UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE , The United States Courthouse in Los Angeles, California, was realized through the U.S. General Services Administration’s Design Excellence Program, an initiative to create and preserve outstanding public buildings for generations of use and enjoyment.

August 2018 UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE Los Angeles, California

8 The New Los Angeles Courthouse in Context 10 The Move to Design-Build Delivery 14 Fundamental Geometry 20 Innovations in Efficiency 30 Art and the Courthouse Experience 36 The Design and Construction Team 43 U.S. General Services Administration and the Design Excellence Program 2 A new federal courthouse must express the dignity and participatory spirit that unites courthouses across generations.

David Insinga, FAIA Chief Architect, GSA

3 4 5 6 7 THE NEW LOS ANGELES COURTHOUSE IN CONTEXT

The courthouse has been a part of the have influenced the design of federal American landscape since the early 18th courthouses to this day, noting, “While any century, when colonial governments first new federal courthouse must meet the most erected structures where magistrates could sophisticated needs of its time, it must also oversee criminal justice and official record- express the dignity and participatory spirit keeping. Although law administration that unites courthouses across generations.” differed dramatically from place to place in this period, the courthouse buildings As the landlord of the federal civilian themselves shared common themes—of government, it is GSA’s responsibility to quiet strength, public participation, and construct new courthouses—squaring transparent governance—which have stood centuries-old expressions of design excellence the test of time. to increased federal caseload, security requirements, and other performance Many colonial-era courthouses comprised criteria of the contemporary judicial system. a single room, and eschewed grandiose The agency oversees multiple programs ornamentation for simple arcades and that help today’s courthouses embody the outdoor spaces. Yet these buildings gravity and openness of their smaller and managed to declare themselves as less complex historic predecessors. important civic landmarks and to serve as places to meet neighbors and exchange The United States District Court for the ideas. David Insinga, chief architect of Central District of California is one of the U.S. General Services Administration the nation’s busiest federal district courts, (GSA), explains that historic courthouse and prior to GSA’s opening of the new architecture achieved public stature United States Courthouse in Los Angeles precisely for its quiet seriousness. in October 2016, the district’s need for “Symbolically and functionally, America’s updated accommodations was palpable first courthouses both elevated justice and and dogged. In 1992 GSA completed a integrated it into everyday life,” Insinga tower to ease crowding from an existing says. He adds that early courthouses 1940 building, and even then, only some

8 district and bankruptcy judges could be working conditions to emergency status, housed in the new structure. Meanwhile, and two years later Congress appropriated the courtrooms in the older building did $400 million for a new facility. GSA was not meet standards for size or safety, and tasked with providing the Judiciary with the United States Marshals Service deemed needed space and realizing the latest stan- prisoner passageways unusable. dards for building security, environmental efficiency, and technological capacity. Gregg Miller, a facilities program manager at the Administrative Office of the U.S. The new courthouse would also have Courts, remembers the disadvantages of the to master challenges and opportunities two downtown buildings vividly. He notes unique to GSA’s development site: a full that, while separate circulation for judges, city block at First Street, within steps members of the public, and prisoners of the Los Angeles City Hall and the has been a standard of courthouse design proposed Grand Park. First Street runs in for almost four decades, the longtime a northwest–southeast direction and slopes courthouse in Los Angeles required judges 32 feet across the length of that property, to walk through the public lobby to reach presenting a serious barrier to universal a keyed elevator: “Historic courtrooms physical accessibility. In addition, the are very pleasing aesthetically, but their site borders both the Los Angeles Civic appearance does not outshine the aging Center and the high-rise Commercial infrastructure, obsolete systems, and Office District, as well as multiple public- other drawbacks of a vintage courthouse.” transportation nodes. “The design of the The 1992 building not only fell short of Los Angeles courthouse had to meld two meeting the Judiciary’s space demands, but distinct neighborhoods, extend the public also did not prefigure developments like sphere from Grand Park to the federal the digitization of law research. site, and support the transit network,” says Duane Allen, the GSA project In 2003, the Judicial Conference of the manager whom the agency charged United States elevated its Los Angeles with coordinating the new building.

