Designing for transformation has become a tenet for measuring sustainability, but also speaks to a firm’s agility—its ability to grow and change depending on social and ecological needs.
Dear Reader,
Often, when we consider the workplace in various discourse and discussion, we do so in terms that are political or cultural; we boil down the intricacies of work into easily-categorizable ideas like “wellness” or “professional development.” Architects, who have to both participate in a workplace and design workplaces for others, are particularly adept to such categorizations.
But most workers know that these are merely labels we put on something infinitely more complex. The filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein created the theory of montage in the early 20th century: in montage, he proposed, one image juxtaposed against another image creates a new idea. It’s not that a + b=c; rather, a * b=x, where x is a synthesis of two individual ideas producing something wholly new. We can transfer this notion to much of our lives and work, where we don’t perform individual tasks for the sake of the task, but instead perform tasks to build something much bigger.
Hence, this monograph is dedicated to that sum— architecture firms are, indeed, greater than the sum of its parts. The Opacity team has decided to showcase every part of the equation in four distinct themes.
Collaboration: While working across departments is typical of firm culture, HDR’s unique state as a design, engineering, and business firm has real ramifications to practice.
Diversity: Diversity recognizes the important contributions made by marginalized workers; it also refers to how such diversity contributes to design excellence in projects of all scales, environments, and for myriad communities.
Sustainability: We understand that environmental sustainability is a core component of HDR’s practice, but there is always work to be done to ensure that the practice continues to refine its internal practices that retain, educate, and promote its workforce.
Transformation: Designing for transformation has become a tenet for measuring sustainability, but also speaks to a firm’s agility—its ability to grow and change depending on social and ecological needs.
It seems fitting that we’d title my final publication with HDR Greater Than . Participating in the Opacity process has been enlightening: hearing each juror comment and critique; synthesizing their ideas into a common understanding of the firm and its priorities; working with firm leadership, design principals, and an exceptionally talented graphics and communications team. All this combined to build a series of books that tell this firm’s design story. Each Opacity edition of this trifecta— Emmetropia , Gestures , and Endnote —tells a greater story than what is contained between the folds.
I hope that this book finds every worker at HDR— interns, design principals, office managers, accountants alike—as equals, individuals who devote their time and energy to building something greater than what they manifest with their own two hands. Thank you to Tom Trenolone, Kristen Hartman, Encarnita Rivera, and the entire Opacity team.
Preface
A Six Pack and a Monograph A Contribution to the Design Lexicon
Thomas J. Trenolone, FAIA, Design Director
The beauty of this process of contribution, inspiration, and reset is incredibly important in any design culture.
In junior high school, my friends and I used to gather at the nearby lake. Our tradition included contributing a six pack of our favorite pop (soda for folks on the East Coast, Coke for my friends in Texas) and add it to the beach cooler. At the time, Coca-Cola had just released the canned version of a soda fountain favorite, Cherry Coke. I was a devoted fan from its introduction, and it quickly became my signature contribution to the beach cooler. Fast forward a few years and I am a wide-eyed, young college student with no real clue how vast, imaginative the world is that awaits. In those college years, my favorite procrastination was scanning the shelves of the architecture library for new and interesting publications. I believe this is where my great love for design, journals, books, and publications was born—a love that continues to this day.
Fast forward again and early in my career, while I was working on a project in Los Angeles, I began a new ritual. Traveling from Omaha, I would land at LAX, get a rental car, then take the 405 up to the 10 and head west to Santa Monica for the book wonderland of Hennessy + Ingalls, where I always managed to find a new gem for my personal library. Afterwards, I would stop at the Santa Monica beach and take in the Pacific Ocean. Seated on the beach, I flipped through the pages of my latest bookstore finds, reflect, and take in the pageantry that is Santa Monica. With my creativity reset and ready-to-go, I would head back inland to meet with the project team.
A Six Pack: Not to be confused with the 1982 Kenny Rogers’ film about a pit crew of six orphan children, through the Opacity initiative, we have endeavored to contribute a six pack of thoughtful design journals. The beauty of this process—the contribution, inspiration, and reset—is incredibly important to any design culture. The intentionality behind the idea of a design reset was at the core of Opacity’s humble beginning.
Each Opacity journal frames a moment in the evolution of our practice, offering a snapshot in time. The first Opacity journal, published in 2016, was aptly titled Risk to reflect our uncertainty surrounding the acceptance and outcomes of this new process. Thankfully it was, and continues to be, accepted, instilling optimism for our future.
In 2017, the second journal, Rigor, was an important moment as we evolved from the original goal of taking a risk. It was a statement indicating that we were now the guardians of a process that required a rigorous adherence, transparency, discourse, and dialogue that would inform the development of our design culture.
Our third year of Opacity, the 2019 journal Verge, signified the incremental changes in the nature of our practice that were significant and notable. We were on the verge of transforming our practice from a firm based squarely in planning expertise, to a multidisciplinary creative practice that was focused on realizing transformational ideas.
It seemed appropriate that the world would drastically change just as our 2020 journal began, the first jury after a gap year—part of the Opacity framework I’ll get to later. The very nature of the Opacity initiative is interactive and dynamic, but despite the limitations of COVID-19 lockdowns and doing everything through ZOOM, Emmetropia, a clinical term used to describe a person with perfect vision or 20/20 sight, was the outcome. Looking back, if there was a silver lining to the disruption of our world as we knew it, it was the opportunity to approach Opacity and our work as design professionals with a new, more perfect vision.
In 2021, things began to normalize a bit and we were able to gather again in limited fashion for the juried discussion. The nature of in-person conversation became the focus of the appropriately titled journal, Gestures. The nature of work everywhere changed in a very short time, including the manner in which the work gestured the renewed value of community and our shared humanity— clearly evident in the selections and critique of the jury.
We rounded out the sixth journal in the six pack with Endnote. This 2022 publication was almost a direct counterpoint to the previous year. Compared to the jury for Gestures , this jury reminded and reinforced the value of the details that transform good work into great work. This journal also reconfirmed the importance and value that Opacity has brought to our practice over the years. It reminded us how we often learned more from the projects that were not selected than from the ones that were.
Throughout Opacity, the juries and the journals have been significant, but just like those design reset moments on Santa Monica beach, this process also needs a component of pause, retrospect, and reflection. That is why we created a “gap year” monograph.
A Monograph —Originally, the framework for the Opacity initiative was a decade of continuous juries and journals. At the end of the decade, we planned to ask the next generation if the program should continue. However, as we reached the third year of Opacity, we realized we needed to be more considerate of the process, and the idea of the trifecta of journals followed by gap year with no juried review was created.
During a gap year, we would seriously evaluate the processes of the initiative by asking ourselves, “What did we learn and how could we make it better?” From the first moment we had the idea to cap each journal trifecta with a monograph, we were off and running. We were not quite sure what we were doing at the time, but it made sense and felt right. Ultimately someone did the math and defined an idea that the first monograph would represent about one-third of the way through this decade-long journey. Monograph One, 33.3–This Point in Time came about.
With the help of our guest editor, Jenna McKnight, we consolidated the work of the three previous juries into a single monograph publication. Beyond a collection of juried work, it included guest essays from notable voices in our profession, information on Opacity, and its process. The first monograph provided a glimpse into the design culture of our firm and the talented staff behind the work.
The publication you are reading today marks the completion of the second monograph and trifecta in the initiative. With the help of our guest editor, Anjulie Rao, we have once again consolidated the combined selections of the last three juries.
This second monograph, Greater Than, represents a point in which we are greater than the sum of our parts—a true multi-disciplinary practice and just over 50 percent of the way to seeing the original decade-long goal of Opacity realized. Opacity is something nearly everyone in the practice has contributed to—and to that end, has helped contribute to the beach cooler that is architecture and design.
Postscript: 66.6, the proper mathematic number for this stage of the Opacity movement (cue your internal soundtrack—1978 song “Runnin’ with the Devil” by Van Halen), was just a little too demonic for the team to rally behind as title. Enjoy the publication.
Evolution of a Design Practice
Opacity makes evident that we are committed to the hard work that is needed to consistently improve and deliver better design for the long-term— to be greater than we were before.
President, Architecture
Doug Wignall, FAIA
One of the things that I value most about our architecture practice is the diversity of perspectives each one of us brings to the table. We are a firm filled with many voices, each one of which has been informed by a myriad of things like the multidisciplinary nature of our practice, each person’s tenure in the firm or the profession, the nature of the projects a person works on and, of course, where they sit in the world.
My own perspective is colored not only by the more than 30 years I have been part of this architecture practice, but also by the decade-plus I have been privileged to serve as its president. While I have “graduated” from being in the thick of the daily complexities of project delivery, I am not removed from them—I just see and experience them differently. I liken it to the view a pilot has from the cockpit 30,000 feet above ground: I see the broader landscape of our work, our design processes, the collective influence of what we have accomplished.
This broader perspective translates to the Opacity initiative as well. I am not personally invested in it the way a design team might be when a prized design concept is the focus of scrutiny or deliberation among jurors. I am much more interested in the bigger picture and what the collective lessons are to be learned when all jury deliberations are considered together.
For example, the first Opacity cycle—from 2016 to 2019—was about change. Jury deliberations provided an abundance of sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes joyful moments of introspection. We benefited greatly from those first three years because we embraced the insights it generated and understood we needed to address our shortcomings. That first cycle was about drawing a line in the sand about our commitment to design excellence. We understood that the continual outside critique of our work was essential for our practice to stay relevant in a changing world.
And while we still believe in that tenet, I think this second Opacity cycle, from 2020 to today, tells a story of the evolution of our practice, about the momentum that has continued from that first cycle, about the nuanced progress we have made as a global design practice. We no longer use Opacity to prove the point that we are committed to quality work. Rather, Opacity makes evident that we are committed to the hard work that is needed to consistently improve and deliver better design for the longterm—to be greater than we were before.
I have repeatedly said that we learn as much about the projects that didn’t make the cut as those that did. And I think the projects that were not selected in this second cycle underscore my perspective of what these last three reviews were all about: Many world-class projects weren’t chosen in the second cycle deliberations because the bar for selection had been set higher based on the collective quality of the work being presented—a higher quality realized because we embraced the lessons learned in the earlier reviews and evolved our practice because of them.
To me, Opacity stands today as a symbol of our investment in the long game—a strategy that allows us to compound both results and rewards—rewards that, in my eye, translate to the possibility for making more significant impact in the world. Quite simply, Opacity is the impetus for better design, and better design means transformational outcomes for our clients. There is no greater purpose—or legacy—than that.
I often think back to the time when a young, impassioned architect first proposed the idea for a juried critique of our work. Tom Trenolone had a vision he believed in, and an unwavering commitment to see it through. And while the world—and our profession—is very different today than it was back then, Opacity has been a constant in our firm’s culture, introducing an energy and inspiration that comes from the examination of our work. I can’t thank Tom and the rest of the Opacity team enough for their continued effort to make this happen each year—and I eagerly await the next three rounds of jury deliberations and the discoveries they are sure to bring.
2016
August 10 – 11
2017
July 25 – 27
Opacity 01
Risk: Out Looks In
2018
July 10 – 12
Opacity 02
Rigor : Working With Intent
Host Studio Minneapolis, MN
Academic Partner
College of Design, School of Architecture, University of Minnesota
Deliberations and Reveal
Steven Holl Addition, Rapson Hall, University of Minnesota College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
2019
Opacity 03
Verge : Empowering Our Ethos
Host Studio Chicago, IL
Academic Partner
Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Deliberations
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Reveal
Palmer House Hilton Hotel
Host Studio Arlington, VA
Monograph Volume 1 33.3 This Point In Time
Academic Partner
School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation, University of Maryland
Deliberations
Carriage House, The Phillips Collection
Reveal
The National Building Museum
Opacity 04 Emmetropia Host Studio Los Angeles, CA
Deliberations and Reveal
2021 August 03 – 05
Opacity 05 Gestures
Host Studio Boston, MA
Academic Partner
Harvard University
Graduate School of Design
Deliberations and Reveal
Harvard University
Graduate School of Design 2022 August 02 – 04
Opacity 06 Endnote
Host Studio New York, NY
Academic Partner
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Deliberations & Reveal
Frederick P. Rose Auditorium 41 Cooper Square
2023 Monograph Volume 2 Greater Than
The Process
The Opacity initiative enables us to take measure of our design conscience in a rigorous and authentic way. Each year, we invite a diverse group of experts to gather in a chosen city for a multiday jury event. During the proceedings—which are attended by HDR leaders and multidisciplinary staff members—these outside critics review work submitted by HDR studios across the globe. After many intense hours of study and debate, the jury elevates a limited number of projects to “selected,” “mentioned,” or “cited” status. Those projects, along with the jury’s insights, are then revealed during a ceremony and presented in an annual Opacity book.
Gather
Jurors arrive in the designated city and come together in the local HDR office. A welcome reception offers a casual way for jurors to interact with each other and members of the firm.
View
All submissions are pinned up in the local office. Jurors circulate through the gallery and independently review each project’s narrative and imagery. Projects that capture their interest are marked for advancement to the next stage of deliberations.
Debrief
The HDR Opacity team explains the intent of the program, the event agenda, and the assessment process. Each jury is free to establish its own rules of engagement.
Deliberate
Jurors meet for a full day of review and critique as a group. Submission material for projects chosen from the prior day are projected onto a screen and carefully studied. Jurors debate the attributes of each project, with guidance provided by the jury chair. HDR designers are invited to observe and listen to the discussion.
Select
After several rounds of concentrated negotiations, the jury determines which projects, if any, should be elevated and receive “selected,” “mentioned” or “cited” status. Jurors are not required to pick a certain number of projects; rather, they have the freedom to choose how many projects are deemed worthy for each recognition.
Reveal
Projects chosen for commendation are presented during a livesteam event that is broadcast to HDR offices across the globe. Jurors explain in detail why each project was elevated, reflect on their Opacity experience and make suggestions for future cycles. Work on a themed book for that year’s program then gets underway.
The Juries
Top to bottom;
Russell Fortmeyer, LEED AP, Global Sustainability Leader, Woods Bagot, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Lawrence Scarpa , FAIA, Principal, Brooks + Scarpa Architects, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter, FAIA, Architect; Former Dean, Woodbury University School of Architecture, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Alissa Walker, Urbanism Editor, Curbed Magazine, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Left to right;
Aaron Betsky, Professor, School of Architecture and Design, Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
Preston Scott Cohen , Professor, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Edward Keegan , AIA, Architect, Author and Educator, Chicago, IL, USA
Paul Makovsky, Editor-in-Chief, ARCHITECT Magazine, Washington, DC, USA
Top to bottom; Michelle Addington , Author; Former Dean, School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
Mark Lee , Founder, Partner, Johnston Marklee & Associates, Los Angeles, CA, and Cambridge, MA, USA; Professor in Practice, Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA, USA
Elizabeth Pagliacolo, Editor-in-Chief, Azure Magazine, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nader Tehrani, Founding Principal, NADAAA, Boston, MA, USA; Former Dean, Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, NY, USA
Allison Grace Williams , FAIA,
LEED AP, NOMA
Principal, AGWms_studio, San Francisco, CA , USA
Jury Chair, 2020 to 2023
NCARB,
The Results
Awarded projects represent a diverse array of market sectors and building scales/sizes.
Chapter
COLLABORATION
DIVERSITY
SUSTAINABILITY
TRANSFORMATION
Elevated Projects
A total of 293 projects were submitted for this trifecta; 41 total projects were recognized by the juries.
Projects are organized according to 9 market sectors.
Residential/Social Housing is this trifecta’s smallest sector with only one project recognized by the juries.
Nearly half of awarded projects fall under Healthcare or Civic/ Culture sectors.
CIVIC/CULTURE
CORPORATE WORKPLACE
EDUCATION
RESIDENTIAL/SOCIAL
All projects 750,000 SF or larger belong to the Healthcare sector.
19 projects are 100,000 SF or smaller.
The total sum of submissions for the Opacity series’ second trifecta.
TOTAL GROUND COVERED 15.4M SF 1 7 7 21 21
SF
SF
2.82M SF United States 3.04M SF
8.24M SF
The Second Trifecta
Emmetropia
The fourth Opacity book, Emmetropia , was titled to reflect the pandemic environment during which the review took place: trapped at home, viewing the world’s event through computer screens and tablets. Many architects were literally creating the world while apart from it. Projects selected by the jury were recognized for their forward-thinking principles that focused squarely on the future; with sustainability and resilience at the forefront, jurors recognized places and spaces that bring users closer to the environment and, once again, back to each other.
Gestures
The title for the fifth Opacity book was selected to underscore the jury’s dialogue regarding the design elements of each project as well as what each of those elements signified. Certainly, a well-articulated stair could stand beautifully on its own, but how that stair generated social spaces and thus greater metaphorical connection between users was discussed as a “gesture.” The power of gestures was explored for their ability to bring us together, to invite us in, to share with one another, to care for the planet, to pay homage to the past and to connect communities.
Endnote
The title of the sixth Opacity book, Endnote , is a response to the jury’s discourse regarding priorities and concerns. Traditionally, endnotes appear at the end of a book or chapter, providing research citations, further reading, or complicating issues that the author feels are necessary to understand the text fully. This Opacity publication elevates the importance of context through the use of endnotes—each awarded project receives its own set of endnotes as further insight into the conceptual, poetic, and didactic decisions made by the jurors.
Greater Than
This monograph explores the collective work selected during the 2020, 2021, and 2022 reviews. Projects are organized according to four important themes integral to the design culture that supported their creation: Collaboration, Diversity, Sustainability, and Transformation. Each chapter includes essays by members of various design studios or outside journalists, who examine the subtle and overt nuances of these themes and their influence on both the profession and an architecture practice’s body of work.
Collaboration
Collaboration
The Practice of Collaboration
James Braam, AIA, LEED AP
Design Principal, Denver, Colorado, United States
S.J.
Acin, Assoc. AIA
Design Coordinator I, Denver, Colorado, United States
There is something to be said about designers being led by one mind—one vision that is carefully drawn and executed by 10 hands; a cooperative pursuit to realize the visionary’s dream with selfless dedication. This method has produced sculptural statures that stamp architectural history and illustrate our design literature. But what is to be said about working as a collective? Ten, 20, 200 minds sharing one hand? The practice becomes more strenuous, perhaps the process less efficient. What is gained?
In our studio, we practice collaboration like we practice architecture. Similar to “passing a puck” back and forth between teammates, we share our best thoughts, aiding others to visualize theirs; we erase each other’s corners, pushing one another to strive for more; we debate the big picture’s clarity and take time to defend the finest details.
Ideas begin to stack like a pile of used trace. We become a team staunch on a goal, growing flexible with our methods. At the table, we acknowledge that each voice carries unique formidable talent. We practice stepping back to be sharpened by a brighter edge; we practice coming forward with assertive integrity and responsibility to shape our vision. We stay later than we intended, but the result surpasses what any of us could have envisioned alone. What lays on the table is a symphony of what-ifs… realized, intertwined, executed— together. The result is far greater than ourselves.
In every discussion, there is clarity to be sought. In every disagreement where passion meets head-to-head is a chance for a stronger solution. The vulnerability inherent in this synergy is the ticket to our excellence. When the design experience is colored by critique and careful coordination, the result can only be constructive. After all, collaboration is always met with clients and partners outside our doors. We aspire to meet them with contagious harmony born at our core.
Collaboration is a challenging practice, but with it our accomplishments ascend. We are not limited to the genius of one, but each day grow exponentially. We endeavor to become a collaboration of unique minds drawing together with one hand.
