COVER STORY, MARCH 2009

DESIGN IN THE TIMES
Four trends are making a mark on architectural design during the economic down cycle.
Amy Bigley

During tough economic times, companies are more willing to embrace alternative, cost-saving options. Architectural and design firms are seeing a variety of trends that employ green, sustainable, lean and inexpensive design elements, which help companies reduce costs, revitalize communities and highlight positive aspects of buildings and developments.

Lean Design

Representing a new wave of design innovation, Lean Design is part of the cultural shift from the manufacturing delivery method to a knowledge-based economy.

First popularized by Toyota in the 1960s, Lean Design is a production management-based approach to project design and delivery. The principles of Lean Design have moved away from a mass-production assembly line to a decentralized manufacturing design, supply and assembly process, explains Stan Chiu, vice president of Los Angeles-based HGA Architects and Engineers.

“In design, lean applies to a series of organizational principles to the built environment with the objectives of maximizing value and minimizing waste,” says Chiu.

Each aspect of Lean Design has its own set of benefits, which combine to create the overall effect. Knowledge-based design benefits include increased innovation, design and delivery speed, and reliability. “The process shares information up front,” notes Chiu. “There is greater sharing of knowledge through the integration of events.” The main benefit of lean operations is reduced operational costs. By creating future operational models with user input and studying how people and processes move throughout the building, operational costs can be cut by 30 percent or more, explains Chiu. Decreased capital cost and shortened schedule are two benefits to integrated project delivery. “Integrated project delivery takes the Lean concept a step further by including a conceptual combination of Lean and an integrated project team consisting of the owner, contractor and architect,” says Chiu. “Construction costs can be cut by up to 15 percent.”

The newly completed $40 million Sutter Acute Rehabilitation Institute at Sutter Roseville Medical Center is HGA Architects and Engineers’ most current example of integrated project delivery. The 106,500-square-foot facility is the largest rehabilitation unit in the Sacramento, California, area.

Although Lean Design originated in the manufacturing industry, it has been adapted to other industries, most recently healthcare. “Sacramento, California-based Sutter Health’s innovative Lean Design and construction program provides the most relevant example of lean methodology in practice right now,” notes Chiu. “In the future, I think Lean will also create tremendous opportunities for higher education institutions.”

HGA is embracing Lean Design by becoming a knowledge-based design organization and developing leaner processes and protocols.

Another aspect of Lean Design is employing the design-build format, where the client/owner chooses an architect and contractor as a single entity, rather than working with an architect prior to selecting a contractor.

Accepted across all sectors and most recently gaining ground in healthcare, education and government sectors, the benefits of design-build include only dealing with one company as opposed to a separate architect, contractor and project manager; speed of delivery and cost savings.

“The clients are given a fixed price, so they will know early on what the project’s total cost will be,” explains Adrian Cohen, managing partner of WWCOT Architects. “For architects, the design-build process becomes a team effort. In the past, the relationship between contractors and architects has been an antagonistic type of relationship. The design-build format improves this relationship.”

Lipstick Effect

Although not a new trend, the lipstick effect is making a reappearance in the market.

Originally coined by Leonard Lauder, chairman of Estee Lauder companies, the lipstick effect was first noted after 9/11 when the company’s lipstick sales went up. Lauder proposed that lipstick purchases are an indication of the state of the economy, hypothesizing that when the economy was bad, women made smaller purchases, i.e. lipstick, to boost their mood.

“Small luxuries are substituted for large extravagances,” says Nick Igel, principal of Boulder, Colorado-based 505Design. “The theory can be applied to all customers during tough economic times.”

505Design is embracing this trend by offering value services for its clients. “An effective remodel can bring great value to an existing property,” says Igel. “It can offer substantial savings when compared to a new facility.”

An example is the company’s redesign of Danbury Fair in Danbury, Connecticut. 505Design designed a concept to revamp the mall as a modern, classic and sophisticated shopping destination. The design concept was infused throughout the entire project from restrooms to soft seating and lounge areas to a new paint scheme.

“We offer great value by bringing a vision against which the value of each design element can be compared,” says Igel. “We also offer great value by offering specific design solutions that make the user feel valued, special.”

LEED Retrofitting

BJG|Architecture + Engineering is working with the owners of the five-building, 90,000-square-foot Adobe Systems Inc. office complex in Almaden, California, in reviewing the return on investment to LEED retrofit the building in order to retain a state agency tenant.

