Memorial Field has served as a district-wide facility since 1971. However, the seating capacity did not allow for regional / state events or future growth. Safety and security concerns were due to undefined boundaries between home and away teams and spectators, and overall improvements were needed.

The design-build project team, with BNBuilders, proposed a design that includes two new covered grandstands accommodating 4,000 spectators, split equally between home and away. This capacity will serve all anticipated functions, including graduation and state playoffs. All athletic surfacing, equipment, and field lighting was replaced with state-of-the-art features. The facility has been reconfigured, providing clear and distinct areas for home and away teams and spectators. These areas have numerous security features, adding a new sense of safety to the stadium. The new Memorial Field will create a new identity to reflect and celebrate the multiple uses it will serve for the diverse community of Federal Way.

Read more about this project … Building Victory: The Design-Build Approach For FWPS Memorial Field

DaVita is a Fortune 500 healthcare provider operating world-wide and is the largest provider of kidney care services in the U.S. The DaVita Central Business Office (CBO) is a new office building sited adjacent to the existing DaVita office building in Federal Way, Washington, creating an administrative campus. This new 160,500 s.f. office building is designed to meet LEED Gold. It provides a healthy and safe workplace for a potential 750 DaVita teammates. The project also serves as a regional conference and training center.

The program demanded large floor plates to address the growth on this site. We used centralized and perimeter daylight as well as a social atrium to lessen the perceived scale of the interior footprint. Interior social collaboration areas provide centralized services with staff work areas located closer to views and daylight. The exterior envelope is inspired by the surrounding evergreen trees and filters and distributes light into the office space.

DaVita and McGranahan teamed with Mortenson Construction and their primary trade partners early in design, bringing constructability and cost benchmarking into design conversations. We worked closely to create flexible spaces for both large and small teams which can grow and change over time while enhancing DaVita’s vibrant culture. We collaborated with Mortenson in executing design goals, using VR to study key spaces, streamlining construction, and delivering a project the team is proud of.

The construction of the project was well underway when the impacts of COVID 19 first surfaced in the spring 2020. After developing protocols to ensure a safe working environment for all tradespeople on the construction site, the team turned its focus on how to provide a safe and healthy environment for the teammates that would be moving into the facility at the end of 2020. We worked with DaVita and their furniture vendor to develop workstation components and layouts that supported proper distancing and transmission measures, and the teammate working groups were distributed throughout the floors to avoid over taxing common areas and shared spaces. The DaVita team is continuing to review furnishing placement and proper capacities of meeting rooms to promote safe distancing and overall environmental health for teammates in their new home.

This three-story facility accommodates 1,200 staff and centralizes formerly scattered divisions of the Department of Ecology under one roof, providing efficient and effective co-location. A self-contained library, physical fitness facility, cafeteria, conference rooms, and laboratory space augment office area.

The facility is designed and built to minimize waste, using numerous recycled materials. State-of-the-art stormwater controls, filtration vaults, and biofiltration systems capture and treat water from parking areas, roofs, and roads before it infiltrates into the ground. Native trees, shrubs, and grasses are used so irrigation isn’t needed. Natural gas provides morning and after-hours heating. The rest of the time, the building is heated by people, lights, and office equipment. This project received a retroactive LEED Silver Certification for its groundbreaking sustainable design. This project was a seminal project for our office and has provided much inspiration for our approach to sustainability. The project was also a design-build competition winner.

McGranahan Architects assembled a design-build team to compete nationwide for the Tacoma Dome project. The construction cost for this project was $31 million, which included a 40,000 SF Convention Center and all site work for a 40-acre site.

McGranahan Architects’ proposal was $6 million less than the runner-up and $15 million less than the third place—and the only one within budget.

The project was completed in twenty-two months and has received international acclaim and numerous awards, including selection as the Outstanding Sports/Recreation Facility by Athletic Business Magazine.