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LEARNING FROM OUR WORK: THE SWA POST OCCUPANCY INITIATIVE MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2015 : EDUCATION SESSION 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Post Occupancy InitiativeThe

2000 AVENUE OF THE STARS Century City, California • 2500 HOLLYWOOD WAY Burbank, California • CHARLESTON PARK Mountain View, California • DELOITTE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Westlake, Texas • FOUNDRY SQUARE San Francisco, California • HERMANN PARK REFLECTION POOL Houston, Texas • JEFFREY OPEN SPACE TRAIL Irvine, California • LONE STAR COLLEGE CYFAIR Cypress, Texas • MAGEE RANCH Danville, California • OCT BAY Shenzhen, China • TOWN GREEN PARK The Woodlands, Texas • WHOLE FOODS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS Austin, Texas • WOODBURY Irvine, California • COTSWOLD 2000 PROJECT Houston, Texas • MINUTE MAID PARK Houston, Texas • VICTORIA GARDENS Rancho Cucamonga, California • WILLIAMS SQUARE Irving, Texas • FOUR SEASONS RESORT Las Colinas, Texas • FOOTHILL COLLEGE Los Altos Hills, California • SYDNEY WALTON SQUARE San Francisco, California • 2000 MCKINNEY AVENUE Dallas, Texas • SHANGHAI EXPO UPBR Shanghai, China • 2000 AVENUE OF THE STARS Century City, California • 2500 HOLLYWOOD WAY Burbank, California • CHARLESTON PARK Mountain View, California • DELOITTE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Westlake, Texas • FOUNDRY SQUARE San Francisco, California • HERMANN PARK REFLECTION POOL Houston, Texas • JEFFREY OPEN SPACE TRAIL Irvine, California • LONE STAR COLLEGE CYFAIR Cypress, Texas • MAGEE RANCH Danville, California • OCT BAY Shenzhen, China • TOWN GREEN PARK The Woodlands, Texas • WHOLE FOODS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS Austin, Texas • WOODBURY Irvine, California • COTSWOLD 2000 PROJECT Houston, Texas • MINUTE MAID PARK Houston, Texas • VICTORIA GARDENS Rancho Cucamonga, California • WILLIAMS SQUARE Irving, Texas • FOUR SEASONS RESORT Las Colinas, Texas • FOOTHILL COLLEGE Los Altos Hills, California • SYDNEY WALTON SQUARE San Francisco, California • 2000 MCKINNEY AVENUE Dallas, Texas • SHANGHAI EXPO UPBR Shanghai, China • 2000 AVENUE OF THE STARS Century City, California • 2500 HOLLYWOOD WAY Burbank, California • CHARLESTON PARK Mountain View, California • DELOITTE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Westlake, Texas • FOUNDRY SQUARE San Francisco, California • HERMANN PARK REFLECTION POOL Houston, Texas • JEFFREY OPEN SPACE TRAIL Irvine, California • LONE STAR COLLEGE CYFAIR Cypress, Texas • MAGEE RANCH Danville, California • OCT BAY Shenzhen, China • TOWN GREEN PARK The Woodlands, Texas • WHOLE FOODS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS Austin, Texas • WOODBURY Irvine, California • COTSWOLD 2000 PROJECT Houston, Texas • MINUTE MAID PARK Houston, Texas • VICTORIA GARDENS Rancho Cucamonga, California • WILLIAMS SQUARE Irving, Texas • FOUR SEASONS RESORT Las Colinas, Texas • FOOTHILL COLLEGE Los Altos Hills, California • SYDNEY WALTON SQUARE San Francisco, California • 2000 MCKINNEY AVENUE Dallas, Texas • SHANGHAI EXPO UPBR Shanghai, China • 2000 AVENUE OF THE STARS Century City, California • 2500 HOLLYWOOD WAY Burbank, California • CHARLESTON PARK Mountain View, California • DELOITTE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Westlake, Texas • FOUNDRY SQUARE San Francisco, California • HERMANN PARK REFLECTION POOL Houston, Texas • JEFFREY OPEN SPACE TRAIL Irvine, California • LONE STAR COLLEGE CYFAIR Cypress, Texas • MAGEE RANCH Danville, California • OCT BAY Shenzhen, China • TOWN GREEN PARK The Woodlands, Texas • WHOLE FOODS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS Austin, Texas • WOODBURY Irvine, California • COTSWOLD 2000 PROJECT Houston, Texas • MINUTE MAID PARK Houston, Texas • VICTORIA GARDENS Rancho Cucamonga, California • WILLIAMS SQUARE Irving, Texas • FOUR SEASONS RESORT Las Colinas, Texas • FOOTHILL COLLEGE Los Altos Hills, California • SYDNEY WALTON SQUARE San Francisco, California • 2000 MCKINNEY AVENUE Dallas, Texas • SHANGHAI EXPO UPBR Shanghai, China • 2000 AVENUE OF THE STARS Century City, California • 2500 HOLLYWOOD WAY Burbank, California • CHARLESTON