and the North Carolina Research Triangle, science and technology companies, research organizations and the area’s many higher education institutions are driving demand for life science centers, and innovation-based workplaces and learning environments. Dunn said that design teams there are working with clients to create mixed-use hubs with these — and many other — types of buildings at the heart.
“Creating depth with different uses is what makes a space dynamic and attractive to people. We look at amenities like retail, parks, entertainment and how they connect to the community,” Dunn said.
As the city grows, Dunn says Raleigh is becoming an attractive destination for conferences and sporting events, which require diverse venues, hotels, dining, and retail located in close proximity.
“We have a great need for hotels that developers and investors are looking into. The city has lost opportunities to host national events due to the lack of hotel rooms to support them,” said Dunn. Building on the success of the firm’s hospitality work in the Southeast on major projects for clients including Four Seasons, Marriott, and the Biltmore, HKS is deepening local relationships to support Raleigh’s goal to accommodate large-scale events.
Integrated Design Approaches for Stronger Outcomes
Regional Director Kraus and all four HKS Office Directors located in the Southeast said the firm is committed to diversifying design service offerings and enhancing the built environment during this period of change — and they’re working together to do so.
“We are one firm and one profit center globally. We work well at leveraging our different sectors and services in all our work, and I think that will continue,” said Volosin. She shared the example that firm-wide strategic advisors, designers and planners are collaborating with non-profit organizations and city agencies for more equitable public environments in the Atlanta metro area.
Borrell and Butler said HKS’ Florida offices are expanding upon the firm’s long legacy of working on health and hospitality projects by sharing the talents of designers from those sectors with local commercial, education and senior living clients.
“The more we find ways to blur lines between practices, the better position we’ll be in to deliver better projects for our clients and have stronger, more collaborative teams across offices,” Butler said.
Architects are working with colleges and universities in all parts of the Southeast — including the University of North Carolina, Duke University, and Florida International University — on a wide spectrum of building types including residential, education, sports, life science and health facilities. By distributing talent across practice areas, HKS designers are creating learning, working, and leisure spaces for a rising generation of business, research and medical professionals.
“There are synergies between all these different practice areas. Our individual practice areas are working together to determine the best opportunities and offer a depth of expertise,” Dunn said.
As the Southeast’s economy and population both continue to shift and grow, HKS is seeking to strengthen its partnerships with communities, helping to ensure a bright future through innovation and collaboration.
“We want to be seen as the go-to firm for creative solutions to complex problems, where we can have an impact at the project level, neighborhood level and city level,” Kraus said.
HKS Announces New Mexico City Leadership Team and Office Move
HKS Announces New Mexico City Leadership Team and Office Move
By HKS
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HKS, a global design company recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Architecture Firms, today opens the doors to our new location at Insurgentes Sur 1431 PB-2, Insurgentes Mixcoac, in Mexico City. We also want to introduce our new Mexico City leadership team: Juan Carlos Pineda as Office Director, Jorge Bracho Marzal as Studio Practice Leader, and Dan Flower as Senior Designer. Juan Carlos will oversee studio management, with Jorge and Dan leading design.
Twenty Years in Mexico City
Since opening our doors in Mexico City in 2002, our local studio has participated in many award-winning projects supported by HKS’ global network of talent. Our new Mexico City office reflects our belief that design excellence should embrace a commitment to ESG, or environmental and sustainable governance and demonstrates our latest thinking in workplace design.
“Nowadays sustainable design is not an option, but a must,” Jorge Bracho said. “At HKS Mexico, we are committed to designing projects for all our stakeholders – communities, clients, end users and the planet — that excel in form and function, as well as projects that minimize negative environmental impacts and energy consumption.”
Expanding our commitment to the city, region, and country
Entering our twentieth year in Mexico, we will build upon HKS’ reputation for delivering exceptional projects to local, regional, and global clients, with a focus on the hospitality, health, education, commercial and mixed-use markets. “We have a great team here in Mexico,” said Juan Carlos, a Principal at HKS. “We look forward to moving into our new home and working with our current and future clients on exciting new work.”
“Our new leadership team and office in Mexico City reflects our long-standing commitment to Mexico,” said Dan Noble, President and CEO of HKS. “Juan Carlos, Jorge, and Dan are exceptionally talented and committed to expanding our client and partner relationships. We are already working on many new projects in Mexico and look forward to many more.”
Luis Zapiain and Sergio Saenz, both HKS Principals and Global Directors of the firm’s Hospitality practice, remain closely tied to our Mexico City office and leadership. Our portfolio of resorts in Mexico notably includes Esperanza, an Auberge Resort; Las Ventanas Al Paraiso, a Rosewood Resort; and Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal.
HKS ANUNCIA SU NUEVA UBICACIÓN Y EQUIPO DE LIDERAZGO EN LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO
HKS, la empresa global de diseño reconocida como una de las firmas de arquitectura más innovadoras por Fast Company, abre hoy las puertas de su nueva ubicación en Insurgentes Sur 1431 PB-2, Insurgentes Mixcoac, en la Ciudad de México. También presenta a nuestro nuevo equipo de liderazgo en la Ciudad de México: Juan Carlos Pineda como Director de Oficina, Jorge Bracho como Líder del Estudio de Diseño, y Dan Flower como Director de Diseño. Juan Carlos supervisará la administración del estudio, con Jorge y Dan a cargo del diseño.
Veinte años en la Ciudad de México
Desde que abrimos nuestras puertas en la Ciudad de México en 2002, nuestro estudio ha participado en muchos proyectos galardonados, apoyados por la red global de talento de HKS. Nuestra nueva oficina en la Ciudad de México refleja nuestra creencia de que la excelencia en el diseño debe incluir un compromiso con la gobernanza ambiental y sostenible (ESG, por sus siglas en inglés), y demuestra nuestro pensamiento más actual en el diseño del centro de trabajo.
“Hoy en día, el diseño sostenible no es una opción, sino un deber”, comentó Jorge Bracho. “En HKS México, estamos comprometidos con el diseño de proyectos para todos nuestros grupos de interés (comunidades, clientes, usuarios finales y el planeta) que sobresalgan en forma y función, así como proyectos que minimicen los impactos ambientales negativos y el consumo de energía”.
