The 50,000-sq.-ft., two-story wood and steel structure seamlessly blends into the surrounding natural environment, presenting an understated yet elegant aesthetic that belies the complexity of the design components and construction processes that went into the project. From the diverse array of exterior building materials including aluminum, glazing, copper panels, stone, stone veneer and wood siding – all carefully overlaid to form a highly thermal rated exterior skin – to the highly energy efficient mechanical and electrical systems, to the rooftop photovoltaic panels that generate on-site energy, every building component contributes to the net- zero energy goal. The design includes two slender daylit office wings flanking a beautifully landscaped courtyard. The regional architectural language and material selection brings local poignancy to a replicable prototype.

Throughout the process, the Foundation emphasized the importance of ensuring that the design of the building—and the idea of energy innovation in the workplace—would be replicable, opening the door for a new generation of more environmentally sustainable buildings. The Foundation estimates that replication would cost $477 per square foot to feature the environmentally-friendly technologies used in this building.

The building began with deconstruction. The 1.5-acre site, set among 1960’s era buildings, was cleared in a way that maximized landfill diversion. In fact, more than 95% of construction waste was successfully recycled or salvaged, which earned the project the maximum LEED Points for Construction Waste Management. Rainwater is collected for toilet flushing and irrigation, and stormwater is retained on-site. Inside, meeting rooms are outfitted for remote collaboration, promising dramatic reductions in travel-related carbon emissions. Additionally, a transportation demand management plan helped eliminate the need for an underground parking garage, further reducing the organization’s carbon footprint.   Through integrated building design and aggressive reductions in plug loads, the building’s energy use will be reduced by 65%. In addition, innovative use of roof-mounted photovoltaic panels will offset any energy used.

When completed, the new Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Patient Care Pavilion will house 243 medical/surgical and acute rehabilitation beds. The Patient Care Pavilion building consists of two major components: a patient care tower and a basement and rooftop central utility plant. The new tower will be 13 stories tall, with 11 stories reaching approximately 184 feet above ground, and two levels below grade, wrapping around the existing Merritt Pavilion and providing approximately 230,000 sq. ft. of new space.

Construction of the new facility was adjacent to the existing Eden Medical Center, which remained in full operation until the new medical center was completed. The new Sutter Eden Medical Center opened to the public on December 1, 2012.

In addition to building a landmark regional medical center that will integrate the latest medical technologies, the project is truly breaking new ground in healthcare construction:

• Integrated Project Delivery (IPD): The team used an 11-party Integrated Form of Agreement (IFOA) contract. In previous cases, only the owner, architect and general contractor have signed the agreement and formed the core IPD team.
   
• Building Information Modeling (BIM): This was one of the first instances where model-based estimating was used to generate estimates quicker and more frequently, giving the team greater access to real-time cost information.
   
• California OSHPD phased plan review system: This was one of the first projects to use this system, resulting in an overall schedule savings of nearly 12 months.
   
• California SB 1953 earthquake safety law: This was the first new medical center in Alameda County to be built in compliance with this law.

Maintaining the schedule proved to be a major challenge and required ingenious thinking and flexibility from our team. By modifying our approach and/or the sequence of activities, DPR was able to maintain the original completion date. For example, in coordinating the above ceiling mechanical and electrical systems installations, DPR identified a conflict between the ductwork and the structure. We submitted the conflict to the design team and then worked with our construction team to resequence the actitivities to work around the delay.

DPR also found deficiencies in the millwork just before it was delivered to the site that required some redesign. DPR worked with our millwork subcontractor to reduce some of the installation durations and added craft people to our crew to keep the original schedule intact. We also identified major electrical needs with the owner's medical equipment, which required the design team to redistribute the power and make changes to the equipment power sources. After working through these changes with our electrical subcontractor, DPR was able to change the sequencing and add manpower where necessary to recover the schedule.