PARK Mountain View, California • DELOITTE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Westlake, Texas • FOUNDRY SQUARE San Francisco, California • HERMANN PARK REFLECTION POOL Houston, Texas • JEFFREY OPEN SPACE TRAIL Irvine, California • LONE STAR COLLEGE CYFAIR Cypress, Texas • MAGEE RANCH Danville, California • OCT BAY Shenzhen, China • TOWN GREEN PARK The Woodlands, Texas • WHOLE FOODS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS Austin, Texas • WOODBURY Irvine, California • COTSWOLD 2000 PROJECT Houston, Texas • MINUTE MAID PARK Houston, Texas • VICTORIA GARDENS Rancho Cucamonga, California • WILLIAMS SQUARE Irving, Texas • FOUR SEASONS RESORT Las Colinas, Texas • FOOTHILL COLLEGE Los Altos Hills, California • SYDNEY WALTON SQUARE San Francisco, California • 2000 MCKINNEY AVENUE Dallas, Texas • SHANGHAI EXPO UPBR Shanghai, China • 2000 AVENUE OF THE STARS Century City, California • 2500 HOLLYWOOD WAY Burbank, California • CHARLESTON PARK Mountain View, California • DELOITTE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Westlake, Texas • FOUNDRY SQUARE San Francisco, California • HERMANN PARK REFLECTION POOL Houston, Texas • JEFFREY OPEN SPACE TRAIL Irvine, California • LONE STAR COLLEGE CYFAIR Cypress, Texas • MAGEE RANCH Danville, California • OCT BAY Shenzhen, China • TOWN GREEN PARK The Woodlands, Texas • WHOLE FOODS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS Austin, Texas • WOODBURY Irvine, California • COTSWOLD 2000 PROJECT Houston, Texas • MINUTE MAID PARK Houston, Texas • VICTORIA GARDENS Rancho Cucamonga, California • WILLIAMS SQUARE Irving, Texas • FOUR SEASONS RESORT Las Colinas, Texas • FOOTHILL COLLEGE Los Altos Hills, California • SYDNEY WALTON SQUARE San Francisco, California • 2000 MCKINNEY AVENUE Dallas, Texas • SHANGHAI EXPO UPBR Shanghai, China • 2000 AVENUE OF THE STARS Century City, California • 2500 HOLLYWOOD WAY Burbank, California • CHARLESTON PARK Mountain View, California • DELOITTE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Westlake, Texas • FOUNDRY SQUARE San Francisco, California • HERMANN PARK REFLECTION POOL Houston, Texas • JEFFREY OPEN SPACE TRAIL Irvine, California • LONE STAR COLLEGE CYFAIR Cypress, Texas • MAGEE RANCH Danville, California • OCT BAY Shenzhen, China • TOWN GREEN PARK The Woodlands, Texas • WHOLE FOODS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS Austin, Texas • WOODBURY Irvine, California • COTSWOLD 2000 PROJECT Houston, Texas • MINUTE MAID PARK Houston, Texas • VICTORIA GARDENS Rancho Cucamonga, California • WILLIAMS SQUARE Irving, Texas • FOUR SEASONS RESORT Las Colinas, Texas • FOOTHILL COLLEGE Los Altos Hills, California • SYDNEY WALTON SQUARE San Francisco, California • 2000 MCKINNEY AVENUE Dallas, Texas • SHANGHAI EXPO UPBR Shanghai, China • 2000 AVENUE OF THE STARS Century City, California • 2500 HOLLYWOOD WAY Burbank, California • CHARLESTON PARK Mountain View, California • DELOITTE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Westlake, Texas • FOUNDRY SQUARE San Francisco, California • HERMANN PARK REFLECTION POOL Houston, Texas • JEFFREY OPEN SPACE TRAIL Irvine, California • LONE STAR COLLEGE CYFAIR Cypress, Texas • MAGEE RANCH Danville, California • OCT BAY Shenzhen, China • TOWN GREEN PARK The Woodlands, Texas • WHOLE FOODS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS Austin, Texas • WOODBURY Irvine, California • COTSWOLD 2000 PROJECT Houston, Texas • MINUTE MAID PARK Houston, Texas • VICTORIA GARDENS Rancho Cucamonga, California • WILLIAMS SQUARE Irving, Texas • FOUR SEASONS RESORT Las Colinas, Texas • FOOTHILL COLLEGE Los Altos Hills, California • SYDNEY WALTON SQUARE San Francisco, California • 2000 MCKINNEY AVENUE Dallas, Texas • SHANGHAI EXPO UPBR Shanghai, China • 2000 AVENUE OF THE STARS Century City, California • 2500 HOLLYWOOD WAY Burbank, California • CHARLESTON PARK Mountain View, California • DELOITTE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Westlake, Texas • FOUNDRY SQUARE San Francisco, California • HERMANN PARK REFLECTION POOL Houston, Texas • JEFFREY OPEN SPACE TRAIL Irvine, California • LONE STAR COLLEGE CYFAIR Cypress, Texas • MAGEE RANCH Danville, California • OCT BAY Shenzhen, China • TOWN GREEN PARK The Woodlands,

