They’ve since built their own expertise in healthcare and many of these typologies themselves. And on more modest projects, they don’t need us anymore, which is fine, because we’re working with our own clients. But it’s a very good synergistic relationship. They’ve had ownership in Perkins&Will since 1985.
KS: Has that model created opportunities to collaborate with other Dar Group firms, like T.Y. Lin or Integral or Landrum & Brown?
PH: We’re doing that more and more. We didn’t used to, and that’s a missed opportunity. We call them sister companies: Integral, T.Y. Lin, Currie & Brown, Ross & Baruzzini, and others. And one of the things we’re trying to do is drive more and more collaboration now. We see this as a collaborative world, so just because we’re working with Dar Group companies, we’re still working with WSP or AECOM or whoever. It really depends.
Canada’s Earth Tower
| Client: | Delta Land Development |
| Architects: | Perkins&Will |
| Location: | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Size: | 339,000 square feet | 31,500 square meters |
| Completion Date: | 2026 (estimated) |
Photo Credit: © Chuck Choi, courtesy of Perkins&Will
Canada’s Earth Tower is a 40-story mixed-use development expected to be the world’s tallest hybrid wood tower when completed. Located on a 1.3-acre (0.5-hectare) parcel along Eighth Avenue near Vancouver’s Burrard Slopes neighborhood, the project will include approximately 138 homes together with shops, restaurants, and office space. South-facing outdoor garden spaces are provided for residents on every third floor, providing opportunities for social interaction and a chance to connect with nature.
The building reduces its embodied carbon footprint through a hybrid structure, which combines mass timber with reinforced concrete cores for elevators and emergency stairs, which provide lateral stability to the structure along with seismic and fire protection.
Earth Tower is designed to be a zero-emissions building, consuming no fossil fuels while in operation. Canada’s Earth Tower will include energy-saving features, such as triple-glazed windows and a heat-recovery system and is targeting Passive House certification. Integrated photovoltaics are expected to supply roughly 15 percent of the building’s electrical demand.
Billerica Memorial High School
| Owner: | Town of Billerica, Massachusetts School Building Authority |
| Architects: | Perkins&Will |
| Location: | Billerica, Massachusetts, USA |
| Size: | 325,000 square feet | 30,200 square meters |
| Completion Date: | 2020 |
Photo Credit: © Chuck Choi, courtesy of Perkins&Will
When the town of Billerica, Massachusetts, began planning the replacement of its aging high school, they sought to make the new facility a community center, providing public access to the gymnasium, auditorium, and dining commons.
The new school serves more than 1,600 students in grades eight through twelve and the 200 students in a new pre-K program. Academic programs offered include nationally recognized robotics teams, an award-winning drama department, and a business and entrepreneurship club. The design of the school supports Billerica’s diverse and forward-looking educational program through flexible planning and design. Highly specialized areas, such as the auditorium and STEAM spaces, are complemented by classrooms and learning areas that can be easily modified to meet different needs.
Perkins&Will partnered with students, staff, and community members to ensure that the town’s largest civic building embodied its aspirational commitment to education while respecting its historic civic legacy. Sustainable strategies including a high-performance envelope, daylighting, active dimming systems and all-LED lighting, help the school achieve energy use 59 percent below the regional average for similar project types.
And one advantage of Dar Group’s model, we call it a pillar model, is that it’s a multi-branded model. There’s no intent for everyone to become Dar Group, partly because there’s independence of each of these pillars. Perkins&Will can work with whoever it makes sense to work with to deliver value to the client.
And that is in our interest and ultimately in Dar’s interest. If we were exclusive to them all the time or exclusive to other Dar Group companies all the time, we would just limit our business and we would contract. And our clients don’t always want the same thing. So, we’ve come up with what I think is a flexible model that allows us to work in the most value-driven way for our clients in each and every instance. And that’s good.
KS: One last question. You were born in Switzerland and came to the US as a young child. Do you still retain cultural connections to that region of the world, to your birthplace, that inspire or influence you? Do you still have family there?
PH: I do. My mother is Swiss American. She was born in Switzerland and is a dual citizen. And her brother still lives in Lausanne, in the French part of Switzerland. I was born in Lugano, the Italian part of Switzerland. And that’s because my father was a musician. He was an orchestral conductor and he lived central in Europe because they would go to Austria one week or France another week to do orchestral concerts.
Switzerland’s an amazing country. If I’d been born in a less amazing country, maybe I wouldn’t have these warm feelings, but it’s kind of easy to like Switzerland. There are many things that symbolize the country which I like. Because of that, perhaps, I’ve taken on some of Switzerland’s ethos. I like being peaceful, I quite like structure, and I’m always on time.
And people say, “You’re so Swiss, Phil.” You know, being on time I think matters. I think being neutral is good for people in management roles. I’ve learned that in my job, I have to often mediate between different groups. Even in a firm that is very aligned, there still are different personalities on different sides, and I just basically believe there’s truth and good in every perspective.
And also, life should have fun in it. I love to ski and be outdoors and hike and those kinds of things. Switzerland is an amazing country because you can be in Geneva one day, and that afternoon you can go swimming in the lake or you can go mountain biking, all in one day. So, there’s lifestyle issues as well. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll retire to Switzerland.
KS: Phil, I can’t thank you enough. This has been a great conversation. Great to see you again!
Notes
1 1 Hugh Hochberg is a Principal with The Coxe Group, a multi-discipline management consulting firm focused on architecture, engineering, and other design professions.
2 2 Brad Perkins is a founding partner of Perkins Eastman, an architecture, interior design, urban design, planning, landscape architecture and project management firm headquartered in New York.
3 3 The Capulets and Montagues are the two families featured in the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. The Capulets believed in showcasing their wealth and power, while the Montagues in comparison were humble and reserved.
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