AUSTIN, TX

Construction is underway at St. Edward’s University Natural Science and Technology Center, which was over budget before DPR came on board. Target value design saved the seven-year-old budget. “Using target value design allowed the team to avoid time-intensive and costly value-engineering exercises,” explained DPR Project Executive Jason Choyce. “We brought the design back under budget by analyzing various building exteriors and providing more than 15 construction-cost estimates to help guide the design team to create the correct design the first time.” During the nine-month preconstruction phase, the design team coordinated their various models to streamline design. “Using holistic lean project-delivery tools, the right team members were involved at the right time to minimize waste. The fire protection and architectural precast subcontractors were involved early on in the project, which allowed the team to utilize their expertise to not only model during the design phase, but actually design systems and products,” added Choyce. Moore Ruble Yudell is the design architect, and STG Design is the executive architect.

LOS ANGELES, CA

Presented by the Los Angeles Business Council, DPR and Frank R. Webb Architects accepted the 2012 Healthcare Building Award for the Kaiser Permanente South Los Angeles Medical Office Building. More than 500 professionals, including the city’s mayor, gathered at the Beverly Hilton hotel for the 42nd Annual Architectural Awards ceremony to recognize “the project teams responsible for the very best architecture in Los Angeles and Los Angeles County.” Constructed in 2010, the two-story, 15,000-sq.-ft. building serves more than 80,000 Kaiser Permanente members in the area and incorporates environmentally friendly design.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

What’s huge, made for a king and extremely difficult to get inside a museum? A Maharaja’s carriage, of course. A Sanskrit title for “great king,” the Maharaja was a new exhibition for DPR customer, the Asian Art Museum. The relationship with the museum first began when DPR renovated the building in 2003. One of the largest Asian art and culture institutions in the Western world, the museum once again called upon DPR this year when it needed help loading the Maharaja’s silver and enamel carriage through its windows. With a “delicate touch,” Mission Glass and DPR’s Special Services Group (SSG) removed a large section of the window, preparing the site for Sheedy Drayage, which then hoisted the carriage through the large rear windows of the building via crane. Working with the museum’s special events staff, the carefully orchestrated process took about eight hours from start to finish. After three months on display, when it came time to pack up the Maharaja’s carriage, the team returned and re-did the whole process in reverse.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Whether on a project site or at the office, many are giving of themselves—quite literally—by donating to DPR-hosted blood drives around the country. DPR’s Bay Area blood drive in April resulted in 23 employee donations for Blood Centers of the Pacific. Much of the blood went directly to patients who underwent lifesaving surgeries and transfusions, turning 23 pints into help for 69 patients in the community. At the UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay project’s on-site blood drive in June, 41 people donated blood to the American Red Cross. DPR’s Phoenix office also had a blood drive for the American Red Cross in June; 22 units were collected and 10 first-time donors were registered.

SACRAMENTO, CA

Butte College is the first community college in the United States to produce more electricity from solar than it uses, according to the college’s website. DPR completed the third and most ambitious phase of the college’s solar panel project last year, resulting in a 100 percent grid-positive campus. Solar panels are relatively maintenance-free and have a lifespan of up to 30 years. Energy rebates and a federal program called Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) allowed the college to take on this progressive project. Weekly meetings between the college and key contractors helped keep the project on track, despite the rainiest season in history. With sustainability an integral part of the curriculum, several graduates were able to gain hands-on experience by working on Phase 3. The panels will save the district approximately $130 million in the long run, due to the elimination of an electricity bill.

LOS ANGELES, CA

As a leader in the international life sciences marketplace, this forward-thinking confidential customer knows the power of inspired ideas and honors project team members who go above and beyond (in areas such as cost savings) with Bright Idea awards. DPR Superintendent Mike Bartman received this award for his accomplishments in the customer’s demolition, which then made room for new construction. Both demolition and construction were achieved within the tight timeframe of the company’s shutdown. Another DPR team member, David Sproule, also received a “Bright Idea” award for his leadership in building information modeling (BIM) innovation.