Tim Peterson, Principal :: SWA Group

Justin Winters, Associate :: SWA Group

Christopher Hardy, Associate :: SWA Group

LEARNING FROM OUR WORKA summary of the session presentation for ASLA, 2015


LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Identify the role of Post Occupancy Analysis (POA) in contemporary practice, including cross-discipline analysis.

• Discuss the benefits of POA as a tool to improve practice, including performance, maintenance, and social considerations.

• Discuss the challenges - logistically, morally, and legally - regarding the collection of this data.

• Share the different research methodologies and related project typologies employed

at SWA.

• Share SWA’s strategy for design-life-cycle integration into future project work.


CONTEXT

• Sasaki Walker Associates founded in 1957, becoming SWA Group in 1975.

• Current practice includes 213 employees in 7 offices.

• Over 13,400 project contracts in 92 countries since 1957.

• SWA has the benefit of full-career leaders who have observed their early work mature over their lifetimes.

• SWA diligently tracks and catalogs all projects to project completion.

• With all of this data available, how can we access the embedded knowledge and lessons to better inform the next generation of professionals?

• In 2013 the SWA Post-Occupancy Initiative was established to explore how past work can inform our current practice and future design—formally extending project review beyond completion.


MOTIVATION

SOCIAL SYSTEMS• Each design is a social experiment • We predict how people will use a space• POA allows us see how things really turn out

NATURAL SYSTEMS• Landscape architecture happens in a multivariable system • Natural systems are difficult to construct, predict, and maintain• POA enables us to learn how our designs evolve over time

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS• Public space can have a huge economic impact on a development • Economic metrics help advocating for investment in public space

DESIGN• We always want to improve our design practice.• Being better informed of the implications of our decisions will

result in better designs


THREE METHODOLOGIES

IKInstitutional Knowledge

DODirect Observation

DPADesign Performance

Assessment

• Qualitative information gathered through interviews and discussions with people who worked on the design and construction of the project.