Ampliando nuestro compromiso con la ciudad, la región y el país
Al ingresar a nuestro vigésimo año en México, aprovecharemos la reputación de HKS como base para entregar proyectos excepcionales a clientes locales, regionales y globales, con un enfoque en los mercados de turismo y hotelería, salud, educación, comercial y de uso mixto. “Tenemos un gran equipo aquí en México”, comentó Juan Carlos, director de HKS. “Estamos ansiosos por trasladarnos a nuestro nuevo hogar y trabajar con nuestros clientes actuales y futuros en nuevos y emocionantes proyectos”.
“Nuestro nuevo equipo de liderazgo y oficina en la Ciudad de México refleja nuestro compromiso a largo plazo con México”, anunció Dan Noble, Presidente y Director Ejecutivo de HKS. “Juan Carlos, Jorge y Dan son excepcionalmente talentosos y están comprometidos a expandir nuestras relaciones con clientes y socios. Ya estamos trabajando en numerosos proyectos nuevos en México y esperamos muchos más”.
Luis Zapiain y Sergio Sáenz, ambos Socios y Directores Globales de HKS del sector de Hotelería de la firma, permanecerán estrechamente vinculados a nuestra oficina y liderazgo en la Ciudad de México. Nuestra cartera de resorts en México incluye proyectos emblemáticos como: Esperanza, de Auberge Resort; Las Ventanas Al Paraíso, Rosewood Resort; y Waldorf Astoria en Pedregal Los Cabos.
HKS Expands Experiential Branding Practice Led by Industry Veteran Tony LaPorte
HKS Expands Experiential Branding Practice Led by Industry Veteran Tony LaPorte
By HKS
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Global design leader HKS is expanding the firm’s Experiential Branding practice, led by industry veteran Tony LaPorte.
In a career that has spanned more than 20 years, LaPorte has worked with organizations such as Capital One, Grant Thornton and Kellogg’s to help strengthen their brands.
Experiential Branding uses the built environment to convey a brand’s culture and values.
“Experiential Branding is the intersection of Place and Brand. We’re enabling brands to leverage critical spaces to strategic advantage,” LaPorte said. “This can improve talent recruitment, drive greater sales and elevate employee engagement. It’s all about creating a sense of identity and connection.”
By layering architectural and interior design elements, organizations can allow the story of their brand to unfold throughout office environments, sales centers, hospitals and universities; this practice can reinforce the brand and improve the experience of workers, guests, patients, students or others who inhabit a space, LaPorte said.
“(Experiential Branding) projects are co-created by architects and interior designers, with the client as a partner throughout the design process,” said Kate Davis, Global Practice Director, Commercial Interiors, HKS. “We’re cultivating a deeper expression of their brand, allowing clients to be more connected to their brand and its value.”
HKS’ Experiential Branding practice can also help place-makers communicate their brands. Real estate developers, restauranteurs and start-up companies are among those who will benefit from brand strategy, brand identity and brand design services.
HKS’ Experiential Branding service offerings will comprise Environmental Branding, such as experience centers, feature sculptures and wall murals; Branding research and strategy, brand identity, marketing collateral and website design; Signage and Wayfinding interior programs, exterior campus programs and donor walls; and Digital Environments, including interactive experiences and digital content.
The move to expand the Experiential Branding practice “complements and completes our services,” said Ana Pinto-Alexander, Global Sector Director, Interiors, HKS.
HKS Expands Its Presence in North Carolina With the Opening of Raleigh Office
HKS Expands Its Presence in North Carolina With the Opening of Raleigh Office
By HKS
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HKS, a global design company recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Architecture Firms, is expanding in North Carolina with the opening of an office in Raleigh.
A leader among international architecture and design firms, HKS is known for its innovative ability to create and deliver environments of distinction through award-winning architecture, planning, interior design, research and commitment to ESG (environmental, social and governance). Since 1984, HKS has been a part of designing more than 200 North Carolina-based projects including Cone Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health, Duke Health, JW Charlotte, American Tobacco Master Plan, Smoky Hollow and Biltmore in Asheville.
“We have been active in the Research Triangle for many years,” said Dan Noble, President and CEO of HKS. “Our new office in Raleigh will allow us to expand our offerings to our existing clients, develop new relationships with clients and partners and deepen our commitment to the community.”
HKS has long been active in the Raleigh area, offering a local portal to a global network of award-winning designers. The new office – the firm’s 26th — will focus on Commercial/Mixed-Use, Life Sciences, Education and Health projects. The Raleigh office will be led by North Carolina native Lynn Dunn, along with an energetic staff of nine.
Dunn attended North Carolina State University and believes that great design begins locally by achieving clients’ visions through a reflection of their brand, mission and purpose. Dunn empowers designers at all levels, cultivating their passions and strengths and collectively connecting with the community for the greatest impact.
“I am excited for the opportunity to open and lead the Raleigh studio for HKS, bringing national and global design perspectives to the region that I call home,” said Dunn, a Principal at HKS. “Building on the tremendous portfolio of work in the Carolinas over the past three decades, HKS will continue to make an impact on businesses and the local community through the creation of high-performance environments that support physical and mental health. The unprecedented and stimulating growth we are seeing in the region needs leadership, innovation and social and cultural consciousness. HKS is the right firm at the right time in North Carolina and offers me the opportunity to further serve my community through thoughtful design and creating a sense of place for all.”
Two Years After COVID, Here’s What We’ve Learned as Designers
Two Years After COVID, Here’s What We’ve Learned as Designers
By HKS
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COVID-19 has officially been in the world for more than two years. During that time it has changed the way all of us live, work, play and think.
Tragically, it has also killed more than 6 million people worldwide. Health experts and scientists agree that many of those deaths could have been avoided. As the life continues in a world in which COVID will likely be a permanent companion, architects, designers and engineers have acquired many lessons in the past two years about what steps our industry can take — now and in the future — to make our lives safer and more comfortable. Here are a few things we learned at HKS:
1- Use What You’ve Got
It’s too costly to build new hospitals for the next pandemic, so converting existing spaces quickly is key for architects and designers. HKS-designed Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida offers one blueprint how such blueprints can be done successfully.
In a pandemic, every available space – from lobbies to hallways – may become emergency treatment areas. That means that certain medically necessary infrastructure components – oxygen, medical gasses, pipes and wiring should be close at all times, even if generally hidden from view. And water, electricity and medical hookups should be available to quickly convert parking lots or nearby structures into field hospitals.
