Archinect - News

New Beijing Performing Arts Center rises from its historic waterside site with curtain-like forms

2024-09-11T16:40:00-04:00

A new performing arts complex designed by Perkins&Will, in partnership with Schmidt Hammer Lassen, has opened in Beijing. Located in the city’s southeast district, Tongzhou, the Beijing Performing Arts Center sits along the banks of the Grand Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, anchoring a recently designated cultural district, which also includes a museum, a library, and extensive parklands.

Image: Zhu Yumeng

The roughly 1.3 million-square-foot complex comprises an opera house, a theater, and a concert hall, along with a multipurpose hall and an outdoor stage.

Image: Zhu Yumeng

Its design recalls the site’s history as a commercial shipping and storage hub by referencing the rooflines of the storehouses that formerly populated the area and the sails of traditional canal boats. The forms also evoke a theater curtain parting at the start of a performance.

Image: Zhu Yumeng

The Center’s structures are unified through a broad, elevated platform that can be accessed from ...

Northwestern University’s Ryan Field stadium breaks ground

2024-08-07T18:02:00-04:00

Northwestern University’s athletics tradition is getting a new crown jewel thanks to HNTB and Perkins&Will’s design for the new Ryan Field Redevelopment project. Work on the venue, which promises to be "most accessible in college football," commenced with a groundbreaking ceremony early last month in Evanston, Illinois, and will yield a total of 35,000 seats plus outdoor plaza areas after an investment of $800 million. Existing ADA requirements will be "doubled," according to HNTB's project page.

Turner Construction is spearheading its construction and expects the stadium to be ready in time for the start of the 2026 season. Thornton Tomasetti is providing structural design and construction engineering services for the redevelopment, which is targeting a LEED Gold certification.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by HNTBCorp (@hntbcorp)

University of Miami's School of Architecture to design smart 'Silica City' concept for booming Guyana

2023-12-12T11:53:00-05:00

The University of Miami School of Architecture has announced its participation in a master planning project that will help develop a smart city in the capital region of Guyana, South America.

Both students and faculty from the school will join with others in UM’s Advanced Study of the Americas program, Herbert Business School, School of Nursing and Health Studies, and Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science to realize the project, which leverages their expertise in the fields of resilient design, sustainable architecture, climate science, nature systems, technology, and more.

'Silica City' is an 11,000-acre planned community of 60,000 people near the Guyana International Airport with residential plots, a city center, an 'Innovation Village' area, and AI-bolstered infrastructure. Preliminary design work has already begun via a new 12-student studio that was taught in the fall by former School of Architecture dean Jose A. Gelabert-Navia, who said: “You cannot devel...

LA's Destination Crenshaw pushes Sankofa Park opening to February 2024

2023-10-05T14:47:00-04:00

This fall’s anticipated debut of the Sankofa Park component of the new Destination Crenshaw public space redesign from Perkins&Will and Studio-MLA in Los Angeles has been pushed back to February of next year, according to an announcement made Wednesday by the group managing its construction in the city's Leimert Park neighborhood.

The park had previously received $3.4 million in federal funding, which added to another $2.4 million fundraising drive initiated by actress Issa Rae and star NBA guard DeMar DeRozan. Planners have now set Sankofa Park to open on February 24th. It is part of the larger $100 million project that will transform a 1.3-mile corridor into a new arts-oriented civic space. Perkins&Will says it is “destined to be a space for celebrations, protests, and demonstrations of grief and peaceful healing.”

Once it is completed, Sankofa Park will include art installations f...

Perkins&Will opens Philadelphia studio in Northeastern expansion

2023-09-28T11:41:00-04:00

Perkins&Will has opened a new studio in Philadelphia as part of a mission to “extend its integrated design services to clients in Philadelphia and the surrounding region, including western and central Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey.”

The Philadelphia office, located at 2000 Market Street, is expected to integrate with the firm’s existing Northeast regional teams in New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. According to the firm, the establishment of a Philadelphia studio was motivated in part by the city’s growth in the commercial life sciences sector, particularly cell and gene therapy.

