During my time at Corgan Associates in Dallas, Texas, I was fortunate to play a small role in the billion-dollar project to construct an addition to the city’s historic Parkland Hospital. In collaboration with HDR Architecture, the team at Corgan was tasked with the design and delivery of the exterior systems and envelope of the new 232,000 square-meter medical complex. Key features of the design are the massive cantilevers of the acute care wings and outpatient center, in addition to the fritted-glass gradient of the facade, which is meant to help dissolve the giant masses into the clear blue of the Texas sky. My role was primarily as an assistant in issues regarding additional services in the construction administration phase of the project. Although I was only a small part of the overall effort, I learned a lot about the level of precision and organization required on projects of such massive scale and complexity.
MATTHEW MARANO 