The pandemic has clearly shown us that health care workers are a treasure and must be treated as such. They need ample space to unwind and relieve the stress that comes with their jobs. Designing spaces that give them plenty of room to relax and recharge, away from the hustle and bustle of patient care, is necessary. For example, spaces that allow privacy and allow staffers to control sound and lighting would be helpful, along with rooms with windows that overlook gardens or other serene settings.
The pandemic has forever changed how we work, or more to the point, where we work. COVID forced employees to shift to working from home – or places other than their main offices – and many of them discovered that they not only liked the flexibility of doing so, but they were also more productive. One finding from HKS’ extensive internal research bolsters this point. The findings revealed that work satisfactions jumped 12% for employees who have control over their home conditions, such as the ability to close a door to block out noise. HKS used this internal research to develop a flexible work from home policy for its employees that became a model for the AEC industry. Firms will likely need to maintain this flexibility going forward to retain, obtain and reward its workforce.
While it’s true that working from home is more acceptable than ever, many companies will still need employees in the office for a variety of reasons. And when those workers are there, they will need to feel healthy and safe. Again, HKS research helped provide insights into designing for a safe office space. Recommendations include having teams work in their own “neighborhoods,” creating work “shifts,” so that certain amount of people are in the office at a given time, mobile infrastructure and seamless technology so that processes are consistent at home and remotely, holding meetings outside when possible and adequate spacing of desks. But even with working in the office, flexibility will remain the key component.
Because more work will continue to be done at home, residential spaces will have to adapt. Single family homes will obviously have more options and leeway to do this. But multifamily residential spaces will face unique challenges, in large part due to size and affordability limitations. During the height of the COVID pandemic, HKS worked on possible solutions for future apartment construction. Among the many considerations: flexible workspaces adjustable surfaces, adequate access to light and air in all the spaces, finding a way to “hide” workspaces when they aren’t being used so that employees won’t always feel “on the clock.”
7. Air is Not Rare
No matter who you are or where you go, you’ll need air. The pandemic often put that basic need in jeopardy. Designers have figure out ways to funnel breathable air into any space from office buildings to shopping areas to airports to sports arenas. Our HKS office in downtown Chicago uses displacement air distribution ventilation technology to help keep the air clean. At the open-air HKS-designed SoFi Stadium, designers minimized air pollutants there by maximizing natural ventilation through operable panels, using the building skin to increase occupant comfort and creating “grand canyons” – large, landscaped pathways, gardens and patios. Airports can use a scaled approach to ventilation to help remove airplane exhaust fumes that historically contribute to poor air quality.
With increasing numbers of personnel unable to deploy because of health issues, U.S. military branches require the most state-of-the-art spaces to support the wellness of today’s troops. When aging health care infrastructure at Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (21-Area) in California were no longer functional or economically viable, the U.S. Navy and Marines looked to replace them to ensure that American troops would remain healthy and strong.
The Design Solution
HKS designed two new ambulatory care centers on opposite coasts based on the Marine Centered Medical Home (MCMH) guidelines, combining evidence-based strategies for health care facilities and the Navy’s research-based planning and design standards. The design plan for each site includes a new clinic and site improvements such as updated utilities and accessible driveways and parking areas.
Each building’s exterior corresponds with the architectural vernacular at its respective base. The two-level New River facility features two brick finishes and a green standing seam metal roof that provides shade to windows and a large canopy to welcome arriving patients and visitors. Camp Pendleton’s 21-Area clinic is a single-story building with two-toned brick, a red standing seam metal roof and an inviting, red-framed glass entryway.
The clinics are designed to be desirable and comfortable for patients and staff, enhancing both their physical and mental well-being. Large windows and open plans provide views of nature, particularly in spaces along the perimeter and in waiting areas. Exam, treatment, and waiting rooms are intended to provide a calming atmosphere that promotes healing. All spaces are easy to navigate with thoughtful interior design cues, natural light and color schemes that aid wayfinding and support patient flow.
Organized with a “medical mall” concept, the clinics include a wide range of departments such as aviation and/or general medicine, immunization, physical therapy, dental, eye and hearing, as well as a laboratory, pharmacy and staff working stations. Collaboration areas and conference rooms with operable panels provide flexibility for meetings and group functions. Staff support spaces — including lockers, restrooms, a lactation room and a lounge — are organized to minimize the distance staff members have to travel around the facility, which allows them to spend more time caring for patients.
The HKS team took an integrated approach to design high-performance environments, including an in-depth evaluation of building components to assess the effectiveness of passive design strategies and determine cost-effective energy conservation measures in building systems. The buildings’ sustainable design strategies address resource efficiency, construction management, indoor environmental quality, and health and materials. The high-performance designs target an equivalent LEED v4 Building Design and Construction (BD+C): New Construction (NC) silver rating.
The Design Impact
Located close to where active-duty personnel train, these MCMH facilities are designed to maximize troops’ access to care and minimize operational disruptions at Marine Corps Air Station New River and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (21-Area). The clinics’ exam and treatment rooms offer a barrier-free environment for providing care — crucial for medical personnel who are often transferred to various stations and bases and need to quickly adapt to new environments. HKS-designed military treatment facilities (MTFs) support the Defense Health Agency’s global mission to have a ready medical force, aid health and recovery of patients, and provide fulfilling workplaces for staff. Setting a standard for future MCMH designs, these facilities are places where military health professionals can practice necessary skills and where Marines can receive the care they need to carry out their duties.
Fast Company Places HKS Among 2022 World’s Most Innovative Companies
Fast Company Places HKS Among 2022 World’s Most Innovative Companies
By HKS
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HKS is ranked No. 4 in the architecture category on Fast Company’s 2022 World’s Most Innovative Companies list. The annual ranking honors business making the biggest impact on their industries and culture with some of the most inspiring accomplishments of the 21st century.
“The world’s most innovative companies play an essential role in addressing the most pressing issues facing society, whether they’re fighting climate change by spurring decarbonization efforts, ameliorating the strain on supply chains, or helping us reconnect with one another over shared passions,” said Fast Company Deputy Editor David Lidsky.
