The design-build team of Balfour Beatty, HMC Architects and KMD Architects received a Merit Award for the San Diego County Women’s Detention Facility (SDCWDF) at the 2013 DBIA Western Pacific Design-Build Awards. The SDCWDF is a 45-acre, 24-building, 1,216 bed facility that essentially functions as a self-contained community. There are six distinct housing types as well as many specialized building components such as psychiatric housing, infirmary, law enforcement training facilities, vocational workshops and a central plant. The campus design delivers a normative treatment environment that will encourage positive behaviors. It acknowledges that a less institutional environment can provide significant psychological benefits for inmates and staff alike while also contributing to successful strategies that reduce recidivism.

The award jurors commented, “The County of San Diego should be commended on selecting design-build delivery method for this project—the project’s complex program will benefit from it. The nature of the project team and expertise that was brought on beyond conventional corrections design (i.e. campus designers) was an innovative approach. We also thought the design is elegant and sophisticated for a corrections facility. The entire team is to be commended for rethinking the design approach and raising the quality level of this project type. The campus approach, humane design and flexibility in the facility were particularly notable. Finally, the design-build team’s statement of community outreach was notable as well—it supports the strength of process in this project!”

The awards jury included:
Jacob Williams, LA County
Rob Lewis, US Army Corps of Engineers
Kirk Van Cleave, P3 International
Kanon Artiche, Solano County
Reed McMackin, Pan Pacific Plumbing
Brett Tullis, Sillman-Wright Architects
Alicia Wachtel, HOK
David Frommer, UNLV Planning and Construction
Michael Kim, HKS
Joel King, UC San Diego
David Hunt, gkkworks
Dean Maglieri, Development Industries
Lori Guidry, Development Industries