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MCA Winter Awards Ceremony Recognizes Schools for Excellence in Design

School News — Mon, 19 Feb 2018 14:00:57 +0000

By Rachel Leber

CHICAGO — The Metal Construction Association (MCA) in Chicago recognized eight building projects from across the country for their excellence during the MCA’s Winter Meeting held in San Diego, Jan. 22-24. Included in the eight categories were four school-related awards and recognitions for excellence in design.

Judged by a panel of architects, the MCA Chairman’s Awards include a criteria of overall appearance, significance of metal in the project, innovative use of metal and the role of metal in achieving project objectives. The eight categories included: overall excellence; residential; metal roofing; education — primary and secondary schools; education — colleges and universities; institutional; municipal; and commercial/industrial.

In the category of “Primary and Secondary Schools,” the Medicine Crow Middle School in Billings, Mont., won the category for the 121,000-square-foot building. Photo Credit: Lara Swimmer

The Iowa City-based University of Iowa’s Visual Arts Building took the prize in the category of “Overall Excellence” — the highest honor given, according to MCA. The Visual Arts Building — designed by architect Steven Holl — has an industrial aesthetic with 38,000 square feet of RHEINZINK-cladding and poured-in-place concrete walls.

The main entrances on the southwestern and southeastern sides of the building are covered in 1.5-millimeter perforated stainless-steel panels. The panels create a rainscreen system as well as bring natural light into the building through a series of scooped setbacks with 13,000 holes in a specific pattern in each of the stainless steel perforated panels. Curved RHEINZINK panels were also used on the building’s vegetative roof to clad large skylights.

In the category of “Primary and Secondary Schools,” the Medicine Crow Middle School in Billings, Mont., won the category for the 121,000-square-foot building, newly constructed for grades six, seven and eight, designed by Seattle-based Integrus Architecture and Billings-based A&E Architects.

The exterior of the school incorporates copper penny and dark bronze metal panels, which mimic the striation patterns in the sandstone that surrounds the school. In addition to creating a unique aesthetic, the metal wall panels are durable, and also meet sustainability and energy goals for the exterior envelope of the building. In addition, the linear metal panels serve to organize the school into classrooms as well as to define the procession to the entry of the building.

In the category of “Colleges and Universities,” the Whitcomb Art Center at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., took the prize. The environmentally friendly, energy-efficient building was designed with the goal of future LEED certification. A sawtooth metal roof includes skylights that fill the second-floor studio spaces with evenly dispersed natural lighting throughout the year.

The roof systems use conventional construction with metal panels along with other wall areas using reclaimed material. Skylights and large framed openings for glass allow light with shading techniques for energy savings. Using a metal building allowed the design team to create a transition from the east end of the campus to the industrial district in Galesburg, with exposed metal being important to the overall effect, according to Texas-based Lake-Flato Architects Inc., the building’s architect.

Finally, the Mooseheart School in Mooseheart, Ill. — designed by Hestrup and Associates Architects of St. Charles, Ill. — won in the category of “Metal Roofing.” The architect used metal throughout the design to “create unity” among the buildings, with neutral colors chosen for the metal panels that blend with the brick and stone on the structure. In addition to the design aesthetic, metal was chosen for its durability and longevity.

“In this particular case, the roof was integral to the design,” said MCA judge Mark Horton, FAIA, and principal at Mark Horton Architecture in San Francisco. “It wasn’t just a roof — but a roof that was used to express a design.”

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Midwest Construction Report and Bids to Watch

Beginning in the March/April print edition of School Construction News, subscribers will see a new section: The School Construction News Construction Report. Originally an online-only publication, the Construction Report is now featured weekly on the magazine’s Twitter account and in each print edition. It will showcase both active bids and projects to watch from across the country, giving readers an inside track on important upcoming projects. Here is a sample of what to expect in School Construction News’ newest regular section. For more bids and information, check out the March/April 2016 issue of School Construction News, available soon.