• Anecdotal information also gathered from interviewing key stakeholders, such as the original client, municipality directors, or facility manager.

• Data gathered through visiting the site and visually evaluating how the materials and details have held up over time.

• Photographic comparison of how the site has matured since construction.

• Empirical data with a clear methodology that can be used for analysis.

• Measures for the removal of bias are key to the analysis being verifiable.

Greatest Resource Investment

Modest Resource InvestmentModerate Resource Investment


POA RECOMMENDED TEAM STRUCTURE

Recommended Three-Person Team:

Staff or Intern (50%): Associate or Mid-Level (35%): Principal or Senior-Level (15%):

Role:

• Background research

• Data collection/surveys

• Interviews with users

Role:

• Background research

• Site visits/surveys

• Interviews with users and clients

• Report writing

• Managing deliverables

Role:

• Shares project history and intent

• Site visits/design assessment

• Interviews with clients & officials


COMMUNICATION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR PRINCIPALS AND FIELD GROUP• Boiling down the data to key lessons can be distributed

immediately to decision makers to best inform current designs.

INTERNAL REPORTS• Internal reports are provided to all staff for complete lessons

learned, methods, and critical analysis.• This option provides privacy for clients who would prefer

information to not be made public.

EXTERNAL REPORTS, PRESENTATIONS & ARTICLES • Distributes information clients are comfortable being public.• Enables SWA to share lessons with other professionals, clients,

and students.

OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SUGGESTIONS• Immediate feedback for clients to improve design performance.

The seven acre Avenue of the Stars project was completed in 2007 and is one of the premier class A office developments in Southern

California. As a redevelopment project it consisted of a major renovation which included the demolition of two existing office

buildings and the creation of a new urban park above an existing parking structure. The entire park area is on-structure with a 17

foot grade change from the west side down to the east side of the park. Anchoring the development are the two Century Plaza Towers

built in 1975 which have become an architectural landmark on the Westside of Los Angeles. Gensler’s new 2000 Avenue of the Stars

building helps frame the urban park and houses one of Los Angeles’ top talent agencies. Serving as the cornerstone of the property’s

marketing strategy, the central park area provides a unique amenity for surrounding office workers and as seasonal event space for

corporate picnics and charity dinners. The Annenberg Space for Photography offers world class exhibitions of both digital and print

photography. Together the development is marketed as Century Park, an urban oasis where you can dine al fresco, take in an art exhibit,

or simply stroll the central park. Inspiration for much of the specific landscape design is derived from the adjacent Verdugo Mountain

Range, part of the larger Transverse Mountain Range running through Los Angeles. The striated, peaked range lends a direction for

the landform garden at the hotel’s entrance. The angular slopes are bound with a new erosion technology made by Invisible Structures

called Slopetame. The topographical striations or transverses are also mimicked in the walls and custom fire tables found throughout

the site. Additional design inspiration was derived from the adjacent Bob Hope airport. Abstracted aviation forms can be found in

the landscape in elements such as signage. Background Charleston Park was commissioned in 1996 as a part of a Bay Area competition to

develop 500,000 sf of R&D space on the adjoining parcel. SWA was hired by Silicon Graphic in collaboration with Studio’s Architecture

to design both the public park and corporate campus projects. The overall site is a brownfield parcel containing several toxic plumes

which have migrated over from the adjacent landfill site. One significant challenge was to design a development strategy allowing the

required size of development but still left a continuous open parcel for the park. Ultimately the development buildings were lifted