Perkins&Will-designed office tower for the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Image credit: Perkins&Will

“We’re thrilled to officially launch our Philadelphia practice, joining many of the nation’s leading businesses, medical centers, and higher-education institutions,” said Bill Harris, regional managing director at Perkins&Will, in a statement about the new office. “We already ...

Perkins&Will's new plant research facility opens at UC Riverside

2023-06-08T18:36:00-04:00

Perkins&Will has just announced the opening of their new 30,000-square-foot plant research facility for The University of California, Riverside’s College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS).

The two-story greenhouse design is billed as a state-of-the-art tribute to the “importance of plant research to the culture and character of UCR" and works by “placing a utilitarian research facility in a visible and approachable location,” according to the firm.

Image ©️ Here and Now Agency/Courtesy of Perkins&Will

Yan Krymsky shares: “It’s really a machine, a tool for research. But beyond that, we wanted to create a structure that spoke to the legacy of the university.” Kymysky serves as the Design Director of Perkins&Will’s Los Angeles office, which led the award-winning project through its completion in 2021.

Image ©️ Here and Now Agency/Courtesy of Perkins&Will

“It was important for us to couple practical functionality and the aesthetic roots of the surrounding greenhouses with the...

Perkins&Will will design the new Bezos Learning Center for the National Air and Space Museum

2023-06-06T15:03:00-04:00

Perkins&Will has just been announced as the lead designers of the new Bezos Learning Center at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The firm’s winning design was selected over a shortlist that included five anonymous proposals submitted by leading global architectural firms.

The center is supposed to be enacted in the space once occupied by Gyo Obata’s now-demolished glass pyramid structure from 1988. Once completed, the new addition will entail approximately 50,000 square feet of exhibition spaces, a rooftop terrace, a public observatory, and dining options. Its spiraling form is meant to evoke the shape of the galaxy. Total costs for the project are expected to be around $130 million.

“The spiral galaxy — our source of creative inspiration — is all about infinite possibilities,” the project's lead designer, Ralph Johnson, says of its conceptual approach and vision. “We are grateful for the opportunity to work with the Smithsonian Institut...

Davidson College unveils plans for a new memorial to enslaved and exploited people, led by Hank Willis Thomas and Perkins&Will

2023-06-01T12:17:00-04:00

Davidson College has unveiled its plans for a new memorial to the enslaved and exploited people whose hands built the 186-year-old liberal arts institution. The design effort of the sculpture titled “With These Hands: A Memorial to the Enslaved and Exploited” will be led by Perkins&Will in collaboration with Hank Willis Thomas.

The artist of Boston's new commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King will deliver a similar monumental bronze sculpture that emerges prominently from a refuge-like space nearby the campus’s original Oak and Elm buildings.

Thomas was selected for the commission following a two-year search process led by alumni that reflects similar reconciliation efforts at Brown University, The College of William & Mary, UNC Chapel Hill, and perhaps most notably, the Höweler+Yoon project at the University of Virginia spearheaded by alumna Mabel O. Wilson.

Perkins&Will revises firm-wide Green Operations Plan in the wake of latest UN climate report

2023-05-08T14:04:00-04:00

Perkins&Will has released an update to its Green Operations Plan in the wake of the United Nation’s latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which was critical of the strides global efforts have been able to make in avoiding a catastrophic 1.5° Celsius rise in temperature by 2040.

According to the firm, the update touches eight different project categories with three key “enhancements” that work to phase out plastic use while encouraging further decarbonization and acknowledging Indigenous cultures as sources of guidance and rightful stewards of the land.

“As a large firm with 28 studios around the world, we have an enormous opportunity to reduce our environmental impact even further — and to lead by example,” Jason F. McLennan, the chief sustainability officer of Perkins&Will, said in a statement. “Our enhanced Green Operations Plan offers specific guidance in just about every scenario that might unfold in our day-to-day business operations, from how we tra...

