HOUSTON—SmithGroup, one of the nation’s leading integrated design firms, has opened an office in Houston, its 17th location worldwide. This new office strengthens the company’s network of talent and expertise in Texas, deepening the firm’s long-standing commitment to the state. The Houston location also expands upon SmithGroup’s successful relationships with colleges and universities across Texas and more recent growth in the region’s healthcare industry.

SmithGroup’s Houston office will be led by Jay Rambo, who also serves as director of the firm’s Dallas location. “While SmithGroup has been working on projects in Houston for 15 years and Texas for over 60 years, we could not be more thrilled to be officially expanding our presence in one of the largest and most diverse cities in the country,” said Rambo. “As an integrated design firm, we bring a unique blend of higher education, science and technology and healthcare expertise ideally matched to Houston’s market opportunities.”

Clint Menefee, SmithGroup’s Higher Education studio leader in Texas, will also serve as a key member of the Houston leadership team.

“In recent years, we have been honored to collaborate on several of Houston’s most impactful projects in Higher Education and look forward to fostering deeper connections with the educational needs of the region,” said Menefee. “Our team in Texas is excited to continue our expansion and further our mission to design inspiring learning environments at all scales, from campus to classroom, with a particular emphasis on environments for the health sciences, STEM and recreation and wellness.”

SmithGroup has extensive experience creating innovative design solutions for higher education institutions throughout Texas, including the Gulf Coast region. The firm recently designed and completed the University of Houston-Clear Lake Recreation and Wellness Center; the University of Houston-Victoria (UHV) STEM Building; and the master plan and first academic building for the new University of Houston at Katy campus. In addition to built work, higher education projects currently underway include the UHV Health & Wellness Center; University of Houston-Downtown Student Wellness and Success Center; and Texas A&M University South Campus Recreation Center.

SmithGroup’s Houston office is located at 1801 Main Street, Suite 13.

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LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK, N.Y., April 13, 2020—Reflecting its innovative, multidisciplinary, approach to sustainable campuses, buildings and places, the integrated engineering consultancy Buro Happold has announced a number of major new sustainability-driven higher education projects underway at colleges and universities across the United States that address the climate emergency the world is currently facing.

Developed in collaboration with leading architecture firms – including Grimshaw Architects, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), Moore Ruble Yudell, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ), KieranTimberlake, Behnisch Architekten, Snøhetta, Henning Larsen and others – Buro Happold’s new university projects range in scale from standalone academic buildings to larger educational complexes to entire multiphase campus master plans. Buro Happold also leads campus sustainability plans, a critical new specialty. The firm also brings decades of experience with environmental modeling, strategic mobility planning, engineered systems design, and pioneering use of structural materials and construction methods for iconic, highly sustainable campus buildings.

Engaged with a number of higher education clients, Buro Happold is helping to develop comprehensive sustainability plans, such as at the University of North Carolina, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of California, San Diego. The firm is also providing expertise on sustainability and wellbeing, outdoor thermal comfort, and pedestrian flow modeling for College of the Desert’s new Palm Springs campus.

As a result of the firm’s commitment to a net-zero carbon future and its focus on human wellbeing, Buro Happold has emerged as the leading provider of sustainability services for forward-looking colleges and universities throughout the country. The firm’s success in the higher education sector with a number of repeat clients is underscored by a multidisciplinary approach to planning and design coupled with demonstrated expertise managing complex project stakeholder relationships across all scales.

Notable recent university work includes:

Washington University in St. Louis.: Buro Happold has provided integrated engineering services that incorporate the principles of sustainable design with attention to energy efficiency, low-impact materials, reuse and recycling, quality and durability, and health and wellness for nine structures across this campus.

Among these notable works, Buro Happold provided extensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and egress modeling for the Olin Business School. Designed by Moore Ruble Yudell with Mackey Mitchell Architects, it is one of the first passively smoke-vented atriums in the United States. Most recently, Buro Happold’s scope of work on the 18-acre East End Campus included partnering again with Moore Ruble Yudell and Mackey Mitchell to design Jubel Hall as well as with architects KieranTimberlake on four structures including two glazed pavilions, Weil Hall, and an expansion of Kemper Art Museum.

