DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Headquarters

overview

A new addition to the St. Elizabeths West Campus, a National Historic Landmark in Washington, D.C., a headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) will be a center for innovation and collaboration. It will deliver a fresh take on the federal workplace to help recruit top tech talent and further CISA’s mission to prevent and fight cyber threats against the U.S.

We are providing structural design and protective design and security services to ZGF Architects for the 620,000-square-foot CISA headquarters. In addition to structural design, we are also providing site stabilization services with designs of mechanical stabilized earth and retaining walls adjacent to the headquarters building, which consists of multiple below-grade levels. The building facade is comprised of terracotta glazed precast panels and curtainwall.

highlights

• The headquarters' significant mass is broken down into five narrow bars that are stacked into a cube and nestled into the site’s steep topography.
• Positioned to display larger overhangs and cantilevers over the primary building entrances, the overlapping bars range from two stories at the top of the plateau to ten stories at the bottom.
• The structure consists of reinforced concrete flat slab construction supported by concrete columns and concrete shear walls.
• The design of the mechanically stabilized earth walls provides imminent hillside stabilization, alleviating the natural 70-foot change in topography of the site.