Destination Crenshaw's Sankofa Park segment sets an opening date for fall 2023

2023-02-01T17:46:00-05:00

LA's Destination Crenshaw initiative has revealed an updated opening day for its largest component along with news of $3.4 million in federal grant contribution that will help further shepherd the project towards its eventual completion later this year.

The development’s Sankofa Park segment will now open in the early fall of this year, according to CEO Jason W. Foster. The beautifully-metaphored nod to the eponymous bird of Akan folklore is designed by Perkins&Will’s award-winning Principal and Director of Global Diversity Gabrielle Bullock and includes art installations from heavyweights such as Alison Saar and Kehinde Wiley, along with additional murals and greenspaces that will be completed in the months immediately following its inauguration.

Sankofa Park. Image: Perkins&Will, courtesy of Destination Crenshaw

Situated along the northern end of the site on the border of the traditionally arts-centric Leimert Park neighborhood, the park is meant as a gathering space for the larger...

Perkins&Will begins construction on mass timber gateway to University of British Columbia campus

2023-01-04T11:15:00-05:00

Construction is underway on the $180 million Gateway Building at the University of British Columbia, designed by Perkins&Will and Schmidt Hammer Lassen. Intended as a “principal point of entry” to the UBC campus, the design of the six-story, 267,000-square-foot mass timber building seeks to balance sustainability, personal well-being, and Indigenous collaboration.

Image credit: Perkins&Will

The scheme comprises two five-story wings connected by a central naturally-lit six-story atrium, which includes a large interconnecting staircase and lounging spaces. The building’s mass timber structure is fully expressed in the interior; a decision driven by the importance of timber for the Indigenous Musqueam people on whose territory the UBC campus sits.

Image credit: Perkins&Will

“This was the first capital project where we did what we call ‘deep engagement’ with the Musqueam,” UBC’s director of planning and design Gerry McGeough told Canada’s Journal of Commerce. “We went through a whole seri...

Emily Grandstaff-Rice officially inaugurated as AIA 2023 President

2022-12-12T07:51:00-05:00

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has officially inaugurated Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA, as its 99th president. She recently joined Perkins&Will’s Boston studio as a senior project manager and associate.

Grandstaff-Rice comes with a breadth of leadership experience under her belt with AIA National. In 2017, she was elected to serve as a 2018-2020 at-large director. She also chaired the Equity and Future of Architecture Committee from 2017 to 2020 and the Equity in Architecture Commission from 2015 to 2016. Additionally, Grandstaff-Rice was the President of the Boston Society of Architects.

Grandstaff-Rice holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Master of Liberal Arts in Educational Technology from Harvard University.

Previously on Archinect: AIA President-elect Emily Grandstaff-Rice joins Perkins&Will's staff in Boston

“The AIA is a window that looks towards a brighter, more sustainable, and equitable future for the profession,” said ...

AIA President-elect Emily Grandstaff-Rice joins Perkins&Will's staff in Boston

2022-12-05T09:00:00-05:00

Perkins&Will has announced the recent addition of AIA President-elect Emily Grandstaff-Rice to their Boston studio in order to help further its EDI, decarbonization, and research pursuits across the industry.

The organization’s soon-to-be 99th President comes to the position with a breadth of K-12 and higher-education experience around Massachusetts, including recent projects for the UMass Lowell and Boston Children’s Museum.

Grandstaff-Rice pointed to the firm’s “unparalleled” focus on climate action and social equity causes as the principal factors that led her decision, adding: “I envision this next stage of my career as one in which I collaborate with interdisciplinary teams in support of creating safer, healthier, and more responsive architecture.”

“Emily’s experience in the education market will beautifully complement our Boston studio’s K-12 and higher-ed practic...