Arizona State University, Phoenix: Buro Happold is providing integrated engineering services including structures and mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems along with energy modeling, lighting and daylighting design, and sustainability consulting for the 55,000-square-foot Thunderbird School of Global Management. Designed by Moore Ruble Yudell and Jones Studio, the building is in construction and expected to open in 2021, and represents just one of three projects at ASU involving Buro Happold’s full multidisciplinary services. Others include the Ennead-designed ASU Beus Center for Law & Society in downtown Phoenix, recently completed and pursuing LEED Gold, as well as Grimshaw’s new Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 7, which is scheduled to open in late 2021 and is pursuing LEED Gold.

University of California, Los Angeles: With 30 projects on University of California campuses and 16 at UCLA alone, Buro Happold has provided integrated expertise on a wide range of facilities on campus including general classrooms, professional schools, state-of- the-art labs, and housing. Most recently, the firm delivered MEP and fire-protection engineering, IT services, lighting design, daylight modeling and energy modeling for the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science’s new laboratory complex, housing the 60,000-square-foot Western Institute of Nanotechnology on Green Engineering and the 90,000-square-foot Computer Science department. Along with significant energy cost savings, Buro Happold also specified solar renewable and water-recycling technologies to dramatically minimize energy and water consumption for the LEED Gold- certified complex.

Cornell Tech, Roosevelt Island, N.Y.: Buro Happold provided feasibility studies, energy analysis and passive systems design as well as MEP and structural engineering and lighting design for The House at Cornell Tech, a 26-floor housing tower designed by Handel Architects, that is the world’s largest and tallest Passive House-certified residential building. The House is part of Cornell University’s larger urban island campus, which Buro Happold is also helping develop according to the university’s wider commitment to innovative sustainability. Buro Happold also recently partnered with international architecture firm Snøhetta to deliver the Verizon Executive Education Center – a conference center “suited for visionary thinkers” that blends high design and human-centered technology, expected to open this year.

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As a Certified Educational Facilities Professional (CEFP) and LEED Accredited Professional, Garrido combines his passion for delivering high performing buildings academically and environmentally. He is active in organizations that lead the conversation surrounding the higher education student experience through effective planning and design, including the Association of Facilities Officers in Higher Education (APPA) and SCUP.

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In addition to the recently finalized project at Northeastern University, located in Boston, Dyer Brown is also busy reworking campus spaces and building interiors for other high-caliber university clients, including Boston University and Emory University (in Atlanta). The firm’s expanded footprint in the educational sector follows its recognized achievements in the workplace and hospitality sectors.

Regarding the recently wrapped Northeastern University endeavor — new Orientation Department offices and an adjacent conference center, Frost Lounge — Dyer Brown’s 2,000-square-foot transformation illustrates how the firm’s broad expertise helps colleges and universities recreate campuses and student amenities. The project also highlights Dyer Brown’s success in boosting functionality on college campuses while creating vibrant, attractive experiences through buildings and interior environments.

“Leading institutions of higher education like Northeastern compete in challenging marketplaces for applicants, for students, and for top faculty and staff,” said Rachel Woodhouse, NCIDQ, LEED AP, principal and director of operations for Dyer Brown, in a statement. She added that Dyer Brown’s diverse experience in a range of markets and project types helps them create deeply client-focused and on-brand design solutions for university campuses.

The recently completed renovation at Northeastern University has reimagined the Orientation Department facilities for orienting students into campus life. The orientation meeting spaces and shared workspaces for student use were totally reimagined by Dyer Brown and the Northeastern University project team, with the architects sharing creative ideas from both institutional and commercial workplace strategies. The new layout places the Student Orientation office by the entrance lobby, making it more accessible and visible, while redesigning the Frost Lounge meeting area to increase its square footage and improve its adaptability for different uses.

The overall redesign also applies an abstracted version of Northeastern University’s logo subtly into new furnishings and finishes, wrapping the angled shapes of its iconic capital “N” across interior walls, floors and ceilings. Innovative cost-effective touches, such as installations of wood fins integrated into the new reception desk and several walls, creating visual interest and textural dimension, were also introduced by the design team.

