On Friday, July 17, the first Southwest Airlines flight took off from the new Concourse D at Nashville International Airport (BNA). Delivered by the Hensel Phelps | Fentress Architects Progressive Design-Build Team, the 115,000-square-foot expansion signifies a major milestone for BNA Vision – a dynamic expansion and renovation plan aimed at maintaining the airport’s status as a world-class facility to keep pace with the airport’s record-breaking passenger volumes and projected growth.
The new concourse is a key element of the $292 million, 315,000-square-foot Concourse D and Terminal Wings Expansion project. It will significantly enhance the passenger experience as the airport continues to bring BNA Vision to reality. As Concourse D opens, Hensel Phelps and Fentress Architects are at work on another major project at BNA: a substantial terminal lobby renovation and state-of-the-art International Arrivals Facility, will be completed in late 2023.
“The new Concourse D elevates the passenger experience as a state-of-the-art facility with modern finishes that will delight travelers as they come and go at BNA,” said Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA, Principal in Charge of Design at Fentress Architects. “The flexible design allows the airport to accommodate future growth, passenger needs, evolving technology and aviation trends, all while creating a modern gateway befitting Nashville’s world-class prominence. We’re excited to continue working with the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority and Hensel Phelps to bring the BNA Vision to life.”
The 115,000-square-foot expansion of Concourse D adds six new domestic aircraft gates, public art, and a variety of traveler amenities, along with improved ramp amenities and function space. Additional components of the project include a 136,000-square-foot renovation of existing terminal space and a new 11,000-square-foot Central Utility Plant to heat and cool the terminal.
“The new Concourse D gives us more capacity for commercial air service to meet the rising demand for travel to and from Nashville,” said Doug Kreulen, MNAA president and CEO. “At the same time, it’s an impressive, energy efficient structure reflective of the world-class airport that is taking shape. BNA Vision is an exciting series of projects, and there’s much more to come. We are proud to serve Nashville and Middle Tennessee.”
This fall, the team will complete BNA’s 200,000-square-foot North and South Terminal Wings Expansions, providing for interim TSA checkpoints, permanent ticketing check-in counters, baggage claim devices and support offices.
In response to coronavirus (COVID-19), the project team implemented safety and social distancing protocols in line with CDC guidelines to strengthen the wellbeing of both project team members and passengers while creating a safe and healthy airport experience. Developing an adaptive and agile response, the team delivered Concourse D on time.
“Few projects have been as iconic or meaningful to a city as the Denver International Airport.”
— 2020 Honor Awards Jury
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Colorado chapter selected the Denver International Airport (DEN) Passenger Terminal as the recipient of the 2020 Twenty-five Year Award. As one of the most prestigious honors in Colorado’s built environment, the award is presented annually to a project that has “significantly influenced design and lifestyle in Colorado” and features a “timeless and enduring design that has created a sense of place” for at least 25 years.
“Our vision for DEN’s Passenger Terminal was to create a memorable design – a gateway to Colorado and the West,” said Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA, Principal in Charge of Design at Fentress Architects. “Twenty-five years later, the design continues to transcend time and is known around the world. I would like to thank AIA Colorado Honor Awards Jury, the entire project team, and my former partner Jim Bradburn.”
Creating a Memorable Symbol
Completed in 1995, Fentress’ design for DEN’s Jeppesen Terminal stimulated a paradigm shift in the way architects and the public perceive airport design. Previously, airports were conceived as ‘people processors’ – nondescript warehouses comprised of low ceilings and dim lighting. Fentress sought to change this notion by creating an airport that serves as a symbol of Denver and a gateway welcoming all to Colorado and the West; architecture as memorable as it was functional.
“Few projects have been as iconic or as meaningful to a city as the Denver International Airport,” said the 2020 Honor Awards Jury at the AIA Colorado Design and Honor Awards Ceremony on August 17. “This project is known nationally and internationally and has beautifully withstood the test of time. This project is a no-brainer for a Twenty-five Year Award. Its timeless design has become an architectural icon for the City of Denver.”