“over podium” as a means to cap the plumes with parking, positioning the Park to the Eastern edge which adjoined a City parcel zoned

for a Aviation Museum. The project has encountered a challenge to its vision of integrated public and corporate landscapes that could

not be foreseen in the mid-1990s when SWA participated in its master planning. Google bought the campus in 2004 and in a few short

years had exploded into one of the largest corporations in the world purchasing or long term leasing the vast majority of commercial

real estate available, including the Museum site. Instead of a neighborhood of multiple institutions and corporations sharing

common public resources like Charleston Park, today the neighborhood is almost completely dominated by office buildings occupied

by Google employees. The result is an island of a public park within a sea of corporate landscape that has struggled to meet its

programming vision as public space. We took a “living history” approach to the post occupancy evaluation of Charleston Park that

encompassed an internal evaluation with René Bihan, one of the original designers, and interviews with various stakeholders. Through

the gathering of institutional knowledge from various stakeholders (see next page), we hope that internal reflection on projects such

as these can serve both the company and our clients better. Conclusion: Generally the site and design have preformed as expected and

have met the client’s prog was dedicated to the Ciommunity spaces. Making the best use of land required ensuring that engineers did

not appropriate too much land and that the resulting land areas were appropriate for an efficient layout of the fine textured housing.

This dense housing compensated for the large central open space. The commitment to high quality communicept of the diagonal was hard

to implement and in the end did not work well with the retail market. Thus, the vision for neighborhood oriented retail suffered in

the final plan. The greatest success to the planning of Woodbury was the strong client team at the Irvine Company that was committed to

implementing its vision from planning to construction. The resulting plan has a great mix of products in a strong open space framework.

As The Irvine Company owned the land outright, the return on investment approached 75%. The most important planning components where

a well thought out process, teamwork and a flexible open space armature that created a strong framework. These allowed flexibility

across market cycles as the streetscape created the image of the community. Other important factors included a diversity of housing

products, a fiimportant component of the prairie and therefore trees have been used to define roads and campus entries as well as

to line the central lake, creating a shaded waterfront promenade that links the buildings. Every tree species is either native

or indigenous to the prairie. More than 3,200 trees were planted on the campus including Bald Cypress, Loblolly Pine, Mexican

Sycamore, Live Oak, and thorn-less Mesquite. Internally, a variety of spaces promote student/faculty and community interaction.

Within the campus core the landscape has a more refined treatment using cultivated plant materials, which through contrast,

further reinforces the beauty of the surrounding prairie. CyFair College is a commuter campus not connected to any public

transit, and as a result, paved parking surfaces are extensive. The environmental impact of thousands of additional vehicles

was a major concern to SWA - the heat island effect caused by large areas of paving can be devastating to fragile ecosystems.

We took a “living history” approach to the post occupancy evaluation of Charleston Park that encompassed an internal evaluation with

René Bihan, one of the original designers, and interviews with various stakeholders. Through the gathering of institutional knowledge

from various stakeholders (see next page), we hope that internal reflection on projects such as these can serve both the company and

our clients better. Conclusion: Generally the site and design have preformed as expected and have met the client’s prog was dedicated

to the Ciommunity spaces. Making the best use of land required ensuring that engineers did not appropriate too much land and that the

resulting land areas were appropriate for an efficient layout of the fine textured housing. This dense housing compensated for the large

central open space. The commitment to high quality communicept of the d components where a well thought out process, teamwork and a

flexible open space armature that created a strong framework. These allowed flexibility across market cycles as the streetscape created

the image of the community. Other important factors included a diversity of housing products, a fiimportant component of the prairie and

therefore trees have been used to define roads and campus entries as well as to line the central lake, creating a shaded waterfront

promenade that links the buildings. Every tree species is either native or indigenous to the prairie. More than 3,200 trees were

planted on the campus including Bald Cypress, Loblolly Pine, Mexican Sycamore, Live Oak, and thorn-less Mesquite. Internally, a

variety of spaces promote student/faculty and community interaction. Within the campus core the landscape has a more refined treatment

using cultivated plant materials, which through contrast, further reinforces the beauty of the surrounding prairie. CyFair Colleg