“We collaborated closely with the project’s contractor, Kaplan Construction, and several subtrades to develop creative finish materials on the floors, ceilings and walls with the striking 45-degree angle seams wrapping throughout the space,” said Karen Bala, AIA, LEED AP, senior architect with Dyer Brown, in a statement. “The detailing at angles subtly evokes Northeastern’s shared identity, while the meeting of disparate materials helps reinforce that this is where communities come together and touch — part of an ongoing university initiative to recruit students from around the world.”

Dyer Brown Architects showcases a fully integrated array of professional services, ranging from high-level building owner and corporate advisory to 3-D concept visualization. The firm’s clients run the gamut from property owner/developers and end-users to global corporations and leading regional brands in such market sectors as workplace, retail, hospitality and higher education.

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Higher education creates opportunities for students to follow their dreams, provide for their families and master skills. Some communities across the country, however, lack access to higher education facilities and programs, forcing residents to make difficult life choices.

In one community southwest of Kissimmee, Fla., thousands of students were without direct access to higher education institutions for many years. Students fought the daily grind of a 90-minute round-trip commute by car; those who relied on the bus for transportation suffered through a two-hour, one-way trip as they pursued degrees or certificates from Valencia College’s West and Osceola campuses. Fortunately, that all changed in the fall of 2017 with the opening of the new Valencia Poinciana Campus.

The realization of a vision that launched 10 years prior, the new campus serves the growing higher education needs of the local community that bridges Osceola and surrounding counties, and provides much needed and desired accessible education to students of the Poinciana community.

“When we started construction on the Poinciana Campus, I was often asked, ‘Why are you building a campus in Poinciana? No one from Poinciana goes to college.’ I would consistently respond, ‘That is precisely why we are building a campus in Poinciana,’” Kathleen Plinske, Ed.D., campus president for Osceola, Lake Nona and Poinciana campuses.

National firm DLR Group was hired to master plan and program the new campus, and to design the first three buildings, which include:

• A 63,894-square-foot, multi-use facility that houses 12 classrooms, a science lab, two computer labs and a culinary teaching kitchen to serve the new Hospitality Program. Additionally, as the first and main building for the campus, this facility includes necessary financial and student services, administration offices, conference rooms, a library, a café and a multipurpose gathering room that opens to a central courtyard that can be used by the college and community for events.

• The 11,706-square-foot Center for Accelerated Training, which houses rotating programs of six- to 12-week certification courses such as basic construction, transportation logistics, advanced manufacturing and fork-lift operating as well as continuing education courses in English as a Second Language and Spanish.

• A 4,220-square-foot Central Utility Plant servicing the entire campus with room for future campus growth.

DLR Group’s planning efforts for this campus stem from its belief that truly successful higher education capital improvements focus on three considerations: student culture, community investment and sustainability.

Designing a Student Campus Culture

Higher education designs are formed from a deep understanding of core institutional programs, services and stakeholders. Designs that are most effective serve the unique needs of the local student body. At Valencia College’s Poinciana Campus, this translates into a campus culture designed to serve thousands of local students, many of whom are the first generation in their family to attend college. Building upon the long history and success of the Valencia College network, this new campus is a fresh start that creates a memorable student experience.

“When you step onto campus you feel a sense of optimism. Students express excitement about the future with deep-rooted emotion, as though they are now physically standing in a vision they have had without knowing if it would ever be their reality,” said Mark Hose, Valencia College facility planner.

A majority of the population served by the Poinciana Campus is Latino, specifically from Puerto Rico. DLR Group’s design celebrates the surrounding community’s heritage and pays homage to the iconic Poinciana (or “flame”) trees, which are common in Puerto Rico and are viewed as symbols of hope. Two Poinciana trees in the student courtyard are the focal point for the campus’ inspiration. The trees’ placement, coupled with a courtyard that opens toward the community, welcomes visitors and creates a sense of pride for the new campus.

