Direct Relief World Headquarters

Santa Barbara, CA, United States

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Direct Relief World Headquarters

Santa Barbara, CA, United States

Firm

DMHA Architecture + Interior Design

Type

Industrial › Warehouse

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2019

SIZE

100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft

BUDGET

Undisclosed

The architecture of the Direct Relief World Headquarters and Distribution Center reflects the
cultural heritage and context of the surrounding Santa Barbara and Goleta communities through a
“Mediterranean Modern” architectural style. The 155,000 SF warehouse, distribution center and office building structures were sensitively designed to be consistent with the Architectural Board of Review Guidelines required by the City of Santa Barbara. The site planning of the 7.99 acre site as well as the structure design reflects a functional, cost effective, environmentally responsible, humble and non-ostentatious organizational value system. At the same time, the headquarters appropriately represents one of the world’s leading disaster relief organizations and the #1 rated non-profit in the nation.
The project site was planned to transform a previous impervious concrete airport runway into a new bio-diverse site with extensive drought tolerant landscape areas. An extensive bio-swale and bio-retention system was planned to keep rainwater from a 100-year storm on site, helping to recharge local drought-stricken groundwater basins. Landscaping was introduced to compliment the building architecture and the historic nature of the site as a previous slough during the Chumash era. Exterior steel trellis and awning structures reflect the natural reed patterns found in the adjacent slough
and exterior form panel concrete was textured to reflect local reeds and grasses. Shadow patterns continuously evolve during the day and exterior hardscape materials compliment the building architecture.
This very large warehouse structure was designed and detailed not call attention to itself but serve as a monumental background for the more colorful detailed office structure to the south. A careful integration of interior and exterior spaces creates functional and visually interesting outdoor spaces with clearly identifiable building entries. A clean “function first” design methodology was applied to both the interior and exterior spaces. Vehicular circulation systems, truck delivery docks and pedestrian plazas were strategically located and designed to accommodate strict site security requirements. This energy efficient building utilizes state-of-the-art solar and Tesla battery systems and can run “off grid” for up to 6 months in an emergency event.