Perkins&Will will design a new STEM facility at Howard University

2022-10-28T17:43:00-04:00

A trio led by Perkins&Will has been selected to design a new STEM center for Howard University as part of the HBCU's well-publicized and long-overdue makeover.

The firm will collaborate with the local women- and BIPOC-owned firms K. Dixon Architecture and R. McGhee & Associates (both run by Howard alums) to deliver a seven-story new research facility that will eventually be shared by the university’s College of Engineering and Architecture and College of Arts & Sciences.

The team will renovate Howard’s historic C.B. Powell Building as part of the project, which university President Wayne A. I. Frederick called a “watershed moment” in the school’s 155-year history.

Image courtesy Perkins&Will

Howard is in the midst of a historic five-year $785 million master plan that will revitalize its campus with three new state-of-the-art academic buildings and other renovations in line with the federal government's larger $2.7 billion commitment to HBCUs that was first announced in March.

“The S...

Explore Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects' new Shanghai Library East, one of the largest libraries in the world

2022-10-04T16:50:00-04:00

A massive cultural project from Perkins&Will’s Danish affiliate Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects (SHL) has just debuted in Shanghai. The project provides the city with a "new civic landmark" in the form of what is now one of the largest contemporary libraries in the world.

The form and materiality of the new Shanghai Library East is inspired by ancient Chinese scholars’ Taihu stones and has the capacity to support 4 million visitors and more than 1,200 lectures, seminars, performances, and events annually. Its design is responsive to the changing role modern libraries have in society and boasts that a total of 80% of its space is dedicated to community-enhancing activities.

Image © RawVision.

In October 2017, a year after SHL had won the international competition bid to design the Shanghai East Library, Archienct reported that the project held its official groundbreaking ceremony on September 27, 2017. Five years later, the library opened its doors to the community.

Chris Hardie, de...

Safdie Architects completes Albert Einstein Education and Research Center in São Paulo

2022-07-25T17:13:00-04:00

Safdie Architects has completed a new verdant medical school and research building with a distinctive domed glass roof in São Paulo.

Conceived as an urban oasis, the Albert Einstein Education and Research Center (AEERC) is the latest initiative of Brazilian healthcare institute Sociedade Beneficente Israelita Albert Einstein. It is slated to be one of Latin America’s most advanced institutions for medical research and study.

Photo by Timothy Hursley. Courtesy of Safdie Architects

The Center is located in São Paulo’s Morumbi district, adjacent to the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein. The AEERC is the first medical school established by a private hospital in Brazil. Safdie Architects also worked in collaboration with Perkins&Will, who led the programming and interior planning of the classrooms and labs.

Photo by Timothy Hursley. Courtesy of Safdie Architects

The integration of nature throughout the spaces of the facility is at the core of the project’s design. The centerpiece of the...

Perkins&Will and DSDHA tapped for $430 million science complex in central London

2022-05-11T17:50:00-04:00

DSDHA and Perkins&Will have been chosen by a team of developers to design a new life sciences complex in central London.

The investment entity behind the proposed Snowsfields Quarter project, Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation, selected global real estate investor and developer Oxford Properties and Reef Group as its development partners. The design team will also include Reef’s in-house design studio UrbanR. Oxford and Reef will invest approximately £350 million ($430 million) towards the 300,000-square-foot project that will feature commercially-available lab facilities across three new buildings.

Snowsfields Quarter will play a key role in forming the required real estate infrastructure to support the area’s emerging SC1 Life Science and Innovation District, a new health innovation cluster. The sale of a long-term leasehold of the site to Oxford Properties will complete once planning permission for the project has been secured.

SOM unveils design for first tower at Atlanta's Centennial Yards development

2022-03-04T11:52:00-05:00

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has unveiled the design for One Centennial Yards, the first ground-up tower at the Foster + Partners and Perkins&Will-designed Centennial Yards master plan in Downtown Atlanta.