Can There Be Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen in a Design Office?
Robert Qing Xie Associate/Design Leader, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Here is an age-old question where two diametric beliefs clash against each other: Which approach—a focused and singular vision versus a multitude of diverse ideas— is best when it comes to design in our studios? Like most complicated questions, the answer lies somewhere in between.
The key to a successful design approach is to occupy a balanced middle ground, a place where we can leverage the advantages of these opposing forces while avoiding the pitfalls that lies at their extremities. Although it is undoubtedly important for a project to communicate a legible and coherent design vision, this should not come at the expense of drowning out the varied sources and knowledge that our collective has to offer.
Historically, a lionized mythos of the architect exists as someone (often a man) who is resolute in his own vision and unwavering in the face of opposition; an unyielding, rigid, omnipotent singularity whose voice deafens all dissension. He is ultimately triumphant in delivering his masterpiece for the ages. Not only does this approach seem somewhat archaic in our current times, it is simply unworkable in an office of our size and scale.
Although a strong design voice is benefical, what we want to establish is an entire chorus of diverse and confident individuals. Such individual voices play an
important role in sustaining and challenging the design excellence culture in our studios. This is our approach in Australia where a design principal guides the studio’s vision. On the project level, however, it is very much the individual voices of our design leaders who will have the biggest impact. Design leaders are given plentiful autonomy to explore their own visions, having regular check-ins with the design principal to review and test new ideas. Weekly design pinups are held where design leaders present their work and the whole studio is invited to comment.
Ultimately, design should not be protected as some form of esoteric insight that is tightly held within the purviews of a single person. It should be accessible to those who believe that their own voice can have an important role in shaping our urban fabric. It is important to establish a design process in our studio where these voices are given agency, expression, and purpose.
Collaboration
Design Through Conversation
Adriana Sarunic Architect, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
HDR’s global position and diverse expertise offers a unique, collaborative environment, composed of multidisciplinary cohorts and members with vastly different backgrounds and specialties.
I started at HDR in 2022, and my prior experience was primarily in small sized practices in Adelaide, South Australia. Previously, I had no exposure to such a large corporate structure or to individuals with such varied and expansive expertise.
I soon came to realize that, to establish oneself successfully in a large global company, one should be an expert at something—or at least strive to be one—and HDR is full of experts. I have learned that the collaboration between our markets, services, and specialties is the driver of our success. The combination of individual expertise form a conglomerate design force; a machine made up of individual specialized parts that come together to form the whole.
The first project I worked on was a large defense project, comprising 30+ buildings across three bases. This was my introduction to how large-scale collaboration works at HDR. Our 30+ person design team is spread across two interstate HDR offices, all working towards the same goal to meet the needs of the client, while balancing the objectives of multiple stakeholders, coordinating numerous consultants and maintaining design quality and outcome.
At times, I found it difficult to fathom how a project so large, with so many simultaneously moving parts, can work—but it does, like a well-oiled machine. I have learned that design at this scale is about conversation and input from many individuals, including the client, end user, consultant specialists, and internal design team. No one person could service a project like this. The design outcome is the result of numerous conversations, collaborative reviews, and iterations of architectural expression, distilled into a polished end result through the evaluation, critique and interpretation of dozens of unique individual perspectives and opinions.
Projects at this scale are only made possible through collaboration of numerous members with different backgrounds and specialties. A global firm like HDR fosters a unique collaborative environment that brings these diverse experiences and individuals together.
A Band of Individuals
Cole Wycoff, AIA Design Principal, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
Hundreds of architects, all wearing black, many in scarves. Each is slaving away at a computer. The air reeks of coffee grounds and body odor. A young employee surveys my tour group and crumples her eyebrows in disgust. A veteran speaks to a huddled group in the distance— his speech is indecipherable, yet his tone projects his message: This isn’t good enough.
The portrait of excellence in architecture has historically been dominated by offices that look like this one I visited in 2007 while studying in London. The firm—an elite practice built under the name of a single individual—has consistently proven that a cult of genius can be enormously successful. It is a solo act wherein back-up vocalists, instrumentalists, songwriters, and producers are crucial to the production, yet entirely anonymous.
While this model is typical of many firms at the highest echelons, HDR is in the business of proving that another path to excellence exists: We are not a solo act. We are a band composed of diverse individuals equipped with unique skill sets. Our collaborations belong not to one, but to many.
This is not to suggest we lack unique voices. In fact, our band depends on them.
In 1965, The Beatles wrote and recorded their sixth studio album, “Rubber Soul.” They worked at a blistering
pace to complete the album in under two months. While searching for song ideas, John Lennon recalled an old tune Paul McCartney had created in the style of a popular French singer, Sasha Distel. The group dusted off the tune, and Paul reworked the lyrics. The song, however, only had verses. Perhaps you know the tune:
“Michelle, ma belle
These are words that go together well
My Michelle”
Feeling the song was incomplete, John suggested they add a middle eight to complement the verses:
“I love you, I love you, I love you…”
It is incomprehensible to think of this song, or any created by this iconic group, without the contributions made by each. Lennon-McCartney received writing credits for “Michelle,” but the track belongs to The Beatles.
In our design studios, we live by the mantra “the best idea wins.” We believe in a culture of contribution, where each individual is encouraged to offer their unique perspective to a problem. Occasionally, the architect finds promise in a long-lost verse. Sometimes, our graphics or landscape teams discover the perfect rhythm. Our interior designers have a knack for laying down incredible melodies. And sometimes, it is the interns who find a perfect middle eight.
East Torrey Pines Science & Technology Center
La Jolla, California, United States
The building represents a unique opportunity to architecturally “collaborate” across decades; to create a condition-specific addition that is sensitive to the original, iconic space designed by Louis Kahn as a means to enhance and celebrate original features.
At the entrance, a fountain—a single stream of water representing a spring—is directed into the ground, reemerging as the formal “infinity pool” running through the center of the Salk Institute to the ocean. The pool is reinterpreted in the new building not with water, but with a linear shaft of light created where the two sides of the
roof meet in a glass “slot.” The idea is to intensify the connection to nature.
The two-story linear building containing the science (research labs, offices, and collaboration areas) is bisected by a public forum (an open and transparent central gathering hall) that retains the width of the original courtyard of the Salk Institute. The double-height central hall visually connects Kahn’s courtyard through the site, terminating at the building entrance to engage the community at the street.
Studios: Los Angeles, Princeton, Omaha (in collaboration with WRNS Studio); Fatimah Fatimah Al Asad, Yunnan Allen, Chuck Cassell, Valerie DeLoach, Trip Grant, Brian Kowalchuk, Adeline Morin, Randy Prescott, Diego Samuel, Kenneth Sumner, Damian Wentzel
Operation and Maintenance Storage Facility (OMSF)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
In keeping with the Ontario Line branding and establishing a system-wide architectural language, the OMSF reconsiders the aesthetic and environmental impact of these enormous industrial structures. The facility is to be a model for future maintenance facilities as part of a larger, expanding regional Metrolinx program. The highly pragmatic nature of the plan was designed to work with a kit of prescribed façade typologies—a collaboration with existing standards—for cladding the building in response to the site narrative and the exposure to natural light as well as views from the community, with the alignment bringing a close view of the south façade to passengers on the mainline.
A serrated roof creates a contemporary, industrial vernacular that efficiently integrates the principles of passive design with indirect northern light over the
primary maintenance facility area. The shed extends the serrated skylight roofline across the building to unify the large structure as a cohesive whole while the building’s large scale is mitigated through a repetitive pattern across all façade elements.
The northern façade diffuses light with translucent glazing that reinforces the vertical line. The southern façade shades light, using a metal grillage opening up views to the natural landscape. The base of the building is robust with vertical board-form textured concrete to set a strong horizontal datum across the first story of the façade, anchoring the building to its site.
Studios: Toronto, New York; Suzanne Baumgardt, James Huang, Paul James, Celia Johnstone, James Lane, Behnaz Rafeei, Austin Seid, Evgeny Tsarev
Client:
Engineering and Sciences Building Midwest, United States
This Engineering and Sciences Building will serve a variety of constituents, from the university to academic and corporate partners to students in the sciences and the humanities to neighborhood residents and the greater scientific community. The building is intended to facilitate this variety of intersections, bringing the complexity and often-opaque nature of science research into the public’s view.
Its prominent location on campus requires multiple connections to enhance its function, the experience of a Science Quad, and the university’s academic mission. The conceptual design for the building is about creating an “object building” with a singular identity, and about meeting a technical program. It’s about deconstructing the “object” into components that best serve their function and express their combined purpose. Images shown were created for a design competition and are not indicative of the project’s final design solution.
Studios: Chicago, Princeton; Mohammed Ayoub, Pepe Carrillo, Jae Hyuck Choi, Erin Disbrow, DD Du, Gerome Garses, Josh Greenfield, Gaute Grindheim, Jason Heinrich, Warren Hendrickson, Brooke Horan, Thomas Knittel, Brian Kowalchuk, Rikka Liu, Jack Paul, Kim Ramaekers, Ellen Randall, Grace Rappe, Diego Samuel, Damian Wentzel, Allison Grace Williams
Client: Mannheim Medical Faculty of the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg
This project is now part of the Telluride Architektur portfolio.
MaReCuM Hub
Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
The Mannheim Medical Facility of the Ruprecht-KarlsUniversity of Heidelberg offers one of the most modern medical study programs in Germany and is a world-class international research and working environment. The new building modules for the Mannheim Reformed Curriculum for Medicine and Medically Related Professions (MaReCuM) create a lively urban infrastructure for collaboration among students, lecturers, and researchers while also forming an integral and central part of the new campus area northeast of Mannheim city center. This future area will develop into a central public meeting place for campus visitors and residents around the Kesselhaus of the University Hospital, the historical jewel of the complex.
PROGRAMMING CONCEPT
Merlot 3
West Footscary, Victoria, Australia
The Merlot 3 data center responds to its local environment through sensitive design moves. Located in West Footscary, a suburb of Melbourne, at the junction between large industrial developments and low-scale residential dwellings, the form and scale of the building has been designed with local residents in mind. Such sensitivity is the result of sympathic relationships with neighbors— an aspect that is critical to both the ethos and final form. The project is comprised predominantly of data halls, offices, breakout space, and areas for public use with an accompanying café.
The bulk of the building form, containing the data centers, has been set back from residential streets.
The façade has been agitated and folded, informed by the rhythm of the adjacent residential grid. Lower forms have been positioned between the residential streets and the data centers. As a result, the overall building mass has been broken up and the building scale decreases as it reaches residential streets, providing visual relief. “Pocket parks” have been designed along the façade at the termination of perpendicular streets, providing visual screening and bookending views. A smaller scale café has been designed along the street edge. The materiality and form is similar to that of nearby dwellings, and provides a gentle transition from residential to industrial.
Studio: Sydney; Branca Adamec, David Anderson, Mai Anwar, Tara Bahman Rokh, Alan Boswell, Maria Cala, Maggie Chan, Rosemary Chung, Stefano Cottini, Jose Cruz, Samuel Faigen, Amir Fakhrduzduzani, Christania Herman, Phat Huynh, Sonni Jeong, Cathy Kwan, Jessica Liu, Fiona Macdonald, Fabia Merigueti, Max Navius, Amy Papas, Jason Roberts, Colin Ross, Han Sangbeom, Liam Sherry, Graeme Spencer, Bryan Thee, Andrew White
Client: Phillips County Economic Development
Saving Main Street
Haxtun, Colorado, United States
This planning project, located in Haxtun, Colorado, reveals what can be accomplished when a small, rural town closely collaborates with architects and designers. Nearly 10% of the town’s population is employed by the Haxtun Hospital District‚ making it the community’s largest single employer. The strategy proposes that medical facilities and local downtown buildings be combined to create a renewed mixed-use community. Incorporating existing main street structures reduces redundancy and the pharmacy and café/dining associated with the hospital are returned to Haxtun’s main street.
The design engages a full city block and many main street structures (including the town hall) were evaluated and will be maintained and/or returned to their original brick footprints. The single-story storefront and roof will be removed and in-filled to connect the medical center to the new town auditorium and lobby/event pre-function space. The industrial facilities including scrap yards will be relocated to the town’s perimeter and/or disassembled and recycled.
Studio: Omaha; William DeRoin, Annette Himelick, Michele Lee, Adrian Silva, Ian Thomas, Tom Trenolone, Timothy Williams, Cole Wycoff
1 Unusable structures demolished
2 New structures rationalized from Main Street bay spacing
3 Program organized to maximize synergy among functions
4 Outdoor spaces and pathways added to reduce scale and invite access
5 Building forms molded to respond to vernacular and complement existing structures
6 Amenities added to support both program and community
Woodlawn Community Bank
Chicago, Illinois, United States
This project reenvisions this site as a community hub— the bank becomes a library, a place to meet neighbors or learn the newest technology for job advancement; the train station is more than a place to stand and wait, but rather a site for community events. While speculative, the project speaks to a cross-pollination between arts, transit, and historic preservation, stitching disciplines and acitivities as a collaboration between civic organizations and public life.
A new type of library geared toward technology, learning, and gathering breathes life into the former bank building. A large stair with integrated seating for presentations leads up to the old banking hall reimagined as a large community reading room. The train platform is reimagined as a floating park and reading garden, a new gateway to Woodlawn.
CONDITIONS/INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS
Chicago Loop CTA Green Line
Woodlawn Obama Presidential Center
College Grove CTA Station
Studio: Chicago; James Bayless, Joseph Cliggott, Tom Lee, Justin Pang, Andrea Blat Tatay, Ian Thomas
Client: Chicago Architecture Center
Bessie Coleman
SECTION PERSPECTIVE LOOKING WEST THICKEN
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD) Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
CCAD physically expresses each health modality in an individualized cuboid form that honors its respective function.
Outpatient clinics are organized off a large multistory gallery space—modeled after the Arab “souk”— that is the main circulation spine fostering community interaction. The oasis or “waha” flanks the plaza and creates a place of respite that facilitates wayfinding and connects clinics to the diagnostic/treatment services—a means for physicians to work together while minimizing strain on patients. The diagnostics
waiting area and interventional services platform in between the clinics and hospital forms an architectural interpretation of the desert canyon or “wadi” with light streaming in from above. An extensive open space is filled with landscaping, shade structures, seating, and a walking path.
While the jurors were impressed with the “exquisite” resolution of the clinical programs, their conversations often turned to social equity. “Do the people who built this building have access to this level of healthcare?,” asked one juror.
Studios: New York, Charlotte, San Francisco; Jim Atkinson, Mohammed Ayoub, Betsy Braun, David Chargin, Vartan Chilingaryan, Bryan Copp, April Cottini, Jeff Fahs, Greg Hadsell, Jean Hansen, Mark Harper, Karina Hernandez, Antonio Holguin, Brooke Horan, Steve LaHood, Flora Li, Yim Lim, Lily Livingston, Phan Luc, Art McBreen, Mark Mendoza, Lloyd Rader, Paul Nagashima, Harold Nesland, Gabriel Oproescu, Sam Pegg, Bruce Powers, Michael Street, Matt Suarez, Mark Taylor, Tom Todd, George Vangelatos, Wendy Wallace Brown, Bill Wells, Jeff Zoll, Nick Zuniga
Client: The Cleveland Clinic, Mubadala Health
Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Corporate Headquarters
Shanghai, China
Natural light informs the design. Shaping the building form, including the placement of core functions, provides equitable natural light to all occupants and adjacent parcels, which is important in this urban area. The building is angled to provide an entry court to the northeast and a semi-public garden to the southwest, adjacent to the business community. This maximizes the perimeter for
optimum solar orientation and brings more light into the building.
The building is compact, connecting people through a vertical plaza or central sky-lit atrium. Narrow floor plates flank the atrium to infuse the office space with daylight. It is spanned by sky bridges to physically and visually connect departments.
Studios: Princeton, Shanghai; Michael Andrewsky, Bin Hu, Insung Hwang, Sarah Irgang, Xundong Li, Ambica Malhotra, Jared McBeth, Brian McClean, Lynn Mignola, Tom Smith, Yong Sun, Jeremy Wei, Damian Wentzel
Client: Shanghai Pharmaceuticals
1 Solar-tuned Building Form
2 Function-specific HVAC
3 Stack-effect Ventilation
4 Natural Ventilation
5 Shaded Drop-off
6 Daylighting
7 Greywater Reuse
8 Greywater Storage
9 Efficient Building Depth
10 High-performance Glazing
11 Green Roof
The Fog of Artificial Impact in Architecture: Unmasking Performativity
By Tiara Hughes, AIA
In the sphere of architecture, the pursuit of diversity and inclusion has gained momentum, reflecting a broader societal trend. The industry, often viewed as a vanguard of creative design and innovation, has begun to confront its own challenges related to diversity, project team assembly, and collaboration. However the “Fog of Artificial Impact”—a deceptive smokescreen characterized by a series of superficial actions that feign commitment to change while perpetuating the illusion of progress—still exists. The fog manifests in the teams assembled for projects, the cultures of collaboration, and the myriad of project scales.
Architecture projects often involve complex teams with diverse skills and backgrounds. The composition of these teams can significantly impact the outcomes. The fog descends, however, when diversity is considered a checkbox to meet rather than an intrinsic part of the practice. Some firms assemble project teams reactively, driven by a desire to tick boxes rather than a genuine commitment to diverse representation. The emphasis therein is on optics, and this performative approach neglects the substantive benefits of diversity. Diversity should not be a token; it must be at the core of architectural practice. The creative and innovative potential of diverse teams is well-documented, as varied perspectives lead to more comprehensive and imaginative solutions. Though the transition and onset usually causes uncomfortable growing pains before the teams are fully functioning at their highest potential, the results are well worth the path. Firms that prioritize diversity at their core stand to reap the rewards in the form of more creative and impactful designs.
When diversity is embraced within internal teams, it can significantly impact a firm’s ability to serve diverse clients, at different project scales, and to treat them with the same level of dignity and respect. Diversity radiates, extending to understanding the unique needs and aspirations of clients from various backgrounds. Project scales should be approached with sensitivity to the cultural, social, and economic context in which they exist. A performative approach often fails to deliver this level of client-centered design that responds to the environment and community it serves.
Collaboration is the lifeblood of architectural practice. The effectiveness of collaboration hinges not only on the diversity of the team but on the nature of the collaboration itself. A culture of collaboration that transcends the performative and embraces genuine inclusion is crucial. Performative collaboration may involve assembling diverse teams, but often lacks the structural support and genuine engagement required for meaningful interaction. This superficiality hampers the exchange of ideas and perspectives. Beyond structured collaboration, happenstance interactions can provide a more well-rounded understanding of a place. Serendipitous encounters and informal exchanges with community members and colleagues can offer invaluable insights that structured interactions may miss.
Diversity in architectural practice must be multifaceted. It encompasses not only the team but also diverse perspectives, experiences, and methods of engagement. To authentically embrace diversity, firms must take a comprehensive approach that addresses the various layers of the discipline.
The “Fog of Artificial Impact” can only be dispelled by adopting a more thoughtful and holistic approach to diversity and inclusion in architecture. It must encompass both the practice of architecture and the people within the industry. Architecture should reflect the rich tapestry of the world it serves. Likewise, diversity and inclusion must extend beyond project teams. It should be woven into the fabric of architecture firms themselves, from leadership positions to the overall culture. A diverse internal environment encourages fresh ideas and challenges the status quo. As an evolved approach is considered, the following steps can be taken to move the industry forward:
Core Value Commitment: Architecture firms should make diversity and inclusion a core value, not an afterthought. This commitment must be reflected in hiring practices, project team assembly, and decision-making processes.
