HKS Architects, Inc., a national architectural firm with 28 U.S. and international offices, has formed the HKS Science & Technology practice.
Specializing in the planning and design of highly technical building types, HKS’s Science & Technology practice offers the broadest range of services available to the academic and biomedical research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device community, including laboratory programming, planning and design, strategic science planning and laboratory equipment planning.
“We know that the continuum of new science and emerging technologies is evolving with ever-increasing momentum,” said Ralph Hawkins, president and CEO of HKS, Inc. “Offering science and technology services to our clients is part of HKS’s strategy to provide the most comprehensive services to meet their constantly changing and evolving needs.”
H. Michael Smith, AIA, LEED AP, senior vice president, is HKS’s National Science & Technology Practice Leader. With more than 27 years of experience in a wide range of renovation, adaptive reuse and new construction projects, Smith has focused his entire career on the design of science and technology building types. Working for clients in the corporate, institutional, academic and government market sectors, he has directed, managed, programmed and designed many notable projects, including academic and biomedical teaching and research laboratories, biotechnology and pharmaceutical research and production facilities, cleanrooms for microelectronics and medical device manufacture, and animal research facilities, among others.
For the past decade, Smith has held principal-level, science-practice leadership positions at some of the nation’s largest architectural firms and has been responsible for the development of such notable science buildings as the Wallis Annenberg Research Center at the House Research Institute in Los Angeles, Calif.; the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Cancer Immunotherapeutics and Tumor Immunology Building at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif.; the Donald P. Shiley Center for Science & Technology at the University of San Diego in San Diego, Calif.; and the Dana & David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Calif.
Demonstrating the HKS Science & Technology practice’s commitment to achieving excellence in science and technology facilities design, the firm acquired world-renowned laboratory planning firm Earl Walls Associates, which will be rebranded as Earl Walls Consultancy, a division of HKS. With more than 2,500 laboratories to its credit, totaling over 200 million gross square feet, Earl Walls Associates grew from the 1962 collaboration among Dr. Jonas Salk, architect Louis I. Kahn and founder Earl Walls. Together they designed the Salk Institute, which established new milestones for laboratory facilities design. For the past five decades, Earl Walls Associates was integral to the development and innovation of many of the world’s modern laboratory planning concepts, including 22 awarded projects in R&D Magazine’s “Laboratory of the Year” competition.
Ken DeBoer and Ned Michalowski lead the Earl Walls Consultancy, based in San Diego, Calif. DeBoer, with 37 years of experience, is a programmer and planner with a complete understanding of the technical issues involved in highly complex laboratories and their support systems. His portfolio includes facilities for numerous government and academic institutions, ranging from sophisticated national core facilities to instructional laboratories for community colleges. More than 25 years ago, DeBoer began his laboratory planning career working with Earl Walls.
Michalowski has gained varied experience in the programming and design of laboratory facilities for the federal government, academia, private sector and institutional research. He joined Earl Walls in 1985 and has extensive experience providing strategic science planning, programming and design for numerous projects of various sizes, types and complexity. His projects have won awards including R&D Magazine's 1995 “Laboratory of the Year” for Ciba-Geigy's Life Sciences Building.
“DNA genetic coding didn’t exist 20 years ago,” said DeBoer. “Today, scientists are reinventing science as new methods and technologies become available. In turn, we must design facilities to accommodate both existing and future technologies. We speak the language of scientists, offering a distinct blend of technical knowledge and design creativity.”
Examples of innovative science and technology projects include:
- University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center Clinical Research Building, Houston, Texas
- University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Biomedical Research Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Clements Advanced Medical Imaging Center, Dallas, Texas
- Brooke Army Medical Center, Institute of Surgical Research, Fort Sam Houston, Texas
- Utah State University, Widtsoe Hall Chemistry Building, Logan, Utah
- Instituto de Diagnóstico y Referencia Epidemiológicos (InDRE), Infectious Disease Laboratories, Mexico City, Mexico
- The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California
- National Institutes of Health, Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center, Bethesda, Maryland
- Ciba Geigy Pharmaceuticals, Life Sciences Building, Summit, New Jersey
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Advanced Measurement Laboratory, Gaithersburg, Maryland
- Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, La Jolla, California
- University of Alabama, Shelby Hall Interdisciplinary Science Building, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Richland, Washington
- University of Wisconsin, Microbial Sciences Building, Madison, Wisconsin
“Science and technology facilities should inspire creativity and innovation, foster collaboration among colleagues and peers, attract and retain the best and brightest talent, and effectively represent an institution’s desired image to the public,” said Smith. “I am passionate about our work and committed to delivering facilities for science that meet the highest expectations of our clients, while respecting their time and budget constraints.” BD+C
Related Stories
| May 22, 2014
Just two years after opening, $60 million high school stadium will close for repairs
The 18,000-seat Eagle Stadium in Allen, Texas, opened in 2012 to much fanfare. But cracks recently began to appear throughout the structure, causing to the school district to close the facility.
| May 22, 2014
Senate kills bipartisan energy efficiency bill over Keystone pipeline amendment
The legislation focused on energy efficiency standards such as water heaters with smart meters and cheaper heating and cooling systems for office buildings.
| May 22, 2014
IKEA to convert original store into company museum
Due to open next year, the museum is expected to attract 200,000 people annually to rural Älmhult, Sweden, home of the first ever IKEA store.
| May 21, 2014
Evidence-based design practices for the palliative care environment
Palliative care strives to make patients comfortable as they are receiving treatment for a severe illness. As hospitals seek to avoid Affordable Care Act penalties for poor patient satisfaction, many expect this field to grow quickly.
| May 21, 2014
Gehry unveils plan for renovation, expansion of Philadelphia Museum of Art [slideshow]
Gehry's final design reorganizes and expands the building, adding more than 169,000 sf of space, much of it below the iconic structure.
| May 21, 2014
Check out Pandora's posh NYC offices [slideshow]
The new East Coast office for the Internet radio provider is housed on two interconnected floors of the classic 125 Park Avenue building, and features multiple spaces for music performances, large gatherings, and “all hands” meetings.
| May 21, 2014
Architecture Billings Index in the negative for second consecutive month
The March ABI score was 49.6, up slightly from a mark of 48.8 in March, but still below the growth threshold of 50.
| May 20, 2014
Kinetic Architecture: New book explores innovations in active façades
The book, co-authored by Arup's Russell Fortmeyer, illustrates the various ways architects, consultants, and engineers approach energy and comfort by manipulating air, water, and light through the layers of passive and active building envelope systems.
| May 20, 2014
Gensler envisions 'law firm of the future' with pop-up office project
Called "The Legal Office of the Future," the pop-up demonstration project made its debut this week at the annual conference for the Association of Legal Administrators in Toronto.
| May 20, 2014
Using fire-rated glass in exterior applications
Fire-rated glazing and framing assemblies are just as beneficial on building exteriors as they are on the inside. But knowing how to select the correct fire-rated glass for exterior applications can be confusing. SPONSORED CONTENT