The facility houses new microbiology, cytogenetics, cytology, flow cytometry, special chemistry, and virology labs as well as a cold room, a new sterilizer room, staff lounges, a locker room, and a new administrative area. The project included the installation of a deionized piping system as well as medical gas systems for nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, argon, nitrogen and three mixed gases. It also included a new generator. Due to the limited space in the ceiling cavity, intense MEP coordination was required to install 101 variable air valve (VAV) boxes and approximately 100 exhaust valves.

The greatest challenge was cutting four months off Stanford's already aggressive schedule. DPR received occupancy 14 weeks ahead of schedule by increasing the overlap between activities, tightening the durations, drilling down on the critical path and, in some cases, increasing the crew size to improve the efficiencies of the craft labor.

Working in a partially occupied space presented its own challenges. To accommodate the users of a laboratory on the second floor of the building, DPR provided a temporary generator during the five complete power shutdowns that were required to complete this project.

Situated on a 37-acre site in Palo Alto's prestigious Stanford Research Park, the property features vistas, dozens of mature trees, generous landscape setbacks, and mature landscape areas. The buildings circle a large central courtyard that will serve as the heart of the VMware community.

The two-story steel-frame building, designed by Bohlin Cywinkski & Jackson of Pittsburgh, PA, and built on the site of an old cannery, has the look and feel of warehouses of the 1920s and '30s. Its design and construction draw on techniques and materials reminiscent of those yesteryears, featuring an open ceiling with exposed structural steel that was bolted rather than welded, fully exposed mechanical and electrical systems, Italian marble counter tops, German hardware, Italian theater seats and exterior bricks custom-manufactured in an old-style “beehive” kiln.

Several unique industry-specific features include a photo science darkroom, production areas for regular, as well as animated films, and render farms. The facility also houses offices, a 150-seat theater, two 50-seat screening rooms, and a sound control room and booth.

During shell construction and after completion of the tenant improvement design, the tenant requested DPR accelerate the construction schedule one month to meet their urgent need to occupy the building. By aggressively coordinating the tenant building with the buildout of the core, working a strategic overtime schedule, and proactively planning work, the project team delivered a building ready for occupancy one month earlier than originally scheduled.

To meet the aggressive June 27 contractual delivery date set in late 2005, when DPR Construction started as the general contractor, sticking to an aggressive schedule was imperative. Other contractors said it couldn't be done; but this is just the kind of challenge that DPR relishes. To accomplish it, three million craft and management hours were worked in just 65 weeks with some work going on 24 hours a day, seven days a week for a full year. In all that time, there was only one lost time safety incident.

In addition to the accelerated schedule, part of the project was constructed within an operating facility and had to be performed without disrupting ongoing operations. The central utility plant, which affects all of the systems Genentech uses to produce its validated biopharmaceutical drugs, had to double in size. DPR accomplished this without a single un-planned shutdown. Throughout the entire project, there was a 70 percent overlap of construction crews and Genentech start up and validation staff. Contractor and Owner broke down the normal barriers to foster an extremely collaborative and cooperative effort, which included training Genentech staff to work within a construction environment.

Maintaining operations and meeting the schedule required creative phasing. Innovation and flexibility were a must. A unique approach was necessary to accommodate Genentech's request that DPR's first order of business on site be the re-bid of the entire build-out. The re-bid needed to be done while all the equipment remained on schedule for fabrication and delivery, which occurred prior to the interior build-out start. Because the equipment had already been procured and fabricated, DPR developed and executed a plan to install it first; then built out the facility around it.

Validation was another issue. There were more than 300 subsystems to complete, start up and validate. Looking at the process from a purely mechanical perspective, Genentech and DPR developed a plan to begin validation of specific systems before final completion of the overall project. Thus, the facility was turned over system by system, piece by piece not by area or building as would occur during a normal construction turn over process.

CCP-2 is the largest biotechnology fermentation facility of its kind and will produce biotechnology drugs for serious and life-threatening diseases, including cancer. Like the products it was built to produce, its creation required ingenuity, flexibility and collaboration. From the owner to the contractor to the city officials, CCP-2 is truly a shining example of what can be accomplished when knowledge and desire conspire to make the impossible possible.

