elevations

2016 Review

HIGHER EDUCATION

Planning was a key component of the Higher Education studio in 2016. DLR Group worked with several clients to develop master plans and predesigns as they prepare to address the dramatically changing landscape. Working with our clients and helping define their future is one of the most rewarding aspects of our business and we thank you for including us in your goals and visions. 2016 also saw the realization of several projects from classroom buildings that hold active learning environments and integrated social spaces, to science facilities with an emphasis on inter-professional collaboration and learning, to library/learning resource centers which cater to a wide range of learning styles and group interaction. Traditional project types are morphing and we’re seeing an increase in mash-ups of program and project types that complement each other in previously unforeseen ways.In 2017, we expect to see an increasing level of blurring the lines. Both between program and function types as well as between K-12, Higher Education, and the business world. Collaboration and partnerships between organizations and individuals who strive to improve the student experience and establish the next generation of community leaders will be at the leading edge of education. DLR Group is honored to be at the forefront with our clients.Thank you for your friendship, business, and partnerships in 2016. We are looking forward to an even brighter 2017. -DLR Group Higher Education Leaders

Welcome

Pat Hyland, AIA Cleveland | Senior Associate

Bob Binder, AIA, LEED AP BD+C Denver | Principal

Jon Anderson, AIA Sacramento | Principal

Andrea Cohen Gehring, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C Los Angeles | Senior Principal

Matthew Streed, AIA, LEED AP Minneapolis | Senior Associate

Kate Yurko, AIA, LEED AP Minneapolis | Senior Associate

Nicole Nichols, AIA Orlando | Senior Associate

Chris Osore, AIA, LEED AP Des Moines | Principal

Lindsey Piant Perez, AIA, GGP Orlando | Senior Associate

Sean Rosebrugh, AIA, LEED AP BD+C Phoenix | Principal

Michael Stephens, AIA Riverside | Principal

Higher Education Leadership

Insights in Higher Education

Modern Authentic Learning Environments Improve Education and Attract StudentsWe can bring real world settings to the college campus.

Would students of the future—raised on screen time, tethered to their mobile devices and social media accounts—be willing to show up for coursework in real life? Would academic buildings and classrooms simply become dusty relics of a bygone era?

In the last few years, the conversation has shifted from “Will campuses be needed at all?” to “How can we transform campuses to meet the needs of tomorrow’s learners?” For many higher education institutions, one solution has been to build authentic learning environments or classrooms that are designed to mimic real-life workplaces—such as an emergency room mockup for nursing students, a simulated trading floor for future stockbrokers, or a campus cafe for aspiring chefs. Also called maker spaces or hands-on learning spaces, here’s how authentic learning environments can outperform traditional teaching spaces:

They promote learning by doing. A simulated real-world setting helps students apply their knowledge and skill directly in the context of the places they will intern at and work post-graduation and provides opportunities for self-guided instruction and peer-to-peer projects and learning.

They allow dynamic teaching. An authentic learning environment allows for continual monitoring and feedback on what students are learning, enabling instructors to evaluate performance, tailor lesson plans, and target subject areas or activities needing extra attention.

They attract top-notch students and instructors. Research shows that next-generation learners are hungry for real-world experience and crave the face-to-face in-person physical environments of a college campus. Similarly, future professors and instructors are drawn to institutions with top-notch facilities and groundbreaking technology.

byKate Yurko, AIA, LEED AP

With the rise of mobile technologies, distance learning, and online degree programs, there’s been a lot of hand-wringing within the higher education community about the future of bricks-and-mortar college campuses.

Whether built from the ground up or as part of a renovation, authentic learning environments require more planning and closer collaboration during design versus typical lecture style classrooms. But when done right, they improve the pace, quality, and effectiveness of learning—reaping big benefits for the students and instructors who use them and for the institutions who invest to build them.

Kate Yurko leads the Higher Education Studio in Minneapolis.

DESIGN

The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), championed by the Obama Administration, is designed to prepare Africa’s next generation of leaders and strengthen connections between the United States and African nations. Central to this effort is DLR Group’s design for the YALI Regional Leadership Center East Africa. YALI’s purpose is to improve the quality and availability of leadership training programs and professional development opportunities for young African leaders. DLR Group and MASS collaborated on the resulting collaborative learning environment that supports the active-learning approaches necessary to prepare students for today’s demanding work environments.

