HGA hires Rolf Haarstad as Associate VP, healthcare principal in DC

HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA) has hired Rolf Haarstad, AIA, LEED AP, as associate vice president and healthcare principal in the Washington, D.C. office. He will help build the healthcare practice group in the mid-Atlantic region, lead design teams, and manage new and existing client relations.

“Rolf has extensive experience in healthcare planning and design,” said Kurt Spiering, AIA, ACHA, vice president and healthcare market sector leader at HGA. “Having served as a board member for a major healthcare provider and principal of his own firm, he brings a holistic approach to healthcare design from both the architect and client perspective. He understands the strategic business implications facility planning has on the healthcare industry, and he equally understands the tools necessary to organize integrated project teams that address clients’ business needs. Rolf’s leadership will be instrumental as we continue to strengthen our healthcare design services throughout the East Coast.”

Haarstad has more than 25 years of architectural experience, with the last 12 years focused on healthcare. He currently is working on the Northwestern Lake Forest Replacement Hospital, which is part of a multi-phase revitalization master plan on a 161-acre healthcare campus in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Before joining HGA, Haarstad was a healthcare principal with Hord Coplan Macht, Inc., in Baltimore, where he worked for such clients as Western Maryland Health System, LifeBridge Health, Bon Secours Baltimore Health System, and Maryland General Hospital. Previously he was founding principal of Xerxes Architects, an eight-person studio specializing in commercial work in Minneapolis.

“HGA promotes a rigorous, knowledge-based design process that translates into forward-thinking architecture for our clients,” Haarstad said. “The healthcare industry is constantly evolving through changes in technology, demographics, delivery methods, and reimbursements. HGA sets high design standards that address these industry changes and anticipate future changes. I am excited to be part of a team that researches facility solutions that enable our clients to deliver excellent healthcare to their communities.”

ABOUT HGA

HGA is an integrated architecture, engineering and planning firm that helps prepare its clients for the future. With offices in Minneapolis and Rochester, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, California; and Washington D.C., the nationally recognized firm has developed expertise in the healthcare, corporate, government, arts, community, education, and science/technology industries since 1953. HGA’s culture for interdisciplinary collaboration, knowledge sharing and design investigation enables its clients to achieve success with responsive, innovative and sustainable design. Visit www.HGA.com or follow the firm on Facebook or Twitter.

Earlier this month, my colleague and I presented a session to a group of civil engineers and transportation agencies about the tech trends in the AEC space. Along with advice on how to prepare your plan for controlled collaboration, we also talked through some practical use cases. One such use case was especially interesting, as it outlined a challenge not unfamiliar to government agencies who are contemplating the leap from paper to digital processes: how to securely migrate workflows.

For an 1893 academic building in the Collegiate Gothic style at Bryn Mawr (Pa.)

| Apr 16, 2014

Upgrading windows: repair, refurbish, or retrofit [AIA course]

Building Teams must focus on a number of key decisions in order to arrive at the optimal solution: repair the windows in place, remove and refurbish them, or opt for full replacement.

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, Mich. Photo credit: Justin Macono

| Apr 15, 2014

12 award-winning structural steel buildings

Zaha Hadid's Broad Art Museum and One World Trade Center are among the projects honored by the American Institute of Steel Construction for excellence in structural steel design.

| Apr 15, 2014

First look: Zaha Hadid reveals designs for dreamy sculptural hotel - CORRECTED

Hadid's design, which will become the fifth hotel tower in the City of Dreams entertainment hub, features a latticed exoskeleton enveloping the building's exterior. The 40-floor, 150,000-square-foot space is envisioned as a monolith with voids carved throughout.

David Chipperfield Architects has won the Nobel Center architectural competition

| Apr 15, 2014

Chipperfield's sparkling brass-clad scheme selected to be new home of Nobel Prize

The distinctive building, with its shimmering vertical brass elements and glass façade design, beat out two other finalists in the Nobel Center architectural competition.