The project objective was the relocation of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) HQ to its new selected location on the intersection of Blue Ridge and Reedy Creek Roads in Raleigh, NC. Architectural program for the campus includes a new office building that consolidates DHHS’s departments and staff with community services access, a new central energy plant and parking deck that serves current and future expansion, and diverse palette of site amenities.
A central focus of the DHHS campus planning was wellness, with careful consideration of the site’s natural context. The design strengthens connections between indoor and outdoor program elements, creating a cohesive environment that enhances access to natural light, fresh air, vegetation, and opportunities for outdoor recreation. The landscape design links the urban Blue Ridge corridor and the Reedy Creek Greenway to a series of “outdoor” rooms that create a progression of movement into the site and provide shared community spaces for gathering, outdoor dining, as well as festival spaces for larger planned events for the staff, visitors, and neighbors of the DHHS campus. The tiered outdoor spaces accommodate grade changes that transition from street level to the primary entrance promenade and drop-off, and then further connect through pedestrian trails to a tree conservation and protected stream areas in the center of the site.
The landscape design links the urban Blue Ridge corridor and the Reedy Creek Greenway to a series of The site plan also accommodates future phases of development, while providing site responses that create a beautiful and complete experience for the first phase build, while enabling temporary landscapes that don’t prevent future growth. The primary promenade was designed to feature passive security methods and features a demonstration garden that mitigates runoff collected from the building roof. Accessibility was a key feature to this public facing institution and the design focused on providing equitable access for all.