Young African Leaders Initiative Regional Leadership Center

2016

Nairobi, Africa

Helping Prepare Africa’s Next Generation of Leaders

Senior Architect Matthew Streed, AIA, LEED AP shares his thoughts on designing schools in Africa and how it has influenced his perspective on learning environments. Click below to watch his video.

byMatthew Streed, AIA, LEED AP

An International Education“My experience in Africa has had a profound impact on how I practice architecture. It’s also had a big impact on how I raise my family.”

Insights in Higher Education

Welcoming Students and Community Members

The Southwest College School of Career and Technical Education geometrical configurations open the space to students while welcoming the neighboring community to utilize its resources. The building provides practical, hands-on training to diverse, multi-generational user groups in a safe and inviting environment. DLR Group’s design helps re-brand this campus as a vibrant, forward-thinking 21st century institution. With its prominent facades and highly visible gateways, the building announces its presence to the public. Large expanses of glass and open-air corridors, lobbies, and courtyards exhibit the professional training and instruction taking place on the inside.

Southwest College School of Career & Technical Education

DESIGN2016

Los Angeles, Calif.

Insights in Higher Education

Follow these Simple Steps When Selecting your Design-Build TeamDesign-build produces high-quality design at a reasonable cost when it’s done right—or poorly executed projects when it’s not.

Provide a stipend for design deliverables commensurate with the level of effort required. This includes a higher stipend when full schematic design and engineering are required, or lower if the submittal is a conceptual design. It’s a classic case of “you get what you pay for.” Experienced, well-managed design firms often turn down non-stipend requests for proposals because they’re too risky, shrinking the pool of qualified firms to compete for the project.

Limit the number of drawings or deliverables to encourage an appropriate level of design effort during the competition phase. Firms that go overboard on the design deliverables set unrealistic expectations that such effort is reasonable or necessary for a given budget, which can lead to problems with delivery during project execution, such as errors on drawings that were rushed.

Hold one or two confidential meetings with bidding teams between the release of the RFP and the submittal due date. These meetings give clients a “sneak peek” of how designs and deliverables are evolving to ensure that they’ll meet the project’s scope. Design-build teams benefit from the chance to clarify scope and goals with the client, resulting in better projects from the get-go.

Instead of “hard bid” or lowest-cost selection, opt for a points-based “best value” process that awards or deducts points for bidding the project under or over a given dollar figure, respectively. Points can be earned for other aspects of the submittal, such as design solution or lifecycle costs. This process leads to a more realistic understanding of what a particular project costs to execute, and allows clients a fairer comparison of the merits and drawbacks of the options submitted.

DLR Group’s track record on higher-education design-build projects, such as our Southwest College School of Career and Technical Education at LACCD in California, is rooted in our commitment to working with contractors and clients in delivering high-quality projects at a cost that clients can bear. With the right selection and procurement processes, and willing project partners, any higher education institution can do the same.

Based in Los Angeles, Andrea Cohen Gehring leads the Higher Education practice in California.

Public colleges and universities in particular have little wiggle room on project funding, so it’s in their best interest to set up a selection process that works in their favor. Here’s how institutions can increase the odds of getting a project that’s a success for all parties involved by engaging a design-build team...

In my 15 years of working on design-build teams, particularly with higher education clients, I’ve seen first-hand how this project delivery method can produce high-quality design at a reasonable cost when it’s done right—or poorly executed projects when it’s not.

byAndrea Cohen Gehring, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C

Home for a University’s LegacyCollaborative process delivers an iconic, welcoming, destination for alumni and students.

The University of Wyoming Gateway Center is an iconic structure that serves as a focal point to welcome visitors to the campus. DLR Group’s design creates a destination location for alumni, students, and visitors to congregate, collaborate, and connect to their Wyoming Cowboy legacy. The center houses the University of Wyoming Foundation, Alumni Association, Career Services, and Student Admissions at the heart of campus, with an architecture that reflects the past, present, and future of the University and its student community.