As COVID-19 drastically reshaped the way we live, work and play, HKS’ most innovative recent work focused on people’s well-being as we continued to create high-performing environments that support physical and mental health. And when the pandemic forced us to become acutely aware of the quality of air around us, we delivered solutions for breathing easier, by design.
Dallas’ HALL Arts Residences— the first residential project in Texas to register for WELL Multifamily Certification — exemplifies how sustainable design improves air quality and overall quality of life at home. Our Future of Work research and Chicago studio’s Living Lab demonstrate just how much our working environments can support our wellness and enhance productivity. And our award-winning design for SoFi Stadium in California showcases how even the largest, most complex projects can include natural ventilation, restore the environment and foster community connections.
The World’s Most Innovative Companies ranking provides a snapshot and roadmap for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy. This is the first time HKS has made the list, and the firm was also honored by Fast Company in 2021 as a Best Workplace for Innovators.
HKS President and CEO Dan Noble appreciates the recognition of the global firm’s more than 1,300 employees including architects, interior designers, researchers, communicators and more.
“I see our teams fulfilling our strategic vision to ‘think limitlessly’ on a daily basis through our design work, and I believe we have some of the best creative minds propelling our industry forward,” Noble said. “It’s incredibly rewarding as a leader to see this recognized by an external panel of experts at Fast Company through this award.”
Explore career opportunities at HKS through the link below.
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: Four HKS Members Share their Stories
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: Four HKS Members Share their Stories
By HKS
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Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated September 15 to October 15 each year to honor the contributions of Hispanic Americans throughout United States history. This year’s theme — “Esperanza,” the Spanish word for hope — is especially timely given the state of the world.
Hispanic Heritage Month coincides with the national independence days of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile and Belize.
While the month recognizes contributions of Hispanic Americans to our history, culture, and achievements, it is also a reminder that Hispanic Americans and Latin Americans offer diverse perspectives and experiences that cannot be classified with one brushstroke.
More than 62 million Americans – at least 19 percent of the nation’s population – identified as Hispanic in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
We spoke to four members of HKS – all of whom represent different practice areas and experience levels – to understand what their Hispanic heritage means to them and how it has shaped them personally and professionally.
What is your heritage?
Nicole Acarón-Toro — Project Architect, Los Angeles
Boricua. I’m Puerto Rican, born and raised in the Island, which depending on the lens you look at it with, makes me an immigrant, even though Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by birth.
German Carmona — Senior Urban and Architectural Designer, New York City
I was born and raised in Argentina. My mother and her family are Italian immigrants, and my father is from Spaniard and Portuguese descent. I am of Latin descent, even though I do not identify as Latino. I think most Argentineans don’t, since that corner of Latin America is more of a melting pot of heritage. I do consider myself “White Hispanic of Latin descent.”
Priscilla Cuadra — Architect, Miami
My family is Nicaraguan.
Mariana Santiago — Design Professional, Dallas
I was born in Argentina, but I also have Italian and Lebanese heritage.
This year’s theme for Hispanic Heritage Month is “Esperanza: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage and Hope.” What does that mean to you personally?
Acarón-Toro: I strive to walk in the world with esperanza y fé (hope and faith) always guiding me, knowing that hope needs to be grounded in action for my path to lead towards growth and alignment with my highest self. As an individual, I grow wiser the more I expose myself to different cultural backgrounds and traditions, and it is my hope that Hispanic and Latinx communities, not only this month, but year-round, feel empowered to represent and expose who we are in a way that provokes curiosity in others to celebrate our beautiful nuances and grow wiser altogether.
Cuadra: The word “esperanza” or hope reminds me of the purpose a lot of Immigrants, including my family, have when moving to this country. It reminds me of the American Dream, and the grit it takes to succeed.
Santiago: To me, hope is essential for our wellbeing, hope that things will be better each day. I believe in the importance of hope but also of hard work and persistence. When working hard on something that you believe in, you understand its true value. You begin to respect the work itself and build some good qualities along the way.
Reflecting on your heritage, upbringing and/or values, what are you most proud of about your culture?
Acarón-Toro: When going back in studying ancestral traditions, all dances, music, and celebrations were organized in a circular manner, highlighting that everyone is equally important, and holds their own weight in contributing to the collective community. This directly translates to our present, in which we still lift each other up, and face adversities together, with an incredible resiliency and joy.
Carmona: My heritage values and culture are why I picked a city like New York City for my home. It is a clear melting pot of backgrounds, races, beliefs, culture – all of it! New York City and my home country, Argentina, are the perfect celebration of inclusivity and individualism at the same time.
Cuadra: There are a lot of things to be proud of, but most of all, I’m proud of being raised by fearless people. I admire their ability to adjust to a completely new environment, and most importantly, how they chose to see the humor in their struggles to fit in.
There’s always room for the design industries to grow and advance. What are some ways we can restore power to underrepresented communities through our profession?
Acarón-Toro: For current professionals, really diving and listening to the communities where their projects are located at is key, yet we also need to look at future generations of architects for further growth. When I contrast my experience studying architecture in Puerto Rico vs studying and teaching in LA, the curriculum in PR was more diverse, promoting studies of local and vernacular architecture, architecture from Spain, Latin America and other parts of the world, and several design studios with projects sited in underrepresented communities. I truly believe the Academia in the U.S. has room to improve in representation as well as instill values that hold our professionals accountable as citizen architects.
Carmona: I believe the answer is already happening. Acknowledgement is the first step toward it, and we are talking about it, aren’t we? Then action of course, and I want to believe we are also starting to do it. I remember one of my first projects in our New York office was the first time I attended a client meeting where HKS was determined to stand in front of a client panel making sure all genders and at least five races were represented in the selected team members who attended. It made me so proud and surprised at the same time, it was completely unprecedented for me.
Santiago: The role of the Latin community is already growing. To nurture this, we need to be receptive and empathetic to other people’s backgrounds. What has helped me with this in the past is to experience new things and being out of my comfort zone.
Not Just a Building: Using Design and Advocacy to Create More Socially Just Communities
Not Just a Building: Using Design and Advocacy to Create More Socially Just Communities
By HKS
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Every major U.S. city has been historically affected by social and spatial injustice in some way, from housing to policing to policymaking. And reversing generations of unjust policy making and economic disenfranchisement will require individuals across industries to take an active role in redefining our cities.