School Construction News Construction Report:

The University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee will seek bids beginning April 7 for the renovation and modernization of existing classroom and lecture halls. Work will include general construction, HVAC, fire protection and electrical construction in four separate halls. Construction on Cunningham Hall will focus on reconfiguring two existing general spaces, new mediated classrooms and adjacent office space. Mitchell Hall construction will include removing concrete risers and seating from two existing general classrooms and reconfiguring the space with moveable tables and chairs. Construction on Bolton Hall will include reconfiguring four existing general classrooms into two 60-seat mediated classrooms. Construction on the fourth hall, yet unnamed, will include providing technology, finishes and furnishing upgrades. For additional information, visit the Wisconsin Department of Administration website.

Bid Package No. 2 documents will soon be available through New Cloquet School District No. 94 in Cloquet, Minn. A pre-bid conference will be held April 28 at 2:00 p.m. at the Cloquet Senior High School Auditorium at 1000 18th Street in Cloquet. Bid documents will be made available on April 25. The owner will construct a new 142,123-square-foot middle school on the south side of the existing high school site. The project will require site clearing, new site utilities, concrete, precast, waterproofing, rough and finish carpentry, roofing, aluminum windows, doors and storefronts, metal studs and drywall, interior finishes, a new pool, fire protection, mechanical systems, electrical systems, security and fire alarm systems, new parking lot/drives/sidewalks and site restoration. The project’s construction manager is Kraus-Anderson Construction Company of Duluth, Minn. The architect is ARY of St. Louis Park, Minn. Questions regarding the pre-bid conference can be directed to Deb Coffman, project assistant with Kraus-Anderson Construction Company, at deb.coffman@krausanderson.com.

East Aurora School District 131 in Chicago has proposed nearly $70 million in construction work throughout the district’s middle and high schools. The plan would add an additional 20 classrooms, a fine arts wing and a relocated and renovated cafeteria and kitchen to East Aurora High School. The school’s library, locker rooms, hallways and science rooms would also be renovated. The proposal includes a budget of $11 million in HVAC and roofing at Cowherd, Simmons and Waldo Middle Schools as well as $7 million in facility work at the high school. Construction on the high school stadium is also part of the proposal and is estimated at approximately $5 million. Construction on the high school additions and stadium could begin as early as this summer, according to the Chicago Tribune. For more information, refer to page 139 of the Illinois State Board of Education’s Feb. 10 meeting notes.

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Collaboration Key at New U of W Research Center

MADISON, Wis. — Officials from the newly-opened Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and Morgridge Institute for Research describe the new structure as very transparent.

“You can basically see through it — you can’t hide in it,” said Janet Kelley, communications director for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the organization funding part of the new public-private twin buildings on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

The transparency is intended on both a structural and operational level. The facility was designed to encourage interaction and collaboration among different disciplines — the goal of the three groups that brought the project together.

The idea for the twin institutes was first proposed by former Gov. Jim Doyle about six years ago and “taken up with great enthusiasm” by alumni John and Tasha Morgridge, who donated the initial $50 million to kick it off, Kelley said.

Construction on the five-story, 300,000 square-foot project began three years ago in an effort to ensure that the city of Madison and the university stay at the forefront of research worldwide, she said.

The building, which cost a total of $150 million to build and an additional $60 million for laboratory fit-outs, equipment and support, uses 50 percent less energy and water than a typical lab building on campus, according to the university.

This is the first research facility on the UW-Madison campus with a geothermal heating system and the first designed to achieve LEED Silver certification for green building practices, the school reports. Building features include solar panels on the roof and pumps that recover water to irrigate the plants.

“This facility is unique, it does not belong to a particular department or discipline, it’s not a home to any department on campus,” Kelley said. “The scientists who were selected and who want to work there really want to — and see the importance of — working together.”

Employees are still in the process of moving in, but the building will have space for 400 employees, she said.

The Institutes are designed primarily for research rather than for traditional classes, but will include embedded teaching labs designed exactly like the research labs for instruction and research, Kelley said.

“We sent teams all around the country and some places overseas to look at facilities that supposedly had been built with similar goals in mind,” said John Wiley, interim director at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. “It is designed to facilitate interdisciplinary cooperation and accidental meetings amongst investigators that normally wouldn’t meet.”

The teams studied up to a dozen different buildings and gave their notes to the architects based on questions they had asked at those facilities, he said.