University of Wyoming Gateway Center

DESIGN2016

Laramie, Wyo.

Insights in Higher Education

Carbon neutral facilities must be the norm by the year 2030.

The Net Zero Path Is Ongoing Performance Analysis

Think of the Path as a tee up. We take facilities as far as possible toward net zero goals today within the project’s constraints. But we employ design and construction strategies that easily accommodate future additions or improvements that fulfill final net-zero operational needs as soon as the owner is able.

The Energy Pyramid

When we work with a client, the Path to Net Zero Energy begins with the Energy Pyramid. The lower levels of the pyramid have the biggest impact on energy efficiency (especially building orientation and envelope). They’re also the easiest to achieve within any given project’s scope, which means it’s critical to investigate net-zero opportunities at each and every level. We do this through ongoing performance analysis.

Ongoing Performance Analysis

Performance analysis is a term we use to cover diverse modeling and analysis tactics that we perform to evaluate the energy efficiency of design, systems, and construction options. There are various ways we can optimize a building’s energy usage by implementing ongoing performance analysis throughout design:

1) Building Shape and Orientation: Early in the project we host an integrated design charrette to specifically explore options for how the very form, size, and orientation of a building influences energy consumption. For example, our design team for Valencia College’s Poinciana Campus (Poinciana, Fla.) not only used performance analysis to fully understand how their design decisions would impact the energy consumption, but further presented findings to the owner as the schemes were developed. This approach makes energy consumption an integral part of the early design decision making.

2) Building Envelope: As our understanding of the building shape and orientation grows, we then explore options for the building envelope, with specific analysis of how materials and systems impact energy consumption. Our Zellwood Elementary project team (Zellwood, FL) tested various performance criteria for the building walls, glazing, and roof selection. The project team presented the return on the investment for improved envelope design and the project owner

The AEC profession has been working with building owners to fulfill this imperative for over a decade. However, not every building owner is in a position to achieve net zero energy construction today, often through lack of budget or similar scope limitations. So in working with our clients towards the 2030 Challenge, we’ve developed tools and tactics to help our clients and their projects be on a Path to Net Zero Energy.

byLinsey Piant Perez, AIA, GGP

elected items with a payback within 5-8 years and the overall energy consumption was reduced by 18% over ASHRAE 90.1-2007.

3) Lighting/Daylighting: The next step in ongoing Performance Analysis is understanding lighting (both natural and electric). We can verify our selection of glazing by looking at daylighting and lighting within the building. For example, the Valencia Poinciana project team modeled several glazing options along with the location of daylight sensors. It was determined that if we implemented multiple types of glazing, depending on orientation, we could save an additional 5% in energy consumption.

4) HVAC Equipment and Architectural Impact: With building shape, orientation and envelope determined, the next step in modeling would be to test various approaches to mechanical design. If the building structure itself sets a baseline optimization for user comfort and wellness, then mechanical systems don’t need to do as much work, and we can explore the most efficient systems possible. For example, on the Valencia Poinciana project, the design team tested various options and overall went with a hybrid chilled beam and traditional VAV mechanical system. By implementing the chilled beam system in a majority of the building, it not only had a significant impact on the energy consumption, but it impacted the architecture. We were able to reduce the floor area dedicated to mechanical equipment giving it back to programmable space and we reduced the overall building height which saved the project money, keeping it on-budget. By modeling the savings, it helped the owner team to justify moving towards a new approach to mechanical design.

5) Controls: Although controls occupy their own level on the pyramid, in ongoing performance analysis we typically investigate controls concurrently with both lighting and HVAC.

6) Renewables: Most often, this is where an owner’s project constraints prevent them from fulfilling net-zero. But by implementing ongoing performance analysis, a project team reduces the energy use intensity (EUI) to a point where the addition of renewables is the only step needed to accomplish that goal. The key is to masterplan the renewables now in the building design, so that the infrastructure can accommodate the additional renewables in the future.

Design Estimates

Our project teams who have implemented ongoing performance analysis have noticed design estimates come in on-target. The increased accuracy of estimating comes from this approach of balancing architectural and engineering decisions against the budget. We implement value engineering throughout the design, and it’s tested against performance criteria. And clients who request a Path to Net Zero Energy have found testing the design against performance criteria allows them to justify the money spent upfront.

