Amputee Training Center Project Sets the Stage For Scholarships
Amputees from the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, patients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for the past year have been watching the progress of a new structure as it emerged from what used to be the hospital’s deeply sloped backyard. They are excited, anticipating the opening of the 31,000-sq-ft Military Advanced Training Center, which will help them resume productive lives.
What began as a shelved project three years ago quickly became a top priority for the government after severe criticism erupted over inadequate conditions for patients at Walter Reed. The $10.5-million project is designated a “temporary” facility because Walter Reed is scheduled to close in 2011 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Act, but no one is treating it as such. The state-of-the-art center, designed by Ellerbe Becket’s Washington, D.C., office, and built by Turner Construction Co.’s Arlington, Va., office under a design-build contract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is due to open later this month, two months ahead of schedule.