Submitted by Harper Construction

This is a design-build project for two new Bachelor Enlisted Quarters and an Enlisted Dining Facility to support personnel of the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

The BEQs were designed to house up to 600 personnel in 300-room modules configured in the traditional 2+0 layout, which places two Marines in each room.

The EDF was designed as a modern, state-of-the-art cafeteria-style dining facility for regular meals, short-order meals and fast food -service to support up to 2,200 personnel. The $48.7-million project also included one single-story Activity Building.

Teamwork was the embodiment of this project that incorporated the Marine Corps’ “Best of Breed” initiative to provide a greatly enhanced quality of life for the Marines and increase moral of the personnel living and working in the facilities.

A key element of this approach is to provide a comfortable atmosphere through a variety of methods, including the enhanced design quality of living spaces; emphasis on establishing a community environment; the selection of an interior design scheme that focuses on color, art and texture; and furniture that is fully integrated into the selected color/texture scheme.

Most critical in the design was the collocation of the dining facility and two BEQs on a single compact site, which required an innovative site layout to comply with the area’s master pan while allowing for adequate pedestrian circulation.

A major obstacle for the commencement of construction was the possible relocation of a major telecommunications trunk line that dissected the site. Seeing as the telecommunications line served as the link between the command and the field, the line could not have just been simply rerouted. The general contractor and the government team worked together and developed a building layout that straddled the existing telecommunications line. This design allowed the line to remain in place with no disruption during construction.

Project Team

Developer/Owner: Department of the Navy, NAVFAC Southwest, Camp Pendleton
General Contractor: Harper Construction Co. Inc., San Diego
Architect: Cass / Sowatsky / Chapman + Associates, San Diego
Civil Engineer: Calibre Engineering, Littleton
Structural Engineer: SMR-ISD Consulting Structural Engineers Inc., San Diego
M/P Engineer: Stueven Engineering, Escondido
Electrical Engineer: ILA-Zammit Engineering, San Diego