Following the popular trend of LEED and green building, LEED retrofitting is building momentum in design. Branching into two different directions, the trend allows owners and developers to attract tenants and reduce costs.

One path of the trend focuses on retrofitting buildings and obtaining LEED rating for the marketing benefit of attracting tenants.

“[BJG|Architecture + Engineering] is working with a client who has an existing state agency tenant, which is mandated to select an office location with a preference for LEED-rated buildings,” explains Teresa Goodwin, vice president of Pleasanton, Calif.-based BJG|Architecture + Engineering. “The building owner is reviewing the cost-benefit analysis of keeping that tenant, paired with reduced energy expenses with the cost of the retrofits, including the coordination costs of pursuing LEED certification.”

The other direction is retrofitting components of an existing building without pursuing LEED certification for the entire building. Popular among big box retailers, this trend can involve relatively simple, low-cost fixes such as trading out old lighting systems for upgraded lights. BJG is also working on federal retrofit projects that are being driven by reduced energy budgets so existing buildings have to be revamped, including envelope, mechanical and lighting improvements, to reduce expenses, notes Goodwin.

Upgrading or incorporating green elements into existing buildings or new designs is being seen as a viable way to achieve LEED benefits without the monetary strains of LEED certification.

Tip Housewright, principal of Dallas-based Omniplan, echoes the notion of LEED retrofitting and sustainability. “When it comes to sustainability, clients may not elect to pursue LEED certification due to economic constraints. However, they still want to incorporate sustainable elements that have less of an impact on their bottom line.”

The benefits of LEED retrofitting are wide ranged, including lower energy costs, improved interior space with additional lighting, visibility as a good corporate citizen and reducing a company’s overall impact on the environment. Although the challenges of LEED retrofitting vary from project to project, a prerequisite for obtaining a LEED-EB: O&M (Existing Buildings: Operations and Management) rating is that the building must have an Energy Star Rating of at least 69. A low rating is difficult to achieve if a building has a tenant with a large energy demand. In multi-tenant properties, many of the requirements are based on overall building performance, which requires participation from all the tenants.

BJG has adopted a two-prong approach to the LEED retrofitting trend: by default adding essentially free elements to projects and constantly reminding clients of available sustainable opportunities. “For instance, in tenant improvements to existing facilities we look to reuse as much of the existing build out and materials as available,” says Goodwin. “A few years ago many [sustainable suggestions to clients] fell flat although we are finding that [now] almost all of our clients are interested in considering sustainability and we work with them to determine the right degree to pursue.”

New Urbanism Design

Embracing the urban contemporary styles popular among multifamily developments, Houston-based Meeks + Partners mixes various design elements into its projects to reinforce urban character into a neighborhood setting.

Current multifamily interior design trends include 10- to 13-foot ceiling heights to maximize space; 8-foot door openings; and lots of glass in the form of transom windows.

“Glass today reflects heat because of its ultra-violent protection,” explains Donald Meeks, chairman of Meeks + Partners. “The ratio of glass to solid wall has gone up tremendously, increasing the use of natural light.”

Other design trends include metal roofs, split and architectural concrete masonry, brick and stucco combinations, bolder colors, combination roof materials such as wood and composite shingles, wood trim along roofing edges, out-swinging aluminum clad wood doors, color mullions and courtyards.

An overarching trend in multifamily development is New Urbanism, which allows the development of neighborhoods and districts without creating additional suburban sprawl.

With glass expanses, a city-block design, courtyards and a pedestrian-friendly location, 2785 Speer Boulevard in Denver, a Meeks + Partners design, employs elements of New Urbanism.

Situated along North Speer Boulevard in Denver, Meeks + Partners designed the 325-unit 2785 Speer Boulevard apartment community. Offering four levels of residential space above street-level retail space, the site plan divides two residential buildings into small urban blocks separated by a landscaped pedestrian spine that serves as a main entrance and organizational element reinforcing the project’s connection to the existing urban matrix, explains Meeks.

The project projects a contemporary architectural design by employing rectangular volumes, flat roofs and large expanses of glass, as well as brick and stucco to maintain a cohesive element within the neighborhood. The multifamily property will maintain an open feel by wrapping two structures around landscaped interior courtyards, notes Meeks. More than 11,000 square feet of ground-level retail space fronting Speer Boulevard will establish a physical connection between the project and the pedestrian environment. The project was developed by Allied Realty Services.

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