An HKS panel recently explored what the architecture industry can do to help create more socially just communities. As stewards of the building environment, architects, designers and planners have the unique opportunity to redistribute power to undeserved communities by translating their vision and voices into the spaces around them.
The multidisciplinary panel, organized as part of HKS’ two-week ESG in Design Celebration and moderated by HKS Project Designer Hilari Jones, captured how the industry can enable social justice through urbanism, policy, and community-focused projects to encourage inclusion and a stronger sense of belonging among the people those projects serve.
Each speaker touched on the value of diverse teams, repairing community relationships, and scaling the impacts to enable broader change.
‘Designing for Humans’
For New York Architect and Keynote Speaker Pascale Sablan, socially just design starts with intentionality.
“We need to not just think about the client who pays the bills, but also who is impacted by the projects and structures that we are developing,” said Sablan, who founded the organization, Beyond the Built Environment, to advocate for equitable environments that reflect the diversity of their people.
Success in architecture is often evaluated on the finished product: How big is it? What features does it have? What makes it unique? The panelists emphasized that design teams should challenge themselves to think bigger, defining their purpose and processes early on and ensuring that each project meets those shared goals.
“It’s actually not a building – it’s an opportunity. Who are you going to invite to be your partner in that?” said panelist Karen Weigert, of the climate-focused nonprofit Slipstream.
“And we forget that we’re designing for humans,” Patricia Acevedo of JLG Architects added. “If we’re looking inside our site, we’re forgetting that architecture is the first impression that people have of any town.”
Community engagement is more than simply checking off a box before starting a project, the speakers said. The planning process should be a human-centered approach that strives to serve, not harm, the people whom the project touches.
At the start of any project, it’s wise for designers to identify who isn’t in the room and invite them to have a say in the decision-making process. Failure to do this can erode the trust of the community, leaving ripple effects that last well past the project’s completion.
“I get asked all the time, ‘How can we introduce architecture to kids of color or socioeconomically challenges communities?’” Sablan said. “And it’s not that they don’t know what architecture is; it’s that their relationship with architecture is negative. Their built environment fails to provide them the kind of spaces that they need.”
Siboney Díaz-Sánchez is a licensed architect who became a nonprofit affordable housing developer because she was tired of advocating for more community voices in projects and being told by clients that those voices had no place in the scope of the project.
She participates in the Design as Protest collaborative that works with artists, architects, designers, and planners to make policy recommendations addressing issues such as permanent affordable housing, eviction, and social injustice.
In her current role as a developer, community members are paid as consultants for sharing insight on upcoming projects.
“They have valuable experience information and should be compensated for that,” Díaz-Sánchez said. “Not only do we make room in the schedule for those feedback loops, but we need to compensate community members for their time.”
Díaz-Sánchez explains to owners early in the process that if they get input from the community up front, it could save them money that they would spend later on legal fees and other expenses to address issues that residents might bring up during public forums or hearings.
“It’s going to benefit the project, the sustainability of the project, the pride of the project, and the longevity of the project if we have community voice and authorship,” she said.
Elizabeth Kennedy, who leads one of the oldest black-owned and woman-run architecture firms in the U.S., said it’s also important for everyone on a design team to leverage their unique identities to bring out the best in their work. She shared how her own experiences as a Black woman have helped her be more aware of the experiences of other people of color – even when those experiences are different than her own.
Working with clients, one key step is to educate them about the process of completing their project and the impact the project could have on the surrounding community. After learning of the impact on the surrounding community and ways to engage them in the project, clients may be more willing to support an equitable solution that serves their business interests and addresses the community’s needs.
“Just like doctors, who originated as patients, had to learn bedside manner, there has to be some concerted effort of restoring to individuals the ability to understand the process … in order to advocate through design solutions that sustain,” Kennedy said.
Scaling the Changes
But change and advocacy don’t necessarily require grand gestures. Sometimes, the broader changes within the architecture industry come from more socially responsible policies that can tackle a variety of issues and concerns.
Policies can address equity, climate and sustainability while also dictating who is paid to do the work, as a way to give back power to communities that have been historically left behind in the public realm.
For example, some states now require a certain amount of money be set aside for energy efficient measures at new constructions. And some businesses have altered their procurement policies to prefer, or require, hiring minority or women-owned businesses for their construction projects.
Designers can also connect with like-minded individuals outside their firms to collaborate on issues they are most passionate about and learn what else their own firms can do to move the needle forward.
Sablan is an active member of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), where she promotes knowledge-sharing among younger and more veteran members. She also founded Beyond the Built Environment in 2018 to promote diverse voices and stories, and show the various pathways that minority designers have taken in the field.
“I’m empowering us to feel comfortable about telling our stories, sharing ourselves, and being the author of how we’re introduced to the profession,” she said. “I’m also exploring all the different ways that we impact the built environment because there’s not just one right way to do it.”
Three Big Ideas for Tackling the Global Carbon Conundrum
Three Big Ideas for Tackling the Global Carbon Conundrum
By
Kathleen M. O’Donnell
Aaron Hollis
Amanda Dean
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The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sent shockwaves around the world, clearly communicating a sobering point — we’re running out of time to stave off the fatal effects of global warming.
While many greenhouse gases and pollutants drive up temperatures threatening the earth and its inhabitants, the August 9th report confirmed that the main driver of climate change is the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Fortunately, experts behind the research believe humans still have the ability to influence what happens next.
“Stabilizing the climate will require strong, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and reaching net zero CO2 emissions,” according to a statement by Panmao Zhai, co-chair of the IPCC working group that wrote the report.
The crucial role design can play in reaching a net zero future is not lost on many in our industry.
“You would be hard-pressed to find an architect who hasn’t heard that buildings are responsible for nearly 40 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions,” said HKS’ Director of Building Engineering Physics, Dr. Tommy Zakrzewski. “This is our chance to respond to the crisis.”
1 – If We Don’t Create High-Performing Buildings, We Will Lose Out
As climate change brings about massive ecological and social shifts, governments and policy makers have been noticeably slow to adapt building codes and impose emissions regulations. According to Cliff Majersik, Senior Advisor of Policy and Programs at the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT), there has been an uptick in climate-responsive energy codes across the United States, but not nearly enough to limit the major impact buildings have on the environment.
