Schools and universities, hospitals and health care facilities, museums, cultural centers, and government buildings all need a construction team that can deliver the precision that brings these structures together.
Healthcare
LEED Silver for University of Florida’s Lake Nona Medical Center
Orlando, FL
Sustainability was a focus for the 3-floor, 200,000-square-foot hospital, which features 80 patient beds, 4 operating rooms, 20 emergency department bays, and administrative support spaces. The project team installed finely tuned sensors in addition to the building automation controls to allow the mechanical systems, pumps, fans, pressures, and air flow relationships to use the least amount of energy possible. Specification of renewable energy and energy-efficient equipment in the electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems also contributed to the facility’s LEED Silver designation.
Education
Andlinger Center—Bringing an Energy and Environmental Center to Princeton
Princeton, NJ
The building team delivered a new energy and environmental center consistent with the requirements of the esteemed Ivy League university. State-of-the-art laboratories for research and teaching were constructed with applications in the areas of energy and the environment. Rooftop laboratory activities were distinctive aspects of the new building, along with student organization spaces, meeting rooms, and faculty and staff offices.
Swarthmore College Gets a New Music Hall
Swarthmore, PA
Originally constructed in the 1970s, Presser Hall was a dark choral rehearsal room with tiered concrete seating and no windows. The building team removed the concrete, added a large window for natural light, and installed temporary tiered scaffolding in the auditorium to demolish the portion of the ceiling above the stage. While the permanently installed organ was being repaired, the team installed temporary HVAC units to maintain the correct temperature and humidity range for the sensitive instruments—a strategy that meant upon completion, musicians didn’t have to retune their instruments. In a time and money-saving measure, the team substituted a plan that required the piping for the HVAC replacement to go under the floors eliminating time consuming and risky exterior scaffolding with a solution that kept the piping above the floor, making it easier to maintain and access in the future and easier to install. The building was subsequently renamed to Lang Music Hall.
West-MEC Southwest Campus
Buckeye, AZ
Builders help bring a $50 million construction project, including site plan and infrastructure layout, to the Western Maricopa Education Center (West-MEC), enabling it to serve 650 students in 12 to 14 different programs, including secondary education, post-secondary education and industry training.
Arizona State University Biodesign Institute
Tempe, AZ
Bringing State-of-the-Art Science to Arizona The Institute is state of the art: it houses the world’s first compact free electron X-ray laser, a super X-ray that peers deep inside proteins to better understand both the action of molecules critical to cancer and other devastating diseases, and how plants convert sunlight into renewable energy. Builders delivered a 191,035-square-foot facility that will enable 80 lead researchers and 300 support staff to support ASU’s mission to further many types of scientific research.
Museum / Cultural
Going the Distance for the Philadelphia Art Museum
Philadelphia, PA
The building team went the extra mile—and then some—in renovations for the Philadelphia Art Museum’s Core Project, which added 35,828 square feet of new gallery space. Besides revisiting the original quarry in Minnesota to assure the new limestone matched color, pattern and features of the original, the team sent one of the building’s windows to the original manufacturer in Buffalo, New York, to make exact replicas for the expanded section.
Grace Farms—Blending into the Landscape
New Canaan, CT
Connecticut’s Grace Farms is a cultural and humanitarian center, owned and operated by a not-for-profit organization whose goal is to end modern slavery and gender-based violence and create more peace in local and global communities. Designed by Pritzker Prize winning SANAA, the expansive campus-like layout winds around the natural settings and fits into the landscape unobtrusively. The individual buildings are connected by a covered walkway supported by steel columns and wood trusses. Constructed of glass without vertical supports, and incorporating underground mechanical and geothermal systems, the buildings seem to disappear into nature.
Hospitality
Renovating the Fairmont Copley
Boston, MA
Builders completed a whirlwind four-month construction schedule at Boston’s iconic Fairmont Copley Hotel in time for the annual Boston Marathon. The renovation, which was the centerpiece of the hotel’s centennial anniversary celebration, encompassed the main lobby, 383 guestrooms, 18 suites, elevator lobbies on six floors and the Oak Room Bar and Restaurant. Construction activities were kept “out of sight, out of mind,” which made for a successful renovation for guests and owner alike.
Government
Police Department Headquarters
St. Petersburg, FL
St. Petersburg’s New Public Safety Campus integrates leading edge technology, communication, and AV systems, and was built to 195 mph wind design criteria. This building houses all essential police functions including property and evidence management, forensics, vice and narcotics property unit, investigative services, and the communications center which serves as the county’s backup 911 center, all within a secured perimeter fencing and access control system. Some 1,450 photo voltaic panels on the roof of the parking garage generate enough power to run the systems in the garage and one third of the building space.
Demolition: An Important Part of Construction
Bringing It Down
Sometimes demolition of a building is necessary. The building is too old or faulty to justify the cost of remodeling or renovation. The foundation is flawed. Plans have changed for optimum usage of the space. But effective demolition is more than just wielding a wrecking ball. The job calls for demolition specialists who will ensure that safety, environmental, and legislative standards are met. And they’ll have the right equipment, skills and experience to bring down the building successfully. Check out this video for some high-profile demolition jobs across the country.
