Department of Homeland Security Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

DHS: Did You Know the DHS Headquarters is Older than the Gettysburg Address?

The Department of Homeland Security is headquartered on the St Elizabeths campus, a few miles from the US Capitol in Washington, DC. The historic campus comprised brick masonry structures dating to the early 19th century. At the beginning of the project, we found the campus to be in a state of disrepair, with trees growing within some structures and with all of the materials and systems having unknown strengths and hidden deficiencies. The all-but-forgotten hospital buildings were a far cry from the highly secure, state-of-the art federal campus that was needed.

Bombproofing the historic masonry structures was one of the many technical challenges the team faced during this adaptive reuse, and testing was a critical component of the feasibility study and master plan efforts. The original campus was constructed over time, using different materials and structural systems. Each system had to be tested extensively, to achieve reliable design values for the existing material strengths. The master plan and renovation that followed were successful, and the Department is now in its new home, safe from threats of terror and catastrophic hurricanes.