-By Holly Richmond, Photography by Paul Warchol

Coordination. Interaction. Synergy. These concepts defined the goals of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new 130-acre campus in White Oak, Md. While the notion may sound straightforward, it was anything but that. Yet with the creative—and collaborative—efforts of Washington, D.C.-based RTKL Associates and the Raleigh, N.C., office of KlingStubbins, the FDA is well on its way to consolidating the functions of 18 former locations into one 16-building, 2-million-sq.-ft. campus.

Deanna Murphy, the FDA's director of the office of White Oak services, somewhat humorously recalls that the agency's first realization it needed to consolidate its headquarters to a single location dates back about 50 years. Finally, in October 1996, the Maryland Congressional Delegation implemented the no-cost transfer of the White Oak site to the General Services Administration (the FDA's "landlord") from the Department of the Navy. The Navy operated the Naval Surface Warfare Center at this site from the 1940s until the transfer. "The campus design allows boundless opportunities for innovation and more effective use of technology," she explains. "We're reducing travel time between organizations and have increased convenient public access to FDA, fostering even greater scientific collaboration."

The FDA believed a centralized campus would enhance the multidisciplinary nature of its work as well as provide the collegial environment required to attract and retain top-level staff. "The adoption of a universal planning concept was intended to reinforce a 'one FDA' culture and provide a workplace flexible enough to accommodate its fluid nature," states Rod Henderer, RTKL senior vice president. Since most of the FDA's staff requires individual workspaces both to support concentrative tasks and maintain security measures (approximately 90 percent enclosed to 10 percent open workplace ratio), one of the project's main challenges was to provide these enclosed spaces through a design that was balanced, open, and engaging.

Michael Stevenson, KlingStubbins design principal, worked closely with the RTKL team to bring this vision to fruition. He believes it was not only critical to create interior spaces that foster interaction, but also to design a campus that does so as well. "There are no stand-alone works of architecture, but rather thoughtfully designed and situated buildings that fit within a landscape to create a cohesive, highly functional campus," he remarks. "The FDA is coming together for the first time in a pedestrian environment where people can see colleagues on a regular and informal basis. Every aspect of the interior and exterior design encourages that idea."

Once the project is complete in 2012, the White Oak campus will serve nearly 9,000 FDA employees. Presently 3,000 employees utilize the campus, with the latest and the fifth building in the universal plan, being the 300,000-sq.-ft. Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). A wide range of services are performed in the CDER, including drug compliance development and inspection, bioterrorism and contingency operations, the review of drug labeling and new product evaluation. Featuring a six-story atrium that serves as a main entry, flexible meeting space for informal gatherings, and exemplary source of natural light, the building has set the standard for a highly integrative and productive work environment.

The building's two narrow office wings are connected by the atrium, bridges at the north and south ends of the atrium, and by a full-height staircase, and are designed to maximize the number of workspaces with access to both natural daylight and views to either the atrium or outdoors. The 9-ft. ceiling height and full-height glazed sidelights bring daylight into corridors and interior offices. Below, an underfloor air distribution system is used through a pressurized plenum to improve indoor air quality and energy efficiency and to ensure future flexibility. "Our goal was to make the shared spaces engaging while providing a feeling of neutrality in the individual offices," explains Kim Hartwell, RTKL senior vice president in charge of the project's interiors.

The interior design concept focuses on the idea of the atrium as the central plaza, bridges as the main communication arteries, and the office corridors as more private zones. Collaborative spaces such as meeting rooms and pantries are located on each floor at the crossroads of the communication axis. The building's main entry floor houses shared support functions including a 200-seat conference center, a multipurpose auditorium, three small conference rooms, and the atrium café. Hartwell says, "Since this was the FDA's first attempt at a collaborative office setting, we wanted to encourage communication with vibrant color, use of light, and special finishes in the shared spaces. From the feedback we're getting, it has been a huge success."

Another attribute of the CDER, as well as the overall campus, that employees enjoy is its environmental responsibility. Every aspect of the CDER is designed to LEED standards (tracking Silver), but perhaps more importantly, the implementation of green design elements have set a new standard for the FDA in the project's overall direction. "The campus lends itself to sustainable design," Stevenson remarks. "Not only is it a pedestrian campus with easily accessible pathways and courtyards to make driving to meetings a thing of the past, but we have also made sustainability a top priority." Notably, a co-generation plant generates and recaptures energy on site, heat redistribution occurs through a utility tunnel system, rainwater is collected, and bio-retention areas are implemented to minimize runoff to surrounding streams and sewers.

"The move to this campus and the outstanding work of both RTKL and KlingStubbins have brought a new feeling of satisfaction in our workplace," Murphy remarks. She notes that the employees not only feel good about working in an environmentally responsible setting, but they also believe their work has been elevated to a higher level of efficiency with renewed inspiration. "We feel an amazing sense of pride as we work together in this high-quality and friendly work environment to carry out FDA's critical mission of public health," she concludes.

who
project: U.S. Food and Drug Administration campus. Architect: RTKL; Rod Henderer, vice president-in-charge and design director; Mike McQueen, senior project manager; Douglas Palladino, senior designer; Ray Symanski, project manager; Huy Bui, project architect; Heidi Stemkowski, Sonakul Meejaroen, Joe Moore, John Schippers, Cindy Li, Dan Henderer, design team. Interior design: RTKL, Kim Heartwell, interiors vice president-in-charge; Bill London, senior interior designer; Matt Karner, interior designer and project architect; Allison Wheat, Jennifer Whitenight, Roena O’Donnell, Kim Jennings, design team. Engineer: RTKL, Dennis Peltz, MEP vice president-in-charge; Jay Becker, project manager and plumbing design; Brad Mahon, electrical design.

what
Carpet: Lees. Stone ountertops: Silestone. Wood veneer: Bacon Veneer. Laminate: Formica, Arpa, Wilsonart, Abet Laminati. Acrylic Panels: Lumicor. Solid surface materials: Corian. Tile: Daltile, Caesar, Walker Zanger. Terrazzo: Custom Installation by David Allen Co. Acoustical Ceiling Tiles: USG, Ceilings Plus. Resilient flooring: Forbo, Atmosphere, Roppe. Wallcovering: JM Lynne, Carnegie, Innovations in Wallcoverings. Fabrics: Maharam, Deepa, Knoll Textiles, Bernhardt, Momentum, Spinneybeck. Paints:  Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Lambert. Linoleum bulletin boards: Walltalkers, Forbo. Cast stone:  Continental Cast Stone. Brick: Cushwa.  Curtain wall: Vista Wall.
Ribbed Metal Panel: Centria. Exterior Balanced  Doors: C.J.Rush. Glass: Viracon.  Flat metal panels: Sobotec. Stainless steel railings: AIW. Electrical equipment, central building lighting programmable controls: Square D. Mechanical controls: Johnson Controls.
Mechanical equipment: Governair. Plumbing fixtures: American Standard.
Lighting: Finelite, Selux, Lightolier, Metalux, Cold Cathode Lighting, LSI Lightron, Wever & Ducre, Exterieur Vert, Schmitz Lighting, Louis Poulsen, Elliptipar.

where
Locaion: White Oak, Md.