Perkins&Will, founded in 1935 by Lawrence Perkins and Philip Will, is a global architecture and design firm that believes design has the power to transform lives and improve communities. With the motto that people should be at the center of the design, Perkins+Will has created many iconic works and has been designing remarkable, awe-inspiring, and uplifting spaces for over 80 years.
After the passing of Philip Will in 1985 and Lawrence Perkins in 1998, the office continued its work under the leadership of Phil Harrison, expanding globally. With more than 20 offices and more than 1,600 professionals, the practice focuses on local, regional, and global work in various fields and is among the best global design firms. Perkins+Will, which was selected as the Best Large Architecture Firm in the 2014 Best in Construction Awards of the USGBC, is a pioneer of sustainable design with its innovative research, design tools, and expertise. The office, which is famous for its LEED-certified green buildings, creates iconic designs in many areas with the human-centered architecture idea inherited from its founders.
Here is a look at ten iconic works by Perkins+Will:
Rush University Medical Center
Location: Chicago, United States
Year: 2012
Sustainability: LEED Gold
Rush University Medical Center is a comprehensive renovation and expansion initiative. The project, which included renovations to the existing medical center established in 1837 and new designs throughout the campus, took 10 years to complete. The hospital, crowned with a butterfly-shaped bed tower, was designed with caregivers placed at the center of the building and patients distributed throughout the wings, minimizing the steps between staff and patients. The Medical Center, which has 304 acute intensive care beds, 72 neonatal intensive care beds, and 10 birthing beds, features a platform that integrates procedure rooms, check-in areas, special preparation rooms, operating rooms, and special recovery rooms.
Rush University Medical Center, which is among the world’s largest LEED Gold-certified hospitals, is notable for its sustainable features. Designed by Perkins+Will, the hospital incorporates green roofs, rooftop gardens, and a rainwater harvesting system, along with waste-reducing and energy-saving technologies.
Willow Wood Elementary School
Location: Texas, USA
Year: 2021
Designed by Perkins+Will’s Dallas studio, Willow Wood Elementary School is a 77,569-square-foot, single-story building located in the Melissa Independent School District. The school’s storm shelter is designed to provide the necessary facilities for students and faculty during major storms, with a total of 7,730 square meters and is located in one of the classroom wings. The school’s administrative and support areas are located in the west wing, extending in three directions from the east to form the classroom wings.
The wood material chosen as the design’s primary element is complemented by glass and concrete, while pops of color and pattern are designed to match student age groups and levels. At the school’s entrance, a wooden canopy tilts downward to indicate the entry path before rising again to integrate with the elevated wooden platform of the library and cafeteria. Aiming to optimize every square meter of Willow Wood Elementary School for teaching and organization, Perkins+Will enriches each classroom corridor and areas outside the teaching area with attachable display areas in the interior design of the school while using illuminated ceilings in the center of the wings for spatial relief.
Shanghai Natural History Museum
Location: Shanghai, China
Year: 2015
Sustainability: LEED Gold
The Natural History Museum, an iconic structure built in China by Ralph Johnson, Global Design Director of Perkins+Will, was selected as a result of an international competition. The museum, which has a spiral form inspired by the nautilus shell, one of the purest geometric forms in nature, exhibits more than 10,000 different works from seven continents. The museum includes exhibition areas, a 4D theater, an open-air exhibition garden, and a 30-meter-high atrium. The glass atrium, inspired by the cellular structure of plants and animals, welcomes visitors by letting in plenty of natural light. The Natural History Museum, which represents the harmony between humanity and nature, has a living green wall to the east that represents the vegetation of the Earth, while the stone wall to the north symbolizes the tectonic movements in the earth’s crust and the canyon walls eroded by rivers.
Designed as a bioclimatic building, the museum integrates its sustainability features into the visitor experience, providing additional learning opportunities. The museum’s temperature is regulated by a geothermal system that uses energy from the ground, while the museum’s oval courtyard pond provides evaporative cooling. Rainwater is collected on the vegetated roof and stored in the pond along with recycled greywater.
