2020 Engineering Excellence Grand Award Winner

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HDR Global Headquarters has been named the ACEC-Nebraska Engineering Excellence Award (EEA) Grand Award winner for 2020.

Headquartered in Omaha since 1917, global design firm HDR sought a new headquarters building that reflected the talents and skills of its architects, engineers, and planners. HDR partnered with owner Noddle Companies to design a 10-story, 240,000-square-foot multi-use office building located in the mixed-use Aksarben Village neighborhood. The end result is a striking building whose design respects its context and fosters collaboration—and in which engineering plays a significant role.

This project illustrates the importance of engaging all parties early in the design process. The building’s unique form is chamfered at the corners to maximize square footage on upper floors while opening walkable space on the ground level to activate engagement with the surrounding neighborhood. Rather than having “front” and“back” sides, space that would have typically been used for a loading dock was reimagined as a retail alley.

HDR committed to a rigorous, integrated design process, which resulted in the building’s LEED New Construction v4 Gold-level rating. Specific performance achievements include:

  • 68% Energy Use Intensity reduction compared to the regional average
  • 31% water use reduction
  • 87% irrigation reduction
  • Lighting Power Density that is 38% better than code
  • Estimated 15% Material Carbon Impact reduction over a comparable building
  • Saving over 67 tons of steel by using SidePlate® steel connections, a first in Nebraska.

The building earned a three-star rating from Fitwel—the highest rating possible for this certification that optimizes buildings to support occupant health.

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Aaron Buettner

State Director

Aaron Buettner, PE, CVS leads Benesch’s Nebraska structural group, bringing more than 27 years of experience in structural engineering, project management and value engineering to every project he touches. His work spans highway, railroad and pedestrian bridges, and he has delivered public and private projects across the country involving a wide variety of materials and structure types.

Aaron’s technical depth covers the full project lifecycle, from structural design and in-service inspection to forensic evaluation and construction administration. He is proficient in multiple structural design and analysis software platforms and has a keen understanding of load paths and constructability. As a Certified Value Specialist (CVS), Aaron’s Value Engineering work has generated tens of millions of dollars in potential construction cost avoidance for clients ranging from state DOTs to transit agencies.

Notable projects include the Lincoln South Beltway, where his team designed 10 of 21 bridges on the freeway corridor; the N-12 Emergency Bridge Repairs in northeast Nebraska, where biddable plans for three flood-damaged structures were delivered in just three weeks; and the Penny Bridges Replacement in Lincoln, where value planning produced a context-sensitive solution that earned broad community support.

Aaron also serves as a Structures Specialist on Nebraska Task Force 1 (NE-TF1), which is one of 28 FEMA Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) teams located throughout the United States. In this role, he supports the search and rescue mission by assessing damaged structures, recommending structural hazard mitigation within those structures, and monitoring the structure for condition changes during rescue and victim recovery operations. During his tenure with NE-TF1, he has deployed ​on numerous missions within the state of Nebraska and around the nation to assist communities that have been impacted by emergencies or disasters.

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