9 THE MOVE TO DESIGN-BUILD DELIVERY

Rapidly changing market conditions By 2012, however, a delivery method and other concerns prevented GSA known as design-build had gained from starting the new United States mainstream acceptance. It promised Courthouse in earnest until 2012. When notable schedule and cost efficiencies the moment to break ground finally did for the Los Angeles courthouse beyond arrive, the agency had to undertake the the construction and lifecycle savings 633,000-square-foot building with its achievable by design. remaining original funding, unadjusted for inflation. “The project needed to adopt Design-build delivery is an alternative innovations that equated to good economy to procuring design and construction and better lifecycle costs,” recalls Allen’s services using separate contracts. Under colleague Maria Ciprazo, who serves it, GSA advertises for an architect and GSA’s Pacific Rim Region as a director builder operating as a unit. In another of design and construction as well as contrast to the design-bid-build method, a regional chief architect. design-build delivery requires prospective teams to submit schematic designs in If GSA had commenced a courthouse competition for GSA’s patronage. GSA comprising 24 courtrooms and 32 chooses a design-build team based on the chambers in 2005, it would have quality of the competition design as well contracted with an architect to conceive as price and schedule. Selection of a team that facility based on a predetermined also locks in that team’s schematic design; budget and program. The agency would further design and construction takes place have then transmitted the architect’s after the contract award. drawings to the construction marketplace, from which a winning bidder would earn Design-build does have some drawbacks. It a contract to execute those drawings. This requires GSA, for example, to thoroughly dual-contract method, known as design- establish performance criteria for a building bid-build, traditionally had been GSA’s prior to contracting with a design-build preferred method of doing business. team. On the other hand, design-bid-build

10 projects demand GSA to allot significant qualify as the agency’s largest design-build time for realization, and it challenges effort to date. the agency to reconcile conflicting inter- pretations of contracts and seek cost- Architect Craig Hartman, senior consulting effective responses to change orders. By design partner of Skidmore, Owings & consolidating the management of design Merrill (SOM), says GSA subsequently and construction into one entity, design- took care to secure the advantages of build delivery streamlines procurement, design-build delivery while mitigating ensures constructability from a project’s its risks. SOM teamed with Clark outset, and reduces documentation. Construction to vie for the commission, and during the 12-week schematic-design While design-build’s origins date as far competition, “We had to develop a design back as 1949, it fully emerged in the world and make it detailed enough that we could of architecture and construction by the guarantee a price ceiling,” Hartman says. early 2000s. After careful consideration of “GSA and the judges were not able to have design-build’s pros and cons, GSA began the same influence as if they had advised employing it in 2009, when the agency our work directly, but they did articulate had to swiftly obligate American Recovery very clear guidelines that proved to be an and Reinvestment Act funds to projects important road map.” Clark senior vice and to execute those new buildings and president Marc Kersey adds, “There is renovations with equal speed. The effort always a push and pull between design was a success, and three years later GSA concepts and the cost model, but for GSA decision makers realized that it could apply it was incumbent upon us to face hurdles its new knowledge to the United States together and do what was right for the Courthouse in Los Angeles. “The only way project.” GSA selected the SOM-Clark we could recapture cost efficiencies was to team in December 2012, and Kersey says get the project under contract as quickly the $343 million building was completed as we could, which was by design-build,” in just 43 months without ostensible Allen says. Realizing this facility would changes to the competition entry.

11 12 13 FUNDAMENTAL GEOMETRY

The new United States Courthouse in a time-honored civic function from the Los Angeles comprises a 10-story glass skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles, cube that cantilevers atop a limestone-clad while the bold cantilevers express progress base. The cube projects 35.5 feet in all and optimism. The cantilevers also create directions, while the topography appears to an overhang that, much like a traditional flow underneath it as a plaza. An expanse arcade, invites building occupants or of glass on the limestone base’s northeast pedestrians traveling between transit nodes elevation demarcates the public entrance or neighborhoods to seek protection from on First Street. Gardens flanking the uphill the sun or inclement weather. and downhill sides of the building include both stairs and ramps so that people can For citizens and visitors who step into the traverse the slope by foot or wheelchair. new United States Courthouse, sheltering At the new courthouse’s northwest face, shade gives way to inspiring daylight. secure parking is largely integrated into Indeed, natural illumination drove the the grade change. An enclosed courtyard configuration of the courthouse interior. on the garage rooftop serves as an amenity A soaring white atrium known as the Light to the ground-floor jury assembly room Court centers the interior, while wood- within the building. finished courtrooms positioned on the building edge harvest daylight from both Hartman says this composition accom- the perimeter and the atrium. Double- plished several objectives in one gesture. height courtroom corridors overlook the “One was to lift the courthouse above Light Court, providing sunny spaces where the landscape and accommodate the confidential discussions can take place. circumstances that are unique to the site. “A courthouse prompts a lot of emotions. Another had to do with precedent—to take Whether you are a plaintiff, defendant, or what a courthouse has meant to American visitor, there is a sense of urgency in these democracy in our cities, historically, buildings,” Hartman says. “A generosity of and represent that meaning today.” A daylight-filled interior spaces can instill a midrise cube additionally distinguishes sense of calm in these diverse users.”