2014 Post-Occupancy ReportsInternal edition - do not distribute outside of the firm. Highlighted items are exclusive to this version of the report.

confidentia

l

FOR SWA EYES ONLY

4

Internal Only

(<10 years old)

Minute Maid Park has become an iconic structure within downtown Houston. The simplicity of the site plan has made for success in the longevity of construction and materials. Given the amount of foot traffic on game days, the hardscape has performed well and tree planting have for the most part been successful. More consideration should be given to mature tree size during the design process to ensure trees do not become overcrowded and compete with one another.

Overall, the financial success of Victoria Gardens is attributed by its design and planning, shopper base and location. Victoria Gardens was one of the only major shopping centers to remain strong through the recession and it is evident that the ambience and experience created by the landscape design was a major contributor. A major public/private partnership between Forest City Development and the City of Rancho Cucamonga helped Victoria Gardens become a core community gathering space, with its prime location adjacent to the public library, community arts center and theatre.

Williams Square Plaza and its 1-1/2 scaled mustangs serves as the focal point for the Towers at Williams Square. The plaza is set to celebrate its belated 30th anniversary in the fall of 2015 due to major roadway renovations fronting the plaza. Williams Square has become an icon for Dallas and the State of Texas with its abstracted flat Texas prairie and stream. With the exception of The Alamo, Williams Square is believed to be the most visited place in Texas, largely due to the sculpture, what is thought to be the biggest equestrian statue in the world.

Overall the project located at 2000 McKinney Avenue appears to be in good condition. Aesthetically everything seemed in order and damage to paving systems and planting zones was minimal. This is impressive given the heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic generated by the commercial and residential uses of the tower on site (designed by HKS) and the highly active, Klyde Warren Park to the east. While the project appears to be successful in achieving it’s original goals, a number of missed opportunities exist, which could have helped elevate the project from good to great. These include better integration with mass transit and a higher quality of treatment of the streetscape along the freeway.

Summary of Conclusions

The following is a summary of the lessons for future design work,

construction administration, operations and maintenance recommendations

and research methods for each project. This is an executive summary;

for the full results please refer to the full reports.

Overall, the Cotswold 2000 Project has helped to soften and bring character to what once were vast, barren streets. Reducing lanes of traffic and widening sidewalks has created a safer right of way for pedestrians. Inserting parking along these streets has helped to reduce traffic speeds, increase accessibility to shops and restaurants and also provides a buffer between pedestrians and auto traffic. The street trees have filled in successfully which helps to scale the streets to pedestrians and provide areas of shade and protection. In recent years this area of downtown has seen a great influx of development. New shops, restaurants and high density residential are continuing to pop up throughout the area.

Cotswold 2000 ProjectHouston, Texas, USA

Minute Maid ParkHouston, Texas, USA

Victoria GardensRancho Cucamonga, CA

Williams Square Irving, Texas, USA

2000 McKinney AvenueDallas, Texas, USA

The seven acre Avenue of the Stars project was completed in 2007 and is one of the premier class A office developments in Southern

California. As a redevelopment project it consisted of a major renovation which included the demolition of two existing office

buildings and the creation of a new urban park above an existing parking structure. The entire park area is on-structure with a 17

foot grade change from the west side down to the east side of the park. Anchoring the development are the two Century Plaza Towers

built in 1975 which have become an architectural landmark on the Westside of Los Angeles. Gensler’s new 2000 Avenue of the Stars

building helps frame the urban park and houses one of Los Angeles’ top talent agencies. Serving as the cornerstone of the property’s

marketing strategy, the central park area provides a unique amenity for surrounding office workers and as seasonal event space for

corporate picnics and charity dinners. The Annenberg Space for Photography offers world class exhibitions of both digital and print

photography. Together the development is marketed as Century Park, an urban oasis where you can dine al fresco, take in an art exhibit,

or simply stroll the central park. Inspiration for much of the specific landscape design is derived from the adjacent Verdugo Mountain

