Founded in 2009 with an initial endowment of $1.9 million, HMC’s nonprofit Designing Futures Foundation (DFF) has donated about $230,000 in its three years of existence, including $105,000 in scholarships to California students. The grants help promising high schoolers with an interest in architecture, design, engineering, education, or healthcare pay for expenses like test preparation services, computers, and college entrance exam fees and tuition. The scholarships can be extended for up to five years of college.
Executive Director Adrienne Luce says the foundation serves as an extension of HMC’s social responsibility. The DFF’s Community Project initiative provides grants of up to $10,000 to HMC employees for projects for that benefit the communities in which they live and work.
For example, three HMC employees—Pablo La Roche, PhD, LEED AP, Sustainable Design Director; Eera Babtiwale, LEED AP BD+C, Environmental Analyst; and Sandy Kate, REFP, LEED AP, Associate Principal/Senior Education Facilities Planner—proposed a sustainability education program at McKinley Elementary School in Santa Monica. The DFF sponsored nine workshops for 220 McKinley students in grades 3-5 over three days, providing 13½ hours of instruction on energy, water, and waste.
The DFF has funded scholarship programs at Ramona High School, a healthcare academy in Riverside, Calif., and at the Center for Advanced Research and Technology, in Fresno. The DFF also supports Bright Prospect, a college access and retention program in Pomona, and hosted a career day for students aspiring to become architects, engineers, or designers, topped off by a tour of the Ontario office.
Scott Plante, AIA, LEED AP, Senior Project Designer, won a $7,500 DFF grant to help restore the historic Micheltorena Steps in Silver Lake, the vintage 1920s-LA neighborhood where he lives. “The steps are on a main route to the school, and they’re in a state of disrepair,” says Plante, who serves on the Silver Lake Urban Design Committee. The $24,000 project, with donations from the DFF, the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council, and the Safe Routes to Schools program, plus a lighting upgrade by the local water and power utility, will be completed in two phases starting next June.
See the video about the DFF and the Micheltorena Steps project at: www.BDCnetwork.com/HMC/DFF.
At the university level, the Designing Futures Foundation has:
- Provided a $10,000 seed grant to help Cal Poly Pomona start a healthcare architecture studio, the first of its kind west of the Mississippi.
- Worked with Harvey Mudd College and the California Institute of the Arts on a project that uses online games and resources to foster greater environmental responsibility among college students.
- Funded an $18,000 water demonstration garden at Norco College, a two-year institution in Riverside.
- Sponsored research by HMC staff and consulting experts at UC San Diego’s Calit2 StarCAVE virtual reality environment on the effects of the built environment on building users. +
Related Stories
| Sep 15, 2014
Perkins+Will unveils design for Ghana's largest hospital
The new hospital will be home to numerous hospital services including public health, accident and emergency, imaging, obstetrics, gynecology, dental, surgical, intensive care and administration.
| Sep 15, 2014
Gen-Y-focused multifamily development under way in L.A.
The new urban residential community at 1001 S. Olive Street will offer open floor plans consisting of 64 studios, 109 one bedroom units, and 28 two-bedroom units, ranging in size from approximately 500 sq ft to 1,100 sq ft.
| Sep 14, 2014
Ranked: Top Veterans Administration sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
CannonDesign, Clark Group, and URS top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest Veterans Administration building sector design and construction firms, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
Sponsored | | Sep 13, 2014
5 common questions leaders should never ask
Asking the right questions can help business leaders to anticipate changes, seize opportunities and move their firms in new directions. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Sep 13, 2014
Why CEOs shouldn’t be afraid to ask for outside help
An oven-overlooked factor in assessing the success of a leader, according to organizational development consultant Brook Manville, is his or her ability to go far outside the organization to get help in solving problems. SPONSORED CONTENT
Sponsored | | Sep 13, 2014
Right Way Plumbing finishes first at Max Planck Florida Institute
The Max Planck Florida Institute consists of a three-story, 100,000-sf scientific research facility with 30,000 feet of copper joined with Viega ProPress fittings.
| Sep 12, 2014
Total immersion: Has virtual reality's time finally come?
The emergence of low-cost VR technology means that anyone with a few hundred bucks and a decent workstation can get in the game. But, as our experts reveal, pulling off VR is not so simple.
| Sep 12, 2014
Will on-site parking remain king in the development world?
In spite of the trend away from multi-car residences, not much has changed with regard to parking spot allocations within apartment buildings and other multi-unit residential developments, writes GS&P's Doug Sharp.
| Sep 11, 2014
5 competing designs unveiled for Presidio Parklands in San Francisco
To turn the underdeveloped area by Chrissy Field into new public space, San Francisco's Presidio Trust unveiled the five designs by five teams they invited earlier this year.
| Sep 11, 2014
Cintas invites public to vote for 'America's best restroom'
For the 13th consecutive year, Cintas Corporation is back with its popular America’s Best Restroom Contest. A team of survey editors once again scanned the country for the most creative and clean public restrooms and produced a crop of nominees sure to please.
