WILLIAMSBURG, Va.—HGA and architect-of-record Moseley Architects have jointly designed expansions to the College of William & Mary Fine and Performing Arts Quarter, which collectively fashions a new “front door” to the school’s arts complex that welcomes in students, staff and visitors. Whiting-Turner Contracting Company is acting as general contractor for the work, with other consultants on the project including theatrical experts Apeiro Design as well as acoustic and AV consultant Jaffe Holden.

Given that the university, America’s oldest, features a unique design aesthetic, the administrators of the school sought to have the newer arts buildings blend in with historical structures constructed of Flemish bond brick. Accordingly, HGA reimagined the 101,550-square-foot Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall as a modern home for dance and theater instruction, as well as for artistic displays and performances. The firm also designed an entirely new music building for the campus that is express-built with the best possible acoustics. The music building also features a percussion studio, rehearsal spaces as well as teaching studios.

Newer building materials complementing the Flemish bricks include wood and metal panels at Phi Beta Kappa Hall’s exterior as well as in the new music building. The design aesthetic also features glass that is meant to be “bird-safe” as well as minimize the amount of heat that will enter the interior during the summer months.

The designers, with an eye toward sustainability, aimed for LEED Silver Certification.

Rebecca Krull Kraling, planning principal at HGA, said it was her firm’s mission to meld a modern aesthetic with the historically familiar look and feel of the Arts Quarter at William & Mary.

“We took stock of the existing materials and motifs of the campus architecture and melded them with the arts complex’s contemporary aesthetic,” said Krull Kraling. “These buildings, striking in beauty and integrated in context, express to students, faculty, and the community the university’s dedication to nurturing, understanding, and promoting the arts in all forms.”

In a subsequent statement, Krull Kraling said that HGA wanted to assure school officials that they would create something new while respecting what has been on the campus for centuries prior.

“Each space and its function were considered individually, such as the need to block natural light in performance spaces and the need for privacy in rehearsal spaces,” she remarked. “The result was a variety of design methods to accommodate the needs of each department.”

With the first two phases now complete, movement on the next steps in the project can commence, though a final date of completion has yet to be announced.

HGA employs over 1,000 planners and architects at 12 offices nationwide. The company works in such design specialties as healthcare, tech, government and education.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif.—A contracting team led by McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. has successfully completed the Ernest E. Tschannen Eye Institute Building at the University of California, Davis in Northern California.

Working with Vanir Construction Management and architects HGA and TEF, McCarthy worked under a design-build contract on the new institute, which is located nearby Davis in the capital city of Sacramento. The teams also expanded UC Davis’s Ambulatory Care Center as a part of the project for the university.

The Ernest E. Tschannen Eye Institute Building entails 78,500 square feet that will be a boon to the university’s existing medical use and instruction space. According to information released by McCarthy, one of the consultants on the project was Chris Downey, a designer who lost his sight in 2008 and has since worked to help the vision-impaired in his work. Downey’s input was crucial to the layout envisioned by HGA and TEF as the design evolved.

The Tschannen institute consolidates all of UC Davis Health Eye Center’s under one roof, with specialties devoted to optometry and ophthalmology, clinical research and training. The facility also features departmental offices and student areas.

The architectural design for the eye center is meant to be welcoming and pleasing to the beholder. Building materials at the base entail nature-toned exterior substances that are offset by a folding, clear-glass curtain wall that is meant to present a warm feeling as students, clinicians, patients and visitors cross into the facility’s multi-story glass entryway.

The interior features a circulatory wayfinding route that runs the length of the building. Clinic waiting and reception areas are all located off of this main thoroughfare, which connects the medical use area in the new building with renovated areas in the older facility.

“Bringing UC Davis Health Eye Center’s new facilities to life has truly been a fulfilling experience for all of the consultants involved,” Greg Osecheck, HGA’s principal-in-charge, said in a recent release. “From day one, we knew the spaces we were creating had the potential to dramatically improve the lives of clinicians, patients and vision scientists alike, and it was an honor to work closely with all of our project partners to ensure their usefulness long into the future. We’re hopeful that the new Ernest E. Tschannen Eye Building and its supporting spaces will give rise to some of medicine’s most transformational eye care solutions.”

Added Alyosha Verzhbinsky, TEF’s principal-in-charge: “Working with the medical leadership of the Eye Center was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my professional life.”

In an email sent to School Construction News, Ian McQuoid, senior vice president of operations at McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., said that the Ernest T. Tschannen Eye Institute at UC Davis will ultimately better the community as well as the university itself.