Range, part of the larger Transverse Mountain Range running through Los Angeles. The striated, peaked range lends a direction for

the landform garden at the hotel’s entrance. The angular slopes are bound with a new erosion technology made by Invisible Structures

called Slopetame. The topographical striations or transverses are also mimicked in the walls and custom fire tables found throughout

the site. Additional design inspiration was derived from the adjacent Bob Hope airport. Abstracted aviation forms can be found in

the landscape in elements such as signage. Background Charleston Park was commissioned in 1996 as a part of a Bay Area competition to

develop 500,000 sf of R&D space on the adjoining parcel. SWA was hired by Silicon Graphic in collaboration with Studio’s Architecture

to design both the public park and corporate campus projects. The overall site is a brownfield parcel containing several toxic plumes

which have migrated over from the adjacent landfill site. One significant challenge was to design a development strategy allowing the

required size of development but still left a continuous open parcel for the park. Ultimately the development buildings were lifted

“over podium” as a means to cap the plumes with parking, positioning the Park to the Eastern edge which adjoined a City parcel zoned

for a Aviation Museum. The project has encountered a challenge to its vision of integrated public and corporate landscapes that could

not be foreseen in the mid-1990s when SWA participated in its master planning. Google bought the campus in 2004 and in a few short

years had exploded into one of the largest corporations in the world purchasing or long term leasing the vast majority of commercial

real estate available, including the Museum site. Instead of a neighborhood of multiple institutions and corporations sharing

common public resources like Charleston Park, today the neighborhood is almost completely dominated by office buildings occupied

by Google employees. The result is an island of a public park within a sea of corporate landscape that has struggled to meet its

programming vision as public space. We took a “living history” approach to the post occupancy evaluation of Charleston Park that

encompassed an internal evaluation with René Bihan, one of the original designers, and interviews with various stakeholders. Through

the gathering of institutional knowledge from various stakeholders (see next page), we hope that internal reflection on projects such

as these can serve both the company and our clients better. Conclusion: Generally the site and design have preformed as expected and

have met the client’s prog was dedicated to the Ciommunity spaces. Making the best use of land required ensuring that engineers did

not appropriate too much land and that the resulting land areas were appropriate for an efficient layout of the fine textured housing.

This dense housing compensated for the large central open space. The commitment to high quality communicept of the diagonal was hard

to implement and in the end did not work well with the retail market. Thus, the vision for neighborhood oriented retail suffered in

the final plan. The greatest success to the planning of Woodbury was the strong client team at the Irvine Company that was committed to

implementing its vision from planning to construction. The resulting plan has a great mix of products in a strong open space framework.

As The Irvine Company owned the land outright, the return on investment approached 75%. The most important planning components where

a well thought out process, teamwork and a flexible open space armature that created a strong framework. These allowed flexibility

across market cycles as the streetscape created the image of the community. Other important factors included a diversity of housing

products, a fiimportant component of the prairie and therefore trees have been used to define roads and campus entries as well as

to line the central lake, creating a shaded waterfront promenade that links the buildings. Every tree species is either native

or indigenous to the prairie. More than 3,200 trees were planted on the campus including Bald Cypress, Loblolly Pine, Mexican

Sycamore, Live Oak, and thorn-less Mesquite. Internally, a variety of spaces promote student/faculty and community interaction.

Within the campus core the landscape has a more refined treatment using cultivated plant materials, which through contrast,

further reinforces the beauty of the surrounding prairie. CyFair College is a commuter campus not connected to any public

transit, and as a result, paved parking surfaces are extensive. The environmental impact of thousands of additional vehicles

was a major concern to SWA - the heat island effect caused by large areas of paving can be devastating to fragile ecosystems.

