Ideas

Our design process guides us to plan for today’s requirements and prepare for tomorrow’s unknowns. Here we pull back the curtain on our practice to share that process with you.

ArchDaily Highlights ZGF and VR

ArchDaily features ZGF as one of the early adopters of using VR as a design tool since at least 2015.

News
March 06, 2022

Improving Outcomes for Cincinnati's Tiniest Patients

Cutting edge clinical research is being implemented in the NICU of Cincinnati Children’s Critical Care Building, where a unique spectral lighting system builds upon recent discoveries about how light affects human development.

Methodology
February 04, 2022
Equity graphic featuring rendering of the Youth Achievement Center entrance

For Youth, By Youth: Seattle’s Youth Achievement Center

The Youth Achievement Center is more than a tangible commitment to equity and restorative justice in South Seattle. It's a symbol of growth, empowerment, and legacy - designed for youth, by youth.

February 01, 2022
The front of a modern building with students sitting outside.

Architectural Record Features Cal State LA

Architectural Record features the adaptive reuse story of the newly renovated California State University, Los Angeles's Student Services Building.

News
February 01, 2022

District Carbon: Futureproofing Downtown Seattle

Adaptive reuse of downtown real estate, where there’s a high density of properties ripe for transition to net-zero, is one of many solutions to decarbonize our existing building stock. Our winning proposal for the Seattle 2030 District Energy Roadmap competition shows how.

Sustainability
January 26, 2022

Outdoor Spaces That Heal

From large hospital campuses to small outpatient settings, green spaces offer therapeutic benefits at all scales.

Methodology
October 28, 2021

Take 5 with Victoria Nichols

Victoria Nichols shares her thoughts with Healthcare Design on remote work, impacts to frontline staff, and leveraging acuity adaptability to address future flexibility.

Methodology
October 22, 2021

Designing the High-Performance Labs of the Future

Developing the next generation of high-performance laboratories requires an understanding of the most pressing challenges the world faces today: solving for the most complex biomedical mysteries while confronting the dwindling predicament of climate change.

Methodology
October 21, 2021

Healthy Building Design is Timeless: Classic Solutions for the Covid-19 Era and Beyond

By: Avideh Haghighi, AIA, LFA 

What is old is new again, again. Age old design solutions are informing many of our most successful interventions in the era of Covid-19 and beyond.

Methodology
August 18, 2021
Logo for UpStream Tool featuring graphic of the planet Earth

New Tool Helps Designers Measure Lifecycle Impacts of Wood

ZGF, in collaboration with the University of Washington’s Applied Research Consortium, has developed a wood life cycle calculator specifically geared toward giving the design community a window into the trickier aspects of wood lifecycle analysis.

Research and Tools
August 11, 2021

What Does it Mean to Be Able to Bring your Whole Self to Work? Five Members of ZGF’s LGBTQ+ Community Discuss

As a firm in service of design for equity and the human experience, we know that—individually and collectively—people are their most creative, collaborative, and innovative selves when they’re able to bring their whole selves to work. 

Community
June 22, 2021