The two-phase remediation provided DPR with an opportunity to assist ALZA in enhancing various programs that better integrate construction with the company's validation plan. For example, during the project, 140 Building Management System instruments were pre-calibrated, tracked, retired or post-calibrated, and a model tracking process (which has become the calibration department's primary tool for coordinating calibration work) was developed and initiated.

DPR self-performed the foundation for the tableting suites, drywall and framing; other subcontractor crews were available throughout the project for increased flexibility, permitting our teams to make progress in areas while steering clear of active production.
Both phases of the project were finished on time and within budget without sacrificing quality. In fact, the German inspectors from the MHRA were extremely complimentary and made the general statement that this remediation project serves as a model of how they would like to see other pharmaceutical companies respond to similar types of upgrades.

The building features energy efficient mechanical equipment and extensive natural day lighting. The project was constructed using 17 percent recycled-content materials. Eighty-six percent of construction waste was diverted. By incorporating motion-detection lighting controls, high-efficiency boilers and chillers and glazing on windows to reduce heating loads on the building skin, it also surpassed Title 24 energy requirements by 25 percent.

DPR worked with Alexandria Real Estate Equities to evaluate the upfront costs of building green. The first cost for construction to meet LEED® requirements was less than one percent of the project's overall cost. Much of this cost will be recouped in long-term savings. This project demonstrates that the cost differential between energy efficient/high performance green construction can be minimal. The key is to make the right choices in building materials, systems and project team.

With the energy-efficient design, mechanical equipment and extensive natural daylighting, this project achieved Silver LEED certification under the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)'s pilot program for Core and Shell.

With crews working double shifts through ice and wind storms, DPR actually shortened the painting schedule by an estimated two weeks rather than accepting a weather delay.

The design/build project near Portland is the first phase of a master-planned campus that anticipates the construction of up to five more fabs. The initial project includes a 167,000-sq.-ft. wafer fab building with Class 10 and Class 1000 cleanrooms, a 120,000-sq.-ft. combined engineering and office space, and a 30,000-sq.-ft. central plant, plus slabs for chillers.

To reduce costs and weight, DPR installed a metal roof over the fab rather than concrete, then coated it with a rubber roof seal.

DPR engineers also played a key role in assisting LSI Logic during the site selection process, which specified a .35 micron capability.

As part of the renovation, the team performed structural upgrades to the building's roof to support six new make-up air units and removed half of the building's slab and depressed it two feet to accommodate the cleanroom access flooring. The team also installed 112 High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) plenums and 60 recirculation units. Alongside the building, DPR built a back service pad for the central utility plan, which includes chilled water, condenser water, a boiler and an emergency generator.

Despite the highly complex nature of the project, DPR delivered Phase 1 a day ahead of schedule with zero defects, and the project was turned over to the owner with no outstanding change orders.

Facebook plans to build multiple data centers on the Lulea campus, beginning with a 290,000 sq.-ft. first phase that was completed in late 2012, and begin supporting traffic in the first half of 2013.

The expansion of Facebook’s infrastructure beyond the U.S. reflects the increasingly global makeup of its user base. More than 75 percent of Facebook’s 800 million users are located outside the United States. Building data centers closer to these users will improve the speed of their connection and overall Facebook experience. The Facebook announcement has been celebrated in Sweden, and particularly in Lulea, where economic development officials have been marketing the region as a data center destination due to its combination of a cool climate, strong connectivity and plentiful supply of cheap, renewable energy.

The cool, dry climate allows the use of outside air to cool the data centers, similar to Facebook's Prineville, OR and Forest City, NC sites (also built by DPR). The average daily temperature in Lulea ranges from high of 41 degrees Fahrenheit to low of 27 degrees Fahrenheit. The area averages just four days a year with high temperatures exceeding 77 degrees Fahrenheit. The nearby Lule River produces about 13.6 million MW hours of hydro-electric power, equal to 10 percent of Sweden’s total demand for electricity. Lulea, Sweden has some of the cheapest power rates in all of Europe.