To create a significant airport, the terminal’s design embodies forms and materials native to the Rocky Mountain region. Peaked roof forms rise 130 to 150 feet, evoking a sense that one has stepped onto the snowcapped mountains that inspired the architecture. The context-driven design signified the first time an airport became a timeless icon of a region through expressive forms and has inspired the architecture of hundreds of airports worldwide.
Driving Innovation
DEN’s design set a new standard in innovation. With a deadline of only three weeks to create a new terminal concept, the design team reimagined the terminal archetype by relocating the building’s mechanical system from the roof to underground and designed the world’s largest structurally integrated, Teflon-coated tensile-membrane roof at the time of completion.
“At the time we designed the terminal, we took many risks,” said Curtis Fentress. “A lot of creative decisions we made had not been done before on such a massive scale. To all the young architects, don’t be afraid to push the limits to create great architecture.”
As one of the world’s largest daylit structures, DEN’s design showcases the first time permanent skylights were integrated into a roof form with tensile membrane fabric. Skylights atop the eight tallest masts reach up to 150 feet, allowing sunlight into the building to enliven the space. To fasten the roof’s fabric to the glass building structure, the design team developed the first “sausage connection” – a pliable two-foot diameter vinyl tubular section – which allows the structure to safely move up to 30 inches during dynamic roof movement without affecting the glass walls.
Design that Stands the Test of Time
Over the last 25 years, DEN’s Jeppesen Terminal has inspired the region’s built environment, establishing a precedent for architecture to create a sense of place while providing a sustainable and enduring commitment to both Coloradans and visitors. Today, the terminal continues to stand as a memorable gateway to the West and an enduring symbol of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.
DEN is consistently voted as one of the most efficient and significant airports worldwide, including its ranking as one of the “Best Airports in 2020” by Skytrax World Airport Awards and the “Best of the Biggest U.S. Airports” by Wall Street Journal in 2018.
Construction collaboration to build SJC’s Interim Facility wins international honors
SAN JOSE, CA—Mineta San José International Airport (SJC), Hensel Phelps (HP), Fentress Architects, Southwest Airlines and OrgMetrics LLC together won the International Partnering Institute’s (IPI) distinguished Diamond Partnering Level Award for their construction collaboration in building SJC’s Interim Facility in Terminal B. IPI honors organizations and individuals who have worked to make the construction industry more collaborative for a successful outcome.
SJC’s Interim Facility was built as a temporary solution to accommodate SJC’s rapid passenger growth over the past four years. Six additional gates were added in this temporary facility to meet Silicon Valley’s ongoing demand for travel at SJC. Additionally, the Interim Facility is intended to serve passengers until the Airport’s future expansion of a new terminal is realized, as a part of the Airport’s Updated Master Plan.
Planning for the Interim Facility Project began in early 2018, with a fast-paced schedule to open four gates as soon as feasible. Roughly four months into planning, Airport officials saw an opportunity to fund two additional gates, resulting in a total of six new gates housed in the interim facility – all planned, designed, built, and operational in under a year.
“The success of this very aggressive 11-month timeline is credited to the partnership and shared vision of our partners and stakeholders,” said John Aitken, SJC Director of Aviation. “We are grateful to our Airline and Construction partners who provided strong teams to work with us in San Jose, and also to IPI for recognizing the value of this collaboration. While the new space succeeded in meeting our need at the time during daily record-breaking passenger growth, it now also offers us added flexibility to accommodate new realities such as social distancing.”
OrgMetrics LLC, a professional partnering facilitator, successfully guided the team through each phase of the construction project. With regular partnering sessions and a highly performing team, the first five gates opened in June 2019, while the final gate opened in time for the busy holiday traffic in November 2019.
In addition to the six additional gates, the $58 million Interim Facility provides more concessions space, additional restrooms, and allows for more flight scheduling flexibility for airlines to support current airport operations and future growth.
HP served as the primary construction contractor for the Interim Facility, while Fentress Architects provided the design of the building. Currently, all six gates in the Interim Facility are operated by Southwest Airlines.