14 Text to come

Site Plan

15 Typical Courtroom Level

16 PROJECT NAME PROJECT LONG NAME

LOCATION CITY, COUNTRY

DRAWING NAME N-S SECTION

PHASE SUBMITTED PHASE OF DEVELOPMENT

0 5 10 20

Longitudinal Section

17 18 19 INNOVATIONS IN EFFICIENCY

Housing the United States Courthouse concrete shear-wall core. Each truss within a cube atop a base accomplished measures 220 feet long and 17 feet deep. multiple goals: separating the new building Perimeter columns are suspended from from site topography; providing shaded the truss system, and the curtain wall is plaza space; and giving the facility a attached to it. To transfer gravity loads contemporary civic appearance. from the suspended columns back to the structural core, the design-build team Multipurpose functionality informed all devised a geometry for the truss system aspects of the SOM-Clark design, even for that resembles a bicycle wheel. The building elements not visible to users, such solution takes into account the impressive as the innovative core-and-truss structural ceiling heights of courtrooms as well as system that supports the cantilevered-cube the layout of mechanical systems, and scheme. At the center of that system is a eliminated columns from each cantilevered core comprising four primary reinforced corner—allowing the cube to more readily concrete shear walls, which provides lateral appear as if it were floating atop the base. stiffness for the courthouse. These shear It also reduced material consumption walls rise from the foundation, through the approximately 15 percent compared to building’s stone-clad base and to the roof; the most efficient conventional trusses. To SOM dovetailed stairwells and mechanical accommodate California’s high seismicity, rooms alongside the cores and configured these trusses also include 16 ductile the courthouse interior around them buckling-restrained braces that diagonally generally. At their top, the four shear walls link the shear walls, controlling drift so support a three-dimensional steel truss that the whole building moves in concert system which cantilevers symmetrically. in the case of an earthquake. To construct the structural system, crews erected The 600-ton truss system, which perimeter columns on top of 48-foot accommodates vertical loads on the steel temporary shoring columns until building, forms a grid of 12 structural- the roof trusses were completed and the steel trusses embedded in the reinforced- perimeter columns could be suspended.

20 A conventional construction sequence Courthouse, SOM conceived a pleated would have more than doubled the schedule glass surface whose individual panels align and exceeded the construction budget. with ideal solar orientation. Within this system, moreover, transparent glass in The United States Courthouse’s pleated the north–south orientation welcomes glass facade represents another case study in daylight, while east- and west-facing glass designing for multiple benefits. “We were shades the interior. The alternating panels concerned the building would be perceived block 47 percent of solar heat, reduce as just a cube,” Clark Construction’s Kersey overall energy demand for systems like recalls, “So we had to make sure that we lighting and air-conditioning, and keep the treated the facade in the same elevated building mass aligned to the downtown manner as civic architecture has historically grid for optimal street presence. been represented in American cities.” The design-build team reasoned that wrapping The United States Courthouse’s memorable, the new courthouse in a unique glass skin efficient facade integrates with a wider would set apart the building exterior, and performance strategy for the building that, inside, access to views and daylight that consumes electricity and water as would help building occupants sense economically as possible. The pleated glass the importance of their participation in is part of a series of efficiency measures American justice. that achieve GSA’s 2020 energy target of 35kBTU/GSF annual consumption, and Any glass curtain wall has to prevent solar a photovoltaic array on the building roof heat gain from entering the building it harvests sunshine to produce 507,000 envelops. Minimizing this pressure on a kilowatt-hours of clean energy annually. building’s interior climate is particularly difficult to accomplish in downtown Los David Insinga, GSA’s chief architect, says Angeles, where the street grid is rotated that the courthouse’s achievements in toward harsh morning and afternoon security, engineering, and energy efficiency sunshine. For the new United States are a testament both to overall design

