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The Brown building is a 120,000 square foot renovation of a former psychiatric hospital into office space for the state agency Health and Human Services. This project was a complete gut of the existing circa 1924 building with serious demolition of many interior partitions due to the small patient rooms. In fact, the general contractor actually hoisted a bobcat onto each floor to handle the demolition sending waste through the elevator shafts.
The front entrance, without ADA accessibility, was relocated to another side of the building and replaced by a staff patio with a commanding view. A new 450 car parking garage, adjacent to the new entrance, was built in sympathetic materials to the existing building. Windows throughout were replaced, matching proportions of the existing as well as all finishes and utilities.
The building contained two existing exterior courtyards, allowing light into the patient rooms. In order to meet program requirements, these spaces were enclosed by large skylights at the roof level. This increased energy efficiency with only the roof exposed to heat loss instead of the four previously exterior walls of the courtyards.
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