COVID-19 is forcing designers to reimagine the way the built environment is experienced. In particular, public transportation venues have been severely affected by the pandemic and many of their operators are searching for means to ensure passenger safety and build long-term user confidence.
In April 2020, we saw air travel in the U.S. reach an all-time low as passenger traffic dropped by more than 95%. As of June 2020, with travel bans and restrictions loosened and lifted, passenger traffic has begun to grow—albeit slowly.
Scenarios for global recovery reflect the latest predictions of significant economic decline in 2020 and partial recovery in 2021. Graph and data: InterVISTAS.
Fentress Architects’ Aviation Studio formed a COVID-19 Committee at the outset of the pandemic. The objective of the Committee has been to provide airport operators and airlines with well-researched design strategies for the creation of healthy, safe and comfortable environments that maintain high levels of efficiency and are fiscally feasible. The Committee’s recommendations fall into two actionable phases: NOW and NEXT. A third phase – BEYOND – serves comprehensive planning efforts. Recommendations include touchless technologies, integrated safety measures, wayfinding solutions, queue management and more. This multi-phased approach will help mitigate the spread of today’s virus as well as future, yet unknown infectious diseases.
NOW: PRODUCE IMMEDIATE RESULTS
It’s crucial to respond quickly, efficiently and wisely in times of crisis. Entry screening, touchpoint reduction, wayfinding, queue management and new holdroom seating configurations are a few ways that simple modifications and additions can be employed to yield immediate and effective results.
Entry Screening
Health and temperature screening—via Infrared Thermal Detection Systems (ITDS) for Mass Screening—at entrances and security queues will help identify infectious persons. While research has shown temperature screening may not capture all cases of COVID-19 (it is possible for carriers of this disease to present without elevated temperature), it will detect a significant amount. And in doing so, this safety measure will instill confidence among travelers and staff in the facility’s procedures.
Reducing Touchpoints
Touchpoints, also known as occasions for human interaction, consistently emerge throughout the airport experience: from check-in to security, concessions and boarding. Given 80 percent of all infectious diseases can be transmitted through touch (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), it is crucial to limit surface contact. Numerous technologies—facial recognition, artificial intelligence and biometric scanners—have already been employed to improve the passenger experience and reduce touchpoints.
Touchless kiosks can limit human-to-surface contact. Photo: AirAsia
Over the last five years, touchless, gesture-based kiosks have been gaining momentum at museums to enhance the check-in process and diminish wait times. Airports can leverage this same technology to transform self-serve kiosks from touch to touchless, which significantly reduces the risk of viral or bacterial transmission.
Wayfinding + Queue Management
Logical and logistical wayfinding strategies are essential to ensuring positive passenger experiences. Designers routinely utilize subtle, often unseen, wayfinding techniques to alleviate the stress of travel. However, the opposite is needed in a pandemic when travelers yearn for “can’t miss it” strategies that reduce uncertainty and anxiety.
Arconas’ ‘Leave Space’ Floor Stickers placed six feet apart in queuing areas can help facilitate social distancing. Photo: Arconas
Several temporary solutions, such as Arconas’ ‘Leave Space’ Floor Stickers placed six feet apart in queuing areas, encourage physical distancing while also guiding passengers. We’ve seen these ad-hoc methods used in almost every building type – from coffee shops and grocery stores to civic buildings and even airports. However, a more effective solution for airports requires a strong focus on queue management.
Holdroom Seating Configuration
The pre-COVID-19 “Serpentine” queue layout requires people to encounter one another.
In the traditional “Serpentine” security queue, passengers face one another as they navigate their way to the checkpoint, making it nearly impossible to avoid face-to-face contact.
A “Ski Lift” queue layout ensures all passengers remain front facing.
Alternatives like the “Ski Lift” queue ensure all passengers remain front facing. Social distance stickers coupled with a “Ski Lift” queue would be highly effective in reducing the spread of germs.
Security Checkpoints
Now that we have discussed queue management, it’s time to integrate this measure into the bigger picture: improving the entire security checkpoint process.
Facilitating a front-facing flow in the queue, passenger temperature screening, mitigating contact with officers, and providing sanitizer or hand washing stations can help create a safer security process.