“The new building will not only enable the Ophthalmology Department at UC Davis Medical Center’s Sacramento campus to achieve patient care excellence and improve the patient experience, but it will also increase operational efficiency for UC Davis Health,” said McQuoid.

The team at Ernest E. Tschannen Eye Institute Building is aiming for LEED Gold certification of the building.

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SAN FRANCISCO—The University of California San Francisco (UCSF)—a renowned health science university—has selected HGA and Snøhetta to design the new Research and Academic Building on its Parnassus Heights campus in San Francisco.

A San Francisco institution for more than a century, UCSF’s Parnassus Heights campus is renowned for innovation in research and education. The Parnassus Research and Academic Building, known for now as the PRAB, will anchor the west end of the campus and replace UC Hall, UCSF’s oldest building at Parnassus Heights, which was built as the University of California’s first hospital in 1917. This is one phase of a comprehensive planning process that is underway for a major renovation and expansion of the campus over the next decade.

The estimated $700 million project will include the building as well as improvements to Parnassus Avenue, extending Fourth Avenue, creating a new promenade and loading dock, the demolition of UC Hall, and the initial components of an “energy center” that will ensure UCSF can install new infrastructure when energy technology changes down the road.

Through a collaborative partnership, HGA will serve as the Executive Architect and Architect of Record, leading programming, planning and project management as well as the design of research lab and technical program spaces. Snøhetta will lead the overall conceptual design for the building and surrounding public realm, including landscape and site improvements.

HGA and Snøhetta submitted an innovative joint proposal, and UCSF— an institution known for teamwork between its scientists, clinicians and educators—particularly admired the collaborative nature of the proposal. A team led by Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS, selected HGA and Snøhetta from a final list.

“These cutting-edge firms were willing to join us in thinking outside of the box to face the unique opportunities that we see in this critical phase of the Parnassus plan,” said  Daniel Lowenstein, MD, UCSF’s executive vice chancellor and provost. “In particular, they bring new ways of fostering collaboration, an openness to our relationship to the local community and a robust and productive connectivity with the rest of the campus.”

Patti Mitchell, UCSF’s director of Campus Design and Construction for the west zone, and deputy campus architect, said the winning team had a particularly people-minded approach. “They had innovative ideas about how people would interact when they were in the building,” Mitchell said. “Their proposal was more human-centric versus others that were more building-focused.”

Both firms will work with a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary design-build team from UCSF in an integrated design and construction center to support collaboration, public engagement and the development of a holistic design. Mitchell said UCSF will work with HGA and Snøhetta to select a design builder, and that firm will serve as the general contractor, with the designers integrated under that contract, along with an array of trade partners.

“The HGA and Snøhetta team embody traits that are not just important for a successful design partnership, but also represent our aspirations for the PRAB project, including collaboration, creativity, innovation and excellence,” said Brian Newman, senior associate vice chancellor, UCSF Real Estate, and vice president, UCSF Health. “The two firms see the project site and its topographical challenges as opportunities to open up the interior of the campus and facilitate movement from the PRAB to other buildings.”

Breaking up the silos that once defined scientific research, UCSF creates spaces where a cell biologist might cross paths with an immunologist, leading to a collaboration that could create a new approach to treating a deadly disease. While the bulk of the PRAB will be for researchers, a portion will be designed specifically for educational uses. Graduate students will be able to work in labs and attend classes under one roof. To enable telepresence and build on recent advancements in virtual and hybrid learning, classrooms will be designed with accessibility and flexibility in mind.

“The HGA and Snøhetta teams were inspired by the culture of collaboration and dedication to teamwork for which UCSF is known,” said Chris Martin, science and technology market sector leader and principal at HGA. “We are excited to be a part of expanding the legacy of this premier institution by creating a forward-looking research and academic setting to advance human health outcomes and, hopefully, facilitate scientific breakthroughs, where new methods and technologies can lead to exceptional results.”

“We’re excited to work with UCSF, HGA, and local partners to bring the PRAB project to life,” said Alan Gordon, Partner and architect at Snøhetta.  “Our work is defined by collaboration, as we work with stakeholders to realize educational and cultural projects alike. UCSF has become a landmark institution in San Francisco, and we look forward to reimagining this site and the future of the Parnassus Heights campus.”

Michelle Delk, also a Snøhetta partner and landscape architect, added “Snøhetta’s approach centers on cultural exchange and the public realm.” Delk explains, “The PRAB project will not only serve clinicians and researchers at UCSF, but will include new vistas, promenades, and public gathering areas that will take advantage of San Francisco’s climate and natural context to bring added beauty to the site and campus.”