Envisioned in partnership with Atlanta’s Goode Van Slyke Architecture (GVSA), One Centennial Yards will provide 28 stories and over 500,000 square feet of office space. The tower comprises three slender towers. Its façade is inspired by the industrial and railroad heritage of Downtown Atlanta. It features 19,000 square feet of amenities and 21,980 square feet of outdoor spaces. One Centennial Yards is designed to provide open-air environments on every floor, with terraces on every level, large retractable doors on the building’s amenity floor, and landscaped rooftops. The building was designed with the post-pandemic workspace in mind, providing tenants with opportunities to gather and connect outdoors.

“We are thrilled to be the architect for One Centennial Yards, the flagsh...

A Canadian homebuilder's $100 million gift brought HdM's Vancouver Art Gallery expansion project back from the dead

2022-01-31T13:58:00-05:00

After years of stops and starts, triumphant announcements and long silences – there is finally momentum, once again. Gallery officials are meeting regularly with the city, city hall is re-examining the term of the lease agreement, a public open house is scheduled for March, and shovels could be in the ground next year. All it took was a single private donation – of $100-million.

The firm’s repeatedly revised design was originally set to be its first commission in the country for an expansion effort that has been mulled since first being announced in 2014. Vancouver Art Gallery has been balking at the effort since the early 2000s without naming a winner. Herzog & de Meuron's latest version includes a new woven copper facade and was developed with input from four Indigenous artist design consultants representing the native communities of Vancouver.

The gift from philanthropist home building magnate Michael Audain was announced on November 4th and came with quite a few of his own design “suggestions” that reportedly touched on the vertical orientation of the floor plan and the original martial of the now-remade facade. The museum is still looking for about $160 million (CAD) in funding to complete the $400 million capital project, but supporters are optimistic that Audain’s gift has steered the project back on track for a 2023 groundbreaking and realization s...

Buro Happold enlisted by USC to devise sustainable design guidelines

2022-01-19T18:52:00-05:00

Buro Happold has been enlisted by the University of Southern California to craft key standards for environmental design and construction performance. The firm was selected through a competitive process to develop new sustainable design guidelines for the university.

Buro Happold will lead the creation of the guidelines “ensuring that the built environment touches the earth lightly while also caring for its occupants,” as stated by Buro Happold architect and associate principal Heidi Creighton. The firm will be supported by consulting partners Perkins&Will, construction engineering company Psomas, along with AHBE | MIG and David Neuman of Neu Campus Planning.

Buro Happold’s work with USC comes at a time when sustainability guidelines and assessment tools have become an essential component of long-term campus planning and institutional strategy. Aside from USC, the firm has established campus-wide standards and overarching sustainability plans for other universities globally, for priv...

Destination Crenshaw reveals new renderings as LA grants approval for its arts program

2021-10-15T18:52:00-04:00

New renderings have been unveiled following the city’s Cultural Affairs Commission approval of the recently announced first slate of sculptural installations set to line the forthcoming Destination Crenshaw development in Los Angeles.

The $100 million community redevelopment scheme features a streetscape designed by Perkins&Will’s local office in addition to several green community meetings spaces from Studio-MLA.

Overhead view of Destination Crenshaw’s Sankofa Park featuring designs for works by Maren Hassinger, Kehinde Wiley, and Charles Dickson. Rendering by Perkins&Will, courtesy of Destination Crenshaw.

Overhead images reveal the Sankofa Park section of the corridor dotted with artworks by Kehinde Wiley, Maren Hassinger, Artis Lane, and Charles Dickson. The park lies along 46th Street on the northernmost bookend of the 1.3-mile-long site. Its elongated avian shape is derived from the eponymous sankofa bird, a traditional African symbol representing movement that Dickson captures...

Perkins&Will unveils designs for an ecumenical pavilion in Brazil's Minas Gerais region

2021-09-13T16:54:00-04:00

A symbolic new communal space is coming to the Brazilian city of Varginha, Minas Gerais State thanks to a new design from Perkins&Will.