Inside the data center buildings, Facebook is implementing the server and data center designs outlined in the Open Compute Project, which the company launched in February 2012 to release its custom designs for servers, power supplies and UPS units.

The renovated building is composed of a concrete frame on 210 base isolators designed to allow the new landmark to withstand an 8.3 magnitude earthquake. A moat around the perimeter accommodates sway during a seismic event.

DPR teamed up with LEM Construction Inc. in a joint venture to serve as the general contractor for the restoration of the exterior granite skin façade and interior renovation of the great hall, grand staircase, and loggia, as well as the addition of a new floor and a 50-ft. tall skylight—a signature of designer Gae Aulenti that now floods the once dark library with natural daylight.

The high-profile rehabilitation and adaptive re-use project consumed 26,000 cubic yards of concrete, 6,000 tons of steel, 30,000 sq. ft. of glass, 50 miles of electrical wiring, and 11,000 sq. ft. of Italian Basaltina stone flooring (the same that is used in the Vatican).

The old Main Library offers 121,500 usable sq. ft. of which approximately 37,000 sq. ft. is allocated to galleries, a 30 percent increase over the gallery space the Asian Art Museum had at its previous location in Golden Gate Park.

The amount of structural renovation required to stabilize and seismically strengthen the building was challenging. The structural work alone took two-and-a-half years to complete and involved the installation of 14 shear walls up to three ft. thick that ran from the ceiling to the basement. Due to limited site access in the highly dense Civic Center area, most of the steel had to be hand-rigged (rather than using a crane). Approximately 1,300 laborers, carpenters, ironworkers, glaziers, plasterers, masons, plumbers, fitters, electricians, and other professionals worked together to safely complete more than a million hours of construction over nearly four years.

The new Sacred Heart School Science and Student Life Building incorporates a host of innovative new technologies into the design, providing this private high school campus with a tremendous learning environment. The physical structure provided a pallet for green technologies to shine so LEED Platinum certification could be achieved.Green features include natural ventilation, daylighting, a green roof, solar panels, and a virtual dashboard to demonstrate energy and water consumption in real time.

The beautiful green roof above the Great Hall presents many species native to Northern California and vegetation grows just outside the second floor classroom windows. The water collected from the roof-top garden filters down with collected drain water from the other roofs, feeding down into the bio-swale.

The interior of the building is lit for the majority of the day with skylights and each classroom can control the amount of daylight in each room. Energy is also conserved through a heat recovery system by which heat from many of the HVAC components is used to heat the domestic hotwater.

The pinnacle element is an interactive educational system provided by Lucid Design Group, called the Lucid dashboard. In the lobby, visitors can access a touch screen monitor that displays graphics representing live streamed data for the energy usage throughout the building. This data is also made accessible to all the class rooms via the internet so that teachers can use this live data for classroom activities.

Two of the building’s most notable sustainable elements are the Night Sky cooling system and a 45-ft. katabatic cooling tower. The cooling system, which features a roof irrigation system on a metal panel roof, is activated in the evenings to provide cold water that is funneled through the roof gutters and rainwater leaders, and is stored in a thermal storage tank for the building’s radiant cooling system. The katabatic cooling tower has a structural steel “wind catcher” that captures wind driven by the downward movement of cold air. The air descends through the tower, passing through a cold water mister about a third of the way down, and into the main lobby. The center also features sunshades, high-performance glazing, efficient ventilation with heat recovery, radiant slab heating and cooling, light shelves, a naturally ventilated top floor, rainwater catchments, spectrally selective roofing, and a fully daylight interior with lighting controls.

The architect, Esherick Homsey Dodge & Davis, also came up with the idea to use recycled doors for desktops rather than plywood or traditional furniture. “We contacted several of our local door suppliers who provided us with new, unused doors to install free of charge,” said Eddie Parenti, DPR’s project manager.