The PRAB is expected to open in 2026.

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The uncertainty surrounding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic makes it challenging for college and university faculty members, administrators and facility directors to create a plan for the return of students to campus this fall. Most campuses are currently releasing their plans—usually with a mix of online, in-person, and blended instruction—with campus-specific approaches to scheduling courses and determining who’s on campus and when.

As architects and designers, we’re helping schools navigate these unknowns by creating tools that can quickly and efficiently model multiple scenarios, allowing school administrators to react nimbly to changing inputs and criteria. The following five suggestions summarize key considerations in this process, published by HGA in the new guide “Returning to Campus: Creating Healthy Environments for Learning:”

1. Be nimble and flexible

By now, the 6-foot social distancing circles applied to classroom environments, which result in de-densification and reduced capacity, are familiar diagrams to us all. But too often, these diagrams don’t take into consideration the circulation patterns into and out of rooms or consider the impact that schedule changes — adding more sections or increasing the hours of operation — have on the overall capacity on campus. A flexible and nimble approach examines alternative teaching locations, including repurposing non-traditional spaces on campus for teaching.

2. Think outside the classroom

Much of the focus has been on the interior of classrooms and other learning spaces, but the campus environment includes many other building types. Mapping pedestrian traffic and movement at the campus scale and pulling in data sets like staffing numbers can predict potential hot spots of social interaction. How might services be redistributed on campus to minimize the need for faculty and students to travel to receive them?

3. Leverage your facilities manager

Building systems – including air handling equipment – can play an important role in mitigating the spread of the virus between occupants and improving indoor air quality. How does the campus re-opening plan look out for the health and safety of the new front line of essential workers, including cleaning staff, on-campus clinic staff, and residence hall staff? Understanding which buildings are equipped with the technologies to support filtration and minimum outdoor air rates may have an impact on which buildings are re-opened on campus, and when.

4. Don’t forget about your faculty

Much of the narrative in recent months has been about keeping students healthy and well on campus, leaving many faculty members to ask what is being done to protect them. On campuses with traditional-aged college students, faculty members may be more at risk from the impacts of the virus than many students, based purely on demographics. Even if students return to campus in-person, many faculty may need to have the option for continued remote instruction.

5. Communicate cultural change

We are in the middle of a great cultural experiment that is re-inventing societal norms and creating new patterns of social engagement. To be effective, a change to societal norms — including the adherence to mask wearing and the ability to self-regulate physical distancing requirements — requires buy-in on the part of those affected by the change. Involve your community in the creation of policies that affect campus life, and allow them to develop new ways of engaging with one another to maintain and build community.

The decision on how to safely reopen campus buildings for teaching and learning is complex, especially as new research is published daily on the risk factors involved. Leveraging design and engagement tools to model multiple scenarios quickly allows campuses to react nimbly and be prepared. Campuses that adapt strategically to a new, blended learning environment will be prepared to address the uncertainties in higher education for years to come.

Rebecca Celis, AIA, is vice president at HGA, specializing in projects for higher education. Ena Murphy is a planner at HGA. For more information on HGA’s research on the impact of the coronavirus on higher education, visit https://hga.com/returning-to-campus-during-covid-19/.

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ST. PAUL, Minn.—HGA’s long-term renovation of Macalester College’s Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center (JWFAC) in St. Paul is now complete.

Macalester’s new Theater and Dance department is located in the center of its beautiful urban campus. HGA revitalized the facility’s connectivity within departments and to the campus itself, ushering in a new wave of creativity and collaboration for students and faculty.

The finale of this three-phase, four-building project included demolishing the original 1965 Theater and Dance wing and replacing it with a new three-level building. To foster interdisciplinary collaboration, the new plan takes advantage of adjacencies to existing resources within the complex, including the Mairs Concert Hall, the Law Warschaw Gallery and the Lowe Dayton Arts Commons.

A new 3,600-square-foot Flexible Theater on the main level, adjacent to the existing Lowe Dayton Arts Commons, holds up to 200 people in a variety of seating configurations. Versatility for teaching and performance was central to the design of this space.

A full tension-wire grid suspended above the room provides for a variety of lighting, audio-visual, and scenic equipment to be mounted, and allows students to safely learn and work on these systems as a class. Hinged galleries around the perimeter can be used for either seating or as part of scenic elements, while also folding out of the way to create space for dance or other activities with large footprint needs.

