RAND Headquarters Wins Environmental and Design Honors

The RAND Corporation has received the U.S. Green Building Council's Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the environmentally responsible design of its headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif., along with the Los Angeles Architectural Award for corporate headquarters design.

The Gold LEED Certification is a sign of RAND's investment in “green building” principles in the design, construction and operation of the headquarters building, which opened in April 2005. The building is one of only 82 new construction projects that have ever qualified for the Gold Certification out of 349 such projects that have achieved any LEED rating.

The Los Angeles Business Council awarded RAND its 36th annual Los Angeles Architectural Award in recognition of the headquarters building's outstanding contribution to the infrastructure of Los Angeles. The council is a nonprofit association of more than 300 businesses, agencies and individuals that addresses issues affecting the business climate and economic health of Los Angeles.

“RAND's headquarters embodies our emphasis on intellectual collaboration, conservation of client and natural resources, and adaptability,” said RAND President and CEO James A. Thomson. “Being recognized for a high-performance green building and for outstanding design shows that RAND is committed to excellence in all we do.”

The 310,000-square-foot RAND headquarters has a distinctive elliptical shape and was built next to the facility RAND had occupied since 1953. Designed by Los Angeles-based DMJM Design and built by Turner Construction Co., it cost approximately $100 million to build and incorporates high levels of safety and security.

In less than a decade, LEED has become the standard for assessing a building's level of sustainability. Its tough combination of requirements run owners, designers and builders through a five-category gauntlet: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality. There are four levels of LEED certification: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

“RAND's leadership made it clear from the start that the new headquarters should be a model in terms of environmental effects,” said DMJM's Paul Danna, one of the project's design principals. “Staff input was critical to the success of this project. The institution's participatory culture enabled us to get significant feedback on what was important to them to support their work. We believe the end result is truly a visual representation of RAND.”

RAND has been headquartered in Santa Monica since it was founded in 1948. It also has offices in the Washington, D.C. area and Pittsburgh. The RAND Gulf States Policy Institute is based in Jackson, Miss. RAND Europe offices are located in: Leiden, the Netherlands; Berlin, Germany; and Cambridge, United Kingdom. The RAND-Qatar Policy Institute is located in Doha, Qatar.