So now I’d ask you this question: will you implement ongoing Performance Analysis on your next project?

Lindsey Piant Perez is a leader in the Orlando Higher Education Studio and a passionate advocate for sustainable design.

University of Northern Iowa | Schindler Education Center | Cedar Falls, IowaDLR Group is modernizing the Brutalist Schindler Education Center at the University of Northern Iowa. The vision is a comprehensive modernization of this 40-year old building to develop an environment that enables the next generation of teachers to inspire and prepare learners to live in an ever-changing, globalized world. The design will foster and promote creativity, collaboration, and communication through the careful integration of adaptable, technology-rich environments that encourage interaction among students, faculty, and the local community.

Cavendish University Mukono Campus | Mukono, UgandaDLR Group is engaged with the leadership of Cavendish University to develop a new campus in Mukono, Uganda, that is ultimately expected to serve 12,000 students. The campus architecture is inspired by the architectural style of the region; simple concrete buildings with contemporary cladding, and indoor and outdoor spaces woven together seamlessly. Located in South-Central Uganda, this campus will set a new precedent for tertiary education environments in the region.

Next...

Golden West College | Huntington Beach, Calif. The new Criminal Justice Training Center will allow Golden West College to meet the demands of a growing number of students pursuing law enforcement careers. This unique design will provide students with hands on police training and education. The plan includes a scenario village with both commercial and residential structure that can be used to set up realistic scenarios for rescues, hostage situations and emergency response with vehicles.

Energy + Engineering Solutions

Do more with less Enhance building performance to lower operating costs. Improve indoor environmental quality to increase student and faculty comfort.DLR Group believes all spaces should be sustainably designed, high performance buildings. Our focus is to reduce energy use through design and improve building performance, and then incorporate renewable systems to produce energy on site.

One of the fastest growing campuses in the country, Benedictine University embarked on an initiative to reduce campus wide energy consumption. To support these goals, DLR Group leveraged the local utility incentive program for funding to optimize campus energy use. The potential system improvements will have a significant financial impact on the university’s operational costs and free up budget to support educational aspirations.

Solar is not the only opportunity to reduce your operational expenses. DLR Group’s full suite of engineering experts provide design, commissioning, and energy efficiency services for the complete life cycle of your building.

11 BUILDINGS totaling 518,299 SQ FT

recommissioned

818,528 kWh of energy savings

per year

5,954 STUDENTSwill benefit from

increased comfort

913 METRIC TONSof equivalent carbon

dioxide pollution avoided

Southwest College School of Career and Technical

Education Los Angeles, Calif.

Design Award Design Build Institute of America

Benedictine University Goodwin Hall of Business

Lisle, Ill. Regional Best Project

Higher Education/Research American Institute of Architects

Engineering News Record, Midwest

University of Wyoming Gateway Center

Laramie, Wyo. BEST AwardInternational

IIDA Rocky Mountain

Awards

2016@DLR Group

DLR Group celebrated its 50th birthday on April 1, 2016. During the year, each office hosted an open house for local clients, partners, and alumni. Each office also closed for a day of service. In total, DLR Group employee-owners donated more than 6,000 hours to their local communities.

DLR Group expanded its geographic reach in 2016. The firm opened international offices in Dubai and Nairobi, a new office in Houston, and consolidated our Santa Monica and Pasadena locations in a new downtown Los Angeles office.

On September 20, DLR Group CEO Griff Davenport announced the acquisition of Westlake Reed Leskosky. ARCHITECT Magazine’s #1 ranked firm in 2014, and #2 in 2016, WRL brings market leading Performing Arts, Museum, and Healthcare practices and adds depth to the integrated services of DLR Group.

Practicing as DLR Group|Westlake Reed Leskosky in Arizona, Ohio, and the Northeast; as DLR Group|Sorg|Westlake Reed Leskosky in Washington, D.C.; and as DLR Group across the U.S. and around the globe, more than 1,000 design professionals stand ready to provide you with an unmatched depth of integrated design services and focused market expertise.

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