First and foremost, airports must ensure all building users –TSA officers, airport and airline staff, and passengers – are protected throughout the entire airport experience. Since pre-COVID-19 security checkpoints are prone to human-to-human contact, it’s essential to rethink the process with safe and health-driven improvements.
Here are some easily implemented methods to enhance comfort and safety at security checkpoints:
Enforce social distancing and front-facing flow in the queue
Passenger temperature screening prior to proceeding through the checkpoint
Protect TSA officers behind Plexiglass screens
Provide handwashing stations after high-traffic contact areas
Holdroom Configuration
Social distancing of passengers in the pre-COVID-19 holdroom is physically impossible due to cross traffic conflicts.
Pre-COVID-19 holdroom layouts provide little to no social distancing. Cross traffic obliterates social distancing requirements, resulting in only three feet of space between individuals as they walk down an aisle.
Fentress re-designed holdroom seating to enhance social distancing and comfort.
So, we’ve reimagined holdroom seating configurations to ensure passenger comfort without a reduction in capacity. By rotating the seating, airports can significantly increase usability of existing seating capacity.
Arconas’ Place® Chair Shield Accessory (adaptation for social distancing)
Additionally, we collaborated with designer Michael McCoy to create a shield add-on for Arconas’ Place® Chair, which adheres to social distance guidelines.
The Pacific Marketplace in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s Central Terminal features flexible seating areas.
Additional seating solutions include the transformation of otherwise unused areas, like concession seating, into additional holdroom space.
NEXT: EXPONENTIALLY BETTER
“Now” proposes strategies and solutions to be implemented within a matter of weeks and when passenger volumes are at their lowest. Meanwhile, “Next” includes strategies and solutions that need longer to fully implement and occur with increasing passenger volumes. They expand on phase one in both size and scope: from touchpoint reduction to touchless; from spacing to orientation for both queuing and holdrooms.
Touchless Experience
Simply put, it isn’t enough to reduce touchpoints; the airport experience must evolve to be touchless. Touchless environments not only expedite and enhance all aspects of travel, they also improve health.
The world’s first fully biometric terminal was created for Delta Airlines at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. It integrates biometrics from curb to gate, which not only removed touchpoints, it also saved an average of nine minutes when boarding a wide body aircraft alone. At the Fentress-designed South Terminal Complex for Orlando International Airport, biometric boarding gates will help reduce surface contact while creating a more efficient boarding process.
Airports may also choose to limit surface contact in elevators with solutions like MAD Elevator Inc.’s “Kick-to-Go,” which is comprised of foot-activated buttons, and “Touch-to-Go,” which provides easy-to-clean elevator touchscreens.
Breeze at LAX allows passengers to order food via an app for pick-up at a kiosk. Photo: Fly with Breeze
Expansion of low-touch concession opportunities will further enhance the passenger experience. Earlier this year, Los Angeles International Airport adopted this strategy to pilot an on-demand food service program in Terminal 2. The service incorporates a ‘ghost kitchen’, which allows passengers to pre-order for pickup while the food is prepared in an existing kitchen space within the terminal. This sustainable model is an efficient solution, avoiding the need for new construction and infrastructure.
Arconas’ Place® Chair Cluster
While the addition of dividers between seats in holdrooms is an important first step, furniture options such as Arconas’ Place® Chair Cluster and Radius Dividers maximize personal space for passengers while optimizing seat utilization. The incorporation of leaning rails throughout concourses can also help mitigate touchpoints and offer operators more easy-to-clean surfaces.
Expand Outdoors
The Fentress-designed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport features outdoor seating areas.
Working closely with designers, airports can expand seating to outdoor areas to accommodate higher passenger levels while allowing for social distancing. At the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (above), Fentress’ design expanded the holdroom outdoors, establishing an efficient way to optimize the site’s unused space.
Outdoor holdroom seating offers benefits far beyond increased space. It also provides natural ventilation for passengers, promoting passenger well-being while maintaining a healthy and comfortable atmosphere.