Inclusive Cultures: Foster inclusive cultures that value diverse perspectives. Encourage open dialogue, authentic mentorship, and opportunities for underrepresented voices to be heard. Diverse voices should be represented and supported at all levels, including senior leadership, to ensure that the decision-making reflects a broader range of perspectives.
Educational Initiatives: Invest in education and training programs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the architectural community. This includes ongoing education for professionals, as well as opportunities for mentorship and support for aspiring architects from underrepresented backgrounds.
Community-Centered Engagement: Move beyond performative community engagement by genuinely understanding and addressing the unique needs and aspirations of local communities. This can involve partnerships with community organizations, involvement in community events, and interactive design charrettes.
Long-term Vision: Firms must consider diversity as a core value rather than a reactive gesture. Firms should be prepared to commit to a sustained, measurable effort that transcends performative gestures and leads to lasting transformation.
The “Fog of Artificial Impact” presents a challenge that architecture firms must confront to foster genuine diversity and inclusion in their practice. Reactivity in team assembly, performative collaboration, and a lack of diverse perspectives can hinder the industry’s progress. A more thoughtful approach is needed, one that considers diversity a core value and extends it throughout the practice and culture of architecture firms. By prioritizing diversity, encouraging inclusive cultures, investing in education, and engaging with communities genuinely, the architecture industry can lead the way towards a future where diversity is not an illusion but a central tenet of its creative and innovative endeavors, serving diverse clients and communities with empathy and creativity.
Tiara Hughes is a senior urban designer at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, a commissioner with the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, and founder of FIRST 500, a global platform dedicated to elevating and celebrating Black women architects. She is a devoted activist, educator, and advocate for underrepresented communities and voices. She served on the board for the National Organization of Minority Architects and currently sits on the board of CharnleyPersky House for the Society of Architectural Historians. In 2021, she received a national AIA Associates Award and, in 2022, the Landmark Illinois’ Influencer Award for her progressive, inclusive efforts to preserve the built environment and equitably advance the design industry. She is a Distinguished Alumni from her alma mater, Drury University. Most recently, she received the Making Waves Award from the Chicago Women in Architecture organization.
Client: Kliniken Landkreis Diepholz
Zentralklinikum Diepholz
Diepholz, Niedersachsen, Germany
The design for the new Diepholz Central Clinic aims to strengthen a sense of community for this structurally sensitive location. To achieve this, the design respects the special landscape qualities of its surroundings. Diversity plays at multiple scales here: Differentiated building masses, proportional to the surroundings, allow for a regional integration into the landscape context; sensitivity to people with disabilities shapes public spaces and entryways.
The clinic campus opens with a generous plaza as a gesture and visual axis to the entrance area of the central clinic and links to main traffic access. The plaza band guides visitors and patients from centralized parking to the heart of the campus and provides the necessary orientation. The central forecourt includes a water feature and groves of trees to shade the seating areas and accentuate the central campus square. A supply of shortterm parking spaces will be integrated into the central plaza perimeter, ensuring accessibility for mobilityimpaired persons and emergency situations.
This project is now part of the Telluride Architektur portfolio.
VIEW WEST KLINIKUM
VIEW WEST CAMPUS
Ontario Line Subway Project
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
This project represents the development of the “Ontario Line Design Guide, Output Specifications, and Reference Concept Designs,” the design principles and requirements for the station design, engineering, and development teams. The principles and vision connect civic, urban design, and city building goals with aspirations for a high-
functioning, safe, and easily maintained transit system. The guidelines develop a brand for the new 15-station line—the resulting speculative projects represent how such guidelines can be maintained, while producing thoughtful, consistent, and responsive transit stations across diverse neighborhoods.
Studios: Toronto, New York; Bita Gharadaghi, Bijan Ghazizadeh, Paul James, Celia Johnstone, James Lane, Ibrahim Miles, Brendan Onstad, Behnaz Rafeei, Nicolas Ryan, Loi Tang, Evgeny Tsarev
The Science Gondola; York University Neuroscience Laboratory and Research Loft Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The new Neuroscience Laboratory and Research Loft at Toronto’s suburban campus of York University will add to the existing Sherman Health Science Research Centre on a compacted site. This structure was created in near “hybrid” format to allow for distinct wet, kinesiology, and neuropsychology laboratories nested below the research
lofts. The project in many ways identifies with the culture of being an “edge presence” on campus in its aspiration to be a key component to heightening the spirit and the science of a truly integrated campus life.
Client: York University
Studios: Toronto, London (Canada); Donald Chong, Susan Croswell, Kevin Curtis, Norman Fisher, Min Hoo Kim, Somayeh Mousazadeh, Justin Perdue, Chris Routley
PROGRAM SPLIT
Research
Collaborative
Mechanical Systems
Laboratories
EAST ELEVATION
SOUTH ELEVATION
NORTH ELEVATION
WEST ELEVATION
NEUROSCIENCE LABORATORY AND RESEARCH LOFT
New East Forecourt
New West Service Court
Alumni Field Main Entrance
SHERMAN HEALTH SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTRE
Research and collaborative area
Mechanical and laboratory area
Limited site
Research and collaborative area, reproportioned
Mechanical and laboratory area, reproportioned
Limited site
Research and collaborative area, paired and stacked
Mechanical and laboratory area, paired/ stacked and “bunkered”
Dovetailed/unified
Linked to existing/connected to campus
Slipped/perched
Cobalt Credit Union Gretna Branch Gretna, Nebraska, United States
Cobalt Credit Union is the largest credit union in Nebraska and serves clients in 16 counties in Nebraska and Iowa. This new branch for the community of Gretna, just outside of metropolitan Omaha, is part of its effort to better serve rural communities; an example of attentiveness to diversity in both users and scale.
High-contrasting materials juxtapose an austere exterior with a warm and inviting interior. The exterior is clad with blackened zinc metal panels that provide durability while expressing high character through the natural inconsistencies and patina of material. Jurors
appreciated that the cladding contradicts the rural setting, noting that the minimalist, long-and-low, striking exterior seems very much a part of the surrounding landscape while still standing out from it. The interior uses glulam white oak for its heavy timber structure; microperforations in the wood wall and ceiling panels enhance acoustic performance. The jury considered some minor detailing issues where the oak paneling met the stark white walls, noting imperfections and awkwardness of certain interior volumes. But overall they found the space to be light and inviting.
Studio: Omaha; Matthew DeBoer, Corie Dechant, Joel Fairfax, Tyson Fiscus, Mitch Hain, Ryan Hawley, Alison Ingunza, Kelsey Pierce, Andrew R. Wilson, Chandra Wondercheck
Client: Cobalt Credit Union
NorthStar Expansions
Omaha, Nebraska, United States
The NorthStar Foundation, a non-profit after-school program and summer camp for underprivileged boys in North Omaha, had a building that was originally designed for only middle school grades. Because of the immense community need and the successful growth of the organization, the design team programmed and
designed building expansions to the existing facility to include grades three to eight and high school students. The project demonstrates a commitment to diversifying programming for nonprofit services, while also attending to an often-overlooked population. Client: NorthStar Foundation
Studio: Omaha; Nick Beatty, Joshua Christensen, Michael Hamilton, Scott Kenny, Richard McKinley, Kama Pfister, John Savage, Kristopher Tourek, Andrew R. Wilson
1 Learning Stair/ Mindfulness (below)
2 Grades 3–5, Level 1
3 Grades 6–8, Level 2
4 Landscape Stair
5 Masonry Base
6 Boardroom
Existing New
Siena Francis House Emergency Shelter Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Across American cities, unhoused individuals represent some of the most diverse populations, both demographically and in terms of needs. As Siena Francis House improves and expands its services to Omaha’s homeless population, the first step was to construct a new low-barrier emergency shelter. This new 43,000 SF facility lodges roughly 350 single men and 100 single women with dignity in a durable and safe space. Several
other facilities on the site include permanent supportive housing, a community services building, and an addiction recovery building. The site is in close proximity to all city services and public transportation networks. Overall, the durable facility provides a safe and dignified place of shelter for those often finding themselves in the most difficult time of their life.
Studio: Omaha; Rebecca Cherney, Nicholas Decker, John Dineen, Gary Fibich, Robert Gunn, Alison Ingunza, David Lempke, Taylor Nielsen
Client: Siena Francis House
1 Warmth: Maple veneer plywood ceiling with routed reveals minimize panel joint visibility
2 Daylighting: Elevating glazing frame views of sky while maintaining privacy for occupants
3 No Paint Zone: Burnished concrete masonry unit, polished concrete flooring, stainless steel doors
Client: Nebraska Wesleyan University
McDonald Theater Renovation Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
The Elder Memorial Theater Center serves as the home for performing arts at Nebraska Wesleyan University. The complex consists of two houses, including the 250seat proscenium McDonald Theater. Constructed circa 1980 and, while designed with the best technology and practices of the day, the McDonald Theater was due for several upgrades. The renovation and addition project has been organized into three phases, the first of which
consists of a new interior expression, seating, and stage floor as well as mechanical upgrades. One of the most hotly-debated projects in the Opacity series, some jurors were drawn to the perforated panels as art objects; others found the screens lacked nuance and were too harsh as lighting tools. The project reflects the vast perspectives and experience inherent to review, and the ways that diverse expertise play a role in how design is interpreted.
Studio: Omaha; Robert J. Guinn, Mitch Hain, Matthew W. Kuhn, David Lempke, Randy Niehaus, Taylor Nielsen, Timothy Williams, Chandra Wondercheck
FLOOR PLAN
University
of
Nebraska Omaha Ballpark Omaha, Nebraska, United States
The University of Nebraska Omaha continued the development of its Center Street campus with the addition of a new baseball and softball stadium complex. The new complex’s sequence of arrival guides fans along an ascending path to the open concourse and pavilion, which establishes a plinth 17 feet above the first point of entry. The concourse and pavilion overlook both fields, softball to the south and baseball to the north. From the concourse, patrons descend into either seating bowl carved into the hillside. The Y-shaped pavilion rests on the concourse, containing amenities like concessions, restrooms, a covered social deck, and access to seating at field level.
The site rises sharply away from the street to the west climbing 45 feet with a continued rise beyond. The north/ south topography remains constant allowing for each field to occupy one of the two orientations. Jurors did notice that, in the placement of the baseball and softball fields, the sun’s movement into the eyes of a right fielder was preferred to left field; thus the baseball fields—typically used by men’s teams—received the “preferred” treatment. While the project does represent a project that is diverse in scope, perhaps its attention to male-dominated sports could influence the future for female, trans, and nonbinary athletes. Client: University of
Studio: Omaha; Joshua Christensen, Laura Franzluebbers, Alison Ingunza, David Lempke, Kevin Moody, Randy Niehaus, Taylor Nielsen, John Savage, Matthew J. Stoffel
ROOF PLANE
CONCOURSE LEVEL PAVILION LEVEL
EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC
LONGITUDINAL SECTION
Entrance Procession
Building form shaped by movement
John Deutsch Community Centre, Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Sitting at the entrance to Queen’s University, the John Deutsch University Centre is a well-loved student hub. It houses student clubs, a pub, meeting rooms, and a 100-room residence. While the jury was impressed with many of the building’s elements, they appreciated its overall lightness and intent. The new addition pulls visitors up and into the historic building, providing accessible access to each floor, a move that jurors appreciated for its simplicity. From the outside, the
new addition features monumental fins, a nod to the surrounding Collegiate Gothic university buildings. The fins also deflect southern and western light. This passively regulates heat gain, allowing the addition to use oversized fans and displacement cooling. Utilizing a wide array of materials that both honor the past and advance climate resiliency is a demonstration of diverse solutions to the challenge of creating a cohesive campus jewel. Client: Queen’s University
Studios: Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa, London (Canada); Donald Chong, Susan Croswell, Paul Howard Harrison, Somayeh Mousazadeh, Justin Perdue, Jeffrey Salmon, Jeremy Van Dyke, Sebastian Wooff, Dathe Wong
EAST-WEST SECTION THROUGH HISTORIC BUILDING
Student-run Retail Space
Mass Timber Auditorium
Community Kitchen
The Brew Coffee Shop
At-grade Restaurant
Queen’s Journal Newspaper Office
Meeting Rooms
Retail
Queen’s Pub J Wallace Hall K Existing Atrium L Dedicated Club Spaces M Student Engagement Center N Student Government Offices
Sustainability
Sustainability
Learning in Architectural Practice: Embracing Change for Sustainability
James Burton Project Principal, Princeton, New Jersey, United States
In the evolving architecture field, successful learning forms are critical for ensuring sustainable practices at HDR. As young designers, we recognize the need for adaptation to address the environmental challenges we face.
One of the most successful forms of learning in our practice is a multidisciplinary approach. We collaborate with professionals from diverse backgrounds, including engineers, scientists, and sociologists to gain a comprehensive understanding of sustainability. This interdisciplinary learning enables us to integrate technical expertise, research findings, and human‑centered design principles into our projects. By fostering a culture of collaboration and knowledge exchange, we increase our capacity to deliver sustainable solutions that balance environmental consciousness with social and economic considerations.
Continuous professional development is another crucial aspect of learning: The firm emphasizes the importance of ongoing education, encouraging employees to attend workshops, conferences, and training sessions. By staying informed about the latest advancements in sustainable design, we can leverage emerging technologies and best practices to enhance our projects.
As young designers, we approach environmental sustainability differently from our predecessors. While
technical expertise remains essential, our approach is also driven by an ideological and emotional connection to sustainability, characterized by a strong sense of responsibility toward the planet and future generations. We view architecture as a means to address pressing global issues, such as climate change and social inequity, and strive to create spaces that promote well being, resilience, and inclusivity. There are, however, areas that require improvement or greater emphasis in our learning process. Sustainable design principles should be integrated early in the curriculum for aspiring architects, equipping future designers with the necessary knowledge and mindset to embrace sustainability from the onset. Additionally, there is a need to enhance collaboration between academia and industry to bridge the gap between theoretical learning and practical application.
Learning is fundamental to achieving sustainability. Through a multidisciplinary approach, continuous professional development, and an ideological connection to sustainability, we foster a culture of innovation and adaptation. By addressing the areas that require improvement and emphasizing sustainability in architectural education, we can contribute to a sustainable future that transcends individual projects.
Humane Design for Sustainable Communities
Katherine Dudzik Smith, AIA Senior Design Architect, Phoenix, Arizona, United States
In my experience, sustainability is a term with many meanings: fiscal stability, building projects with triple bottom ROI, the incorporation of carbon into consumption metrics, material toxicity, and development of communities that thrive. It’s this last meaning that has been the focus of my practice in the last few years, and is the one that is most vital to me.
I design for people experiencing homelessness in an extreme environment: Phoenix, Arizona. Our metro area has one of the fastest growing unhoused populations in the United States, brought on by a housing shortage and a lack of housing types. In these challenging circumstances, I have never designed for a more stigmatized group of community members. As a result, clients who provide services to people experiencing homelessness are usually given liminal, leftover spaces—industrial areas where little shade or respite exists, and where the urban
heat island means no heat dissipation at night. These sites were never designed for human habitation and don’t accommodate the long working hours that staff require to serve this community. This situation is not sustainable. In the 118 ° F Phoenix summer heat, both humans and the built environment struggle to survive.
Architects, however, know the power of design as a catalyst for positive change in our environment, and we can design equitable environments that heal, even in harsh environments. We design for equity when we make humane spaces for our most vulnerable communities that mitigate the extremes of climate, stigma, and access. In my practice at HDR, sustainable design means designing beautiful, viable, and equitable projects specific to place and community.
Sustainability
A Young Professional’s Opportunity
Jason Heinrich, Architect AIBC, P.Eng
Building Performance Lead, Vancouver. British Columbia, Canada
“Do you have kids?” used to be common small talk. Today, this question has become an ethical dilemma: “In the face of this climate disaster, should I even consider having children?” Only a generation removed from the nuclear family, we find ourselves in the Anthropocene, reevaluating our roles as both professionals and individuals, questioning the legacies we leave behind.
Historically, architects and engineers have left their indelible marks on the world, but a new generation of young professionals is emerging, eager to undo the negative impacts of the past and create restored environments. For these designers, the challenge is often not one of style or form, but rather seeking permission to create. They are attuned to global warming potentials associated with every line they draw and material they specify, leading to an ethical paralysis. This anxiety is not unwarranted, given the current state of our world— ravaged by wildfires, facing water scarcity, and grappling with mass displament. As young professionals, we have been profoundly influenced by design’s repercussions, both environmental and cultural, throughout our education and careers.
We are presented with the opportunity to envision a sustainable and equitable future, to inspire those around us, and to bring our visions to fruition with technical proficiency. The latter is more straightforward: At HDR, we are already utilizing advanced technology, and we consistently develop custom tools to execute projects efficiently. Our extensive network of experts has been involved in engineering fusion reactor facilities, hydro electric dams, rapid transit infrastructure networks, and mass timber affordable housing projects.
However, the real challenge lies in conceiving a future that catalyzes the present. Can you envision a future that you would want for your children? We have examples we can look to, albeit we need many more. Perhaps the cities of the future resemble Atlanta’s Fourth Ward, where disinvested neighborhoods are transformed into parks with green infrastructure, creating resilience against flooding; or, a new master planned city similar to Hamilton, Washington, relocated in response to a climate emergency and reimagined as a walkable, ecologically focused village.
Our work today will become our legacy. More importantly, it will shape the present for generations to come. Let your imagination run wild.
Doing Something About It
Jeff Mosher, OAA, LEED AP Project Manager/Sustainability Specialist, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Recently, as a guest speaker, speaking to a group of young, bright eyed, and brilliant med students about the importance of sustainable design in healthcare infrastructure, I was asked a very challenging question: “You have young children, you know very well the nature and perilous severity of the polycrisis we are facing. How do you maintain hope?” My answer was simple: “I am doing something about it.”
While the discussion progressed to details and project examples—where we weren’t able to achieve our goal of building a net zero carbon hospital—the message and the purpose was of a singular conviction: To do something about it. To me, and many like minded others, those six words are more important than any other metric that might be mentioned in an employee satisfaction survey. Just because we couldn’t quite get to net zero on that project, doesn’t mean we didn’t do the absolute best job we could. We did set a new energy benchmark record, a pause for celebration—but not a cause. It isn’t enough. The next project, we will apply what was learned and do better, and the next better still, and we will achieve the critically urgent and necessary transition to net zero carbon as a norm, and not an exception. This is my mission, my joy, and my opus.
HDR’s position in the market and strategic direction facilitate this mission, and as such, it’s the only place I want to work. Yes, the salaries are competitive; the work environment is congenial; senior leadership is expert, yet dynamic; and it’s fun—all tremendously important qualities—but it’s the opportunity to do something about it that will attract top talent and keep our practice sustainable, vital, and relevant well into the future.
Al-Widad Specialist Clinic
Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
A new start up hospital that was designed around technology and hospitality, Al Widad is set to be a “Google” for health in Jeddah, KSA. The philanthropic family that is funding this hospital wanted to create a local facility that was accessible and affordable to all. The design, site, planning, and interior teams worked with physicians worldwide and benchmarked hospitality elements to crystallize what it would mean to have a
hospital that focused on the finest details in enhancing well being—future genome preventative techniques, executive health and wellness, and DNA mapping—while designing a flexible and open chassis that would allow major medical equipment to be replaced as technologies improve. Sustainability here refers both to the design team’s attention to managing thermal loads, while also creating a space for accessible medical care.
