Becoming Independent (BI) is a 50-year-old nonprofit that helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. HGA was brought on as the designer to bring Becoming Independent’s headquarters vision to life. The 24,000-square-foot Santa Rosa headquarters is slated for opening in mid-2022.

To streamline operations, BI consolidated its underutilized Sonoma, Healdsburg and Marin campuses. BI sold one of its two buildings that made up the Santa Rosa campus and reinvested the proceeds into redeveloping the remaining building, turning it into a post-secondary environment. Beyond addressing the necessary improvements to BI’s existing aging industrial space, a key project goal was to ensure the new flagship location paved the way for further services development. As a result, the flexible design can adapt to BI’s wide-ranging needs, both now and in the future. And, HGA ensured each part of the new headquarters is equipped with appropriate technology alongside air filtration systems to ensure health and safety.