Projects by Name

Marcel Breuer and Associates partnered with Nolen and Swinburne to design the headquarters for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), also known as the Hubert H. Humphrey Federal Building. The nearly square building of precast concrete and steel consisted of seven floors accommodating approximately 3,000 works with a mechanicals penthouse and three underground parking levels. The building form reveals its structure. Wide piers support trusses whose triangular ends punctuate the roofline. As at the Armstrong Rubber Company Headquarters, the office floors are hung from the trusses. Breuer utilized his tested method of modular precast concrete panels to create the façade. Within bays created by prominent vertical fins, rhythmic interest resulted from alternating single and double window units. Despite a long design and construction process lasting almost a decade, the building was completed under budget.