Client: Al Naghi
Studios: New York, Charlotte, Dubai, Princeton; Mohammed Ayoub, Jim Atkinson, Sabine Aoun, Christopher Brockhoft, Joshua Domingo, Jasmine Gao, Omar Hamasni, Susan McDevitt, Ryan McDonough, Nanmei Jiang Rich, Matt Suarez
PRIVATE SPACES
Heidekreis-Klinikum Bad Fallingbostel
Bad Fallingbostel, Niedersachsen, Germany
Surrounded by woods and small scale towns, the hospital’s low rise pavilions nestle in the landscape. Nature weaves into the building structure, opening the hospital toward the healing environment, creating a unique place of healing, interdisciplinary work, and growth. Natural materials, well proportioned rooms, and an interior design with a focus on nature creates the sustainable atmosphere. Generous areas of nature and recreation in between the pavilions enrich the site and offer calming views from every room. The upper floors
and pavilions will be built in a sustainable construction of wood and steel, enabling the reuse of material. The sensible care units offer individualized, dedicated gardens; one central roof terrace above the main entrance is open for the public. A recreational loop surrounds the hospital, leading through the landscape, which promotes restorative walks. The building’s open and modular structure creates potential for future growth— transformation, a core tenet of sustainability, contributes to the building’s overall carbon footprint.
HEATHLAND AND WOODS
SITE PLAN
Brescia University College, Food School & Academic Pavilion
London, Ontario, Canada
This new two story, 28,000 SF pavilion at Brescia University College delivered a high design building on a modest budget. Large parabolic precast concrete panels are used across the building façades—a nod to the modernist Mother St. James building, to which the
new building connects. The remainder of the exterior material palette is comprised of reclaimed stone from the site’s previous building and two different expressions of prefinished metal siding.
Client: Brescia University College Studios: Toronto, London (Canada), Kingston; Donald Chong, Susan Croswell, David Flett, Jennifer Hoggard, Min Hoo Kim, Somayeh Mousazadeh, Chris Routley, Jeffrey Salmon, Debby Sparks
“Street” Ceiling Trays
NAE Urban Village
Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany
A modern and flexible office building establishes forward thinking standards and, because of its hybrid wood concrete construction method, progressively and sustainably integrates the tradition of the region’s timber construction history with modern architectural requirements. Innovative space planning strategies enable the new development to be constructed in three phases, offering advanced flexibility to respond to future conditions. Additionally, modular space components allow building areas to flex and morph in size throughout the construction schedule; over the structure’s lifetime, floor areas and building volumes can be adapted with minimal effort. The building’s foundation and lower level floors are a solid reinforced recycled concrete structure, with floors above composed of a local timber skeleton structure. Structural components can be separated by type and are, therefore, recyclable. This applies both to material recycling and to the direct reuse of individual components.
Client: Deutsche Bahn
Making it modular and hackable
Massing within a clear network
Making it vertically accessible
Creating a pattern of single houses
Client: HDR
aSPIRE HDR Levels of Excellence
Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Jurors were immediately drawn to aSPIRE’s design aesthetic and its inherent meaning for HDR’s firm culture. The two dimensionality of a paper award doesn’t reflect the firm’s dynamic environment, and aSPIRE—with its interlocking layers and diverse materials—represented growth and achievement in a dynamic object.
Sustainability here refers to the longveity of the firm’s culture: its ability to celebrate and promote achievements ensure that young professionals grow their skills and are supported in that growth by their team.
Studio: Omaha ; Sarita Hollander, Steve LaHood, Lisa Miller, Stefanie Mosteller, Cindy Rieke, Kyle Safranek, Judy Webster, Doug Wignall
1st & Clark Integrated Health and Social Housing
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
A community’s sustainability is defined by how well it can care for populations with the greatest needs. The Integrated Health and Social Housing project combines affordable rental homes, short term transitional housing, and a withdrawal management center with inpatient and outpatient care. The new center will include 90 affordable rental units and 20 short term transitional housing spaces. Serving low to moderate income individuals, the development includes social enterprise space. The design’s comforting tones and lively detailing create a welcoming environment without sacrificing safety or privacy. Jurors commented on the design of the three housing blocks on the plinth, along with the raised garden—a gift for the residents to use.
Studios: Vancouver, Victoria; Jim Aalders, Stu Julien, Johnson Liu, Kelsey Nilsen, Alex Raymundo, Stephen Rowe, Susan Suhar
Lauritzen Gardens Horticulture Complex
Omaha, Nebraska, United States
The primary design goals for the new horticulture complex were to fit contextually within the back gardens native prairie landscape and to demonstrate the core values of the Lauritzen Gardens regarding education and conservation. The focal point will be a new center featuring an education greenhouse, collections greenhouse, public restrooms, and vending/refreshments, centered on a public plaza. In fitting with the natural prairie landscape, the design team looked to traditional prairie sod houses embedded into the earth as inspiration. The insulating properties of the surrounding ground, as well as selected use of green roofs, provides protection to the greenhouse programs from Nebraska’s climate.
Studio: Omaha; William DeRoin, John Dineen, Trevor Hollins, Beth Redding, Sara Robbins, James J. Wingert
Client: Lauritzen Gardens
Lounge Seating Modified Table Base & Repurposed Gym Floor
Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Designed and fabricated by the architect for an exhibit titled “Re Purpose,” this lounge seat was fashioned by disassembling a state surplus office table and using gymnasium flooring removed from a local elementary school as seat and backrest surfaces. Custom steel straps define the anthropometric profile and interface the two materials. While simple in idea and form, the jury was satisfied with the way the object was resolved.
Noting that 20% of the solid waste generated on an annual basis comes from construction and demolition, jurors considered diligently whether or not this object’s environmental impact was significant enough for recognition.
Studio: Omaha; Tyson Fiscus, Michael Hamilton, Alejandro Marin
Client: Kaneko
St. Francis Peace Garden, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota, United States
The original St. Francis Peace Garden was designed to honor the spirit of St. Francis, intended to be a refuge, a place of respite, reflection, and meditation for patients, families, staff, and visitors. More recently, the St. Francis Peace Garden has been partially dismantled, serving as a staging area for a new building. Designers had three main goals: restore the spirit of the St. Francis Peace Garden through the making of an ecology of healing; respond to the needs of respite, reflection, and meditation through a sensitive reintroduction of native plant communities; and communicate the ecological consciousness of St. Francis (the patron saint of ecology) through the attraction of birds and pollinators afforded by the reintroduction of designed native plant communities.
Studios: Denver, Minneapolis; Kent Freed, Anthony Mazzeo, Corey Mollet, Randy Niehaus, Andrew Smith, Dan Strandell, Booker Tieszen, Amy Williams
Client: Mayo Clinic
Prairie
Woodland
Teatro Della Terra Alienata Milan, Italy
The “theatre of distraction” is an object that presents the technologies of Great Barrier Reef preservation currently operating at the reef; at the back it stages a 30 minute film that imagines a fictional future for the reef. The HDR team supported the curatorial team in the ideation and realization of the artifact, contributing to the development of the concept, ensuring adherence to programme and budget, and coordinating the construction of the components. In 2018, the Australian government decided to partially outsource the preservation of the reef to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, a charity supported by major mining and insurance companies, banks, and airlines. Currently, reef preservation is monitored and manicured to maintain the “natural spectacle.”
Studios: Sydney, Kingston, Princeton; Stefano Cottini, Jason Emery Groën, Brian Kowalchuk, Susanne Pini
Client: Milano Triennale
The Possibilities of Transformation: Buildings and Practice
By Christopher Hawthorne
Is architecture the least dynamic of the arts? It can seem that way. Films are movies: moving pictures. Music takes on a new character every time it is performed. Dance and theater rely, fundamentally, on movement. Visual art would seem diminished without the dynamism of mobile sculptures and film and video installations. Literature becomes changeable as soon as it is read aloud—or translated from one language to another.
Buildings, meanwhile, are immovable objects, heavy and fixed. Though they age and decay, the possibility of evolving is typically foreclosed to them. And they come to fruition in a process, typically measured in years instead of months or days, that compared to the time it takes to write a poem or take a photograph can seem slow nearly to the point of motionlessness. This gives them a kind of gravity that artists in other fields may envy; what it doesn’t give them is any real sense of fluidity.
There are, of course, parts of certain buildings that move and shift, sometimes at the push of a button. Think of the work of the California modernist John Lautner, whose midcentury houses in Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and elsewhere sometimes included control panels giving their residents the ability to slide window panels entirely out of sight or bring hidden television sets down from the ceiling. Or of the rotating restaurants at the tops of hotel towers that became briefly fashionable in American downtowns a half-century ago. But this kind of architecture has long struggled to shake off a feeling of being gimmicky or unserious, of chasing a sort of drama separate from the basic work of architectural practice.
Paradoxically enough, however, it is precisely the permanence of buildings that opens up the possibility of transformation in architecture. Because buildings outlive people—sometimes many generations of their inhabitants—they likewise see their original programs, their architectural reasons for being, fade away as well. At least until new owners, and new architects, arrive to write a new chapter. Chapels become libraries that become condos. Basketball arenas are reborn as megachurches, armories as art galleries. And as the uses of these buildings change, so too does something in their architectural sensibilities—even if not a single exterior brick or window is moved from its original location.
This kind of transformation has taken on a new importance in recent years as we have begun to grapple more seriously with the climate crisis. A growing number of architects, especially younger ones, see nearly any ground-up building as ethically suspect given the carbon-intensity of most construction, particularly if it involves large amounts of concrete or steel. As the Spanish architect Andrés Jaque, dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, put it in a recent interview, “Every design is a redesign. At a time shaped by ecology, architecture is no longer something that can be understood as a new beginning or a tabula rasa.”
This idea is not simply a challenge to the modern movement’s insistence on the supreme value of innovation and its attendant valorization of an avantgarde. It would also be fair to say that architecture, as a discipline, has so far confronted in only the most basic
terms the implications of an emphasis on reuse over first use, of redesign over design—and on giving historically marginalized communities real agency in helping shape the architecture of their neighborhoods. Even the language we use to describe this kind of architectural practice seems stuck. As Deborah Berke and Thomas de Monchaux put it in a new book on work by Berke’s firm, Transform: Promising Places, Second Chances, and the Architecture of Transformational Change, “The term ‘adaptive reuse’ is bland and imprecise. It implies a lack of rigor, as if old buildings were discarded objects that can easily be repurposed, like a turning an old milk crate into a bookshelf.”
To a certain degree this shortcoming may work itself out over time. As the topic of transformation moves from the margins of architectural practice toward the center, critics, historians, teachers, students, and architects themselves will develop a new and broader lexicon to define the full range of its potential and its effects. The question is more to what extent those who finance and approve architectural work—clients and public agencies— will embrace with real urgency the need for the shift in perspective that Jaque, Berke, de Monchaux, and others have identified.
It would be letting the discipline off the hook not to insist that transformation at the level of practice, within design and architecture firms, is equally important. Instead of firms named for their one or two (typically white, frequently male) founders, architectural practices are in need of their own evolution: to add a focus on collaborative work, with pay equity and other kinds
of workplace fairness to match. Thankfully there is a natural connection between a growing awareness of the importance of transforming existing buildings and transforming the day-to-day realities of architectural practice. An architect who takes up the challenge of rethinking an as-found building for new uses or new climate realities, or both, is unavoidably in conversation with the architects of the original project. This implies a kind of inherent collaboration, and an inherent need for credit—authorship—to be shared. A parallel shift needs to happen within firms themselves, so that they can move past the idea that any work of architecture is ever produced without collaboration.
Maybe it’s naïve to expect that the transformation of existing buildings will lead to a broader transformation of practice. But the two subjects are entangled in fascinating and encouraging ways. In both cases, what many of us are hoping to see, and working to create, is a shift from designs that are imposed from the top down to those that are worked through: in conversation with existing structures, with clients and communities, and not least with colleagues in architectural practice.
Christopher Hawthorne is an architecture critic, educator, and filmmaker. He served from 2018 to 2022 as the first Chief Design Officer for the City of Los Angeles. In this role, he provided design oversight for major building and infrastructure projects across the city as well as launching initiatives related to housing, architecture, urban design, civic memory, and public art. From 2004 to 2018 Hawthorne was the architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times . His writing on architecture and the arts has also appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harvard Design Magazine, ARCHITECT, Architectural Record, Domus , and many other publications. With Alanna Stang, he is author of The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture (Princeton Architectural Press).
Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin
Berlin, Germany
The new German Heart Centre Berlin at the Charité Campus Virchow-Klinikum is the prelude to the long-term development of the entire campus until 2050, representing a scaled vision for the campus’s transformation. The building fulfills its role as an important institution in the public urban space with its urban position as well as its sculptural formulation.
The building fits coherently and proportionally into its surroundings, interweaving with its urban environment. The simple building structure has two main access cores and two inner courtyards. The core arrangement allows for maximum flexibility and, thus, permanently economical use. All patient rooms are located on the outer façade with appropriately dimensioned windows.
ZONING ICU
Waldkliniken Eisenberg
Eisenberg, Thuringia, Germany
HDR, in collaboration with architecture firm Matteo Thun & Partners, planned and implemented the new construction of the Waldkliniken “Forest Clinic” in Eisenberg. The aim of the project was to create a clinic campus with a consistent design and experience for patients, employees, and visitors in terms of design, concept, and functionality. Because of the strong
emphasis on having a hotel-like character, the design of the patient rooms differs significantly from the usual standard: Predominantly two-bed rooms with z-shaped geometry provides each patient a personal space. The project represents a transformation from the static nature of hospital spaces and instead emphasizes a design that can flexibly accomodate private and communal moments.
WKE. 4. OBER GESCHO SS | 4T H FL OOR 1_ 500.
PATIENTS' APARTMENT
WKE | Waldklinik en Eisenberg - P atientenhotel. Eisenber g, Deutschland.
WKE. E RDGES CH OS S | GR OUND FL OOR 1_ 500.
TYPICAL FLOOR
GROUND FLOOR
WKE Waldklinik en Eisenberg - P atientenhotel. Eisenber g, Deutschland.
White Plains Hospital Master Plan
White
Plains, New York, United States
This project entailed examining the current campus master plan for the White Plains Hospital to assess future growth plans and make recommendations on how to design for the next 30 years. Looking at the latest trends of how people will be arriving at the front door between personal autonomous vehicles and enhanced autonomous
public transit, the team took advantage of the streetscape topography to create a new multi-layered greenbelt that threads together the multiple existing centers and future towers. The plan accomodates technological and sociological shifts—it anticipates a more sustainable and connected future.
Client: White Plains Hospital
Studio: New York; Aslihan Avci Aksap, Jim Atkinson, Mohammed Ayoub, Jasmine Gao, Brooke Horan, Thomas Hughes, Urmi Kathri, Susan McDevitt, Ellen Randall, Dave Redemske, Nibu Samuel, Michael Street, Katherine Thomas, Annette Veliz
THIRD FLOOR
FIRST FLOOR
Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts
Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
This renovation project transformed the former University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bookstore into a new home for the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts, a new pilot program for the university that is conceptually regarded as a central nervous system of interdisciplinary learning. The program focuses on students and faculty who will spark new ideas for the future of new media, technology, art, and culture. The original building was considered a “non-precious shell” within which the design team created a space for exploration, transforming a once-bland structure into a interdisciplinary space for creative practices.
Studio: Omaha; Mike Brotherson, Tyson Fiscus, Donald Foster, Wade Goehring, Robert J. Guinn, Michael Hamilton, Nicholas R. Hoesing, Jim Hubbell, Gina Jarta, Garrett Johnson, Randy Niehaus, James Walbridge, Tim Wurtele
Client: Beijing Genomics Institute
Shenzhen Beijing Genomics Institute Hospital Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
This two-phased, 290,625 SF project creates an ecological system that establishes a new hospital as a connection and transport hub between the nearby nature park and the city. An open “healing green valley” between each of the two development phases penetrates
the natural parks and urban spaces to form a brand-new ecological “healing park.” The hospital is, essentially, transformed by its geographic and ecological conditions, paving the way for a new environment for healing.
The Edgescape Tower is an intervention that transforms a previously unusable portion of the Missouri River riverbank. The vision activates this urban wilderness with recreational use, allowing local residents to enjoy the riverbank’s beauty in ways not previously possible due to increasingly common flood events. Once complete, visitors will access the tower via a network of elevated walks connecting to the tower, finding moments of quiet respite among the trees at the elevated base level. The platforms above contain access points to a 100-foot-tall
climbing wall, simulated caving environments, a tree-top roll-glide course, and multiple observation decks.
The tower and walkways are designed using resilient materials assembled in simple, repeating forms. Users navigate up and down between platforms that are suspended between two simple core structures. The result is a stoic structure that strives to complement its natural surroundings through the use of wood as a screening element throughout and wood board formed over the concrete structure.
1 Situate climbing wall on vertical core
2 Split core, maximizing climbing area
3 Elevate program above floodplain
4 Integrate adventure program elements
Studio: Omaha; Rebecca Cherney, Jen Cross, John Dineen, Tyson Fiscus, Paige Haskett, Randy Niehaus. Jacob Pulfer, Beth Redding, Tom Trenolone, Timothy Williams, James J. Wingert, Cole Wycoff
Client: Southwest Iowa Nonprofit for Collective Impact (SINC)
Climbing Wall
Art Installation
Elevated Walk
Roll-Glide Course
Caving
Observation Tower
Art Installation
River Observation Phase
RAISED WALKWAY CONSTRUCTION
Roll-Glide Course
Elevated Walk
Observation Tower
Visitor Pavilion
Climbing Wall
Adventure Park
Omaha Discovery Center
Omaha, Nebraska, United States
The Omaha Discovery Center is a learning environment— part workshop, part museum—for children and adults ages six and up. The building is thought of as a “container” like the classic Nebraskan “machine-shed,” where apertures in the aluminum exterior envelope adhere to optimal shading based on the façade’s orientation. Its geometry emerged out of an apparent landscape “grain” that organizes the building into two forms. On the west, towards downtown Omaha, it “lifts” off the
ground creating an elevated “canvas” and acts as a billboard to the city. The space under the cantilever then becomes a pedestrian space. The east form along the river anchors into the ground along the riverfront boardwalk. Vertical shading fins along the east provide glimpses into the interior, thus animating the façade experience. Transforming a vernalcuar shape into a lively space for learning produces a new site that reflects local knowledge; it is as comfortable in its landscape as it is dynamic.
Studio: Omaha; Marty Amsler, Mike Brotherson, Rebecca Cherney, Matthew J. Delaney, John Dineen, Tyson Fiscus, Michael Hamilton, Nicholas R. Hoesing, Randy Niehaus, Kelsey Pierce, Jacob Pulfer, Tyler Ray, Beth Redding, Wyatt Suddarth, Jeff Thompson, Elizabeth Von Lehe, Timothy Williams, James J. Wingert, Xin Zhao
SOUTH ELEVATION
EAST ELEVATION
WEST ELEVATION
Urban Stitch
New York, New York, United States
The pedestrian fabric of west Manhattan is torn apart at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel at West 30th Street. Like many places throughout the city, pedestrians traverse a hostile, smog-filled, traffic-ridden streetscape as they attempt to safely navigate their commute. Called “transformational” by jurors, The Stitch integrates twin paths that extend the High Line at the plinth and span eastward, stitching together events and fraying at times to allow for efficient movement.
The bridge applies a tripartite sustainability design. The fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) cladding and glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) structural deck contain postconsumer plastics pulled directly from the Hudson River. Titanium dioxide-coated, 3D-printed steel mesh sculptures cleanse the air of nitrogen oxides released by passing vehicles. When it rains, the resulting nitrate-rich runoff is collected and used to fertilize plant life along the pedestrian bridges.