NATIONAL

As a learning organization, training is part of what makes DPR…DPR. Ranked No. 85 on Training magazine’s 2012 Top 125 Organizations list, DPR creates all of its learning and development programs based on the foundation that “who we build is as important as what we build,” according to Cari Williams, who leads DPR’s People Practices initiative. Currently, DPR’s training offerings include 76 DPR-created and DPR-facilitated/instructor-led classes, as well as 80 online courses. “All of our learning and development programs are developed in-house to make sure they match the spirit of DPR. We have built a culture of trust that allows employees the freedom to do what is best for our customers and their projects, and our training focuses on what individual skills and abilities people need to be successful in our organization,” added Williams. In May, Melissa Bargman and Cari Williams presented at the American Society for Training and Development International Conference and Expo in Denver, illustrating the importance of people skills training in technical environments.

SACRAMENTO, CA

More than 60 architecture, engineering and construction professionals attended a construction technologies demonstration at the most recent Sacramento BIM Network quarterly event held at DPR’s office. Founded earlier this year by DPR BIM Manager, Kaushal Diwan, the Sacramento BIM Network brings together local professionals across disciplines to share information about BIM and the latest technologies used in virtual design and construction. Guests learned about innovative technology using augmented reality (AR), showing how an integrated model can merge with an actual camera view. Other interactive booths set up throughout the office included Trimble technology and laser scanning as utilized in the scan of existing facilities; how DPR’s self-perform work group used Tekla software on the Alta Bates patient tower project; and how tradesmen use BIM kiosks and mobile tablet PCs in the field to access the latest drawings and models.

PHOENIX, AZ

The brainchild of entrepreneurial students at Arizona State University (ASU), G3Box (Generating Global Good) aims to help developing countries with limited access to medical care. The company converts ordinary shipping containers into medical clinics. In the last year, DPR, along with SmithGroupJJR, partnered with G3Box to construct the low-cost, modular and mobile clinics and help with the company’s mission to reduce maternal mortality in rural areas and decrease healthcare disparities. The need for this is clear: According to the United Nations, the maternal mortality rate in Malawi, for example, is 60 times greater than the United States. The G3Box model can be replicated anywhere since these durable, steel freight containers are available throughout the world. For more information, visit http://www.g3box.org or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/g3box.containers or on Twitter @G3Box.

COSTA MESA, CA

This summer, at Girls Inc., a non-profit organization that inspires all girls to be strong, smart and bold, 14 DPR volunteers worked with 35 fourth-through-sixth graders to build sustainable classroom models as part of DPR’s Fourth Annual GENR3 (reduce, reuse, recycle) program. Girl’s Inc. integrated DPR’s green program for children into its summer camp program to introduce the concept of sustainable building and promote environmental responsibility. Participants learned about energy, water use, recycling and environmental conservation.

PHOENIX, AZ

SmithGroupJJR and DPR teamed up in Phoenix to help the hungry during this year’s CANstruction competition, where teams construct inventive structures made out of canned food. The team’s sculpture was dubbed, “The Lorax – Unless.” Reflecting the dichotomy between greed and sustainability, the sculpture’s design displays Dr. Seuss’ iconic Lorax character, who “speaks for the trees,” proclaiming, “unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” The Lorax won CANstruction’s People’s Choice local award and second place in the International People’s Choice category. Winning the award for the most food donated as well, the team raised more than $7,500. Since the charity’s inception, CANstruction has raised and donated nearly 18 million pounds of food to community food banks through its annual design/build competition.

SAN DIEGO, CA

DPR colleagues Whitney Dorn and Angela Hanson’s mentor-mentee relationship was featured in their alma mater’s newsletter for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design. They met more than a decade ago at a jobsite and realized that they attended the same school but graduated four years apart. With their schooling in common, they developed a dynamic relationship that continues to this day while working together at DPR. Over the years, the line between mentor and mentee sometimes blurs as both women give each other advice on different areas of their work and lives. It’s this type of give and take that epitomizes the camaraderie between DPR employees.