BEYOND: EXPANDING THE SCOPE OF POSSIBILITY
While it’s easy for the industry to focus on short-term survival, airports and designers must take a responsive and resilient approach to adapt to a post-COVID-19 world. Ultimately, our goal as airport designers is to create physical environments that instill passenger and consumer confidence in the world’s aviation system for the long term. This forward-thinking approach requires a design strategy that far surpasses implementation of COVID-19 protocols; it requires designing flexibility and resiliency into structures that can easily acclimate to unforeseen conditions for the next 20 years and beyond.
Technology is the Future
Technology has been a catalyst for airport design innovations long before the current pandemic. But now, more than ever, it will be essential in creating flexible buildings while ensuring passengers stay informed and connected. Automation technology such as robotics will become more common to provide passengers with pertinent information, improving airport efficiency and service. Incheon International Airport adopted this technology early on, incorporating customer-facing robots to advise passengers throughout the airport journey.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) will help improve airport operations and facilitate safety measures. At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, an airside artificial intelligence system will enhance aircraft taxing, gate allocation and turnaround. The airport also implemented visual sensors to monitor passenger line lengths to help improve efficiency while facilitating queue management.
Leveraging Digital Technology
Capitalizing on digital technology will also be paramount to the future of airport design. Our aviation experts have taken forward-thinking approach to the holdroom boarding experience by creating a concept for a new podium that supports social distancing with a built-in shield between passengers and airline staff. This visually informative LED screen also provides 360-degree coverage, empowering passengers to remain in their seats while staying updated with flight information.
Resilient Public Spaces
Resiliency is key when it comes to designing public spaces. Public areas in airports of the future will need to accommodate more space for separation between passengers while remaining flexible to respond to health issues that could arise.
Other passenger-facing areas such as ticket counters, security checkpoints and holdrooms will also need to be highly configurable to accommodate shifting passenger levels, safety protocols such as health scans and sporadic social distancing requirements.
Driving Wellbeing + Sustainability
The airport of the future has an opportunity to be a catalyst for public health. This strategy goes beyond cleaning surfaces; it places the wellbeing of users and the environment at the heart of the design. Designers can leverage building systems while setting ambitious energy efficiency targets to improve health of both passengers and the environment. The goal is to redefine the airport as an agent for health and a driver for a sustainable future.
While we can’t predict the future, we can employ flexible design strategies to mitigate the impact of uncertainty.
Architecture is an important form of connection to people, culture, geography, and the true spirit of a place. At Fentress Architects, we believe a building’s design should create an enduring link between people and the natural environment—an intrinsic connection that uplifts the human spirit while creating a positive impact on our communities and environment. That is why we prefer to practice inherently sustainable design, an approach that produces architecture to support the health and well-being of both the environment and humans for its entire life cycle.
In order to bring this concept of inherently sustainable design to life, let’s explore a few case studies where sustainability meets innovative design.
Case Study: How Can You Create a Human-Centered Airport Experience?
While some building types may readily lend themselves to an inherently sustainable design approach, it can be applied to all, including airports. For decades, these megastructures have been thought of as solely harmful to the environment. Beyond the greenhouse gas emissions and noise pollution, the buildings themselves were historically fraught with resource and operational inefficiencies. The good news is they don’t need to be that way. In fact, as our own designs illustrate, airports are embracing inherently sustainable design.
After 25 years without major upgrades, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) was outdated and unable to serve its functional demands. In 2009 a $14 billion capital improvement program was launched to redevelop the airport. Representing the centerpiece of this airport improvement program, we embraced the challenge of transforming LAX’s cramped, windowless “passenger processor” facility into a world-class, people-centered experience.
As a highly visible public building, the project required input from dozens of stakeholders and the public in order to meet the client’s and community’s needs. The design concept evolved out of a year-long visioning process that was guided by the following goals: signature architecture that reflects LA’s unique character, LEED Gold certification, improved passenger experience, long-range functionality, and compatibility with next generation aircraft, like the Airbus A380.
