BBG-BBGM Pentagon plan wins Design-Build award.

BBG-BBGM's design of the Pentagon Library and Conference Center has won the prestigious National Design-Build Award for 2007 from the National Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) in the Rehabilitation/Renovation/Restoration category.

The National Design-Build Award recognizes the most outstanding design-build project in the United States and around the world, promoting and documenting the use and effectiveness of design-build as a project delivery method. Projects winning the National Design-Build Award best exemplify the principles of interdisciplinary teamwork, innovation, and problem solving that characterize design-build delivery.

Designed by BBG-BBGM's Washington D.C. office in conjunction with Coakley Williams Construction and commissioned as a part of the ongoing renovation of the Pentagon, the Pentagon Library and Conference Center has been designed for a LEED[R] Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. By earning a Gold rating, it would be the first Pentagon project to receive anything higher than the minimum LEED[R] rating of Certified.

"We are honored to receive such an important design award. The design-build approach enabled us to achieve numerous unique design features while abiding by rigorous environmental and energy efficiency standards," said Robert Osborne, BBG-BBGM's partner-in-charge.

Located under the existing River Terrace Parade Ground and occupying the shell of what had previously been the Pentagon Officers Athletic Club, the unique design challenges included reconstruction and waterproofing of the existing structure, finding ways to increase the structural capacity so as to support the loading of an additional floor, documenting and meeting the needs of three very different tenant agencies and improving the entrance and daylight distribution of this partially-underground building.

BBG-BBGM's design expanded the Pentagon's current capacity for hosting a variety of meetings, adding a total of 14 conference rooms--varying in size, seating anywhere from 30 to 90 people, a 250-seat multi-purpose room equipped with a stage and state-of-the-art audio visual support, and a new cafeteria. The various user spaces are organized around a new central gathering space, which is flooded with light from two large skylights. The design-build team also proposed an unusual feature for the central atrium space, a 15 x 50 three-dimensional mural based on archival photographs from the U.S. military.

The building's design features multiple finishes and materials containing high levels of post-consumer recycled materials (acoustical tile and carpet tile), certified recycled wood, and other 'earth-friendly' materials such as linoleum. In addition, demolished portions of the existing structure were re-used in the new construction, rather than being hauled away to a landfill.

BBG-BBGM's design of the Pentagon Library and Conference Center has received several regional and national awards including a first place award in the Rehabilitation/Renovation/Restoration category from the National Capital Chapter Design Build Institute of America and one of the 2007 White House Closing the Circle Awards for its effort to enhance and preserve the environment.