21 excellence and to a well-stewarded design- Build Project/Team Award, the Design- build delivery. “By convening experts from Build Institute of America stated, “The multiple disciplines at the inception of iconic structure now stands as a testament the design process, the courthouse project to design-build delivery and is a model seized multiple opportunities in single of civic architecture that all stakeholders gestures and surmounted challenges that and U.S. citizens can be extremely proud.” would have thwarted a more compart- It has been additionally recognized by the mentalized design and construction team. Construction Management Association of Collaboration is a tremendous source of America, Los Angeles Business Council, taxpayer value.” Duane Allen, the GSA and others. project manager, also notes that inherent flexibility in the building, such as use The courthouse has already shifted the of demountable partitions in judges’ ways in which these industries do their chambers, can accommodate future work. Gregg Miller, the Administrative programmatic and technological updates Office of the U.S. Courts facilities while sparing taxpayer expense. program manager, says that the new building’s courtyard for prospective jurors, The United States Courthouse’s combi- adaptability to changing needs, and other nation of visionary appearance, empathy outstanding features may be replicable for occupants, and overall frugality has in future judicial facilities. In another earned commendation from throughout example, GSA has codified lessons the design, construction, and real estate from this United States Courthouse industries. The building is a winner of project into its renowned method for a 2018 AIA Institute Honor Award, the assuring design and construction quality, highest commendation from the American known as the Design Excellence Program; Institute of Architects, as well as the orga- that program’s new procedures for nization’s equally prestigious COTE Top design-build delivery are based on the Ten Award for ecological responsibility. procurement and implementation of Bestowing the courthouse with a Design- the Los Angeles courthouse.

22 Blast Spikes

Extruded Aluminum Back Panel

Intermediate Mullion

Vertical Mullion

Insulation Panel

Stack Joint

Extruded Aluminum Louvers

Laminated Insulated Glass Unit with Low-E coating

Facade Unit Composition

23 24 25 26 27 28 29 ART AND THE COURTHOUSE EXPERIENCE

The Guiding Principles for Federal “One of the most important elements Architecture, which since 1962 has of this piece is how it functions within provided GSA with one of its essential the architecture of the building,” Opie mission statements, asserts that the explained in a statement. “The height of work of living American artists should the six floors conceptually holds the scale be incorporated in the design of public of the grandiose view of Yosemite Falls. buildings. Since 1963, GSA has fulfilled These various floors allow for different this element of the Guiding Principles views of the falls, in the same way that by commissioning art for significant a hiker’s vantage points change when construction projects through its Art approaching the real falls in the natural in Architecture Program. The three environment. You have to roam the commissions created for the new United building in order to experience the piece. States Courthouse epitomize GSA’s vision There is not one vantage point where for public art. They are fully integrated you can see all six panels.” Yosemite Falls into the design of the Light Court, derives additional power from the contrast complementing its various shapes and between rugged California wilderness materials. In fact, a viewer may not be and the urban landscape of Los Angeles, able to discern which came first—the and Opie considers that her scene of the artwork or the architectural scheme. waterfall will engender a feeling of calm in viewers. Yosemite Falls, by Los Angeles–based photographer Catherine Opie, most Artist Gary Simmons, who produced an dramatically embodies the inextricable untitled Art in Architecture commission relationship between art and architecture for the new United States Courthouse, at the United States Courthouse. Opie echoes Opie’s meditative aims: “Given that divided a monumental image of Yosemite entering a courthouse can be a stressful Falls into six 16-foot-long archival pigment experience, I hope that my artwork prints and mounted one panel on each provides respite, or a moment of peace, in floor of the Light Court. which the viewer can experience a sense of

30 hope and solace,” the Los Angeles–based pictures, but as vehicles for the perception artist has said. Simmons’s installation also of optical phenomena. To that end, glass comprises six panels; these 8-foot enamel- microspheres are incorporated into the painted fiberglass-and-aluminum squares color fields, which refract changes in depict shooting stars, which the artist daylight and offer constant perceptual believes will conjure nostalgic memories change for viewers as they move around and provide a satisfying pause to the the Light Court. Corse has stated that her judicial staffer or juror who enters the work is well suited to the geometry and courthouse. natural illumination of the Light Court, and that she was interested in contrasting The third installation that GSA’s Art in the neutral palette of building finishes with Architecture Program commissioned for the primary colors in her painting. the United States Courthouse is Untitled (White, Black, Red, Yellow, Blue) by Los “Mary Corse’s painting, like all of the Angeles–based Mary Corse—one of the artworks commissioned for the new United few female artists associated with the States Courthouse, engages in a nuanced Light and Space Movement of the 1960s. dialogue with its setting,” says GSA chief Composed of bands of red, yellow, and architect David Insinga, adding that the blue, separated by bands of white and Art in Architecture program burnishes black, the artwork is the first and only the significance of major GSA projects painting in which Corse has combined generally. “Because our agency creates all three primary colors in one canvas. landmarks of the future, we must make That painting stretches 42 feet, and it is sure these buildings reflect the ingenuity mounted above the monumental staircase and ethics of the American people that connects the Light Court’s ground politically, socially, and culturally.” floor to a multipurpose courtroom.