Nemours Children’s Hospital
Location: Orlando, United States
Year: 2012
Sustainability: LEED Gold
The Nemours Children’s Hospital, designed by Perkins+Will in collaboration with Stanley Beaman & Sears, is a 630,000-square-meter healthcare facility. Designed with the motto of creating a healing environment that will reassure parents and delight children, the hospital serves as a treatment center for children with chronic diseases from infancy to adulthood while also treating complex medical diagnoses and life-threatening illnesses. The hospital features 95 inpatient beds, 76 exam rooms, emergency care facilities, a central energy plant, a parking garage, overnight accommodations for two parents, and laundry facilities. Its spacious corridors and playrooms overlook and provide access to landscaped rooftop terraces, a discovery garden, and an outdoor community event stage for live performances.
Sustainability was emphasized in the design of the hospital, which is one of the three hospitals with LEED Gold Certification. Rainwater was directed from the roof and the land to biological drainage channels and water collection pools. Since the hospital’s 60-acre green area initially had very little vegetation, priority was given to landscaping, and thanks to comprehensive sun analyses, shaded open areas were designed in the most efficient way. Special shading systems used on the exterior block direct sunlight, allowing the building interior to receive plenty of natural light.
Vandusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Year: 2011
Sustainability: LEED Platinum, Living Building Challenge Petal Certified
VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre in Canada is an iconic example of sustainable architecture that seamlessly integrates with nature. Located in the southeast corner of the garden, the visitor center is a dynamic, single-story structure designed like undulating flower petals inspired by organic forms and natural systems. The structure, which consists of curved compressed soil and concrete walls, has a prefabricated innovative wavy-shaped roof with a skylight (oculus). Vandusen Botanical Garden Visitor Center, which includes a café, library, volunteer service areas, garden shop, offices, multi-purpose classrooms and rentable spaces, has solid walls that protect visitors from the busy street, while its transparent walls open the building to the garden.
Designed to achieve net-zero annual energy consumption, the building primarily uses wood, which acts as a carbon sink throughout its lifespan. The building uses filtered rainwater for its grey water needs, and is the only building in Vancouver that purifies 100% of its black water with a bioreactor and releases it to the filtration area in the garden. The visitor center generates part of its energy through solar panels and utilizes ground-source heat pumps for heating and cooling. At the heart of the atrium, a solar chimney serves as both an aesthetic and functional element, highlighting the beauty and efficiency of sustainable design.
Grenfell Early Years Nursery
Location: London, United Kingdom
Year: 2022
Designed by Perkins+Will for Grenfell Early Years Nursery, the cornerstone of the Lancaster West Children’s Community Network in North Kensington, this new home is a facility built to provide care and support for children aged 12 months to 4 years, their carers, and their families. The facility replaces the previous building, which was destroyed in the 2017 fire. The new nursery is a hybrid of renovation and new construction, carefully fitted into a narrow, triangular site between two existing residential blocks. Despite the physical limitations of the site, Perkins+Will, with its innovative design, has transformed the home into a bright, spacious, colorful, and cheerful space with improved facilities and access to nature. The centre, which can care for 32 children, has modular areas divided according to the age groups of the children, while the green areas and natural elements used in the design offer a learning experience in touch with nature.
Constructed using natural materials such as wood, the nursery creates a warm and inviting atmosphere, while glass and transparent surfaces strengthen visual connections between spaces. The building, which has an environmentally friendly design with natural ventilation and energy-efficient systems, helps reduce ecological impacts with rainwater management and green roof applications.
i3 Illumina Campüs
Location: San Diego, California
Year: 2017
Sustainability: LEED Platinum Core& Shell, LEED Silver Tenant Improvement
An iconic landmark in the University Town Center district, the i3 Illumina campus is a pioneering biotechnology center. Featuring a design that encourages scientific innovation and enhances employee well-being, the center offers an open and connected work-and-play experience with its amenity-rich outdoor courtyard, landscaped meeting spaces, and underground parking.
