The Harkin Institute for Public Policy + Citizen Engagement DRAKE UNIVERSITY | DES MOINES, IOWA
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The Harkin Institute for Public Policy + Citizen Engagement DRAKE UNIVERSITY | DES MOINES, IOWA
The Harkin Institute for Public Policy + Citizen Engagement DRAKE UNIVERSITY | DES MOINES, IOWA
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The Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement serves as a distinguished landmark on the Drake University campus and new home for The Harkin Institute. Founded in 2013, The Harkin Institute seeks to improve the lives of all Americans by giving policymakers access to high-quality information and engaging citizens as active participants in the formation of public policy. It promotes understanding of the issues to which former Senator Tom Harkin devoted his career, including his historic legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act. The new facility establishes an inclusive, gracious environment for meaningful public engagement and research and is a leading example of Universal Design in built environments. The design team worked closely with The Harkin Institute to understand needs that were not being met in the built environment, posing a key question which guided the direction of the design process — “What barriers still exist today?” The answers that emerged from these important discussions, policy meetings, and research gave way to deeper understanding of how design must do better to elevate the experiences of all individuals. The design vision for the new facility aimed to set a new standard in inclusive design and embody The Harkin Institute’s values of inclusion, education, respect, accessibility, and opportunity.
17,000 SF Completed in November 2020
The Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement is a dedicated office and research space for The Harkin Institute staff and fellows and also serves as a center for community engagement. Throughout the building, empathetic, humanpurposed, and equitable design principles are implemented to ensure that the facility supports all building users’ experiences, from the building’s entrance to each unique space within. The design team worked diligently to achieve adjustments
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to City planning and zoning to establish closer proximity between the building’s accessible parking spaces and the front entrance. As visitors enter the building, they are greeted by a series of spaces for public use, including a reception area, small auditorium equipped with a lighting control system to support interpreters during presentations, staging kitchenette for events, and flexible gallery and gathering space that will show alternating exhibits, such as displays on ADA legislation.
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The ground floor of the building also accommodates the Institute’s research spaces, engaging researchers through availability of archives and viewing spaces. Generous circulation spaces support sign-language conversations and multiple wheelchair-users. Lighting strategies within the building follow the principle of creating a clear path for individuals. High-contrast and textural cues; color control; gradual illumination levels; creation of a glarefree, shadow-free environment; and lighting design concepts create a supportive environment for low-vision and low-hearing individuals. Similar to advocating for accessible parking, the project team also pushed for policy and code adjustments to allow for single user restrooms throughout the facility that would better support mobility of users and be gender inclusive, making The Harkin Institute one of the first buildings in Des Moines to implement universal restroom design. A focal point and connector of the building is a two-story ramp that serves as the primary circulation and common path between floors for all building users. The ramp features the history of The Harkin Institute displayed along its pathway as visitors make their way through the building. The ramp path focuses specifically on ample ramp width, places of rest along corridors, and views outside along its route that allow for clear navigation.
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With the main floor as a zone of public engagement, the second floor offers a wide spectrum of spaces for meetings and individual focus. The Harkin Institute staff, research fellows, and interns have resident offices on the second level, accompanied by focus rooms, collaboration and meeting spaces, and flexible, formal and informal conference rooms that are dedicated to staff and students’ use. Workspaces are designed to be “long life and loose fit” and to allow for reconfiguration over time. All private offices are designed with demountable glass and solid
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partitions to allow for views, daylight access, privacy, and future mobility. Conference spaces are set up in formations that allow hearing impaired individuals to follow conversation by enhancing sightlines to the faces of participants and content displays. The facility is also equipped with dedicated Wellness rooms that support individual empowerment through quiet spaces for stress recovery, migraine relief, meditation, or remote doctor consultation.
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In addition to the building’s universal and inclusive design principles, the design also holistically incorporates sustainable design strategies throughout, including storm water management and bioswales, water conservation, native landscape, daylighting and views, energy efficiency, and interior occupant health and productivity. The building is designed for the future installation of photovoltaics on the building roof and parking canopies to produce more energy than the building will consume on a yearly basis, signifying the building as Net Zero Ready. The building achieved 3 Green Globes. According to Sen. Harkin, the space will give life to the organization’s mission statement, informing, inspiring, creating cooperation, and catalyzing change related to issues of social justice, fairness, and opportunity.
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is building positive 2460 PERSHING RD SUITE 100 KANSAS CITY MO 64108
317 6TH AVE SUITE 100 DES MOINES IA 50309
816 783 1500
515 974 6462
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