Inspired by the Pacific Ocean, the Tom Bradley International Terminal’s site-responsive roofline optimizes building performance by reducing solar glare and heat from the ocean from the west and bathes the terminal in natural light from the northeast. Photo by Nick Merrick
Optimizing Daylight
Of those quintessential characteristics that define a place, it is the quality of light that is among the most distinctive. Daylighting not only creates a sustainable building solution by reducing energy consumption, but it also enhances human comfort. For the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT), we capitalized on Southern California’s abundant daylight by deploying multiple daylighting strategies that are expressed in the wave-like roof forms.
The site-responsive, stainless steel roof optimizes building performance by reducing solar glare and heat from the ocean from the West and bathes the terminal in natural light from the Northeast. To improve wayfinding, the roof form stretches over column-free structures to create expansive interior spaces that form a rationalized programmatic layout of passenger circulation and amenities. Expansive glass curtain walls offer views of the airfield and the nearby Santa Monica Mountains while clerestory windows fill the 150,000-square-foot Great Hall with sunlight.
As an infill project, the overall configuration and orientation of TBIT were dictated by existing buildings and runway alignments. Nonetheless, by the modulation of each overlapping roof form, our designers created both north-facing clerestories and deep overhangs that protect the southern and western exposures. Detailed daylighting analyses also identified areas and times in the building that required glare protection while allowing us to strategically place seating and retail configurations to leverage day-lit shaded zones.
Fentress Architects designed stainless steel roof forms that stretch over column-free structures to create dramatic, expansive interior spaces that form a rationalized programmatic layout of passenger circulation and amenities in order to improve wayfinding and level of service. Photo by Nick Merrick
Improving Building Performance
To further optimize building performance, we undertook several environmental measures including:
Using a high-performance thermal envelope
Adopting an early procurement program for recycled materials and specification of non- or low-emitting materials
Recycling or salvaging more than 75% of construction and demolition waste
Applying drought tolerant landscape planting
Installing energy-efficient lighting fixtures and controls with occupancy sensors to reduce lighting costs and save energy during off-peak hours
Incorporating HVAC controls that reset temperatures to maximum efficiency without sacrificing occupant comfort
Designing interior finishes with recycled materials and using low-emitting paints, adhesives, carpets and sealants in the interior
The result is an airport terminal that is a gateway to LA and a sustainable amenity to the community.
The LEED Platinum Nature Research Center re-imagines the very idea of the museum as a building type by creating an interactive space filled with natural light and opportunities for hands- on learning. Photo by Jason A. Knowles
Case Study: How Can Architecture Bring People Together?
Sustainable design requires more than a check-box approach in ensuring the design meets necessary benchmarks. To create inherently sustainable designs that encourage people to think more deeply about the environment, architects must form a bond between individuals, the community, and the building.
For the LEED Platinum Green Square Complex in Raleigh, North Carolina we worked closely with O’Brien Atkins Associates to bring scientific research, environmental efforts, and the community together by using sustainability and science as design inspiration. The complex transformed a pair of bleak lots in the heart of downtown Raleigh into a multi-use sustainable development that brings together the existing Museum of Natural Sciences with a new Nature Research Center and a headquarters for the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NC DENR), while also adding public plazas and landscaped open spaces.
To create a design that reflects NC DENR’s mission to provide science-based environmental stewardship to the public, we harmonized their values into a forward-thinking, technology driven and environmentally conscious design through state-of-the-art media, exhibits, and laboratories that demonstrate the process of scientific discovery.
A Model for Sustainability
Since its completion in 2012 the Green Square Complex has served as a model of environmentally efficient design. Our team implemented significant sustainability measures, including extensive energy-efficient and water-efficiency techniques, to optimize the use of natural resources while exercising environmental responsibility.
The “Daily Planet,” a key feature of the Green Square Complex in Raleigh, North Carolina, has become a popular meeting place for staff and visitors alike. Photo by Matt Robinson
Designing for the Community
Designs that are inherently sustainable produce architecture that provides a community amenity. The Green Square Complex is situated in a neighborhood known as a hub to North Carolina’s government agencies. In order to create a public space where the community could gather, we intentionally added public plazas and landscaped open spaces. A key feature is the “Daily Planet,” a four-story spherical projection environment and auditorium that breaks free of the building envelope and has become a popular meeting place.
