Letter
Dear Mr. McGill:
In its meeting of 15 April, the Commission of Fine Arts reviewed the final design submission for several components of Phase 1b for the Department of Homeland Security Headquarters on the St. Elizabeths Hospital West Campus, including the adaptive reuse of seven historic buildings, the realignment of Sweetgum Lane, an underground building, and utility access structures. The Commission approved the final submission with the exception of the designs of the landscape and Building 49, and provided the following comments.
In their discussion, the Commission members observed that the design of the adaptive reuse proposals had improved since the concept submission. However, they expressed concern that two components of the submission were insufficiently documented to understand the design proposals and requested additional information before taking an action on these items. Specifically, the Commission members asked for further detail on the proposed landscape design as it relates to the historic campus, similar to the presentation provided for the perimeter security design in March 2010. They said that while it appeared that the design revisions for the Building 49 complex had responded to the Commission's comments, the renderings did not offer clear depictions of the proposed addition or its relationship to the historic building and larger campus context; they requested a more complete presentation of the design in order to provide an informed opinion in public session.
The Commission looks forward to reviewing the remaining unapproved elements of Phase 1b in the next submission. As always, the staff is available to assist you.
Sincerely,
Thomas E. Luebke, AIA
Secretary
Michael McGill
Special Assistant for Regional Coordination
U.S. General Services Administration
301 7th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20407-0001
cc: Thomas Mozina, Perkins + Will Architects
Ronald Kessler, McKissack and McKissack
Tom Amoroso, Andropogon Associates