Funicular arches create an efficient structural system, allowing for generous span lengths and sectional design liberties. By allowing the funicular arches to cross, split, merge, and support each other, designers created an interconnected structural system that provides vertical and lateral stability while limiting conflicts on the ground below.
Studios: Arlington, Los Angeles; Hamed Aali, Kent Bonner, Tyler Dye, Michael Fitzpatrick, Jack Knapp, Sally Lee, Ivan O’Garro, Tasiana Paolisso, Miguel Rivera, Mariana Torres Cantu, Simon Trumble, Susan Walter, Hua Yang
Client: Metals In Construction Magazine
The Perch
An elevated lookout point and stage for performing arts and film nested into the plaza at
The Shed Five Manhattan West
The High Line
Empire Station 9th Avenue Exit
Empire Station Manhattan West
Lincoln Tunnel Entrance
Manhattan West.
FRP Panels with Rods
Rib Trusses at 5‘ 0“ O.C.
Perch
Client:
Lenox Hill Hospital
New York, New York, United States
This new approach to a hospital is vertically integrated in scale: from pedestrian and cyclist to vehicular access and streetscape; façade-wall to corner presence; block to neighborhood to community to city. The project incorporates a residential component that would become a revenue source for the hospital.
The hospital opens the lower levels to the public and integrates the subway entrance to further intertwine with the urban fabric to create a community hub where people can stop by at the café, pharmacy, or gym to give
equal access to all who transition through, even from the subway. This true “lobby” for the hospital is elevated to a more serene and private space called the sky lobby which has its own garden, providing another layer of hospitality for the patient, families, users, and caregivers. The project is a new take on the role healthcare plays in our communities, ingraining such facilities into our daily lives and transforming the way that wellness plays into our civic movements.
Studio: New York; Jim Atkinson, Sabine Aoun, Mohammed Ayoub, Chris Bormann, Brian Cheng, Brian Kowalchuk, Jake Levine, Jesse McCarter, Ellen Randall, Cole Wycoff
Northwell Health
ELEVATED INPATIENT TOWER
PUBLIC REALM
ELEVATED GARDEN - ENTRANCE
RESIDENTIAL TOWER
Residential Tower Medical Center
Main/East (1913)
West (1913)
Brownstones
Achelis (1894/1917)
Uris (1972)
Wollman (1959)
Achman (1966)
Black Hall (1963)
Sky Garden
Move
Juice Bar
Transitional Neighborhood
Client: Canadian Nuclear Laboratories
MU x MT
Chalk River, Ontario, Canada
This adaptive reuse project speaks to layers of transformation: Of a unique building, but also governmental priorities. With the gradual decommissioning of a 20th-centuryera infrastructure of nuclear facilities, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) has adopted a resilient architectural outlook. CNL has undertaken four new flagship buildings for its new campus redevelopment, providing modern spaces. The mass timber structure in these buildings will support CNL’s transformation as a sustainable facility, with
an arrangement of fixed and reconfigurable spaces that adopt flexibility and modular design principles, allowing the facilities to remain relevant.
The project team is investigating different design options to have direct alignment with the Government of Canada’s policy direction on climate change and clean growth, while advanced wood/mass timber construction honors the region’s deep logging/lumber history, its economic well-being, and its Indigenous territorial roots.
Studios: Toronto, Ottawa, Kingston; Donald Chong, Susan Croswell, Paul Howard Harrison, Min Hoo Kim, Somayeh Mousazadeh, Justin Perdue, Chris Routley, Jeremy Van Dyke, Sebastian Wooff
WEST ELEVATION SOUTH ELEVATION
EAST ELEVATION NORTH ELEVATION
102,000 SF
400 Seats, 6 Stories
LEVEL 4-6
Typical “Loft” Offices
CORE Elevators, Washrooms, Shafts
LEVEL 3 Conference Centre
LEVEL 2
Lobby, Collaboration
LEVEL 1 Wellness, Health
iKure Clinic in West Bengal Baruipur, West Bengal, India
iKure’s work optimizes healthcare delivery using a sophisticated AI-driven model developed with IBM’s Big Data team, demonstrating how design embraces rapidlyshifting technologies and thought-leadership occuring in outside, related fields.
A similar algorithmic approach was taken for the building’s massing, resulting in a courtyard building
reminiscent of the traditional villa style in West Bengal. The final form features myriad smaller lightwells ringing a single courtyard‚ creating a clear, efficient ring-road circulation. Porous brick towers designed with custom software have been placed at each aperture, which filter light both in and out of the building.
Studios: Kingston, Chicago, Toronto; Norman Fisher, Megan Gallagher, Jason-Emery Groën, Paul Howard Harrison
Client: iKure
The Jewell Jazz Club Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Paying homage to Omaha’s rich jazz history and its local music impresario Jimmy Jewell, The Jewell seeks to create an experiential environment while maintaining premium acoustics. The sculptural upstage wall anchors the room. Undulating peaks and valleys of walnut veneer plywood are formed in a jewel-cut geometric pattern, diffusing and scattering sound from the stage. Jurors were particularly attracted to this feature, noting its visual beauty and its
acoustical impact, but were greatly disinterested in the furnishings and finishes of other features. Special attention was given to the acoustics of the room. A hotel ballroom located directly above the space presented many technical sound challenges. In collaboration with acousticians, the team was able to create an isolated barrier ceiling along with other acoustically superior isolation and amplified sound features.
Studio: Omaha; Matthew DeBoer, Trevor Hollins, David Lempke, Taylor Nielsen, Andrew R. Wilson
Client: McKenna Group Productions
Client: Los Angeles Department of Water & Power
Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, Hoover Street Power Yard
Los Angeles, California, United States
The new building on an EPA clean-up/ brownfield site replaces a dilapidated street lighting facility‚ with an optimized utility yard including a mixed-use building housing management and crew workplace, community room, lockers and gym, materials warehouse, fleet maintenance, and parking. It’s an impactful example of transforming previous conditions into lively, sustainable community spaces.
Combining passive and active strategies (thermal mass, daylighting, hybrid natural, and displacement air systems) significantly reduces the EUI. Conserving potable water is also key. Community benefits include a shared training/ meeting room with an outdoor patio, additions of street trees, and massing to protect the nearby residential neighbors from the yard noise and fleet traffic.
Studio: Los Angeles; Luel Baylon, Phil Beadle, Jason Brown, Catherine Canetti, David Chargin, Charles Christoplis, April Cottini, Harold Davis, Yining Deng, Kate Diamond, Jere Ferguson, Royston Gikonyo, Josh Greenfield, Diane Hamlin, Mark Harper, Amanda Hedstrom, Phillip Hohensee, Maria Antony Katticaran, Naga Priya Koushik, Julian Lopez, Charlene Mendez, Corey Mollet, Gabriella Morris, Carlos Pinelo, Aaron Olko, Sergio Colominas Ochoa De Retana, Joshua Ortiz, Li Pan, Darren Pynn, Martin Ramirez, Gregory Ramseth, Amit Roy, Heather Santos, Susan Suhar, Sabah Partovi, David Stransky, Adrian Suzuki, Timothy Swe, Tom Tan, Jay Tenison, Aubrey Thompson, Matthew Tufts, Anne Ullestad, Jason Vera, Brian Voorhees, Bill Walters, Zhi Wei, Jeff Wurmlinger, Peter Yau, Oliver Goulart Young
Studio Culture
On Collaboration & Culture
No matter who we collaborate with, it is critical that we have mutual respect for one another’s expertise. That is the absolute baseline. That may look and feel a little bit differently in Omaha than in does in Princeton or Sydney, but ultimately it is a constant that has helped us build a strong foundation for a global practice.
Global Design Director
Brian Kowalchuk, FAIA
Collaboration is at the heart of our design process. We collaborate with other firms, including design firms; we collaborate across disciplines, both with HDR colleagues and outside consultants; and sometimes we collaborate across geographies, reaching across borders to share and explore innovative practices with studios from other countries. This active collaboration relies on people who are committed to the project and willing to engage. It’s about each person bringing a specific expertise, being personally dedicated, and making an individual effort. And then, it’s about coming together, bringing these ideas to the table, and sharing them to make them even better.
But of course, design is not linear, it’s messy and complicated.
Consider another form of collaboration that lies at the heart of any design practice: the relationship between design and operations. Typically, this association is fraught with tension: operations views designers as fiscally adverse and too focused on the creative process. Meanwhile, designers view operations as risk averse and too focused on applying stringent financial constraints that stifle creativity. As a large, operationally driven firm, we have experienced this friction often.
But what if that tension is viewed through a quality assurance lens? Would that change the dynamics? I argue that it would, because then everyone is concentrating on the bigger picture of what we are working to achieve and not just their individual piece of the process. Our goal is always to deliver the very best project we can—one that meets both design and financial targets.
A long time ago, our practice was guided by two major components. The first, operations, was all about the dollars and cents side of things. The second, marketing, was about filling the pipeline to support the business operations. But then we added design as a critical third element to our success—because design is the bridge that enhances the quality of our business. Design lives in both worlds; it not only retains and attracts clients, but it ensures that we deliver what our clients envision. It’s the very purpose for what we do.
Which brings us back to the subject of collaboration. Delivering great design requires successful collaboration— the freedom to challenge, the ability to ask questions, give voice to a gut feeling, to allow an open dialog. The best collaborations are about a spontaneous exchange that gives us a little more to think about…that quiet voice whispering over our shoulder “Have you considered this?”
It’s these kinds of conversations that catapult ideas to the next level. Sometimes ideas may be about efficiency, about using tools that make us more effective or drive quicker decision-making. And that’s okay. Those kinds of operational ideas don’t diminish the significance of a design concept or the technical expertise needed to achieve it, but may just enhance it.
I think our practice—and our clients—are better served when everyone is focused on delivering a project that adheres to our design philosophy:
• Capture a bold idea or concept
• Rethink the standard approach
• Expression of integrated design
• Stewardship of mind, place and resources
• Embody a client’s vision
It’s the tenets of this design philosophy and the aspirations that it represents—and a shared commitment to every element of it by all parts of our organization—that establishes an underlying culture of respect for diversity of opinion. No matter who we collaborate with, it is critical that we have mutual respect for one another’s expertise. That is the absolute baseline. That may look and feel a little bit differently in Omaha than in does in Princeton or Sydney, but ultimately it is a constant that has helped us build a strong foundation for a global practice.
I think the Opacity initiative reflects this beautifully. It forces us to stop, think and communicate with one another about our shared portfolio of work and its meaning. It also forces us to stop, think and listen to what an outside jury thinks about our portfolio of work and learn from their critique.
Great design is not about designing to a common denominator. That would only result in mediocrity. Great design is about bringing together diverse and intelligent points of view, responding honestly to a rigorous design discourse, and always looking to improve what we’re doing. In the end, the project designer must make the final decision, but they’re only able to do so after drawing people in and being willing to go beyond their comfort zone. Sometimes the best ideas may just come from places we least expect it.
ARLINGTON/GLEN ALLEN, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES
Simon Trumble
Erin Cooper
Hamed Aali
As leaders who hire new team members, what types of “soft skills” do you look for in a teammate and why?
SIMON TRUMBLE: When we’re hiring new team members, we prioritize individuals with a “design-ish” mindset, which can manifest itself in various ways. Some candidates may lean more towards design skills, exhibiting an eye for composition, order, ideas, and procession. On the other hand, there are those who excel in pure logic, functionality, and problem-solving. We seek team members who possess the ability to think holistically, tackling design as an equation that addresses overarching problems rather than adopting a piecemeal approach. Personally, I value individuals who demonstrate a passion for continuous learning and improvement, as well as an engagement with the nuances and qualities of life. A prospective team member should embody qualities of an explorer, a learner, philosopher, and a growth mindset, reflecting the constant need for evolution in our profession. This dynamic and adaptive personality type is crucial in our ever-evolving field.
Established 1969
Leadership
Simon Trumble
Design Principal, Architecture
Erin Cooper
Design Principal, Interiors
Hamed Aali
Design Studio Lead
April Drake
Managing Principal
Design Vanguard
Kelly Dorsett
JD (James) Dowling
Jack Knapp
Melissa Moseley
Gina Robinson
Emy Semprun
Greg Wells
Awarded Projects
1 Clarendon Design Studio, Arlington, VA, USA
2 Howard University Interdisciplinary Research Building, Washington D.C., USA
Being so close to the nation’s capital, how do the historic resources and political culture impact your office’s culture or design practice?
ST: Working so close to the nation’s capital comes with a unique set of considerations that significantly influence our office culture and design practice. Much of our work involves government projects, which inherently involves a considerable amount of precise documentation and operates at a slower pace due to its risk-averse nature. While our clients emphasize sustainability, there’s a cautious approach when it comes to embracing innovative design elements. The approval process for introducing new materials or systems is laden with bureaucratic red tape, necessitating strategic decisions and a focus on pushing design within established parameters.
Although constraints may initially seem restrictive, they challenge us to be creative in unconventional ways, especially in areas like acoustics, MEP, and sustainable precision. The limitations foster a unique form of creativity and layer complexity into our projects. While some may perceive it as less visually creative, it brings forth a richness and intricacy that adds depth to our work.
Constraints may feel frustrating but they help us be creative in ways we might not have considered—like with acoustics, or MEP, or focusing on a high rigor of precision.
What other types of creative practices do your team members engage in, and how do you think having those outside practices contribute to their work or your office in general?
ST: Our team actively participates in an after-hours design forum every few weeks, fostering an open and casual environment. While the atmosphere is relaxed, I encourage team members to give presentations a couple of times a year. Initially centered on background presentations like “Where are you from?” we’ve shifted towards discussions on personal design interests. The underlying philosophy is to encourage an architectural dialogue and design focused on engagement among team members. This deliberate effort serves a dual purpose: not only are we a design firm, but we are also fostering a vibrant learning institution within our office. The commitment of time and energy is a conscious investment to ensure that we don’t just produce exceptional designs but also continuously evolve as a team, pushing the boundaries of creativity and knowledge.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES
Michael McPhail
Matthew Fickett
June Chun
Meghan Mele
How do you set goals with your team, and how do you rally your people toward those goals?
MIKE MCPHAIL: We tend to be as collaborative as we can be, so that underscores our whole approach to setting goals and establishing teams. Every person has their own unique skill to bring to an effort or a project. We set goals that are complementary to those skill sets and make sure people can achieve them. Then we encourage, monitor, and we follow up to make sure they can reach that goal.
We love to reward people when they have some success—individual rewards through Pathfinders or spot bonuses, as well as teams by celebrating success as an office. If we win a project or there’s a successful team to congratulate, we’ll have a champagne toast as an office, or we have a celebratory dinner. Generally, we aim to be inclusive and celebrate together wherever possible.
Established 2006
Leadership
Michael McPhail
Design Principal,
Architecture
June Chun
Interior Design Studio Lead
Meghan Mele
Senior Interior Designer
Matthew Fickett
Managing Principal
Design Vanguard
Maad Emam
Chuanjingwei Wang
Studio Disciplines
Architecture
Interiors
Sustainability
Number of Staff
39
Locations of awarded projects.
2
1
Awarded Projects
Child Development Center, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Malawi Outpatient Clinic at Neno District Hospital, Malawi, Southeast Africa
If your office could redesign one thing about Boston, what would you love to tackle?
MM: I have two answers—one for the city of Boston and one for the Boston studio itself. For the city, we have a relatively new district called the Seaport District. It’s full of new construction and is a busy and active area. If we could travel back in time 15 or 20 years and masterplan it with more cohesiveness, I think that would be a blast to try and tackle; making sure there’s a unified identity to it with more open space and places for people. One of the issues that is evident now is a lack of outdoor or gathering space, plus most of the buildings feel kind of impersonal.
If it’s the studio space, I think I’d probably say we’d like to redesign our central collaboration space. It’s a beautiful space overlooking the harbor, airport, and the city. But functionally, it’s a bit difficult to hold certain types of events there, so I would love to take a pass at redesigning that space. It would be great to have seating options in collaboration space, updated audio-visual systems and the mechanical systems—the whole thing.
We tend to be as collaborative as we can be, so that underscores our whole approach to setting goals and establishing teams. Every person has their own unique skill to bring to an effort or a project.
How does your team address failure?
MM: I think what we feel as a studio is that you don’t want to not do something because you’re afraid of failing. Unfortunately, failure will sometimes happen, and we need to move on and move forward from it. We need to ensure that people don’t become paralyzed by the fear of it. Failure can be debilitating and so it’s very important to just reiterate and ask, “Okay, this happened. What can we learn from it? How are we going to move on?” We need to emphasize that we shouldn’t turn failure into an opportunity to not be creative enough or not take risks and try new things. That’s how I personally approach failure—a mindset of “What can I do differently next time to avoid this scenario?” and hopefully we’re imparting that philosophy to the studio.
3
4 Shelter in a Forest, Boston, MA, USA
Uganda Medical and AIDS Clinic, Bududa District, Uganda, East Africa
CHARLOTTE/RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES
Tyler Dye
Kevin Lynch
Barbara Dokulil
Robby Bryant
John Tabor
Richard Alsop
What do you think is your most beloved workplace amenity?
TYLER DYE: While it’s not a true office amenity, the nearby minor league baseball stadium in Charlotte immediately comes to mind. Minor league is nice because it’s a little bit easier to get into than major league. We’ve held several large events for the studio there and I’ve gone with coworkers to catch a game right after work because it’s just so close.
Office location is so important for recruitment and retention within the architecture practice—I think this is especially true for our younger staff. Location can often be the most important amenity, and for us, it just so happens to manifest itself in the minor league stadium.
Established 2001
Leadership
Tyler Dye
Design Principal, Architecture
Kevin Lynch
Interior Design Director
Barbara Dokulil
Design Principal, Interiors
Robby Bryant
Design Principal, Landscape Architect
John Tabor
Design Director, Architecture
Richard Alsop
Managing Principal
Design Vanguard
Julio Cesar Martinez
John Rios
3
2
1
How does mentorship play a role in your office?
TD: I’ve been with HDR for 10 years now and I’ve probably gone through several specific mentorship initiatives. Personally, I’ve found that formal mentorship initiatives often end up not having legs—they run their course in 8 to 12 months, and everybody gets busy, and they fall off. Developing a mentorship connection more organically through project work has worked more for me and I’ve been grateful for those opportunities.
There is a critical need for mentorship in our studio because we have a lot of younger staff, and we don’t have a lot of the middle right now. So, using mentorship—either through existing initiatives or more organically—to help those people rise to the next tier of the ladder in their careers would be beneficial.
Shifting from an individual scale to the studio scale, it’s important to expose people to a variety of work throughout the office. This is especially important when they’re young as it helps establish a broad level of experience and set of potential mentors. Mentorship doesn’t need to be limited to just one person. That’s why I think developing more organic connections throughout the office on a typical day offers an alternative approach that can work.
How does the studio celebrate successes?
TD: I think we could do a better job at celebrating successes. We do have bi-weekly breakfasts that are certainly more focused on connecting with people in the office. During those breakfasts, someone will take 10 minutes and introduce themselves and give a PowerPoint presentation on themselves. It started as
…it’s important to expose people to a variety of work throughout the office. This is especially important when they’re young as it helps establish a broad level of experience and set of potential mentors. Mentorship doesn’t need to be limited to just one person.
a way to talk about project work and critique. For the recognition and celebration piece of it, which again, I think we can do better at, the presentation is a place where we can recognize each other’s efforts—like if it’s a project win or when somebody gets licensed. That’s a forum where you can bring those successes to the forefront and highlight project teams or people themselves. I’d say that’s probably the biggest forum we have for doing that. I also want to mention our happy hours, which is another kind of forum. Does it often get used as a forum? No, not really. For the happy hour, it’s more for connecting with colleagues. There’s always room for improvement and I do think we can do better with that, I’m just not sure what that exactly looks like just yet.
