A 35 acre office park located in Reston, VA. The publicly traded real estate company, Liberty Property Trust, recently acquired Republic Park which is 97% impervious surface, is currently showing nearly 50% vacancy rates of its office buildings, and is in much need of amenities. Knowing that the new light rail line under construction will place a stop directly in front of Liberty's property, the developers at Liberty knew there was a need for expansion through increasing leasable square footage as well as adding amenities and green space.

As a portion of the Penn State Arboretum, the children's garden was to be designed to engage and educate children. The formalized and geometric form of the garden forces movement through this space to occur in a linear and angular fashion, creating the feel of a maze because of the varying degrees of enclosure. Children become aware of their surroundings through the levels of enclosure created by the mounds as well as the different colors, smells, and textures of various plant species.

This is one of Penn State's projects to raise environmental awareness in the community. The design studio explored various aspects of environmental and sustainable design. The images shown depict the amphitheater design which was only a part of the larger design used as an outdoor education space for visitors. Some sustainable aspects incorporated into the design included stormwater infiltration and reuse, photovoltaic cells and small wind turbines, and native plant species. The project required a scale model to be constructed of the focus space.

Being based on a currently active project in Centre County, the elementary school design was to be completed using BIM (Building Information Modeling) technology. A variety of programs were used in order to explore the capabilities of BIM and the IPD (Integrated Project Delivery) specified delivery method. The design team consisted of an Architect, Landscape Architect, Electrical/Lighting Engineer, Construction Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, and Structural Engineer. The four phases of the project included a BIM execution plan, schematic design, design development, and the final design. The construction managers, engineers, and architect of the actual project were present at each of the design presentations as well as throughout the design process to provide critique.

Collaboration and communication through each of the disciplines was crucial throughout the design process. The importance of design compromises, 3D and 4D coordination, and value engineering, became evident through the entirety of the design process.