Corse is known for her minimalist paintings that serve not as descriptive

31 32 This powerful composition and the generosity of its public spaces gives the project a clear civic presence.

2018 AIA Institute Honor Award

33 34 35 THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION TEAM

Owner Architecture, Interior Design, U.S. General Services Administration Structural Engineering, Graphics Public Buildings Service Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Pacific Rim Region Los Angeles and San Francisco, California Maria Ciprazo, director of design & construction, Craig Hartman, senior consulting design partner regional chief architect Gene Schnair, consulting partner Mario Ramirez, project executive Michael Mann, managing director Duane Allen, project manager Paul Danna, Jose Palacios, design directors Susan Bartley, Steven Zimmerman, associate directors Greg McSweeney, contracting officer Keith Boswell, technical partner Krista Miller, contracting specialist Marion Armijo, Cecillia Chu, Melanie Chin-Cooper, Sally Anderson, Naomi Asai, Alessandro Beghini, Kathleen Cruise, Lorenzo Davis, Medi Givechian, Carmen Carrasco, Kevin Conway, Sean Corriel, Gary Kaplowitz, Jane Lehman, Mark Levi, Traci David Diamond, Abel Diaz, Sally Drum, Qinghua Madison, Norma Quon, Adam Rinderle, Gary Fan, Emily Farnham, Rupa Garai, Jordon Gearhart, Rose, James Sampson, Dale Shue, Jacqueline Suen, David Goodin, Ben Grobe, Brian Hart, Lonny Israel, Langston Trigg, Patricia Weber Viltis Januta, Winna Japardi, Erin Kasimow, Josh Kenin, Andrew Krebs, Eric Long, Dan Maxfield, Tenant Isshin Morimoto, Patrick Murren, Julia Ovsenni, United States District Court Bin Pan, Tanya Paz, Garth Ramsey, Amy Rangel, for the Central District of California Bita Salamat, Mark Sarkisian, Maria Sviridova, Marc Tanabe, Wang Tsui, Nicole Wang, Jennifer Williams United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California Design-Build Partner/General Contractor United States Marshals Service Clark Construction Group Bethesda, Maryland United States Courts Probation and Pretrial Services Office Marc Kersey, senior vice president Federal Public Defender Sam Hoelscher, M. Marshall Singh, project executives Greg Groleau, vice president Steve Deyer, Andrew Erdman, Bradley McDermott, Art Vasconcelos