4 Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
5 Parkland Hospital, Dallas, TX, USA
6 Al-Widad Specialist Clinic, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES
How does Chicago influence your office’s work?
Jae Choi
Dane Rausch
Jeff Fahs
Jon Brooke
Americo Gonzalez
Aquino
Grace Rappe
Rachel Coffee
JON BROOKE : In Chicago, the river has been very influential. It’s a unifying idea that stands behind a lot of the work that we do and what we’re looking to pursue. A lot of our projects are situated close to the river and the river is this historical thread that runs through the city—it’s a meaningful metaphor for what we do. We recently completed a study for the Chicago Department of Transportation that looks at how people access products around the river, particularly around Bubbly Creek, which was an infamous industrial waste plant. It connects major infrastructure, so it brings together a lot of what we do. Landscape architects, engineers, and urban planners all deal with water resources, so we see a lot of opportunities to work across all sectors and engage with more work in Chicago.
JAE CHOI : The representation of Chicago architecture is known by everyone. It has traditionally held a lot of richness to it; there are 78 neighborhoods and different business districts that feature parks and bodies of water. All these projects that we do in Chicago represent who we are as an architecture firm and it pulls a lot of examples from what we do. Whether it’s a hospital, or a university, or engagement with the local neighborhoods, it seems to me that architecture is always at the center of what makes Chicago so special. Our work represents what Chicago was, is, and what it can be, and shows where we want to go as a firm.
Locations of awarded project; see following pages.
Established 1995
Leadership
Lois Wellwood
Global Design Director, Interiors
Jae Choi
Design Principal, Architecture
Dane Rausch
Design Principal, Interiors
Jeff Fahs
Design Director, Landscape Architecture
Jon Brooke
Design Principal, Site
Americo Gonzalez
Aquino
Design Principal, Architecture
Grace Rappe
Managing Principal
Rachel Coffee Communications Principal
Design Vanguard
Pepe Carrillo
Rikka Liu
Huiting (DD) Du Geneva Frank
William Wellington
L→ R TOP TO BOTTOM ;
Lois Wellwood
What does ambition look like in your office culture?
JC : We have to acknowledge the fact that the old ways of doing architecture aren’t working for the new generations and adapt to the new working cultures that have been created in a lot of firms. We’re always trying to adapt to this new way of working together and putting collaboration in front of the old ways of doing things. We’re trying to find our own way of doing things that makes more sense for us, compared to other firms who do certain things in certain ways.
JB : We have some great team members who really want to learn and grow and move forward in their careers. There are a lot of folks who are very focused on taking charge and not waiting to have something handed to them. There is a lot of ambition manifesting itself that way.
JC: Our firm is so different because we’re employeeowned. That identity has become the backbone of the way we have built our Chicago studio. Everybody has ownership. But we also have ownership of our office, so it’s not up to just principals going out and building relationships with different institutions and the neighborhood leaders. Everyone here is asked and encouraged to immerse themselves in different organizations and opportunities, to do outreach programs, to get connected.
At the end of the day, it’s not necessarily about collecting awards, it’s about completing a project for the people experiencing the building. We want to continue to complete beautifully detailed buildings rather than just finish up and move on to the next.
How do you set goals with your team, and how do you rally your people toward those goals?
JB : Good leadership is what really encourages us to set goals, so we spend a lot of time working together to set those goals. We identify goals that are going to advance us in particular ways, and that’s the theme each year. Last year we were able to set some goals not just for project work, but also for growth. That includes speaking at conferences, presenting our work, and being engaged in organizations. We advise employees to pick goals that they can meet so we’re making progress. Since we come up with those goals together, I don’t really have to rally our people because I have a great team that really wants to meet its goals and is hungry to get there.
JC : We’ve tried to make the design process transparent, so the process we go through is always open to the studios. Whether that is through a conversation or pinups, we’re trying to do things in front of other teams and in front of the studio so that everybody understands the rigorous process that we go through to design a building and the kinds of things that we talk about. At the end of the day, it’s not necessarily about collecting awards, it’s about completing a project for the people experiencing the building. We want to continue to complete beautifully detailed buildings rather than just finish up and move on to the next.
DALLAS, TEXAS, UNITED STATES
What is something special or unique about how your team collaborates among engineers, business management, and design?
STEPHEN KNOWLES: We’re lucky because we have them all—engineers, business development, and designers— in the studio with us. It’s a huge advantage to have the engineers right upstairs because as a collaborative studio, we can get their input from day one of a project. We’re very integrated as a studio, even how we work with our interiors team, pulling them in during the front end—same for our landscape and site planning team. I would say we excel at trying to ensure our disciplines and the way we work is very integrated.
We all try to move together as a team, not as an individual—we strive to run flat: while we have principals and interns and the whole range of job titles or seniority, we try to focus on giving everyone the opportunity to contribute and have a say.
Established 1975
Leadership
Stephen Knowles Design Principal, Architecture
Shai Roos
Principal, Urban Planning
Chad Anderson
Managing Principal
Design Vanguard
Peyvand Amiri
Tuyen Le Mai
4
3
2
1
Stephen Knowles
Shai Roos
Chad Anderson
Awarded Projects
Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Sciences, Fayetteville, AR, USA
Health Hub Experience Guidebook, Southern California, USA
Parkland Hospital, Dallas, TX, USA
Galveston Fire and Rescue, Galveston, TX, USA
Locations of awarded projects. 1
Studio Disciplines Architecture
Architectural Engineering
Branding & Graphic
Design
Interiors
Planning & Consulting
Site & Landscape
Design
Sustainability
Urban
Texas is a big, diverse state; how does such plurality of urban and rural, diverse populations, influence your practice?
SK: I grew up in a rural community of just 900 people, so I’ve seen the diversity of scale firsthand. Our studio works on projects for both rural and urban communities and we have a great team of diverse backgrounds, both internationally and across the United States. Texas has an array of local cultures and regions with their own important identities. When we’re working with the client, we’re trying to also make sure we understand their culture, their regional vernacular, and what’s going on there. Then, we think about how we can bring new and fresh ideas that enrich those existing elements and the relationship with the landscape—how to respect those characteristics and embrace them through design.
What do you see changing in your firm’s culture in the next 10 years? What do you hope will remain the same?
SK: I hope that our design leadership grows in Texas. Right now, we have Interior Design Principal Jim Holleran in Houston and both myself and Urban Planning Principal Shai Roos in Dallas. This basically means we have two spots where design is funneled through. Then, of course, we bring outside—outside of Texas but within the larger HDR—expertise like Tom Smith, Tom Trenolone, Brian Kowalchuk and Diego Samuel. I think what needs to happen here in the next decade is a kind of commitment to the local community to have more design leadership embedded here.
We think about how we can bring new and fresh ideas that enrich those existing elements and the relationship with the landscape— how to respect those characteristics and embrace them through design.
At HDR, we’re global, but we also must have that local connection. We’re working on reaching out to Austin and we have a team in San Antonio, but we really need to get them more engaged in the community. That’s how you build rapport and trust—you must be trusted.
DENVER, COLORADO, UNITED STATES
How does your team address failure?
JAMES BRAAM : Failure can mean different things; as licensed professionals, we have an ethical commitment to life safety. We protect people’s lives. So, in that regard, there can be no failure. On the other hand, talking about design and failure means something entirely different. One of the things that we preach in our studio is the “studio as a laboratory,” a place to test and push boundaries. If you’re working on a model, don’t stop to judge the results immediately; keep making iterations, let your thoughts flow. Good or bad, successful or unsuccessful, I want our studio to have the ability to quickly explore, pioneer, and refine. From that standpoint, we’re learning to think of failure as exploration. Each time we go through an iteration together, we’re building upon each other’s perspective. Ultimately, of course, all of us might fail at some point or another, but as a close-knit studio we like to think it’s fall forward, not back.
Locations of awarded projects.
Established
2009
Leadership
James Braam
Design Principal, Architecture
Anthony Mazzeo
Design Principal, Site & Landscape
Julianne Scherer
Managing Principal
Design Vanguard
Raphael Chavez
Rebecca McFarland
Projects 1 Health Hub Experience, Southern California, USA 2 Humber River Hospital Mural, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TOP LEFT, L→ R;
James Braam
Anthony Mazzeo
Julianne Scherer
Denver is a city known for its geographic beauty, but also has grown to be unaffordable. How does your team grapple with creating places that are welcoming but also equitable?
JB : The challenge of the economics is real. We believe in this philosophy of using design to elevate the human spirit. We should be creating spaces that inspire and welcome— and that itself doesn’t have a price tag on it. Above all, we believe that everyone is entitled to great design. That’s just a universal equality. In an ideal world, great design shouldn’t be about cost or economics.
Here in Denver, while construction costs are extremely high, we have the advantage of using our beautiful surroundings to our advantage. We have brilliant, clear sunshine 100 days a year. It brings us to ask ourselves, “How can we use that to create spaces?” Every project site has these incredible majestic mountain views, so, again, that should be accessible. It’s up to us to determine how we capture the sunlight or the landscape in the right way. We’re afforded the opportunity to blur the lines between landscape and architecture of indoor and outdoor environments. Others can’t do this elsewhere, so when we’re talking about the economics of equitable outdoor space, it’s essentially pennies to the dollar, and that’s a smart and economical way to design.
We believe in this philosophy of using design to elevate the human spirit. We should be creating spaces that inspire and welcome— and that itself doesn’t have a price tag on it.
If you had one local dream project that you think your team is especially equipped to design, what would it be and why?
JB : A leading cancer care center for an ambitious, forward-thinking client. We are leaders in healthcare, so we’re perfectly equipped to bring that expertise. There is something deeply meaningful about designing a cancer care facility because as a patient, it is a moment in life when you are most vulnerable and completely relying on everyone else around you. There’s also the deserving staff who are supporting you on days when you’re searching for strength, not only the patients, but for families and caregivers. We design to embody a glimmer of hope for those in need from the very moment they approach the building. They are all deserving of wellness and inspiration.
GREAT PLAINS: OMAHA/LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, UNITED STATES
STARTING TOP LEFT, L→ R;
Tom Trenolone
Mike Hamilton
Bill DeRoin
Cole Wycoff
Tim Williams
Abby Scott
Erin Fogerty
Chandra Wondercheck
Doug Bisson
Jen Cross
Matt Goldsberry
Donovan Wattier
Matt Whaley
Marty Amsler
Paula Brammier
Sarita Hollander
Established 1917
Leadership
Tom Trenolone
Design Director, Architecture
Mike Hamilton
Design Principal, Architecture
Bill DeRoin
Design Principal, Architecture
Cole Wycoff
Design Principal, Architecture
Tim Williams
Design Principal, Architecture
Abby Scott
Design Principal, Interiors
Erin Fogerty
Design Principal, Interiors
Chandra Wondercheck
Design Principal, Interiors
Doug Bisson
Design Principal, Community Planning & Urban
Jen Cross
Studio Leader, Site Design
Matt Goldsberry
Design Principal, Computational
Donovan Wattier Director of Technical Architecture
Matt Whaley
Managing Principal
Marty Amsler
Creative Principal
Paula Brammier
Graphics Principal,
Special Project + Deliverables
Sarita Hollander Principal, Visual Media
Locations of awarded projects; see following pages.
Design Vanguard
Kevin Augustyn
Matthew Delaney
Jessica Doolittle
Tyson Fiscus
Taylor Nielsen
Jonathan Oswald
John Savage
Dan Schwalm
Abby Scott
Wyatt Suddarth
Ian Thomas
James Wingert
Xin Zhao
Studio Disciplines
Architecture
Architectural
Engineering
Branding & Graphic Design
Interiors
Lighting Design
Planning & Consulting
Site & Landscape Design
Sustainability
Urban
How did the pandemic affect your office culture, and what have been some strategies to recover or rebuild life in the office?
WILLIAM DEROIN: Relative to a lot of studios, we came back pretty quickly. I don’t know if there’s any magic reason to it besides people like working with each other. I think we’ve built a good spirit of collaboration among all our staff.
ABBY SCOTT: We just changed up how we communicated. Personally, in those two to three months, there were aspects of things we missed, like being together and having these kinds of conversations and making it a priority to connect.
TOM TRENOLONE: We’ve designed an office space that people like to be in. It is an incredible marketing tool, and it helps us be successful as design leaders. To be honest, I think that’s something that needs to go on the record. I’d argue that as a firm, we’re not paying attention to the incredible opportunities that a nicely designed, well-located office space can foster and how powerful that can be.
The plains—these “middle” places—are often overlooked by big cities. How does your office consider your “middleness” to celebrate both the culture and the geography of where you’re situated?
TT: We live in the middle of everywhere. I’ve told everybody during my entire career that I’d like to have a shirt that says, “Please, underestimate me.” There’s a lot of beauty and simplicity in the part of the world that we live in. There’s a humility that comes with that, too. We don’t toot our own horn enough. Maybe we excel because we have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder, but we’re all very proud of the work that the studio does.
WD: We get to have major impact within our community, which is unique and something I know many people are truly passionate about. The opportunities here in Omaha are beyond what I ever expected, and I think that’s what has drawn a lot of people back to their hometown as well. Coming back here and getting the variety of work you get to do within our company is unbelievable when you stop and think about it.
The variety of work you get to do within our company is unbelievable when you stop and think about it.
TIMOTHY WILLIAM: I’ve lived in a few different cities and upon moving to Omaha presumed, “There isn’t going to be much to design here, it’s such a small area.” But it’s quite the opposite. There is so much out there that needs to be designed in this city and it feels like there’s not enough time to get involved in all of it. Everyone here must wear many hats. When you live in a bigger city, you can specialize in something; here, we’ve got to do it all.
If you could take a “field trip” with your whole team to spark inspiration or curiosity, where would you go?
AS: Kohler, Wisconsin, and Wisconsin in general. I think there is sustainability, nature, an exploration aspect. Kohler is an interesting company because you only think about kitchens and baths, but they make tons of different things. I would love to tour their factory and meet with some of their product engineers.
DOUG BISSON: There are so many places on my list. The first one is Istanbul just because of the history, and there are so many things coming and going through there. A place I didn’t have high expectations for was Iceland. Reykjavík has great, walkable urbanism. You go a few miles out of town and there are the most amazing natural areas with phenomenal visitor centers. They care about architecture, and its contemporary architecture embedded in this grand natural scale. It all ties back to the urbanism of Reykjavik. It’s this little island that has all this stuff swirling around and every corner you go around, there’s something new to experience.
TW: I’d say rural India. When you travel and experience something totally different from what you normally do—people get used to the idea that we should get in our car and drive to work every morning, and that’s the way that things should be done. But most of the world doesn’t live that way. There’s a lot you can learn that you didn’t even think about that could totally transform your way of approaching things.
KINGSTON/OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA
How does your team celebrate your successes?
JASON-EMERY GRO Ë N: Our team has a history of speaking on design, including our successes. This was something we developed some time ago where we set aside a portion of the day to focus on design discourse. We didn’t just focus on our successes in recent projects, but also on expanding the horizon more broadly by discussing our work and its impact on our communities. We look forward to breathing new life into this initiative starting in 2024! That kind of community thinking and how we calibrate the idea of success in our studio is important—it’s also very regional. In Kingston and Ottawa, it has less to do with the architectural media beyond, and more about the focus on what we’re bringing to our communities and celebrating that as success.
How do you set goals with your team, and how do you rally your people toward those goals?
JE: We have often selected key projects to become exemplars that can really propel us forward toward becoming more of a design-focused practice. The goal here is not just to broaden design excellence, but also to broaden our reach within HDR and our communities. The Ottawa Hospital project is a good example of this. It employs local HDR staff while also reaching out to some of the farthest extents of our firm’s expertise, design excellence, and talent to bring that to the local region so we can learn from it.
Tell us why a newly-licensed architect would want to work in your office.
JE: First: A bright future with young operational leadership to take us into the next decade and beyond. Second: A pair of small offices that are highly connected in the overall HDR ecosystem. Third: We have incredible room for growth. A bonus fourth: We have an incredible quality of life here in eastern Ontario. I’m very biased, but we do. It’s close to everything. It’s the same distance to Toronto and Montreal, with the Thousand Islands and the Rideau Canal right in the middle of it all.
Established 2000
Leadership
Jason-Emery Groën
Design Director, Architecture
David Flett
Managing Principal
Design Vanguard
Justine Baltessen
Lukas Bergmark
Sue Croswell
Abel Solana
Morales
Anna Preiss
Kunal Rakshit
Jeremy Van Dyke
Studio Disciplines
Architecture
Interiors
Sustainability
Number of Staff
31
Locations of awarded projects.
Jason-Emery Groën (top)
David Flett
Awarded Projects
1 HDR Ottawa Studio Ceiling, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2 Child Development Center, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
3 Canadian Nuclear Laboratories New Builds, Chalk River, Ontario, Canada
4 Teatro Della Terra Alienata, Milan, Italy
5 iKure Clinic in West Bengal, Baruipur, West Bengal, India
6 John Deutsch Community Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
7 MU x MT, Chalk River, Ontario, Canada
8 Brescia University College, Food School & Academic Pavilion, London, Ontario, Canada
The
goal here is not just to broaden design excellence, but also to broaden our reach within HDR and our communities.
LOS ANGELES/SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
What do you see changing in your firm’s culture in the next 10 years? What do you hope will remain the same?
TOM KNITTEL: I hope what will change is that we will place a higher emphasis on creativity and innovation and increase our risk taking—all three of those things go hand in hand. I also hope our firm culture will continue to grow as a design-forward studio that addresses our greatest challenges—such as climate change and equity—and that we’re recognized for it.
KATE DIAMOND: We’ve come a long way in building the beginnings of a design culture. I’m really looking forward to having more completed work in Southern California. That will put us on everyone’s invited list of design firms. I want us to be invited to projects that are ambitious and I want us to deliver projects that are ambitious, and we needed completed work to get there.
Locations of awarded projects.
Established 1998
Leadership
Kate Diamond Design Director, Architecture
Eric Meub
Design Director, Architecture
Thomas Knittel
Design Director, Architecture
Paul Nagashima
Design Principal, Architecture
Susan Suhar
Design Director, Interiors
Trip Grant
Managing Principal
Design Vanguard
Fatimah Al Asad
Yunnan Allen
Burak Celik
Steven Christian
Adeline Morin
Brian Schaller
Vartan Petrosyan
2
1
TOP, L→ R
Kate Diamond
Eric Meub
Thomas Knittel
Paul Nagashima
Susan Suhar
Trip Grant
4 East Torrey
Pines Science & Technology Center, La Jolla, CA, USA
In LA, you are all experiencing several compounding climate emergencies. How have you seen your office’s thinking change in response to such events?
TK: We face the same as everyone else in the country: water scarcity, degraded urban environments. There’s a critical need to think about how to reinvent the way we live, which means going towards net-zero energy buildings. Our studio must assume a leadership role in that because those are the problems everyone is looking for us to solve.
KD: Our population reflects extraordinary diversity, culturally and economically, from incredible wealth to incredible poverty and homelessness. We have people who are most impacted by climate change, the people who are transit dependent, those who have limited or no access to parks. There’s so much to do. When we include environmental justice every bit as much as pursuing the right solutions, I think we are positioning ourselves as leaders in this area.