Adjustable seating platforms can be arranged in a variety of configurations, including in the round, transverse, and end-stage styles. A full sprung floor supports dance performance, and large traps in the middle of the floor can be removed for scenic effect. Large overhead doors adjacent to the scene shop facilitate easy access for moving equipment and scenery.

The main level also features the versatile and vibrant Fox Dance Studio, a 2,400-square-foot space ideal for dance classes and performances. Large windows onto the Arts Commons and the campus courtyard showcase the activity of dance to the rest of the campus. A large-scale projection wall within the studio allows for the integration of audio-visual media with movement and dance.

The lower level of the Theater and Dance building was carefully considered to create academic space which would complement and support the performance spaces on the first floor. A black-box space, the Huber-Seikaly Theater can be utilized by all of JWFAC’s artistic disciplines including theater, dance and lighting design classes. The Berg Studio caters to the dance department specifically with its Marley vinyl flooring. A design studio encourages a multidisciplinary approach to artistic endeavors by providing areas to teach lighting, digital design, drafting and physical models.

An “ah-ha!” moment in the design process occurred when the team realized it could add nine new flexible classrooms on the second level of the Theater and Dance building and connect them by skyway to the Olin-Rice Science Center, thereby meeting the greater campus need for classrooms in a convenient location. Now, classes from religion to philosophy to biology are meeting in the Theater and Dance building, demonstrating the College’s commitment to a curriculum that breaks down traditional discipline silos.

Each of the classrooms in the building is designed to support lessons from all disciplines. Moveable and flexible furniture, ample whiteboard space, access to natural light, integrated power, built-in storage and quality projectors support different teaching styles within the rooms. The second level corridors include study booths, casual seating, and whiteboard space to foster faculty-to-student and peer-to-peer collaborative learning.

In addition to a design emphasis on the college’s core values, HGA and Macalester ensured the new facilities support both public health and the environment. A 130kW solar array system covers the entire roof, and the building envelope was constructed to enhance energy performance. Storm water holding areas filter building and main parking lot runoff, while the large south window includes a vertical frit to make it bird-friendly.

The Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center is about nurturing creative talent and encouraging students to discover appropriate voices for artistic expression—at a strategically visible location where the arts can positively influence students.

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The facility, created in partnership with locally based Aurora Health Care, is being designed by a team of four national and local architecture firms led by architect of record Sink Combs Dethlefs, located in Denver. Locally based HGA, Boston-based Ellenzweig and Denver-based Peter Park LLC round out the design team. Aurora Health Care is investing $40 million in the athletic performance research center, while the university will also seek sponsorship and other partnership opportunities.

The approximately 300,000-square-foot athletic performance research center will span 12 acres, combining indoor playing fields for the university’s lacrosse and soccer programs and an indoor track with top-notch research capabilities. These will allow faculty and students to conduct research in sports performance, medicine, nutrition and rehabilitation, while encouraging collaborative research in emerging fields such as exercise physiology, athletic training and biomedical engineering.

Other key highlights of the facility include weight and training rooms as well as office space to serve the intercollegiate athletics program. The track and field will also be used by intramural and club sports programming, and classroom and conference space will also be available.

The athletic performance center will be accessible to the entire student population, and student feedback will be integrated throughout the design process, according to the project website. In fact, that’s how the university identified the great demand for access to better health and wellness opportunities for students and realized that existing student health facilities were operating at maximum capacity.

A major part of the project will be to foster community engagement and create new and enhanced partnerships throughout the region, according to the project website. It will create an opportunity for health care providers and scholars — i.e., researchers and clinicians from Marquette and Aurora Health Care — to work together and foster research breakthroughs in physiological and psychological areas of human and health performance.

The center will specifically allow Aurora Health Care to expand its cross-disciplinary, patient- and community-centered research, according to the project website. The health organization’s research will result in improved fitness and performance for professional athletes, average exercisers and entire communities. Aurora will even provide Marquette with additional dedicated medical sports staffing, including physician coverage for all sports teams, full-time licensed athletic trainers and designated chiropractic and physical therapy consults.

“The creation of such a facility gives us new opportunities that we haven’t seen before and also the opportunity to attract experts from all over the world,” said Dr. Kris Ropella, Opus Dean of Engineering, in a statement.

Construction is expected to break ground later this year, and the project will likely take three years to complete. The university’s goal is to open the facility at the same time the Milwaukee Bucks, the city’s professional basketball team, open their multipurpose arena and sports and entertainment district, according to the project website.

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