“We cannot think that just because we’re designing buildings to the latest energy codes that we’re doing the right thing,” he said, encouraging designers to consider existing codes a bare minimum.
With a mission to “catalyze widespread and sustained demand for high-performing buildings,” IMT conducts market research and advises on policy. Majersik has been responsible for shaping legislation related to green buildings and energy efficiency in sizeable jurisdictions including the District of Columbia and the State of California. On the horizon, he sees a groundswell of local governments adopting stronger policies and regulations for sustainable design.
“There are a number of cities and states that have either pending building performance standards or ones that are before legislators,” he said, noting that if architects design to these incoming standards now, they can cut back on carbon impacts and present strong financial incentives for clients.
Broad policy movements are coinciding with a substantial turn toward high-performance design among corporate developers. Recent market research IMT conducted on a private global building portfolio showed that green buildings had up to 17% lower operating costs and 28% higher net operating income. Majersik noted that such studies prove the business case for high-performance design is evident and that developers, owners and operators are taking that knowledge to heart.
“It’s not just that they’re paying lower utility bills or that their buildings are more comfortable and healthier for occupants. Employees and investors are increasingly holding them accountable for greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
As policies progress, building owners and operators could be subject to significant fines for not meeting performance standards, Majersik said. He believes that architects are the “most empowered profession” at the table in the building industries because return on investment for sustainable solutions is higher during the design phase than any other period in a building’s lifecycle.
“You need to be part of the climate solution, you need to go back to your projects, see how they’re doing and what you can learn. You need to educate your clients that this is right for the role and right for their bottom lines,” he said.
2 – Cooling Down the Planet with More Sustainable Design Doesn’t Mean Sacrificing Our Comfort
As the earth’s temperature continues to rise, we constantly see natural disasters drastically impact communities around the world. Keeping the warming level close to the IPCC’s targeted 1.5-degree Celsius limit is going to be a major challenge for all industries, including architecture, engineering and construction.
“There are different paths in the future and this [current] path can bring us up to 8 degrees Celsius. That would be a disaster,” said Tommaso Bitossi, Associate Director of German firm Transsolar, which creates high-performing, site-specific buildings and produces educational materials about sustainable design.
Increasing the efficiency of mechanical systems, optimizing building envelopes and capitalizing on renewable resources through items like photovoltaic arrays are design choices Transsolar routinely makes to limit the amount of carbon their buildings use and emit. Environmentally responsible building design, however high-tech, can only be successful when it’s conceived with mindfulness of locality and community, Bistossi said.
“Every building is different because of the local identity. And local identity and climate are connected,” he said.
Bitossi believes that making efforts to reduce global warming through the built environment doesn’t necessarily mean we have to give up the comforts we’re used to. Moving away from buildings that are essentially overly air-conditioned machines and back to incorporating passive strategies for air flow and thermal comfort, he says, will be key climate change solutions.
“There is no carbon reduction without thermal comfort. We still want to be able to move, travel and be comfortable in our buildings. We need to reach the point of carbon neutrality keeping our standards where they are,” he said.
High-performing buildings are only one piece of the puzzle — limiting global warming will depend on a variety of industries and organizations to work together. To reduce both embodied carbon and operational carbon emissions, Bitossi recommends integrated cross-sector solutions that consider local power sources, materials manufacturing and carbon sequestration.
Across all industries, wide-sweeping and immediate changes to reduce carbon worldwide are necessary, the IPCC report stipulates. Bitossi believes that designers and their collaborators have to make these changes a priority moving forward. “As building professionals, we must advocate for low-carbon buildings for the future of our planet,” he said.
3 – We Should Flip the Script on Carbon and Materials
Having even a basic understanding of the damage carbon dioxide does to the atmosphere — whether it comes from building emissions or the burning of fossil fuels — is enough to cause fear and panic. But it doesn’t have to, according to Lisa Conway, Vice President of Sustainability, Americas for the global flooring company Interface.
“Carbon inherently is not a bad thing,” Conway said. “We’re all made of carbon. We have just taken too much of it and put it in the wrong place.”
To reach a carbon neutral future, Conway believes we need to “change our relationship with carbon” and focus not just on limiting the amount that goes into the atmosphere, but also drawing down the massive amount already there and repurposing it. In addition to promoting this shift in mindset, Interface’s Climate Take Back mission seeks to transform the building materials industry to be “a force for climate progress.” Interface is leading by example with a commitment to be a carbon negative enterprise by 2040 and has even developed carbon negative carpet tiles.
Materials like flooring represent a significant portion of the embodied carbon in a building project. For architects, interior designers and contractors, who all have a hand in specifying and installing materials, understanding embodied carbon and how to limit it is a crucial step they can all take in the fight against climate change. Conway recommends starting small by learning how to read and understand environmental product declarations (EPDs) and making thoughtful healthy material selections, one step at a time.
“You don’t need to know everything all at once. Become an expert on one material and then share the love of that knowledge,” she said. Conway added that she believes over time, as the building industries become more environmentally conscious, carbon negative materials that positively impact the planet will become more prevalent.
“When we can get to materials that we’re familiar with that can be carbon negative, I think it really bodes well for the industry of materials in general,” she said. “The real moonshot here is not about how much less bad we can do, but actually how we can make buildings part of the solution to reversing global warming.”
The design team of Flintco & Skull Construction Services Inc., designer of record Childers Architects, a Native American Tribal small business; and HKS, which served as a consultant for medical planning and interior design, faced the daunting challenge of consolidating 10 existing clinic-base buildings into three new health centers through a combination of demolition and new construction — all done while maintaining full operations at the project site.
The new facility, which includes 200,000 square feet (18,580 square meters) of new construction, will support Indian Health Services (IHS) at one location to provide better, more robust services to the Tribal community.
The Design Solution
The interior design solution provided by HKS for the IHS Rapid City Health Center project was based on the design-build/RFP bridging documents prepared by Seven Generations A+E and is inspired by the surrounding landscape, the tribal communities it serves, and the desire to create a trusting and engaging place of care. Natural elements such as stone veneer and wood panels used on the building exterior were extended into the interior spaces to provide a seamless transition between the natural and built environments.