The 85-year-old firm is responsible for a new pastoral pavilion that it says will become an ecumenical space within the country’s coffee capital.

Image courtesy Perkins&Will

Featuring a corten steel structure and organic design elements that pay homage to the region’s economic and material history, the open-ended triangular design creates a dramatic, bench-lined interior while alluding to the Catholic influence around Minas Gerais and represented in the state’s official flag.

Image courtesy Perkins&Will

“Symbolisms in materials and shapes were a simple, smart solution, where the main piece does the entire project work,” Design Principal Douglas Tolaine said in a statement.

Image courtesy Perkins&Will

The São Paulo office of Perkins&Will has completed numerous projects within the country that have designs informed by local plant life and traditions. This...

Foster + Partners master plan for Atlanta’s Centennial Yards revealed

2021-07-30T13:21:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has unveiled details of their master plan for the Centennial Yards site in Downtown Atlanta. Designed in collaboration with Perkins+Will, the project forms part of a $5 billion transformation of former parking lots and railyards into a regenerated mixed-use development.

The scheme evolved from a close study of the historic city grid for Atlanta and surrounding neighborhoods, with the goal of creating a walkable urban environment that celebrates outdoor life. The new updated plan, shaped by previous consultation exercises, increases the walkability of the urban environment and seeks to blend in style and scale with adjacent communities.

Image: Foster + Partners

The design team describes the new pedestrianized routes, shared surfaces, and landscaped plazas as “a vibrant public realm that can accommodate a broad range of experiences and opportunities, while providing outdoor gathering spaces for all Atlantans.” The complete scheme will host a variety of functions w...

Perkins&Will, Building Transparency, and C Change Labs awarded grant to develop carbon reduction tool

2021-06-25T16:54:00-04:00

Global design practice Perkins&Will, in collaboration with climate action-focused software company C Change Labs and nonprofit organization Building Transparency Canada, has been awarded a grant to develop a tool that facilitates the design of low-carbon buildings.

Called the Tally Climate Action Tool or tallyCAT, it will build on existing technologies, giving users access to material and product information, in real time, within commonly used BIM programs, such as Revit and Rhino.

Image courtesy Perkins&Will

The CleanBC Building Innovation Fund (CBBIF) based out of British Columbia awarded the team $460,000 as part of its mission to fund projects in the Canadian province that accelerate the availability and affordability of low-carbon building solutions. The tool is expected to launch in March 2023. It will be globally available as an integrated plugin and provide open access to a library of materials within design software.

“Our goal is to make it easy for designers to understan...

The winners of Perkins & Will's 2021 Phil Freelon Design Competition have been announced

2021-06-09T14:39:00-04:00

Architects and designers from multiple Perkins&Will studios worldwide have developed design solutions to address how urban spaces, workplaces, and/or daily life may change in post-COVID London. As part of the firm’s annual Phil Freelon Design Competition, these proposals explore ways parts of London can be transformed into healthier, more sustainable, and inclusive places.

Previously on Archinect: Winners of the 2020 Philip Freelon Design Competition have been announced

Now in its 18th year, Perkins&Will’s annual internal design competition calls on staff to collaborate and engage in creating innovative design solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues. The competition was launched in 2004 as the Design Leadership Council Design Competition and renamed in 2019 to honor the eponymous and late architect and Perkins&Will design director who championed design for humanity.

Previously on Archinect: Architect Phil Freelon Has Passed Away

For this year’s competition, design team...

Mixed-use redevelopment of former Dogpatch Power Station in San Francisco breaks ground, featuring Foster + Partners-designed buildings

2021-06-03T17:03:00-04:00

The Potrero Power Station Mixed-Use Project, an urban waterfront development in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood, has officially broken ground.