SUSAN SUHAR: I think we are finally seeing how so much of these crises are tied to larger, systemic issues. Healthcare, behavioral healthcare, access to healthy food and shelter are critically impacted and intertwined with the climate emergencies. As an office, we are becoming better advocates for more sustainable practices as a baseline versus an option.
When we include environmental justice every bit as much as pursuing the right solutions, I think we are positioning ourselves as leaders in this area.
How does LA’s diverse culture play a role in how your firm tackles projects?
SS: LA’s diverse culture is experienced in both our office and our city. It’s really tremendous to work in an office environment that brings a certain cultural exchange on a daily basis. There’s an inclusiveness here that fosters diverse opinions and perspectives not just in general conversation, but also on projects. The varied backgrounds and experiences enhance our collective problem-solving abilities, contributing to more well-rounded solutions and teams that are more adaptable and effective. With the rich and diverse cultural landscape of our city, there is certainly an appreciation and awareness of how the built environment should reflect and honor the community it’s serving. I feel there is a greater sensitivity and responsibility to how our projects are responding to socioeconomic factors, climate change, adaptation, and accessibility.
3 Urban Stitch, New York, NY, USA
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES
If you could take a “field trip” with your whole team to spark inspiration or curiosity, where would you go?
SCOTT ELOFSON: I visited Barcelona maybe 30 years ago during architecture school. The architecture, the city, everything about it was this mixture of old and new. This attention to craft and detail was unusual. Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia church, which was under construction then and still is under construction now—his buildings are so fanciful and un-drawable in a way that makes them seem just sculpted. It really affected me as a student to see those fluid works; something that was modern but wasn’t hard or completely figured out; something that evolved organically.
In Minneapolis, there’s an amazing building at Lakewood Cemetery called the Garden Mausoleum. It’s dedicated to memories of people, and from the moment you arrive on the grounds, you feel the heaviness, but also, it’s comforting. It’s built into a hill, and the grass creates the envelope at the roof. There are skylights that pop up in the
Established 2006
Leadership
Scott Elofson
Design Principal, Architecture
Julie Robertson
Design Director, Interiors
Kristina Johnston
Design Principal, Interiors
Andrew Portis
Managing Principal
Design Vanguard
Isaac Bros
Brian Giebink
Patricia Paulson
Katie Voelker
TOP, L→ R
Scott Elofson
Julie Robertson
Kristina Johnston
Andrew Portis
grass outside and each skylight has a different way that the light hits it and comes down and illuminates that room. It’s awe-inspiring. I go there regularly for its quiet moments, and for the beauty of the light within the space and views out to the garden of the cemetery. It could be used to teach so many different things.
How has Minneapolis changed in the past decade, and how has that impacted your practice?
SE: That conversation needs to start with George Floyd’s murder in 2020 and how that has put a spotlight on the city—but also how that, along with the pandemic, literally and figuratively tore it apart. We’re still building up from whole blocks of buildings that were either burned down or boarded up. It was devastating and the comeback from that has been slow, but it also brings new potential. What’s interesting is that attention to design is a differentiator. Different new businesses or restaurants that have unique or exciting designs behind them or designs that are part of their philosophy are popping up all over into empty storefronts.
Our studio is like a little family, there’s anywhere from 20 to 25 of us at any time. We all work closely together.
What types of “soft skills” do you look for in a teammate and why?
SE: The first thing would be to tell me when I’m wrong. That’s huge for me because our studio is like a little family, there’s anywhere from 20 to 25 of us at any time. We all work closely together. As the design principal, it’s my role to guide the team in terms of the design and the design intent. If I suggest something, and it doesn’t work or there’s a better way to do it, then tell me, or figure out a different way to do it that would work better. That’s the number one soft skill for me. And then things like creativity and taking initiative. I think about growing up in this profession. I’m not advocating for the staff to stay up until four in the morning, but I was the kind of person that was like, “I’m going to get this thing right. I’m going to work until it’s done.” That’s not what I’m suggesting, but it’s more about taking that responsibility to make sure that it works, that it’s beautiful. That’s the right thing to do.
3 HDR Minneapolis Design Studio, Minneapolis, MN, USA
4 Women and Children’s Hospital, Minnesota, USA
5 St. Francis Peace Garden, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
Brian Kowalchuk
Mohammed Ayoub
Jim Keen
Paulo Faria
Brooke Horan
Amy Mays
Elizabeth Von Lehe
Dan Lutz
How does your team adopt and educate new technologies in their practices?
MOHAMMED AYOUB: In the evolving landscape of architecture and design, we are constantly trying to stay at the forefront of innovation. That’s paramount for any successful practice. When you look at our studio’s work, you can tell we have a signature way of diagramming things, but there’s always something new, and that’s the R&D part—it’s like a concept that we’re checking to see if it works or if it doesn’t.
The gorgeous aspect of our studio is the diverse personalities we have, and I think that is what makes it successful, because everyone brings a different point of view—it’s quite refreshing. I get a lot out of interacting with them, and I think they get a lot out of me giving them certain guardrails to test things.
How does your office work with or interact with design students and universities in New York?
MA: There is certainly a continuity of conversation with them. Brooke Horan and I were invited to lecture at the New York School of Interior Design for their healthcare practice. We’re engaged in many of their annual reviews
Locations of awarded projects.
Established 2010
Leadership
Brian Kowalchuk
Global Design Director, Architecture
Mohammed Ayoub Design Director, Architecture
Jim Keen Design Principal, Architecture
Paulo Faria Design Principal, Architecture
Brooke Horan Design Director, Interiors
Amy Mays Design Director, Interiors
Elizabeth Von Lehe, Design & Brand Strategy Principal
Dan Lutz
Managing Principal
2
1
Design Vanguard
Aslihan Avci Aksap
Chris Brockhoft
Jasmine Gao
Thomas Hughes
Nanmei Jiang Rich
Sally Lee
Michael Mastriano
Desiree Mervau
Mariana Renjifo
Annette Veliz
Studio Disciplines
Architecture
Architectural
Engineering
Branding & Graphics
Interiors
Lighting Design
Site & Landscape
Design
Sustainability
Urban Design & Planning
as well. I tend to send the rest of the studio to portfolio reviews at New York’s top design schools. This lets the students to lower their guards a bit and encourage more honest feedback rather than having a design director attend. Ultimately, when we hire, we will be working with graduates on a day-to-day basis, so my philosophy is to get our studio connected to the schools and invite prospective hires in. We’ve successfully hired a lot of good talent from that.
Since you’re located in the Garment District, how does your location impact your office culture?
MA: When we were on the 11th floor of our building, we actually had a runway aspect to the studio, which was inspired by the Garment District, and it was gorgeous. A few years later, we had to move up to the 16th floor and we left it all behind. We tried to steer and influence the design of the new space, so some remnants of the runway stayed.
The gorgeous aspect of New York is the diverse personalities… I think that is what makes it successful, because everyone brings a different point of view—it’s quite refreshing.
I like the multi-cultural aspect of our area—there’s something quirky about it. You see shops that have sequins and different kinds of fabric; it’s interesting. It makes you think about the world as a form—we have so many different materials on the exterior, and they’re evolving. Yet when it comes to clothing and how we cover our bodies, it’s endless. That I find fascinating. How come we’ve been able to weave so many different ideas from fabric, yet building fabric hasn’t evolved as quickly?
If you could describe your studio’s culture in one word–what would it be?
Two words. I would say, one, it’s tenacious. I think it comes down to what we’ve created as a structure. I have a tenacious personality, so I think we’re tenacious by nature because we’re close. The other word would be equality. And not equality in the sense that it’s a ‘zero’ baseline, but in the sense that everybody’s voice matters, junior or senior, we know our roles, but there is that kind of respectful equality.
PENTICTON, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
What types of creative practices do your team members engage in, and how do you think having those outside practices contribute to their work or your office in general?
ROB CESNIK: As an avid volleyball player, I feel the collaborative nature of this sport is very similar to our profession. In volleyball, the setter is responsible for determining which approach will be successful based on the opponent’s team. It requires problem solving and creativity before each unique play, not unlike the way we create a team and work through projects. Ensuring all team members are working together towards a common goal is key to success on the court and similarly in the office.
What do you think is your most beloved workplace amenity?
RC: The Penticton studio is quite a small local office which presents its own benefits. Our staff is given the opportunity to have client interactions. I think that’s important, so they’re involved from the very start, all the way to the end of the project.
Locations of awarded projects.
Rob Cesnik
I try to give all of the staff who work on local projects exposure to the client because those decisions and the decision-making process early on really drives the design and the future outcomes of the project. Most of our clients come to us for a certain level of service and care. I think having our team truly understand what the client wants from their own perspective is very valuable. This way, it’s not just me debriefing the staff on what the client is saying; it’s that the staff understands, personally, what the client is looking for on their own—it’s a deeper understanding of what the client wants. I think this gives us a better opportunity to accommodate what our client is really after.
As a city with an incredible indigenous history, how does your office consider the presence of First Nations people in your design practice?
RC: The Okanagan has several local First Nations groups and we’re fortunate to be currently working with three of them. For example, we’re currently working on a project with Hungerford Properties and the Westbank First Nation, as well as a project with the Penticton Indian band. The big thing with the Penticton Indian band is that they are partners and not simply brought on a project as advisors; they’re our clients in most cases on our design-build projects.
I try to give all staff that work on our local projects exposure to the client because those decisions and the decision-making process early on really drives the design and the future outcomes of the project… I think having our team truly understand what the client wants from their own perspective is truly valuable.
I think it’s important to partner with the local First Nations groups and not just bring them on as an outside consultant. It’s how we prefer to operate here, which is, I believe, very different than most, making our studio unique in that way.
4
3
Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Lefebvre-Smyth Residence, Kaleden, British Columbia, Canada
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES
How does trust play a role in your studio culture and in the work you do?
ROB HIBBARD: The size, complexity and holistic aspirations of our work require an intensely collaborative process, so trust in your colleagues is critical. We are fortunate to have tremendous talent, expertise, and passion for what we are doing at every level of the firm, so that makes this process not only easier but something you look forward to as projects move forward.
Still, trust cannot be taken for granted. Knowing that our work makes a difference for both individuals and our communities unites us, but it is important that each team member has a sense of ownership and understands that their role is critical for the success of the project. For this to happen, I always try to communicate the overall design goals, including those of the client and our own internal goals, to each team member at each step along the way so that they understand the big picture and how their role contributes to it.
How did the pandemic affect your office culture, and what have been some strategies to recover or rebuild life in the office?
RH: I started at HDR during the pandemic, so it is difficult to answer this directly, but I feel that the global nature of our practice meant that we already had a lot of tools in place that made the transition easier for us than what I have heard from some peers at other firms.
Established
2016
Leadership
Robert Hibbard
Design Principal, Architecture
Sara Gally
Design Principal, Interiors
Elizabeth Mahon
Managing Principal
Design Vanguard
Paul Daniel
Cyndi George
Jeff Harper
Insung Hwang
Datev Keshgegian
Yoki Luo
Dan Stanislaw
TOP, L→ R
Robert Hibbard
Sara Gally
Elizabeth Mahon
We have a relatively smaller office in Philadelphia. Most people were eager to return to the office and reestablish our connections to each other. We have an active Young Professionals Group that initiates a lot of events that bring us together, including events centered on community service. Our design-oriented happy hour, which we call The Interrogative Club, has been particularly effective space for us to talk about design. Everybody does a design happy hour, right? Those are great, but I didn’t want people to just passively sit and drink wine while listening to somebody talk. What I’ve done is have somebody give a little 30-minute keynote on whatever topic that they choose. The kicker is, at some point, they all have an assignment to make two or three slides and talk about it. It makes everybody engage—now people aren’t just coming in and passively listening. It requires everyone in attendance to participate in the presentation, and it has been nice to see some people step out of their comfort zones and share their thoughts. It’s a low-key, no-pressure event, just talk about something you already care about.
Knowing that our work makes a difference for both individuals and our communities unites us, but it is important that each team member has a sense of ownership and understands that their role is critical for the success of the project.
What is most unique about Philadelphia as a city, and how does that play into your own office?
RH: I think it is a city that radiates passion—sports, food, art, and culture, our place in the history of the country— and this extends to its sophisticated design culture which has been in place since the city’s founding by William Penn and continues to assert itself with a staggering list of contributors to the global dialogue of architecture and design over the years. Even though the HDR office here is relatively new, it is already apparent that our approach and commitment to design are thriving and making an impact in the city, and everyone in the office is proud to be part of Philadelphia’s strong legacy of design.
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES
STARTING AT TOP LEFT, L
Tom Smith
Diego Samuel
Scott Boyer
James Burton
Brian Norkus
Jacqueline Wolverton
Danielle Masucci
Michael Andrewsky
James Wisniewski
Peter Carideo
Karen Murphy
Damian Wentzel
Ellen Randall
What is your relationship with higher education institutions in your area?
TOM SMITH : We’ve done a good job of having liaisons or advocates with universities. Most of it’s been through alumni and we’ve leveraged those alumni in order to keep in touch. I think our younger staff still have those strong ties back to their alma mater. We’re also connected through project work. We have alumni working on multiple projects at the University of Maryland, so we’ve built relationships there. I think, lastly, we have relationships I’ll call business development, but it’s not truly business developers, it’s more like sector leads creating those relationships. So like myself and Dave Zaiser with the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, and other places. We introduce ourselves to the campus architect to build those relationships.
Established 1964
Leadership
Tom Smith
Design Director, Architecture
Diego Samuel Design Director, Architecture
Scott Boyer
Design Principal, Architecture
James Burton
Design Principal, Architecture
Brian Norkus
Design Principal, Architecture
Jacqueline Wolverton
Design Section Manager, Interiors
Danielle Masucci Director, Workplace Design
Michael Andrewsky, Site & Landscape Design
Locations of awarded projects.
James Wisniewski Managing Principal
Peter Carideo, Architecture Section Manager
Karen Murphy Director, Lighting
Damian Wentzel Director, designSHOP
Ellen Randall Principal, Pursuit Strategy
2
1
Design Vanguard
Erin Disbrow
Stacey Haldeman
Craig Hetrick
Anisha Kothari
Yi-Wen Lai
Tom Lyman
Ryan McDonough
John Pavlik
Leah Schultz
Studio Disciplines
Branding & Graphic Design
Lighting Design
What is unique about internships in your office?
TS : I think people that come through for internships get a nice exposure to our practice and I think we’ve tried to engage them just like anybody else in the organization. They become part of projects and, when we can, we bring them along to client meetings. Some work in the model shop and have flourished there. But another intern, when he was here, I had him designing façades for a project; he did an incredible job analyzing diagrams and images for a research facility in Shanghai, which was great.
DIEGO SAMUEL : Our office has the benefit of having every discipline under the sun, which means interns are exposed to all the disciplines: interiors, landscape, engineering, planning, alongside our technical architecture and architects. So they get to see all those, where smaller offices only have two disciplines. I think they gain a better understanding of how a building comes together and what it takes.
How does your team address failure?
TS : Maybe this goes back to the changing culture in the Princeton studio, it was always seen that a certain pedigree of design was coming out of the studio. We see not winning design awards as a failure. What we do is, we get together and do a critique to figure out why we aren’t performing, to understand where our downfalls were—was it the quality of work, the presentation, was it the narration where we didn’t tell the right story? I think the idea of regrouping and coming together and facing those challenges with eyes wide open Is what we try to do. We include everyone on that because we want the whole studio to be part of it. We try to address this collectively.
Our
office has the benefit of having every discipline
under the sun, which means interns are exposed to all the disciplines: interiors, landscape, engineering, planning, alongside our technical architecture and architects.
DS : We have been trying to find what the right recipe is. It means consolidating, finding the true passionate people who care, who have the right mindset to want to push. And then build from that. Collect those people into a tighter, more focused design-intensive group and hope that, little by little, that can begin to influence or trickle out or ripple out to the larger group.
TS : What does failure mean? Is it design quality? Is it not winning work? Is it a detail not done as we imagined it? When Tom Lee was in Chicago, he presented a nice analytical critique about the work he was doing that coordinated design intent and the final project evaluation. I don’t think we are doing enough of that.
DS : We need to do more informal and formal critiques— sitting around the table and asking for others’ opinions.
Iribe
17 Teatro Della Terra Alienata, Milan, Italy 18 Al Widad Specialist Clinic, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
East Torrey Pines Science & Technology Center, La Jolla, CA, USA
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
Is there a particular memory you have (an event, a running joke, a success, etc.) that embodies or represents your studio’s dynamic?
SANGMIN LEE: In South Korea, our way of saying good morning translates to “Did you have breakfast?” which has ties back to Japanese occupation. It is a way of checking in on your neighbor or family member, it’s a way of showing that you care. Much of the Korean culture revolves around food and community. I strive to infuse aspects of my Korean culture into our studio through organized gatherings. We usually hold one or two major events annually, where everyone contributes a dish to share. It gives us a time to get to know one another and build the community of our studio. By gathering, we get to understand each other. Our studio motto is about having the right attitude—sure clients can hire the black cape architect firm, but that doesn’t mean they’ll have the right attitude or culture focused on community. Our close-knit studio sets us apart.
Leadership
Sangmin
Tom Fortier
Lindsay Cook Sinae Jung
Maria Antony Katticaran
Jiale Ma
Nicolas Valencia
Sangmin Lee (left) Tom Fortier
What is most unique about San Francisco as a city, and how does that play into your own office?
SL: Architecture in the Bay Area can have its challenges. Our clients here are incredibly sophisticated—they are generally well-traveled and know about design trends. We always have to make sure we have the right design story and the right solutions while also proving to them we can solve a solution quickly.
What does optimism look like in your firm’s design practice? Can we also design for optimism?
SL: Designing for optimism means that we need to be brave—especially when you work within a corporate environment. You need to be brave and look at the other side of the coin. It’s not reasonable to avoid risk all together, it’s more about focusing on what’s the right risk to take. A favorite word of my former boss was the word “proactive.” It’s a truly fascinating word because in our studio, it implies a shared responsibility and community. Optimism in a design firm also all comes down to guiding the client and help them feel excited about the possibilities. You have to pause and think about your duty to explain the positive impact to the client to help them envision optimism in design as well.
Designing for optimism means we need to be brave. Especially when you work within a corporate environment. You need to be brave and look at the other side of the coin. It’s not reasonable to take no risk at all, it’s more about focusing on what’s the right risk to take.
3 Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
4 Shenzhen Beijing Genomics Institute Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES/MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
How does your team consider climate change in its practice? Do you have an overarching philosophy that applies to how you tackle climate issues?
SIMON FLEET: I think that the reality is that we typically design to clients’ aspirations and requirements. Often their aspirations have a somewhat limited response to climate change and often that’s driven by budget constraints or time constraints. So, they’ll do what’s required, but not all of them will go a whole lot beyond that for several reasons.
As a studio, we inherently look for opportunities to push the boundaries and we do try to always consider the environmental performance of our buildings. So that is foundational to the way that most buildings are designed, using lots of basic passive building strategies. We can impact things like the way you mass the buildings, the scale of the buildings, their orientation, the exposure of glazing and roof overhang and so forth. I think we’re reasonably sophisticated in a non-measured way in grappling with those. I don’t think we’re sophisticated in measuring and using tools to advance our response yet, particularly energy and carbon, but I do think it is deeply considered at the foundational level where architects will have the biggest impact.
