U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) needed a new Mission Command Facility (MCF) at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, to consolidate outdated, scattered facilities in an integrated, secure, technologically-advanced complex.
As a prime consultant and lead designer, AECOM addressed distinctive design challenges:
- developing a master plan for phased implementation on a challenging site
- responding to environmental, cultural, and historical considerations
- providing a high quality of life environment within a highly secure, stressful workplace
- balancing a design identity befitting an operational command headquarters with a welcoming presence for the Fort Shafter community
AECOM facilitated highly interactive stakeholder workshops and charrettes with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Honolulu District, the installation, various military end user organizations, and the command historian and installation master planner. The resulting design integrates organically into the descending slope of a picturesque hillside. The stair-stepped building wings embrace an open-air courtyard, providing communal interaction and relief from the stressful work. Highly secure windowless activities are embedded in the hillside, while less secure daylit functions are situated adjacent to the residential neighborhood across the street. Glass curtainwalls in the arrival lobby visually tie the internal courtyard to the community. Trellises and sunshades create an enlivening interplay of light and shadow harmonious with the sense of constant motion created by the trade winds, ocean, and colorful vegetation.
The 357,000-square-foot MCF includes:
- central arrival facility with commander’s briefing room
- operational, support, administrative, and command wings
- central utility plant
- communications hub
- electrical substation
- parking for 900+ vehicles
The design included advanced structural, mechanical, security, and communications components, as well as site improvements, landscape design, and infrastructure. Sustainable features designed to achieve LEED certification reduce energy use by 21 percent and water use by 40 percent.
Awards:
- First Place in the Government category of the 2017 Interior Design Excellence Awards, International Interior Design Association (Virginia chapter): Mission Command Facility Phase 1, recognized for “excellent integration of interior, exterior, and landscape”
- Honorable Mention in the Custom category of the 2017 Interior Design Excellence Awards, International Interior Design Association (Virginia chapter): Custom designed briefing table and accompanying lecterns for the Mission Command Facility briefing theater
- Award of Excellence, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Honolulu District: for Mission Command Facility Design Charrettes covering all design phases, 2011