36 Artists Plumbing Engineer Courts Planning, LEED, and Security Mary Corse South Coast Engineering Group AECOM, Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, California Calabasas, California Frank Castillo, Frank Clements, Catherine Opie Peter Kraut, William Siler, Gary Gayhart, Michael Griebel, Los Angeles, California Walter De La Cruz, Robert Dargatz Joanna Lam, Roger Lichtman, Gary Simmons Alistair MacGregor, Peter Obarowski, Lighting Designer Los Angeles, California Henry Pitner, Abhinay Sharma, HLB Lighting Design Scott Smith, Christopher Snee Construction Manager Los Angeles, California Blast Consultant Jacobs Teal Brogden, John Dunn, Megan Sacramento, California, Howell, Michael Lindsey, Hayden Applied Research Associates and Portland, Oregon McKay, Maura Reinhart, Jae Yong Suk Albuquerque, New Mexico Sohail Shaikh, project executive Mikhael Erekson, Ken Herrle, Landscape Design Joe Smith Charles Atkinson, senior Studio-MLA construction manager Los Angeles, California Fire Protection and Life Safety Cheryl Coleman, Brent Davis, Jensen Hughes Mia Lehrer, Michelle Frier, Steven Hill, David Wollenberg Los Angeles, California Anne Guillebeaux, Eric Marecki, Steven Dannaway, Matt Donahue, Mechanical/Electrical Engineer Michelle Sullivan Arthur Gager Syska Hennessy Group Branding and Graphics Culver City, California Page/Dyal Branding and Graphics Geotechnical Engineer Gary Brennan, co-president Austin, Texas Haley & Aldrich Rob Bolin, senior principal San Francisco, California Herman Dyal, Lon Calvert, Michael Adebanjo, Alan Ayap, Kris Kathryn Dreier, Carla Fraser, Dean Iwasa Baker, Ali Danesh, Ali Hadian, Hamish Andrew Lopez, Roy Watson List, Ben Sedighi, Miguel Valencia Acoustics Accessibility Consultant Newson Brown Acoustics Civil Engineer AA Architecture, Interior Santa Monica, California Psomas Planning & Design Martin Newson, Joe Celano, Anat Los Angeles, California Mission Viejo, California Grant, Nozomi Kamiya, Ben Toews Mike Crehan, David Curtis, Afshan Afshar Andrew Nickerson, Angie Perez 37 Electrical Subcontractors Design Excellence Art in Architecture/ Glow Electric National Peers Fine Arts National Peers Hawthorne, California Ronald Altoon Rochelle Steiner Helix Electric STIR Architecture University of Southern California San Diego, California Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, California Clark Brockman Robert Aitchison Mechanical Subcontractors SERA Architects Mark Watters Tricor Mechanical San Mateo, California Aitchison and Watters Huntington Beach, California Los Angeles, California Bill Browning ACCO Engineered Systems Terrapin Bright Green Rosa Lowinger Glendale, California New York, New York Rosa Lowinger & Associates Los Angeles, California Plumbing Subcontractors Paul Goldberger New York, New York Arthur Page Monaco Mechanical Page Conservation Los Angeles, California Jennifer Guthrie Washington, DC Murray Company Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Rancho Dominguez, California Seattle, Washington Construction Excellence National Peers Rob Kistler Glazing Subcontractors The Facade Group Mike Leondi C&C Glass Portland, Oregon Skanska San Diego, California New York, New York Laurinda Spear Benson Industries Paul Chistolini Arquitectonica Los Angeles, California Washington, DC Miami, Florida Golden Glass Fullerton, California Steve Straus Glumac San Francisco, California Clive Wilkinson Clive Wilkinson Architects Los Angeles, California

38 39 40 41 42 U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION AND THE DESIGN EXCELLENCE PROGRAM

Public buildings are part of a nation’s legacy. Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture: They are symbolic of what government is producing facilities that reflect the dignity, about, not just places where public business enterprise, vigor, and stability of the federal is conducted. government, emphasizing designs that embody the finest contemporary architec- Since its establishment in 1949, the tural thought; avoiding an official style; and U.S. General Services Administration incorporating the work of living American has been responsible for creating federal artists in public buildings. In this effort, workplaces, and for providing all the each building is to be both an individual products and services necessary to make expression of design excellence and part of these environments healthy and productive a larger body of work representing the best for federal employees and cost-effective that America’s designers and artists can for American taxpayers. As builder for the leave to later generations. federal civilian government and steward of many of our nation’s most valued To find the best, most creative talent, the architectural treasures, GSA is committed Design Excellence Program has simplified to preserving and adding to America’s the way GSA selects architects and engineers architectural and artistic legacy. for new construction and major renovation projects and opened up opportunities for GSA established the Design Excellence emerging talent, small, disadvantaged, and Program in 1994 to better achieve the women-owned businesses. The program mandates of public architecture. Under recognizes and celebrates the creativity this program, administered by the Office and diversity of the American people. of the Chief Architect, GSA has engaged many of the finest architects, designers, The Design Excellence Program is the engineers, and artists working in America recipient of a 2003 National Design Award today to design the future landmarks of our from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design nation. Through collaborative partnerships, Museum, and of the 2004 Keystone Award GSA is implementing the goals of the 1962 from the American Architectural Foundation.

43 PHOTOGRAPHY: BRUCE DAMONT (COVER, PAGES 2/3, 5, 12/13, 18/19, 24/25, 28/29, 34, 35, 39, 40/41), HEATHER RASMUSSEN (PAGE 26), BRIAN FORREST (PAGE 27), TAYLOR LEDNUM/GSA (PAGES 6/7, 32, 42) U.S. General Services Administration Public Buildings Service Office of the Chief Architect Design Excellence 1800 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20405 202-501-1888 U.S. General Services Administration