Established 1976
Leadership
Simon Fleet Design Principal, Architecture
Alan Boswell Director, Design Lead
Samuel Faigen
Associate Director
Jason Roberts
Associate Director
Max Navius
Associate Director, Interiors
Cate Cowlishaw
Managing Principal
Design Vanguard
Mani Saham
Jingyi Su
Andrew White
Robert Qing Xie
Angel Zhang
Wan Zheng
Studio Disciplines
Architecture
Interior Design
Number of Staff
141
Locations of awarded projects.
TOP LEFT, L→ R
Simon Fleet
Alan Boswell
Sam Faige
Jason Roberts
Max Navius
Cate Cowlishaw
What is special or unique about your office’s culture?
SF: Personally, the discourse around architecture is a powerful way to provoke new ways of thinking to challenge ourselves. Strong design culture is one where there’s an openness and a transparency to the way people engage with design. I’ve always worked in practices with a very strong design culture—places where there’s work pinned up on the walls and where you’re always talking about design. Designing great buildings is incredibly hard. I think we’re trying to build a culture where we have that consistency up and down throughout our staff; from the designer to the document, or to the financial controller— everyone is passionate and cares about design.
As a studio, we inherently look for opportunities to push the boundaries and we do try to always consider the environmental performance of our buildings.
How did the pandemic affect your office culture, and what have been some strategies to recover or rebuild life in the office?
SF: One of the more successful things we’ve done since the pandemic to help get people back to the office is that we moved office locations. The new HDR-designed space changed everything—it’s a comfortable place that has equity built into it. It has a central core, lots of glazing around the outside, and plenty of space for engagement—plus, it’s right in the heart of the city. It’s in a beautiful building, so it’s a desirable office to visit. It makes a difference; the quality of the space you have can be incredibly impactful. I think the right space can enable rebuilding culture.
3 67 Albert Avenue Gardens in the Sky, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
4 Al Maha Centre for Children and Young Adults, Al Wakra, State of Qatar
5 Australian Defence Force Academy Auditorium, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
6 Australian Defence Force Academy Learning Spaces, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
7 Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
8 Health Hub Experience Guidebook, Southern California
9 MH6OR Squadron Headquarters and Training Facilities, HMAS Albatross, New South Wales, Australia
10 University of Sydney LEES 1 Building, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
11 Novartis Headquarters Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 12 Wollongong Central, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
13 140 Williams Street, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
14 Thornton Community, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
15 Interdisciplinary Research Facility, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
16 Sydney University Health Precinct Stage 1, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
17 Teatro Della Terra Alienata, Milan, Italy
18 Merlot 3, Maribyrnong, Victoria, Australia
Donald Chong
David Flett
Paul Howard Harrison
Toronto is undergoing a building boom and housing shortage. How does your firm tackle issues of equity while remaining an influential practice?
PAUL HOWARD HARRISON: The housing shortage is something that we think about all the time. When I was in grad school at the University of Toronto all my classmates lived right by the school. Now that I teach there, I’m finding that most of my students live an hour away—even two to three hours from the school because the cost of living is so high. It’s top of mind for us with our employees at the office too. So, it’s really changed the way that the city feels in a negative way, and it’s made issues of inequity much more pronounced. So, while we don’t design housing, we do design institutions and that’s a way to help increase equity and to mitigate some of the impacts.
DON CHONG: Equity is equity—as in the capital and the savings—the generational or cumulative amount of equity that people build, whether it’s a social amount of equity or financial or whatever it might be it was equity as in balance and distributed opportunity and accessibility. When I was in architecture school, there was an emphasis on housing and democratizing it with this thing we called “architecture.” I always remember one of my mentors, Bruce, would say, “When you choose architecture, you’re entering a social contract.”
What motivates your team to meet deadlines?
DC: Our project managers trust us because I think we respect the process of architecture and what project managers bring to the table. I’m very much against
deadline poker, that’s just the wrong thing to do. I don’t ever want to be in a position where I have to beg or twist anyone’s arm to push hard and go for it—if they want it and we’re after the same thing together, that’s motivation.
PHH: There is so much to say about leading by example and building a culture of design and empathy. You have to figure out what makes people tick and then you need to build them up from an empathetic standpoint, and I find it so much more effective. If you have a shared language or currency of empathy, then people understand that when you’re delivering criticism, you’re doing it from a place of wanting to build them up. I think that’s a truly underrated thing and it’s a bit of a shift from the way that architecture culture has operated for a really long time.
If you could characterize your office as a personality, how would you describe it?
PHH: I think we have Gemini energy—there’s like a bit of a split personality that overlaps in ways that are surprising. Don is invested in craft. And I’m the computational person that’s looking more at technology. Don and I are different in the way we lead and interface with the studio, but there’s also a lot of overlap. We’re essentially a Venn diagram.
DC: I always say a good studio is like a sourdough starter. Long after I’m gone and Paul is gone, I’d like to think that we’ve left something behind. Part of the idea behind legacy is because we trade in this currency, which is a belief in a core design philosophy, and that lasts.
Established 2002
Leadership
Donald Chong
Design Principal, Architecture
David Flett
Managing Principal
Paul Howard Harrison
Design Principal, Architecture
Design Vanguard
Min Hoo Kim
Somayeh Mousazadeh
Chris Routley
Jeff Salmon
Studio Disciplines Architecture
Architectural Engineering
Branding & Graphics
Interiors
Planning & Consulting
Site Design
Sustainability
Urban Design & Planning
Number of Staff 89
Locations of awarded projects.
TOP → BOTTOM
Awarded Projects
1 Humber River Hospital Mural, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2 Canadian Nuclear Laboratories New Builds, Chalk River, Ontario, Canada
3 iKure Clinic in West Bengal, Baruipur, West Bengal, India
4 MU x MT, Chalk River, Ontario, Canada
5 Ontario Line Subway Project, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
6 Brescia University College, Food School & Academic Pavilion, London, Ontario, Canada
7 John Deutsch Community Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
9 The Science Gondola: York University Neuroscience Laboratory and Research Loft, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
There is so much to say about leading by example and building a culture of design and empathy. You have to figure out what makes people tick and then you need to build them up from an empathetic standpoint.
VANCOUVER/VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
How does British Columbia’s landscape impact, influence, or inspire the work that you do?
MATTHIEU GRADY: Vancouver almost suffers from being too beautiful. The incredibly beautiful nature demands respect, which pushes us to be environmentally sensitive, but also pushes us to tie projects to the land in a responsive way design-wise—whether it’s framing unique views or celebrating various natural elements by making it a part of the architecture. People are generally more interested in seeing and being in nature, which neglects or ignores the city at times, so on the flip side, designers don’t always engage with the culture, the urbanity, the activity of city life.
MARY CHOW: Indoor spaces that seamlessly connect to the outdoors have always been important and have become even more important to community and individual wellbeing since the global pandemic. Whether it is activity that can inhabit both indoor and outdoor rooms, or views to mountain and ocean, we are very lucky to be immersed in the natural landscape that surrounds our cities.
Locations of awarded projects.
Established 1996
Leadership
Matthieu Grady
Design Principal, Architecture
Mary Chow
Design Principal, Architecture
Jim Aalders
Design Principal, Architecture
Design Vanguard
Hong Ahn
Jacob Darowski
Juanito Gulmatico
Alex Raymundo
Taylor Slade
STARTING AT TOP,
Matthieu Grady
Mary Chow
Jim Aalders
4
Did you see any shifts in your office this summer during the massive fires experienced in Canada? How did this impact your office in the immediate, and how do you think it will impact it in the coming years?
MG: My heart goes out to our colleagues in the interior who are experiencing yearly evacuations, constant worry of “fire season,” and a general sense of dread that things are not going to get better unless we act to mitigate our climate crisis. As our colleague Peter Duckworth-Pilkington said to us recently, “Our world is on fire.” I can’t think of a more frightening and impactful visual reminder of our climate crisis. He also showed an image of people calmly putting on a golf green with a forest fire in the backdrop. It was a shocking image that made me realize how worrisome the risk of climate crisis fatigue is and how we cannot be complacent and normalize or accept this situation.
I am optimistic about the upcoming generations, not only at work, but at architecture schools where I teach. there is a sense of rallying to the cause of climate change mitigation in all staff—it’s an obvious shift in influence and constant vigilance in all decisions we make.
MC: With technology, our ability to keep in touch and communicate virtually meant that our teams continued to service clients, even through a very difficult summer season. However, the personal apprehension that accompanies the uncertainty that natural disasters have on our HDR colleagues is a reality check. We cannot ignore our responsibility to regenerative design and pushing beyond status quo sustainability.
I am optimistic about the upcoming generations, not only at work, but at architecture schools where I teach. There is a sense of rallying to the cause of climate change mitigation in all staff— it’s an obvious shift in influence and constant vigilance in all decisions we make.
How does your team build trust among each other and with leadership?
MC: Honest communication and vulnerability are key ingredients to building trust. Well-aligned goals and a clear vision is also important to moving forward as a highly effective team. Recognition is also a strong motivator and HDR does this well through various employee programs, beyond day-to-day recognition of individual contributions. In all, it takes honesty, openness, recognition, and value to build a great team.
MG: There are so many things that need to happen to build strong and lasting trust, and it starts with active listening and empathy. It’s obvious to say, but communication builds relationships. The key to effective communication is by listening first. However, listening and dialoguing alone doesn’t build trust. I think trust is built when people act on the listening and dialogue with accountable results. Look, listen, talk, but then do. Then start the cycle again.
3 Lefebvre-Smyth Residence, Kaleden, British Columbia, Canada
1st
Locations & Leadership
ARLINGTON/GLEN
ALLEN, VIRGINIA
Simon Trumble
Design Principal, Architecture
Erin Cooper
Interior Design Principal, Inteiors
Hamed Aali
Design Studio Lead
April Drake
Managing Principal
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Michael McPhail
Design Principal, Architecture
Matthew Fickett
Managing Principal
June Chun
Interior Design Studio Lead
Meghan Mele
Senior Interior Designer
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA
Peter Calthorpe
Urban Design & Planning Principal
Nelson Peng Asia Urban
Design Lead
Samantha Chundur
Senior Urban Designer
Henry Posada
Alvarez
Senior Urban Designer
Joey Scanga
Managing Principal
CHARLOTTE/ RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA & ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Tyler Dye
Design Principal, Architecture
Kevin Lynch
Design Director, Interiors
Barbara Dokulil
Design Principal, Interiors
Robby Bryant
Principal Landscape
Architect
John Tabor
Design Director, Architecture
Richard Alsop
Managing Principal
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Lois Wellwood
Global Design Director, Interiors
Jae Choi
Design Principal, Architecture
Dane Rausch
Design Principal, Interiors
Jeff Fahs
Design Director, Landscape Architecture
Jon Brooke Design Principal, Site
Americo Gonzalez
Aquino Design Principal, Architecture
Grace Rappe
Managing Principal
Rachel Coffee Communications Principal
DALLAS, TEXAS
Stephen Knowles
Design Principal, Architecture
Shai Roos
Urban Planning Principal
Chad Anderson
Managing Principal
DENVER, COLORADO
James Braam
Design Principal, Architecture
Anthony Mazzeo Design Principal, Site
Julianne Scherer Managing Principal DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Charles Secker
Managing Principal & Project Principal/ Director
FRANKFURT, GERMANY
Burkhard Musselmann Architecture Lead
KINGSTON, OTTAWA, CANADA
Jason-Emery Groën
Design Director, Architecture
David Flett
Managing Principal
GREAT PLAINS; OMAHA/LINCOLN, NEBRASKA & KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
Tom Trenolone
Design Director, Architecture
Mike Hamilton
Design Principal, Architecture
Bill DeRoin
Design Principal, Architecture
Cole Wycoff
Design Principal, Architecture
Tim Williams
Design Principal, Architecture
Abby Scott
Interior Design Principal
Erin Fogerty Design Principal, Interiors
Chandra Wondercheck
Studio Leader/Design Principal, Interiors
Doug Bisson Design Principal, Community Planning & Urban
Jen Cross Site Design Studio Leader
Matt Goldsberry Computational Design Principal
Donovan Wattier Director of Technical Architecture
Matt Whaley Managing Principal
Marty Amsler
Creative Principal
Paula Brammier Graphics Principal, Special Project + Deliverables
Sarita Hollander Visual Media Principal
HOUSTON, TEXAS
Jim Halloran
Design Principal, Interiors
Yvonne Nagy Managing Principal
LONDON, ENGLAND
Fatos Peja
Design Principal, Architecture
Brian McClean Global Manager, International Ops
LOS ANGELES/ SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
Kate Diamond
Design Director, Architecture
Thomas Knittel
Design Director, Architecture
Eric Meub
Design Director, Architecture
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
Scott Elofson
Design Principal, Architecture
Julie Robertson
Design Director, Interiors
Paul Nagashima
Design Principal, Architecture
Susan Suhar
Design Director, Interiors
Trip Grant
Managing Principal
Kristina Johnston
Design Principal, Interiors
Andrew Portis
Managing Principal
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Brian Kowalchuk
Global Design Director, Architecture
Mohammed Ayoub
Design Director, Architecture
Jim Keen
Design Principal, Architecture
Brooke Horan
Design Director, Interiors
Amy Mays
Design Director, Interiors
Elizabeth Von Lehe
Design & Brand Strategy Principal
Paulo Faria
Design Principal, Architecture
Dan Lutz
Managing Principal
PENTICTON, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
Rob Cesnick
Design Principal, Architecture
PHOENIX, ARIZONA
Michelle Acosta Managing Principal
Katherine Dudzik Smith
Senior Design Architect
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
Robert Hibbard
Design Principal, Architecture
Sara Gally
Design Principal, Interiors
Elizabeth Mahon
Managing Principal
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Tom Smith
Design Director, Architecture
Diego Samuel
Design Director, Architecture
Scott Boyer
Design Principal, Architecture
James Burton
Design Principal, Architecture
Brian Norkus
Design Principal, Architecture
Jacqueline Wolverton
Interior Design Section Manager
Danielle Masucci, Director, Workplace Design
Michael Andrewsky
Site & Landscape Design
James Wisniewski
Managing Principal
Peter Carideo
Architecture Section Manager
Karen Murphy
Lighting Director
Damian Wentzel
designSHOP Director
Ellen Randall Pursuit Strategy Principal
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Sangmin Lee
Design Principal, Architecture
Tom Fortier
Managing Principal
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Marnie Roberts
Managing Principal Ruby Thorp Studio Interior Design Lead
SYDNEY, AUSTRAILIA
Simon Fleet Design Principal, Architecture
Alan Boswell Director, Design Lead
Samuel Faigen Associate Director
Jason Roberts Associate Director
Max Navius Associate Director, Interiors
Cate Cowlishaw Managing Principal
TAMPA, FLORIDA
Samuel Lin
Design Principal, Architecture
Drazen Ahmedic Managing Principal
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA
Don Chong
Design Principal, Architecture
David Flett Managing Principal
VANCOUVER/ VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
Mary Chow
Design Principal, Architecture
Matthieu Grady
Design Principal, Architecture
Jim Aalders
Design Principal, Architecture
1st & Clark Integrated Health and Social Housing
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
OPACITY SERIES 04 EMMETROPIA
Brescia University College, Food School & Academic Pavilion
London, Ontario, Canada OPACITY SERIES 05 GESTURES
Al-Widad Specialist Clinic
Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
OPACITY SERIES 06 ENDNOTE
aSPIRE HDR Levels of Excellence Omaha, Nebraska, USA
OPACITY SERIES 04 EMMETROPIA
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
OPACITY SERIES 04 EMMETROPIA
Cobalt Credit Union Gretna Branch Gretna, Nebraska, USA
OPACITY SERIES 05 GESTURES
Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin Berlin, Germany
OPACITY SERIES 06 ENDNOTE
East Torrey Pines Science & Technology Center
La Jolla, California, USA
SERIES 06 ENDNOTE
Heidekreis-Klinikum Bad Fallingbostel Bad Fallingbostel, Niedersachsen, Germany
OPACITY SERIES 06 ENDNOTE
IKure Clinic in West Bengal Baruipur, West Bengal, India
Edgescape Tower Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA
OPACITY SERIES 05 GESTURES
John Deutsch Community Centre, Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
OPACITY SERIES 04 EMMETROPIA
Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, Hoover Street Power Yard Los Angeles, California, USA
OPACITY SERIES 04 EMMETROPIA
McDonald Theater Renovation Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
OPACITY SERIES 05 GESTURES
Lauritzen Gardens Horticulture Complex Omaha, Nebraska, USA
OPACITY SERIES 04 EMMETROPIA
Lounge Seating Modified Table Base & Repurposed Gym Floor Omaha, Nebraska, USA
OPACITY SERIES 04 EMMETROPIA
Merlot 3
Maribyrnong, Victoria, Australia
OPACITY SERIES 05 GESTURES
NAE Urban Village Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany
Engineering and Sciences Building Midwest, USA
Lenox Hill Hospital New York, New York, USA
OPACITY SERIES 04 EMMETROPIA
MaReCuM Hub Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
OPACITY SERIES 05 GESTURES
MU x MT
Chalk River, Ontario, Canada, OPACITY SERIES 04 EMMETROPIA
NorthStar Expansions Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Omaha Discovery Center Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Ontario Line Subway Project Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OPACITY SERIES 06 ENDNOTE
Operation and Maintenance Storage Facility
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OPACITY
Saving Main Street Haxtun, Colorado, USA
Omaha
Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Corporate Headquarters
Shanghai, China
OPACITY
Siena Francis Emergency Shelter Omaha, Nebraska, USA
OPACITY SERIES 05 GESTURES
St. Francis Peace Garden, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota, USA
OPACITY SERIES 04 EMMETROPIA
USA OPACITY
The Science Gondola; York University Neuroscience Laboratory and Research Loft Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Shenzhen Beijing Genomics Institute Hospital
Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
Teatro Della Terra Alienata Milan, Italy
OPACITY SERIES 04 EMMETROPIA
University of Nebraska Omaha Ballpark Omaha, Nebraska, USA OPACITY SERIES 05 GESTURES
Anjulie Rao is a journalist and critic covering the built environment. Based in Chicago, much of her work reckons with the complexities of post-industrial cities; explores connections to place and land; and exposes intersections between architecture, landscapes, and cultural change. She is the founder and editor of Weathered, a publication focused on cities and landscapes in the wintertime.
Anjulie is a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Architecture/ Interior Architecture and New Arts Journalism departments, and an adjunct faculty member at the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is a columnist at ARCHITECT magazine, and her bylines can be found in The Architect’s Newspaper, Landscape Architecture Magazine, The Architectural Review, The New York Review of Architecture, among others.
OPACITY MONOGRAPH VOLUME 2:
GREATER THAN
President, Architecture
Doug Wignall
Design Global Director
Brian Kowalchuk
Design Director
Thomas J. Trenolone
Design Principal
Cole Wycoff
Editor
Anjulie Rao
Creative Principal
Marty Amsler
Art Director
Encarnita Rivera
Data Visualization
Elena Garcia Tapia
Sidney Renelt
Communications
Kristen Hartman
Katie Sosnowchik
Max Chao
Production
Greg Wells
Tarnjeet Lalh
PHOTOGRAPHY
Kevin Belinger
Brescia University
College, Food School & Academic Pavilion
Dave Burk
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
HGEsch Photography
Waldkliniken Eisenberg
Dan Schwalm
Cobal Credit Union Bank
NorthStar Expansion
Siena Francis House
Emergency Shelter
McDonald Theatre
Renovation
University of Nebraska
Omaha Ballpark
Lounge Seating Modified Table Base & Repurposed Gym Floor
Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts
The Jewell Jazz Club
TELLURIDE ARCHITEKTUR
In January 2023, HDR sold its German architecture practice to a group of employees in the country. The new operating company is known as Telluride Architektur GmbH.
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