The LEED Platinum Green Square Complex features a 10,000-square-foot green roof and maximizes daylighting with transparent interior and exterior walls. Photo by Nick Merrick
Optimizing Site Potential
The location of a building controls a variety of environmental factors, necessitating the need for architects to implement creative strategies to ensure the design optimizes the site’s full potential. To enhance sustainability, we installed a pervious pavement to reduce stormwater runoff.
Green roofs on both the Nature Research Center and DENR Headquarters provide multiple environmental benefits, including improving stormwater runoff and retention, creation of natural habitats in an urban environments, reduction of heat island effect, filtration of pollutants out of rain water, and building insulation.
Sunshades on the LEED Platinum NC DENR headquarters block harsh sun during the summer and penetrate light during the winter. Photo by Nick Merrick
Maximizing Architecture
Multiple daylighting strategies are implemented throughout the DENR headquarters: light shelves, full glass atria, light tubes, prismatic louvers, and photo dimming around the building perimeter to maximize daylighting. Meanwhile, photovoltaic louvers shade the Nature Research Center’s atrium. Highly efficient Low-E glass further enhances energy efficiency and optimizes daylighting. Together these strategies serve to significantly reduce energy consumption.
Additionally, salvaged materials from both the existing and demolished buildings were reused. For example, marble salvaged from the existing building now serves as countertops for the DENR reception desk.
The Green Square Complex is a showcase for cutting-edge sustainability technology that has been warmly embraced by the community-at-large.
The Sanford Consortium of Regenerative Medicine (SCRM) is certified LEED Gold, recognizing a new standard in sustainability for a research building. Photo by Steve Keating
Case Study: How to Advance Sustainability in Laboratory Design
Laboratories tend to be high energy consumers. On college campuses, labs use up to 10 times the amount of energy consumed by traditional classroom space. Although enhancing their sustainability is a vital step in developing an environmentally conscious built environment, it’s also challenging due to stringent codes and safety concerns.
In order to shift this paradigm, the team at Fentress implemented a context-driven design approach for the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM) that aids in advancing scientific research while simultaneously minimizing the building’s impact on the environment. SCRM, which achieved LEED Gold, promotes innovation and discovery as it sets a new standard for sustainability in a research building.
The Fentress-designed research center thoughtfully opens spaces up to views and ocean breezes, ensuring the design takes advantage of the site and local climate to lower utility costs and improve the quality of workspaces. Photo by Steve Keating
Leveraging the Natural Environment
As with every Fentress building, our design for SCRM sought inspiration from the site’s natural environment. In this case, we leveraged La Jolla’s temperate climate and the site’s Pacific Ocean view to drive sustainability.
To maximize daylighting in the exterior office pods, we laterally shifted the labs to allow sunlight to reach interior work areas. Shading devices, combined with operable windows, displacement ventilation, and chilled beams, enhance user comfort and serve to improve energy efficiency, estimated to be 21% better than standard (ASHRAE 90.1-2004). By cantilevering the office pods off the building envelope, the design increases circulation and promotes outdoor access, allowing researchers to take advantage of the mild San Diego weather.
Spaces are thoughtfully opened to views and ocean breezes to ensure the design not only takes advantage of the site and local climate, but that it also lowers utility bills and improves the quality of workspace in a way that is a catalyst for behavior change. Collegiality and collaboration are fostered through inviting, strategically placed amenities that encourage interaction and physical activity.
For the design of the Sanford Consortium of Regenerative Medicine, Fentress Architects cantilevered office pods off the building envelope, which allows researchers to take advantage of the mild San Diego weather while enhancing circulation and outdoor access. Photo by Steve Keating
Improving Rainwater Harvesting
The project’s rainwater collection system and landscape design feature recycled and salvaged materials. Water conservation strategies—low-flow plumbing fixtures; the use of gray water for plant irrigation, toilets, and urinals; and more—have improved the project’s water efficiency by 40% over baseline expectations.
