Until recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration operated from 40 buildings in 18 locations throughout the Washington DC metropolitan area. In 1996 as part of GSA’s Design Excellence program, RTKL was selected in collaboration with KlingStubbins to design the agency’s new headquarters, consolidating its 9,000 employees on a 130-acre campus on the historic site of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. The resulting 2 million-SF development is being completed in phases, with final completion anticipated for 2014.

Challenged to improve overall space utilization and encourage more interaction among the FDA’s core divisions, the design team created a master plan that follows the tenets of great university campuses, where buildings define a series of public courtyards and pedestrian spaces. The master plan is organized around a central lawn, with the placement and design of the buildings reinforcing FDA’s mission of enhancing cross-disciplinary collaboration while also respecting the private and confidential nature of the organization’s work. As of late 2009, more than 66% of the programmed area has been completed, some of which consist of LEED certified buildings.