Design-Build Institute Announces Annual Awards
The Design-Built Institute of America recently announced several of its 2012 national award winners, given to projects that successfully embrace the design-build principle of a construction management firm taking the lead on a project from day one and guiding it from the initial proposal through to completion. Three awards were given out in the health care facilities category and one emergency room expansion project won an award in the rehabilitation/renovation/restoration category.
The Warrior in Transition Barracks in Fort Carson, Colo., received a National Design-Build Award in the health care facilities category. The 96,400-square-foot, four-story facility was designed by Kansas firm, TranSystems, with Mortenson Construction, out of Minneapolis, serving as construction manager on the project. A warrior in transition barracks provides housing for soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered during active duty. The facility is specially designed to accommodate soldiers suffering from burns, behavioral health disorders, traumatic brain injury, loss of limb and visual or hearing impairment. The $28 million barracks will house 160 soldiers in 80 apartments, eight of which will be equipped to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The University of California at Irvine Medical Center Clinical Laboratory in Orange County, Calif., received the Design-Build Honor Award in the health care facilities category. The structure was designed by Carrier Johnson + Culture, of Orange County, with Hensel Phelps Construction Company, from Greeley Colo., serving as the construction manager. This regional reference lab has a cast-in-place concrete frame and envelope. A deep canopy provides cover for a glass and concrete stairwell and shade for the plaza and entryway below. The LEED Gold certified building features an added shelled fifth floor, and its laboratories are designed for spectacular views and to harvest natural light. The 48,000-square foot facility cost $49.5 million.
The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. received the Design-Build Merit Award in the health care facilities category. Dallas firm, HKS served as lead architect on the project with Clark/Balfour Beatty, A Joint Venture, serving as the construction manager. The project involved construction of the 560,000-square-foot America Building, the largest ambulatory building in the entire military health system, and the addition of the 165,000-square-foot Arrowhead Building to an existing hospital. The Arrowhead Building represents an expansion of the inpatient services. The project also included 450,000 square feet of renovations to the previously established facilities, with sizable improvements to infrastructure and traffic controls, featuring a 939-space, eight-story parking structure. The $826 million project earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Gold certification, going beyond the Navy’s basic requirement for LEED Silver. The facility was also named Project of the Year in the category of new construction, by the council’s Capital Region chapter.
The Sharp Chula Vista Emergency Room won a Design-Build Merit Award in the category of rehabilitation/renovation/restoration. This project was designed by Richard Yen & Associates out of San Diego, with Hensel Phelps Construction Company again serving as construction manager. The project involved a 10,000-square-foot renovation and expansion of the emergency department. The new modern layout features a larger waiting room, 19 treatment bays, four negative pressure treatment rooms, and a bronchoscopy and endoscopy suite. Additional modifications were also made to the entrance without expanding the construction timeline and the project added six more beds than the request for proposals originally asked for, while still finishing nine months ahead of schedule with minimal disruption of hospital operations during construction. Overall, the project doubled the structure’s capacity to 48 beds.
The awards for design excellence and best overall will be announced on November 8 at an awards dinner in New Orleans, La.