The courtyard of this triangular-shaped campus, spanning 33,500 square meters, is surrounded by buildings positioned to form its three edges. The central courtyard incorporates various functions, including a performance stage, a bocce court, a plant garden, sports areas, a restaurant, and a café. With floor-to-ceiling glass panels bringing the mountain view into the interior, the campus is designed with lounge areas, break rooms, and meeting rooms directly connected to outdoor terraces, ensuring seamless indoor-outdoor integration. The green roof, which is located in all three buildings of the i3 Illumina Campus, has an environmentally friendly design that reduces energy and water usage by 30% and 20%, respectively, regulates the interior temperature with heat and drought-resistant plants, and filters air pollution.
School 360
Location: Sugar House Island, London, United Kingdom
Year: 2021
Sustainability: BREEAM Very Good
Designed in the heart of Sugar House Island, a 26-acre mixed-use island, School 360 is an elementary school designed with an innovative perspective that differs from traditional school design styles. Designed to support the school’s unique curriculum based on 3 pillars: head, heart, and hand. The building represents the head, which provides and develops rich knowledge and deep understanding; the heart, focusing on well-being and relationships; and the hand, encouraging creativity, problem-solving, and learning about the arts for every child. Designed following the contemporary education approach, School 360 is designed with an open and flexible approach, unlike the traditional classroom layout, meaning there are open learning areas where students can work together.
Designed to minimize energy consumption by providing high thermal efficiency and airtightness, the school’s windows are positioned at appropriate points to reduce heat in the building with maximum light. The school also features energy-efficient fixtures and water-saving systems, aligning with its sustainability goals and offering students a unique learning experience about sustainability.
150 Holborn
Location: London, United Kingdom
Year: 2023
Sustainability: Wired Score Gold, targeting BREEAM Outstanding, LEED Platinum, SKA Gold, SmartScore Platinum
150 Holborn is an iconic office building in a busy area of London, built for Sidara (formerly Dar Group), an alliance of specialist design, engineering, and consultancy firms. Designed to house Sidara’s staff of over 1,000, 150 Holborn’s spaces include public exhibition spaces, collaborative workspaces, a communal pavilion, a café, and a rooftop garden, designed to encourage interaction and serendipitous encounters between the various businesses. An atrium, a sculptural staircase, and four natural glass lifts connect all floors at the heart of the building.
Designed to bring a new sense of rhythm and energy to its central location, the building’s façade’s proportions and scale are designed to be in harmony with the surroundings. The height of the ground-floor retail store facades on the east and west sides matches the neighboring buildings, with inspiration taken from the proportions of nearby heritage structures like the Prudential Assurance Building. Built on the site of a 1980s office block, the new building repurposes or recycles 97% of the waste generated by the demolition of the old building. The structure, which generates renewable energy with photovoltaic cells at the roof level, uses a blue roof system and attenuation tanks to capture rainwater, saving the public system from the risk of over-flooding.
Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation American Cancer Society, Hope Lodge
Location: Houston, Texas
Year: 2019
Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation American Cancer Society Hope Lodge is an iconic facility in Houston that provides free accommodations and various amenities for cancer patients undergoing treatment. Hope Lodge, which has a suite for patients, resource library, restrooms, kitchen, personal pantry, and meditation room, is called a suitable home for recovery because it provides easy access to treatment.
Hope Lounge, covering 64,000 square feet, is designed as a central structure surrounded by gardens connected by multiple covered walkways and streets. The large openings of the facility let in plenty of light, and the feeling of being in nature and light combined gives patients a sense of energy, rejuvenation, and optimism. Designed to create a human-centered and healing environment, Hope Lodge is an environmentally friendly building designed based on principles such as sustainability and energy efficiency. The energy-saving structure with advanced mechanical and electrical systems optimizes energy consumption and reduces carbon footprint.
Don’t forget to read our new article published on paacademy : The Importance of Computational Design in Architecture
