On 3/23/2019 the Palo Alto “Paly” High School celebrated the opening of its renovated library – marking the fourth project completed with HED as part of its overarching, 10-year master plan.

Built in the 1960s, the former library was disjointed, dark, and inefficient. Faculty offices and storage spaces crowded the building’s perimeter, leaving an echoing, two-story column in the building’s center to house the library.

Working closely with Paly staff and leadership, HED identified key goals for the renovation: a classic feel with modern finishes. Together, they envisioned a space that would support a wide variety of work styles and activities that featured updated technology, natural light, and a more functional, open layout with clear sightlines and improved circulation patterns.

Still contained within its original footprint, the modernized 37,500 square foot building now houses four distinct program areas: the library, an adjacent gallery, college and career counseling, and guidance services. Wood paneling and modern furnishings were introduced to add warmth and softness, unifying the interior and contributing to the perception of the new library as a cohesive space. A new mezzanine level with a dramatic spiral staircase now divides the space into upper and lower levels and displays the library’s old and rare books collections, previously in storage. Large windows and skylights were added to fill the interior with natural light, and acoustical panels quiet the previously loud, echoing space. Storage has been relocated, and in its place are silent study rooms, project rooms for individual and group work, and cozy, cushioned alcove reading nooks support a variety of work modes and styles.

“The new Paly library is proof that a renovation can be as transformative as new construction,” says HED K12 Leader Erwin Lee, “It’s not just about taking what’s there and making it larger or better—the right renovation can truly create something new.”

HED Associate Principal and Healthcare Studio Leader Sharon Woodworth, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, EDAC, ACHA has been appointed to serve a three-year term, from 2019 through 2021, as a Member of the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA) Board of Regents.

The ACHA was created in 1999 to offer board certification to licensed health care architects through an independent process involving a portfolio review, an assessment by peer architects, and a rigorous examination. It is the first and only design specialty so recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Sharon joined the HED team in 2018 with over eleven million square feet of healthcare facility planning and design experience, spanning a wide range of operational and continuum-of-care issues from neonatology to senior living, and diverse cultural perspectives from the United Kingdom to Asia.

As one-of-ten ACHA Board Regents, Ms. Woodworth brings experience from previous board positions and a passionate belief that all healthcare architects should be board-certified. As a practicing healthcare architect, her designs recognize the value of research-based initiatives from EDAC and LEED Certification to Pebble Partnerships and Magnet Recognition; as an Assistant Professor at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), her graduate-level course on healthcare environments enables future healthcare executives to better understand the interplay between medicine and architecture. Through her four careers, Ms. Woodworth has leveraged perspectives from nursing, journalism, and teaching to redefine healthcare environments from merely functional rooms to inspiring spaces infused with natural light, and in so doing, sustaining health for us all.

To learn more about the ACHA, and the importance of this organization to the furthering of healthcare design, please visit their website at www.healtharchitects.org.

On 3/15/2019 the Illinois Veterans’ Home Project will hold it’s topping off ceremony – representing the culmination of decades of effort by the State of Illinois and Designer HED.

Located on an urban site on Chicago’s northwest side just 13 miles from downtown, the Illinois Veterans’ Home project will be the very first such facility to be built within the city of Chicago. It features non-age-restricted, licensed skilled care programming and features a strategic adjacency to the Read Mental Health Center.

As the first newly constructed veterans’ home in Illinois in over 20 years, the Illinois Veterans’ Home is also the first such facility in the state to incorporate the federal Community Living Center (CLC) guidelines, meaning it resembles “home” as much as possible while providing skilled nursing and medical care.

“This project embodies a paradigm shift in how the State of Illinois approaches veteran care,” says HED Principal and Studio Leader Susan King, “Using the CLC guidelines, which was mandated by the Federal Veterans Administration for all newly constructed projects in 2011, we’ve created a facility that incorporates small house design at a large scale.”

King continues, “The dining program utilizes a hybrid approach with central and residential format kitchens in each household to serve the population appropriately. Medical features and spaces such as nursing stations were approached through a hospitality lens, with finishes that recall a household environment.”

Expected to be completed in Winter of 2020, this facility will soon provide a home for 200 veterans.