As a result, SCRM recognizes a new standard in sustainability for a research building.
How to Design for Long-Term Commitment
As architects and designers we must look beyond trends and design styles when it comes to creating inherently sustainable architecture. Drawing inspiration from a building’s context and taking a holistic approach that embraces all stakeholders—from the client and its users to the community at large and the environment—we can create architecture that stands the test of time and gives back to the communities it serves well into the future.
At Fentress Architects we follow our Eight Touchstones of Design. Our eighth, and most important pillar, is “Design for People”—meaning everyone.
Truly great architecture transcends time and space. It shows genuine respect for the environment, for people, and for the universe. It is, in short, about design that elevates and restores.
In concert with the National Organization of Minority Architects’ (NOMA) Public Statement Regarding Racial Injustice, we stand strong with our fellow Americans, particularly Black Americans, in the condemnation of racism, and we are taking an active role toward eliminating the racial biases that account for a myriad of social, economic, and health disparities.
We commit to education and actionable measures.
We strive to make Fentress Architects a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive studio. Our thoughts and prayers are with all who are suffering in this time.
As the number of COVID-19 cases rises throughout the United States, the State of Colorado is building solutions to assist the current health crisis.
Fentress Architects is joining the effort to convert the Colorado Convention Center into an alternative care facility that could house up to 2,000 beds for coronavirus patients. This medical shelter will be operational in mid May.
In fiscal year 2019, Congress approved funding for the construction of a new approximately 123,100-gross-square-foot federal courthouse in Huntsville, Alabama, for the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama. Fentress Architects was appointed as the Lead Design Architect with Payne Design Group as the Bridging Architect for the project in February 2020.
The new courthouse will include five courtrooms and six judges’ chambers and will provide workspace for several other federal agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the U.S Probation and Pretrial Services. Once built, the courthouse will have 26 secured parking spaces.
Project Details
Total authorized funding: $86.4 million for site acquisition, design and construction services. Project delivery method: Design-Build Bridging Lead design architect: Steve White, Fentress Architects
White’s Numerous Achievements Garner Him Recognition from the AIA
Fentress Architects is proud to announce Steve White has been elevated to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows in recognition of the meaningful contributions he has made over the past 25 years to the architectural profession in the transformation of historically significant buildings and sites for contemporary uses. Only three percent of all AIA members hold the title of Fellow, which is conferred annually to a select group of leaders through a competitive jury process. Steve will be honored and bestowed with a Fellowship Medal at the AIA National Convention to be held during May 2020 in Los Angeles.
Since 2014, Steve has served as Director of the DC Office of Fentress, a position to which he brings more than 25 years of experience designing contextually-responsive, urban infill projects. He practices with a deep commitment to collaboration and design excellence. Steve’s portfolio is replete with prestigious commissions and repeat clients including the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, DC; the renovation and expansion to the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; the Finance Street Office Building in Beijing, China; the new Huntsville, Alabama U.S. Courthouse for the GSA, the Morehead Cain Foundation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the new National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations in northern Virginia. Steve’s commitment to collaboration and excellence has also engendered the trust and respect of colleagues resulting in appointments to serve as a National Peer for the GSA National Register of Peer Professionals, a certified expert witness for the DC Board of Zoning Adjustment, and the 2015 President of the Washington DC Chapter of the AIA.
Congratulations to Steve! To learn about the AIA Fellows Program, read more here.
The built environment—the places where humans live, work, and play—represents one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in America and around the world. Fentress Architects has seen this for years and has vowed to work toward a future of carbon neutral buildings by signing the AIA 2030 Commitment.
Sponsored by the American Institute of Architects, this pact calls on signatories to meet rigorous guidelines for climate action through energy efficient design and construction. Culminating in a goal of zero net emissions by 2030, it has already posted promising results. For example, in 2018 more than 200 member firms accounted for energy savings equivalent to 3.7 million passenger cars’ emission for a full year, or 20.8 million acres of carbon captured in forests. Last year, 16 firms saved more than 70 percent across their entire portfolio.
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