The balance of wood tones, textured stone and nature-inspired color palettes presents a comfortable healing atmosphere. Specific wood species and stone aesthetics intend to echo regional elements as the overall color palette emulates the sprawling grasslands, winding rivers, dynamic hills and canyons of South Dakota. As the building forms are mostly linear and geometric, representing the structure of the hills and canyons, the textile patterns and furniture styles incorporate the soft organic lines of the flowing prairie.
In addition to design elements inspired by the surrounding landscape, cultural pride is prominent in the circular rotunda lobby with a Lakota star skylight, flooding the building with daylight while providing a connection from the ground to the sky. Each tribe has a distinct landscape on which their reservation resides, and those characteristics were incorporated into the design of the building through its materials, color palette and positioning on the site.
Mimicking the great Missouri River, the east and west portions of the building are divided by a dramatic element called The River. The River acts as the life force of the facility, delivering natural daylight to the interior, while simultaneously guiding patients to services within.
On the main public east facade, the materials dance across the surfaces in a melodic harmony which references the buttes of the Black Hills, which lie not too many miles beyond. The north, south and west facades are defined more by repetition in the mullion spacing, which impresses upon users the idea of grasslands.
While both the main entrance on the east, and the urgent care/staff entrance on the west are clearly demarcated by canopies, the public entrance is also delineated by the Lakota Morning Star skylight and rotunda. The presence of this design feature creates a uniquely tribal space, giving ownership to the tribes who visit the facility. The Morning Star symbolizes the direction from which spirits travel to earth, and is a link between the living and dead, symbolizing immortality. Additionally, the Morning Star symbolizes hope and guidance, which is powerful visual language in relation to the history of the site on which the new facility is being built.
Outdoor spaces, such as the Healing Garden, were designed to tie healing people to the land, focusing the facility toward a healthier future while acknowledging the pain and trauma incurred as a result of the previous manifestations of the site.
The Design Impact
The project consolidates three tribal communities into one multi-specialty health center for better integrated continuum of care for patients.
The Rapid City Health Care Clinic building design concept was developed with organizational, tribal, and individual stakeholders alongside IHS’ Guiding Principles. These included designing a uniquely tribal facility that welcomed multi-generational visitors while incorporating traditional healing and medicines, alongside performance targets for the building, site features, and occupant comfort.
Energy savings measures, such as scheduled lighting controls, resulted in 38% energy cost savings and a combination of no-permanent irrigation strategy plus indoor water saving fixtures and fittings provided the building with more than a 35% reduction in potable water use. Interior finishes contributed to a more sustainable structure by considering materials with pre- and post-consumer recycled content, no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), local sourcing, and certifications like Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and Health Product Declarations (HPDs).
Project Features
200,000 square feet (18,580 square meters) of outpatient clinic space
Ambulatory Care (audiology, dental, eye care, primary care, podiatry, and specialty care)
Ancillary Services (diagnostic imaging, laboratory, pharmacy, and physical therapy)
Preventive Services (environmental health, health education, public health nursing, public health nutrition, and wellness center)
Designing Today’s U.S. Buildings for an Uncertain Future
Designing Today’s U.S. Buildings for an Uncertain Future
By Kathleen M. O’Donnell
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The United States government owns more than a quarter of all land in the country and an estimated 130,000 civilian buildings nationwide. Responsible for stewarding this staggering amount of property, federal agencies must determine how they can adapt their aging building stock and prepare it for a resilient future.
The upcoming decades present clear environmental and social challenges for U.S. government facilities. The ongoing battle with climate change, increasing risk of airborne illnesses like COVID-19 and rising cybercrime activity are all placing demands on how we design and build the nation’s infrastructure.
Moreover, these 21st century problems each pose serious threats to public health, safety and welfare — the very things the federal government and architects like those at HKS are both charged with protecting.
“Government and design professionals have a common core function to serve those who encounter what we do,” said HKS’ Director of Government and Alternative Project Delivery Jim Whitaker. “For the government, the essential tasks are serving the citizen, the soldier, the older person or child in need. For us, our tasks are serving the multiple government stakeholders and end users that are going to deliver services in a building.”
Driven by a shared sense of service and purpose, Whitaker and designers across HKS’ government practice assist diverse U.S. agencies, helping them prepare their facilities and people for impending changes in society and the environment.
Facility Utilization Studies Support Adaptability and Flexibility
The Department of Defense’s Military Health System, which provides health care to U.S. armed forces personnel and their families, operates facilities all over the world. For more than 30 years, HKS architect and Senior Medical Planner, Brent Willson, has worked with the Military Health System on projects ranging from multi-phase renovations to new hospital campuses. He says “ready and resilient” facilities are crucial so that the Military Health System can fulfill its important mission to protect the health of current and former service members, their dependents and the public at large.
“Readiness is really the name of the game for the military. They have to be ready to act in whatever capacity they can to defend our nation, whether it’s to go to war or help out in natural disasters,” Willson said.
A military branch’s ability to be prepared for deployments or emergencies can depend on how well suited its buildings are to support the mission at hand. When it comes to military health buildings, Willson says readiness and resilience are almost synonymous with flexibility. Whether their buildings house research units that seek to combat rare illnesses or provide treatment space for those returning home from conflicts, the military requires adaptable facilities capable of supporting a variety of ever-changing tasks and missions.
“The buildings can be a hindrance as much as they can be a help, so the infrastructure is very important,” Willson said. “If there’s going to be a building inventory that supports the mission, then it needs to be the best it can be.”
To meet government “demand signals” — a term that Willson says means “problems that need solving” — HKS provides Facility Utilization Studies (FUS) among other design and delivery services. These highly detailed reports include analysis of space requirements and provide planning solutions for government properties. Encompassing multiple options for building or campus programs, spatial layouts, economic analysis and budget estimates, the studies are an upfront investment in long-term readiness.
“We take a look at the existing constraints and figure out how to grow and expand different departments. It all has to do with flow, adjacencies, operational efficiencies and what works best,” said HKS architect and Senior Project Manager Jeff Haven, who has worked on several FUS projects with military health clients.
At the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) in Silver Spring, Maryland, trained specialists in infectious disease, operational medicine and biological defense conduct research and provide treatment for some of the most complicated contemporary medical conditions. Squeezed into limited, shared facilities inadequate for their increasingly complex efforts, they identified a need for change last year. What exactly the changes could or should be, however, they weren’t quite sure.