Sitting in a historic industrial site, this project sees the revitalization of the decommissioned Potrero Power Generating Station, which was first established in the late 1800s. This development will open a large part of the city’s Central Waterfront for the first time in 150 years. A new 29-acre mixed-use neighborhood, reportedly with sustainable features, will be formed, fit for 2,600 residents and featuring 1.6 million square feet of workspace, 100 thousand square feet of storefronts, and seven acres of green space. Restaurants, hotels, cafés, and childcare facilities, among others, will also be included.

The development is reportedly delivering over $860 million in community benefits, which includes hundreds of units of affordable housing, historical preservation, public infrastructure, and the extension of the Dogpatch streetsca...

Perkins&Will and Harvard GSD launch pilot program to support and mentor young Black designers

2021-02-22T13:27:00-05:00

Firms and architecture institutions continue to join forces as they build more robust pipelines for Black designers and designers of color. With organizational giants like NOMA and design equity leaders continuously expanding on this initiative to elevate and mentor students and future designers, firms like Perkins&Will and institutions like Harvard GSD have developed a pilot program of their own.

On February 18, 2021, an announcement was made launching the "Black in Design Mentorship Program." The idea for this pilot program was initially developed during the 2019 Black in Design Conference alongside Perkins&Will professionals. According to the firm, "the mentorship program will fill a critical educational and career gap in the design profession by fostering meaningful and lasting relationships starting as early as high school."

To learn more about the program, Harvard GSD grad and Perkins&Will principle Brooke Trivas shares in a statement, "Design firms have a responsibility to be...

Perkins&Will unveils 28-story 'vertical campus' at Ryerson University in Toronto

2021-02-02T14:30:00-05:00

The Daphne Cockwell Health Sciences Complex (DCHS) at Ryerson University is a 28-story "vertical campus" that facilitates interdisciplinary academic discourse on a confined urban site. The structure was a winner of the 2021 Best Tall Building Award by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).

Designed by Perkins&Will, the nearly 300,000-square-foot building was completed as part of Ryerson’s 2008 campus master plan to guide its expansion through new development and renovations.

"Daphne Cockwell Health Sciences Complex demonstrates Ryerson University’s position as active city-builders," said Andrew Frontini, design director of Perkins&Will's Toronto and Ottawa studios, in a statement." We found a wonderful fit with Ryerson where our teams were both incredibly motivated to work alongside communities and stakeholder groups to create a state-of-the-art living and learning space. It was critical that we introduce a building that not only connects to...

Perkins&Will and AIA publish white paper pushing for more Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (J.E.D.I.)

2021-01-26T11:59:00-05:00

Perkins&Will and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) this week released best practices for creating and implementing comprehensive diversity programs for U.S. firms. In a white paper entitled “Creating a Culture of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Your Architectural Practice,” authors Gabrielle Bullock, FAIA and Bill Schmalz, FAIA push for architecture firms to uphold J.E.D.I. principles to remain relevant to clients, attractive to talent, and competitive in an increasingly diverse world.

"Our industry and society are facing an unprecedented convergence of crises. Economic, health, environmental, social, and racial justice challenges have presented us not just with an opportunity, but also a responsibility, to address them," said Bullock, who has served as director of global diversity at Perkins&Will since 2013, in a statement. "We can elevate the industry by challenging the status quo and reimagining the future by looking through the J.E.D.I. lens."

In addition t...

Archinect Sessions #159: On Racial Inequality in AEC, with Karen Compton

2020-09-28T16:15:00-04:00

On today’s episode of Archinect Sessions Donna and I are joined by Karen Compton, a Los Angeles-based business consultant, business owner and podcast host.

As the Principal at A3K Consulting, Karen oversees a team of professionals to help clients in the AEC industry grow and improve their businesses applying strategy, business planning, education, training and recruitment. Her vodcast, Breaking the Silence of Design, started just 2 months ago, with co-host Gabrielle Bullock, Director of Global Diversity at Perkins & Will Architects, as a platform to address the uncomfortable conversations around race and inequality in the AEC industry.

Listen to episode 159 of Archinect Sessions, “On Racial Inequality in AEC, with Karen Compton”.

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