Biomimicry of the Poinciana tree is used throughout the exterior and interior design of the main building as inspiration to the community and a reminder of hope and aspiration. DLR Group incorporated the tree’s foliage as the pattern for shading devices on the south side of the building, and colorful banners along the north side celebrate the blooming red flowers. The interior color palette blends warm wood tones reflective of the beautiful Poinciana tree with bold red moments in the cool-toned carpeting, recalling the picturesque tapestry of the ground after the red flowers have fallen. The design also features a student-gathering plaza that inhabits the second and third floors of the north-south portion of the building. This plaza is lovingly termed the “Treehouse” as it sits nestled between the finished, polished Poinciana Trees’ courtyard to its west and the native Floridian conservation forest to its east.

Because the design reflects the local culture, students who attend Poinciana Campus feel at home, while also staying connected to the greater Valencia College student experience. They finally have a designated space where they can learn and socialize with their peers while achieving their higher education goals.

Community-Based Dynamic

The Poinciana Campus is a true community campus, supported both locally and by the state. Leaders within the local community rallied with state officials to create lifelong learning opportunities for residents of all ages.

“The Poinciana Campus is a game-changer for the community,” said Plinske. “Before, a college education was simply out of reach for many students. Now, a college education is available in our students’ backyard.”

The 19-acre site was donated by Osceola County, and the design and construction was funded by the state. The state legislature approved a series of funding for the school, including $1 million in 2014 for planning funds, $11.9 million in 2015 to fund half of the construction costs and an additional $12.1 million in 2016, which helped transform the Poinciana Campus from a dream into reality. Recognizing the critical need for the campus, the Board of Trustees of Valencia College also allocated $2 million from reserves to accelerate the planning and design of the campus.

“We were so fortunate that our local, county and state leadership recognized the tremendous need for the Poinciana Campus and found the resources necessary to make higher education accessible for a community that historically had been underserved,” said Plinske.

To read the entire story, check out the March/April issue of School Construction News.

Nicole Nichols, AIA, is DLR Group’s higher education leader and principal in the national design firm.

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The 2017 “State of Facilities in Higher Education” report released in late January showed that several North American colleges and universities are moving forward with the high-risk strategy of building new campus facilities in an effort to keep up with student enrollment. The report stated that there was more than 10 percent growth in campus space from 2007 to 2016, outpacing enrollment growth of just 8 percent during the same time frame.

“In light of the facilities management challenges facing higher education institutions — notably large segments of aging building stock and flattening if not declining enrollment trends — it’s extraordinary to see that many higher education decision-makers are choosing to add new buildings to their campuses,” said Mark Schiff, president of Sightlines, in a statement. “While our research indicates that institutions are taking steps to invest more strategically in facilities resources, the vast majority continue to underestimate the renewal needs of deteriorating spaces while pushing high-risk investments into new facilities.”

Sightlines’ fifth annual report highlighted that this is the fourth consecutive year that space growth has outpaced enrollment growth on North American college campuses. The study includes data from 366 higher education institutions in the U.S. and Canada, with an overall enrollment of 3.1 million students and 1.5 billion square feet of campus space.

Other highlights from the 2017 report included the following:

• Campus facilities operations budgets have failed to keep up with inflation, creating stress on service levels. The report found that average campus facilities operating budgets rose from $5.51 in 2007 to $5.94 in 2016, a nearly 8 percent increase.
• A huge wave of campus facilities construction in the 1960s, which accommodated the surge in Baby Boomers, is reaching the end of its usefulness in the next decade, creating significant stress on institutions as to what to do with those buildings. This wave of aging buildings now represents 40 percent of the space on campuses.
• Another large wave of campus facilities construction in the 1990s-2000s will require massive maintenance outlays in the next decade, presenting a significant capital demand on institutions. This wave of further enrollment growth and expanding program demands represents another 30 percent of campus space.
• Many institutions are recognizing the expanding need for facilities maintenance resources and, since the downturn of 2008-09, have been increasing maintenance budgets to tackle the challenge. In fact, even in the face of tremendous space growth to match enrollment growth, facilities funding at research institutions is up 14 percent.
• Oddly, institutions don’t extend this maintenance expansion trend to their landscape programs. In spite of the fact that landscaping is a relatively inexpensive place to invest operating dollars, grounds coverage areas have actually decreased 3-4 percent over the past decade.

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