HED is pleased to announce its merger with Integrated Design Group, also known as ID, an architecture, engineering, and planning firm with a strong reputation for data center design.

According to Peter Devereaux, FAIA, Chairman of HED, this is a natural step for the firm. “We are committed to strategic growth that increases the firm’s ability to create positive impacts for our clients and their stakeholders,” he says. “Bringing the ID team into the HED family is a step on our journey toward expanding our expertise and enabling a greater impact for our clients. It also allows us to reach new audiences -- both in this new market sector for HED and in all the sectors we serve in the regions surrounding Boston and Dallas.”

HED leadership recognizes that this is an important, fast-growing sector throughout the U.S. and beyond and see it as an opportunity. As Devereaux points out, “Many of our clients, in healthcare, higher education, and corporate work, for example, are seeking this intelligence and specialized expertise. This is an example of our ability to bring additional resources and insight to the table for our clients.”

The ID leadership and staff, working in two offices in Boston and Dallas, join the HED team working in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Sacramento offices. The team is now 420 strong.

Toni Asfour, Managing Principal of the Boston office, notes that the data center sector is experiencing tremendous growth and continues to evolve. “Data storage, transmission, and security are supporting almost every aspect of contemporary life. Our leadership in this realm is long and deep; we bring market intelligence to all scales of this work. Our clients include tech and retail corporations, financial institutions, health and pharma, educational institutions, as well as multi-tenant, cloud, and hyperscale data center providers.”

HED is pleased to announce the completion of the Robert H. and Judy Dow Alexander Cancer Center at the St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor's hospital campus. The expanded 66,000 sf $24 million renovation creates new and expanded space for St. Joe's nationally-renowned cancer research while accommodating the facility's significant patient population expansion of recent years. As the only National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) in Southeast Michigan, St. Joe's had a growing need to house expanded research and education for this field. The design's main floor hosts this important research work alongside a multi-disciplinary team of clinical psychologists, social workers, chaplains, geneticists and nutritionists. This space, designed to increase collaboration and communication among a comprehensive suite of providers, also features an education center offering community outreach and educational programming.

Home to 38 exam rooms, the expanded facility offers a separate entrance and exit for patients, providing a concierge-like oncology-care experience. Another key feature is its state-of-the-art new infusion center designed to host patients and their families in comfort with 22 private bays providing room for guests amidst a large amount of natural light which overlooks a healing garden.

"The interior approach in this facility is a new one for cancer care - utilizing fewer walls for a more open and flexible layout. The patient experience is made seamless with improved circulation. Unlike other hospitals and clinics, its organization is open rather than maze-like, preventing disorientation and reducing the feeling of a "clinical" experience for patients," said David Jaeger, HED's Healthcare Design Studio Leader.

HED and Walsh Construction have finalized the $80 million design-build renovation of Palos Health South Campus in Orland Park, IL. The makeover was a five-year process consisting in adding modern technologies, incorporating a new, 83,000 square-foot Ambulatory Care Center, renovating 40,000 square feet of space in an existing building and constructing a new 316-car parking deck.

The master plan highlighted the need to unify the campus by organizing the clinics according to an academic health center model, which would enable better collaboration. The new building’s design preserves visual consistency, while the interiors feature biophilic elements such as wood and stone.

Harley Ellis Devereaux (HED), Architect of Record, and Boston-based The S/L/A/M Collaborative (SLAM), Design Architect, have just unveiled the design of the University of Michigan’s new Central Campus Classroom Building along with its connected renovation of the University’s historic Ruthven Museums Building. Some key features and opportunities posed by this high-profile project include:

A total of 1,400 classroom seats in a variety of learning spaces, including a 550-seat auditorium, a 200- seat classroom “in the round” and other team-based learning rooms;

Utilization by more than 10,000 students per day during the University’s school year;

Adaptive reuse of the historic 1928 Albert-Kahn designed museum building into a new administrative center for the University;

Pursuing LEED Silver Certification for sustainable design;

Scheduled for construction completion and opening in Fall 2021.

The end result of a thoughtful, two-year design process will help propel U-M into its third century as a leader in education here in the U.S.