2018 HGA Community Action Report

Beyond good design.

Design for good.

HGA COMMUNITY ACTION 2018 REPORT

2048 HOURS

MILWAUKEE RIVER CLEANUP DAY | MILWAUKEE

45

ORGANIZATIONS SFFD TOY DRIVE | SAN FRANCISCO

DESIGN WORKSHOPS | MINNEAPOLIS

162

11

EMPLOYEES

OFFICES CHANNEL ONE FOOD BANK | ROCHESTER

ARTS & EDUCATION The arts are essential to a healthy community. Artistic expression reflects a community’s culture—its history, music, food, and people. HGA teams create impact in their communities by engaging in local youth-based initiatives.

In promoting and supporting the arts, as well as the role of arts in education, we help inspire the next generation of artists, designers, and collaborators.

ACE MENTOR PROGRAM

LEAP SANDCASTLE CLASSIC

The ACE Mentor program provides high school students insight into the architecture, construction and engineering fields. HGA Los Angeles employees donated time and energy to this year-long program. Weekly sessions with the students, preparing lesson plans, and coaching students on a real-life architecture project were rewarding for all involved.

The Leap Sandcastle Classic is Northern California’s largest sandcastle competition and a fundraiser for arts programs in schools. Creativity was serious child’s play as teams of architects, engineers, and contractors paired with local students to build super-sized sand sculptures. As part of the “Sandy Suspenders” team, HGA San Francisco helped raise more than $15,000 for the program.

HOME & HEALTH Healthy, happy, safe homes are the foundation of a thriving community. A sense of home creates a sense of belonging, which in turn leads to a greater care for the place to which we belong: our community. For HGA, community engagement is an opportunity to help create or improve these spaces, or to provide the things that help make them full: food, gifts, or clothing.

KATHY’S HOUSE

HEARTS & HAMMERS

At this hospital guest house, staff and volunteers help create a home away from home for patients and families during stressful times. Providing homecooked meals for guests is one of the simplest ways to make an impact. Over the course of three months, four different HGA Milwaukee teams prepared, served, and participated in a meal for the guests and staff at Kathy’s House.

Since 1997 HGA Minneapolis has been a committed participant in the Hearts and Hammers Spring Program Day. Each year, teams go out into the community and help restore homes for those in need. This year, HGA partnered with RJM Construction to paint, landscape, pour new concrete steps, and perform other various small repairs to improve a home in North Minneapolis.

ENVIRONMENT Despite continual advances in technology and manufacturing, we are still inextricably bound to nature. Nature supports us and we must support nature.

HGA offices actively seek opportunities to help communities connect with the natural world. This fosters a deeper appreciation on all sides for the need to create and sustain a healthy environment.

FRIENDS OF THE FARMERS MARKET

ALEXANDRIA EARTH DAY

Friends of the Farmers Market came to HGA Rochester for assistance in brainstorming a vision and goals as they seek to establish a permanent yearround home for the Rochester Farmer’s Market. HGA conducted a charrette with key stakeholders, producing a vision board which outlined key components of a new site that would support the market’s growth and needs.

HGA DC participated in Alexandria’s Earth Day event by setting up a virtual reality station run by solar panels.

Most visitors had never experienced VR before and were wowed by the ability to explore the design as if they were really in the space. Visitors also learned about sustainable design beyond adaptive reuse, including green buildings, daylight studies and rain gardens.

PARK(ING) DAY | SACRAMENTO

ON THE COVER: REBUILDING TOGETHER | SAN JOSE

HGA Community Action launched in 2015 as a grassroots effort to enhance the social impact of our work across the country. By donating the firm’s time, talents, and resources, HGA is creating positive change in our communities while providing opportunities to learn and work together.

In the program’s fourth year, 162 HGA employees from eleven offices stepped up to contribute more than 2,000 hours of design, community engagement, and hands-on volunteering.

Discover more at: hga.com/community-action