FDA Headquarters Consolidation Central Shared Use Facility

In 1995, the Naval Ordnance Laboratory (NOL) in White Oak, Maryland, was closed in accordance with the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act . A year later, the site was acquired by the General Services Administration {GSA) to be developed into a consolidated campus for the Food and Drug Administration FDA). Despite their apparent disparity, these two facilities inhabiting a common site in succession reflect the federal government's constant yet adaptive role in protecting the public.

Inscribed within the FDA master plan is an awareness of the site's history and continuity of purpose. While creating a new headquarters facility befitting the function and public identity of the FDA, the design preserves the historical significance of the NOL campus by incorporating its key building and maintaining the campus fabric.

In the master plan, the historic Building One is transformed into the focal point and main entrance for the FDA. The centers of the FDA are organized around courtyards, providing a collegiate atmosphere that encourages interaction among nearly 9,000 FDA employees. At the center of the campus, a grand commons visually orients the facility toward the impressive woodland that covers a large portion of the White Oak site. In order to preserve the natural wooded landscape and wetlands, the master plan concentrates building density so that it occupies only the previously developed portion of the site. By sensitively balancing the site's history, future, and environment, the design creates a place that is significant to both its users and the surrounding community.

Building One, the original Naval Ordnance Laboratory headquarters, symbolizes a continuum between the FDA site's past and its future. As the front door to the campus, it represents the connection between the employees and the local community of White Oak and nearby Silver Spring, Maryland. In addition, the building is adaptively re-interpreted to establish a forward -looking presence for the Food and Drug Administration.

The new Central Shared Use Building (CSU) is the symbolic heart of the new FDA campus and houses many of the amenities for the FDA employees including the cafeteria, fitness center, library; and training rooms. The building is the central meeting point for all FDA employees at White Oak, fulfilling the promise of a campus as a place for collaboration and interaction. Bridging between historic Building One and the new Campus Commons, CSU symbolizes the transformation of White Oak from a weapons research facility to a 21st-Century campus for one of the world's foremost institutions safeguarding the health and well-being of all people.