Perkins&Will Appoints Amy Thompson Blonder to Lead Firm’s Federal Practice Unit
By Keith Loria October 15, 2021 2:37 pm
reprints
Responding to the dramatic growth in its federal government projects, design firm Perkin&Wills has promoted Amy Thompson Blonder to its newly created firm-wide federal practice lead.
Thompson Blonder will utilize her extensive experience to help federal agencies adjust to the post-pandemic workplace.
Based in Washington D.C., Perkins&Will’s federal government practice encompasses a range of building types from hospitals to sophisticated labs to office buildings and civic infrastructure, libraries and museums.
“The goal of our federal practice is to deliver design excellence across federal building types, which involves reducing embodied carbon and creating resilient spaces where people feel comfortable and confident to perform at their best for the American people,” Thompson Blonder told Commercial Observer.
Thompson Blonder’s experience includes land-use planning, community development and urban revitalization with private and government clients including the General Services Administration, the Department of Interior, the Department of Defense and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
She also served as the lead for the plan for the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the consolidation of the Suitland Federal Center and the redevelopment of the Armed Forces Retirement Home.
“For almost a decade, Amy has been demonstrating extraordinary leadership, helping to build our federal practice,” Chris Morrison, managing principal of the firm’s D.C. Studio, told CO. “With all of this growth, it was a natural step to have Amy lead this practice area.”
With many federal employees planning to return to the office in late 2021 or early 2022, Thompson Blonder noted agencies are seeking new ways of working as a result of the long work-from-home environment during the pandemic.
Prior to COVID-19, one large agency was planning to do a refresh of its space that included paint, carpet and new furnishings. Today, the agency is rethinking the space entirely, moving from a one-desk-per-person scenario to a more collaborative and flexible hybrid work environment.
“The federal government, as in the private sector, is looking toward hybrid work spaces that can support a highly flexible federal workforce while at the same time ensuring that agency missions are achieved,” she said. “I look forward to continuing the Perkins&Will tradition of delivering design excellence to our varied federal clients. What is most exciting now is helping them navigate the changes in approaches to work, science and technology, health care and climate and the opportunity to grow our practice.”
Within Perkins&Will’s federal portfolio are projects such as the Coast Guard Headquarters at St. Elizabeths East at 2703 Martin Luther King Junior Avenue, SE; NIH Porter Neuroscience Research Center at 35 Convent Drive in Bethesda, Md.; and the master plan for The District’s Navy Yard.
Keith Loria can be reached at Kloria@commercialobserver.com.