“We asked, what are the things you did that worked out really well? What are the things you thought were good ideas that didn’t work out well? What would you do differently if you were starting over and building it again?,” Wiley said. “We gave the notes to the architects and said, we want you to do the things that work, and avoid mistakes other groups have made.”

In contrast to other research buildings on campus, the building was purposely built without long hallways. Instead, areas called “draws” were constructed and that are meant to draw people together, Kelley said. The draws include a small kitchen, photocopier and supplies out in the open instead of tucked away in a dark room.

“People will come out and mingle,” she said. “That is the way some of the best partnerships are formed.”

There are no permanent walls of any kind in the building — instead, glass walls allow passersby to see into the module from the outside, according to Wiley.

The facility has wide, open labs, with utilities that come down from the ceiling and benches that can be moved around, he said.

Wiley said the spaces can be reconfigured very inexpensively — a breakthrough for a research facility.

“One of the biggest frustrations is when something needs changing, it takes up to a year,” said Wiley, who has overseen many research programs in his 35 years of experience. “Moving some electrical service, tearing out a wall, or putting in a wall to make one room into two – these require major construction projects that have to get approval and have drawings made.”

Wiley said the ability to move things around easily saves both time and money.

The wings of the building revolve around three towers, each with four stories above ground and one below.

The first above-ground floor features the Town Center, where scientists and the public can gather to showcase research and accelerate the movement of scientific discoveries from the lab to marketplace, the school said.

The Town Center includes a restaurant, coffee and pastry shop and a soda fountain, as well as rooms for meetings and outreach events and a round forum in the middle. Specialty laboratories that require more complex utilities and high ceilings are also on the first floor.

Floors two through four house research laboratories, with a research workspace dedicated to the private Morgridge Institute, a research workspace for the public Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and a joint integrated area.

The lower level and floors two through four each have two kitchenettes that researchers can use for coffee breaks or for celebrations, said Wiley.

The second floor includes a private dining room intended for researchers to get together over lunch or for catered events in the evening.

The research labs are insulated by two atria on the sides of the building, designed to block out traffic noise, provide natural lighting from skylights and draw people in.

“We want the building to be approachable from any side and very open, so the public can see what’s going on inside,” said Craig Spangler, principal at Ballinger and design lead on the project.

With an exterior made of terra cotta and glass, the main entrance of the 360-degree building is distinguished by large stones for seating and bicycle parking, according to the school.

The design aimed to connect communities at various different levels — research teams, the public and private institute, and the community at large, Spangler said.

The building also features “communicating stairs,” which are more open and wider and have room at the landings to “pause for conversation,” smart boards and flat screens, and labs designed to be adaptable to wet or dry research needs, according to the school.

Spangler said that a very important part of the project was making sure everyone was on the same page.

“This was very much about inventing a new environment,” Spangler said. “Any time you’re changing a foundation or culture that people are used to, you’re touching a lot of challenging issues — taking what people are used to, then changing that.”

Spangler said that fortunately, an in-depth benchmarking process took place during the design phase, with contributions from the academic community.

The institute is two-thirds privately-owned and one-third publicly-owned, which Kelley said offers the best of a really great public university but the agility and ability to act in a faster and more decisive manner for things like hiring, starting partnerships, or reacting to new changes in science and technology.

The private and public sector intend to work together to address critical challenges in fields ranging from virology and medical devices to the design of living spaces that accommodate home health care needs, according to the school.

The institutes are home to some world-class scientists, including James Thomson, who was the first to isolate and grow human embryonic stem cells in 1998 and reprogrammed adult skins cells to a pluripotent state in 2007. Thomson serves as director of regenerative biology at the Morgridge Institute for Research.

The firm was designed by Philadelphia-based architecture and engineering firm Ballinger, with the contracting by Findorff-Mortenson, a joint venture of J.H. Findorff & Son Inc. of Madison, and M.A. Mortenson Company of Minneapolis.

“Already, the paths of the 12 scientists affiliated with the two institutes have crossed, sparking meaningful collaborations in virology and systems biology, medical devices and tissue engineering,’’ said John Morgridge, chairman emeritus of Cisco Systems.

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