In a joint venture with engineering conglomerate WSP, HKS designers including Willson and Haven held dozens of interviews and investigated the NMRC facility history and requirements. Together, they produced a 400-page Facility Utilization Study to help the client better understand their building conditions and opportunities for future use. The study first validated what the Navy already knew — that their current co-location within Army facilities did not provide adequate space for their vital work to understand and treat emerging medical threats.
After listening to the aspirations of NMRC leaders, the team proposed four vastly different design solutions including full building replacements and medium-scale renovations as well as prospects to lease additional space. Leveraging its long-term experience designing and delivering government projects as well as a deep understanding of government funding sources, the team shared innovative, but realistic, options.
“The solutions we came up with were tailored to the appropriate funding mechanisms that the government has. We tried to maximize the dollars that would be available,” Haven said.
Willson believes that making sure “facilities are planned and developed so they have useful, long lives” provides the best value for the U.S. taxpayer. A Facility Utilization Study, he says, is a crucial decision-making tool that the leaders within the Military Health System can use to explain what they do, why they do it and what resources they need to achieve their goal to support health care and research. As the threat of a global pandemic lingers, and similar illnesses are assuredly on the horizon, their work is going to become even more crucial in the coming years.
“They have a passion for this mission,” Willson said. “These studies help them say what is best for our country, for our servicemen and servicewomen.”
Purpose-built Training Facilities for Future Law Enforcement
Operating with a different — but just as vital — mission to protect the United States, the Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is constantly thinking ahead about what future crime will look like and how to combat it. After identifying cybercrime as a significantly growing threat, the FBI decided to build a new facility to train a rising generation of agents capable of mitigating nefarious digital offenses such as identity theft, hacking and fraud.
In a collaborative process with design-build contractor partners at Clark Construction Group, HKS analyzed requirements and campus conditions at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama to create design solutions that would meet the Bureau’s programmatic needs for a flagship facility. The team produced an expansive brief that included a competition-winning design for a new Innovation Center, which broke ground last month.
Whitaker, the project’s principal-in-charge, said that since 1996 when Congress passed legislation enabling the use of design-build methodology for federal projects, it has become the government’s default delivery mechanism. Whitaker has more than 30 years of experience working on government projects, and he said that design-build project delivery allows for better cost control, more certainty in scheduling and ultimately, enhanced satisfaction among building buyers and occupants. He believes the greater economy of design and construction services bundled into one contract helps agencies be wiser about how they allocate resources to prepare more buildings for future changes in mission, society or the environment.
“More integrated forms of project delivery are absolutely a better way to conserve resources and most successfully assure getting what you intend with the end result,” he said.
Design projects like the Innovation Center must be “responsive and resilient” for the activities that will take place, according to Whitaker. “It’s important to tailor-make the building for the importance of the government’s function that will be discharged there,” he said.
The Innovation Center’s purpose-built training facility will include full-scale replicas of buildings and streets where trainees will be immersed in computer-generated conflicts. The venue is where they will hone their skills in an integrated simulated environment before they go out into the real world where the stakes will be higher.
Describing the predicted impact that the Innovation Center will have on the FBI’s ability to carry out its complicated mission, Whitaker said, “We’re creating a building for those who are going to become experts of crime fighting in the future. It will have a long-term outcome for how the crime-fighting business evolves for the Bureau.”
Intensive Technological Research Drive Sustainable Innovation
While some government agencies are rightly concerned with how they can adapt and build properties to better support civic workers, others are also backing boundary-pushing discoveries that could limit buildings’ immense impact on the environment.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), for instance, has long advocated for sustainable design. For nearly 20 years, the agency’s Solar Decathlon competition has challenged college students to create small buildings that are fully reliant on renewable energy. A former judge for the Solar Decathlon’s Innovation category and Director of HKS’ Laboratory for INtensive Exploration, Heath May, is now working on a DOE grant-funded research study aimed at conserving energy and enhancing human wellness in commercial office buildings across the country.
In addition to HKS designers and researchers, the team for the study includes research leads from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Architecture, Science, and Ecology (case), and employees of one of the world’s largest lighting companies, Lumileds. Together, they’re seeking to reduce the amount of energy commercial buildings consume through artificial lighting by creating a dynamic “sculpt” lighting system. Currently in its second year of research and development, the system will illuminate spaces by responding to people and activities rather than simple on/off switches or dimmers.
“Our hypothesis is that by being able to place photons where they’re needed, we can reduce energy that otherwise goes to lighting that isn’t actually useful,” May said. He noted that when a room or building is artificially lit through traditional methods, even with efforts to reduce Lighting Power Density (LPD), there is still opportunity to further refine the light pattern and quality and cut back on wasted energy.
HKS team members have focused on creating digital environments and controls to test the sculpt system and are leading simulations this year. They believe that in addition to conserving energy, the system will also enhance human well-being, as it will limit interference with circadian rhythms and reduce interactions with harsh sources of light.
“Often, we’re not getting the right kind of light into our eyes at the right time of the day,” May said about the typical 9-to-5 office worker. “We’re attempting to prototype a way to ensure the quality of the light we’re delivering into the space can be beneficial for the task at hand and also healthy for the body.”
May says that building connections between academia, private industry, architectural practice and federal agencies — like the DOE is doing through the Solar Decathlon and research grant programs — will be integral in solving some of the most intense climate change-related demands the country’s infrastructure is facing.
“These types of partnerships are really going to be necessary for finding creative solutions given the magnitude of problems we’re dealing with,” May said.
Today’s Collaborations Impact Tomorrow’s Results
With their work across a spectrum of design services from cutting-edge research to facility assessments, and creating award-winning federal architecture, HKS designers believe in the power of collaborating with government agencies to prepare their people, policies and places for the future.
“We’re trying to advise for influence and make meaningful impact on how things are going to be done moving forward,” Whitaker said. “It’s doing our work today well so it has impact on the future of building design and construction.”
To provide solutions for the social and environmental uncertainties ahead, Whitaker says the inspiration all comes back to having a purpose beyond oneself — an attention to the dedicated government employees and service people entrusted with creating a safer, more resilient future for all Americans.
“Agency after agency and project after project, I find the people that are serving in those roles are driven by delivering services and fulfilling their mission to the best of their ability,” Whitaker said. “As designers, we align ourselves with them because have the same ideals. We’re there to serve someone.”
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