We took a “living history” approach to the post occupancy evaluation of Charleston Park that encompassed an internal evaluation with

René Bihan, one of the original designers, and interviews with various stakeholders. Through the gathering of institutional knowledge

from various stakeholders (see next page), we hope that internal reflection on projects such as these can serve both the company and

our clients better. Conclusion: Generally the site and design have preformed as expected and have met the client’s prog was dedicated

to the Ciommunity spaces. Making the best use of land required ensuring that engineers did not appropriate too much land and that the

resulting land areas were appropriate for an efficient layout of the fine textured housing. This dense housing compensated for the large

central open space. The commitment to high quality communicept of the d components where a well thought out process, teamwork and a

flexible open space armature that created a strong framework. These allowed flexibility across market cycles as the streetscape created

the image of the community. Other important factors included a diversity of housing products, a fiimportant component of the prairie and

therefore trees have been used to define roads and campus entries as well as to line the central lake, creating a shaded waterfront

promenade that links the buildings. Every tree species is either native or indigenous to the prairie. More than 3,200 trees were

planted on the campus including Bald Cypress, Loblolly Pine, Mexican Sycamore, Live Oak, and thorn-less Mesquite. Internally, a

variety of spaces promote student/faculty and community interaction. Within the campus core the landscape has a more refined treatment

using cultivated plant materials, which through contrast, further reinforces the beauty of the surrounding prairie. CyFair Colleg

2014 Post-Occupancy Reports


CHALLENGES + SOLUTIONS

LOGISTICAL

How do we find time to execute amidst daily project work?

Each POA study is allocated a fixed-budget, then tracked and billed same as a regular project. Staff and management treat it as part of their work-load.

PHILOSOPHICAL

Can we perform unbiased assessments on our own projects?

Generally, POA teams are comprised of members who had no involvement in the original project being assessed. Original designers can be interviewed, with their feedback compared with other data collected. Bias mitigation is a challenge for the DO & IK methodologies, requiring project and team specific strategies. Each year, we interview select participants to discuss the process, including logistical and methodological challenges, to improve for the next year.

LEGAL

Are we at risk of implicating ourselves or our clients for negligence?

Taking into account the statute of limitations, all POA projects are at least 10 years old since completion. Unexpected benefits have resulted including the ability to review projects that have reached maturity.


BENEFITS

TRAINING + KNOWLEDGE BUILDING

By engaging new and mid-level staff in the assessment, they are provided a comprehensive and up-close view of how decisions made in the early stages of a project can have a lasting historical impact (both good and bad), often beyond what the original designers could have predicted.

Senior staff are provided the opportunity to revisit their work, this time through a critical assessment, allowing them the opportunity to refine their skills on future endeavors.

The collective professional knowledge of the studio increases through the collection and dissemination of this information and the ensuing dialogue.

DESIGN RIGOR

As clients are growing more conscious of metrics and performance, the POA Initiative enables our designers to incorporate evidence-based design into future work, drawing upon data and examples already available in our company resources.

NETWORKING

In conducting the POA research, the SWA teams reconnected with old clients, reforging a (possibly dormant) relationship with the potential to lead to future collaborations.


LOOKING AHEADDESIGN-LIFE-CYCLE

Design intentions are often lost, especially when reviewing work before the use of

computers. SWA is developing a method to articulate intent and anticipated results for

future designers to check against, tracking projects from job opening to POA.

EMBEDDED DATA GATHERING

Data gathering is the most challenging logistical component of POA. New tools and

applications are available, but are most effective when built into designs. SWA teams

are advocating for the use of these tools to help clients and designers alike.

EXTRAPOLATING TRENDS ACROSS PROJECTS AND TYPOLOGIES

As we building a library of post occupancy work, we are beginning to tease out trends

across projects. These lessons will multiply as more work is reviewed.

ADAPTIVE PLANNING AND DESIGN

The next step beyond improving practice and maintenance, is a post-occupancy phase

of work, where SWA assists clients with the curation of space, adapting to changing

populations, program, and climate.

learning from our work · texas whole foods corporate headquarters austin, texas woodbury irvine,...

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