With portions of the design being delivered just in time for implementation, the team adopted a “designing-as-we-build” mindset. Designers and builders worked side by side—sometimes quite literally shoulder-to-shoulder in the field—to turn concepts into reality in real time.

Photo by Justin Tucker, Nine84 Agency, courtesy of Hoffman Construction

In addition to developing and building the design, the Hoffman-Jacobs-Intel team worked collaboratively with the city of Chandler to quickly turn design documents into physical action in the field. The team utilized shop drawings and bidder design elements to keep the city informed, enabling aggressive schedule execution in the field. The relationship was critical to the project’s success in constructing one of the most sophisticated chemically and technologically advanced facilities built to date.

Separating upper-level clean room areas from process system and equipment support areas is a 42-in.-thick cast-in-place floor system with thousands of 14-in.-dia penetrations for airflow, MEP and process system piping. These penetrations had to perfectly match the design and engineering models dimensionally and geometrically, as the final tool distribution piping was built off site during construction to the same dimensions.

To achieve this precision in the field, the project team developed a concrete form system comprised of a grid of circular-shaped penetrations. Nicknamed a “cheese” slab for its resemblance to Swiss cheese, the forming system was assembled, aligned and prepared off site. A special picking device was engineered and utilized to unload, align and set the slab’s forming modules and prefabricated rebar assemblies.

Photo by Justin Tucker, Nine84 Agency, courtesy of Hoffman Construction

Managing risk and coordinating safe construction activities for more than 7,000 craftworkers necessitated an innovative multi-faceted strategy, from bilingual training to a pioneering anti-collision system that coordinated the movement of more than 50 conventional and tower cranes working simultaneously.

While focused on creating a high-tech manufacturing facility, the project team also worked closely with wildlife specialists to safeguard several nearby bald eagle nests located on the Gila River Indian Community land—the inspiration for the nickname Project Eagle.

Thanks to the team’s strict non-disturbance measures, such as limiting noise-generating activities during the nesting season, four eaglets successfully fledged during construction and craftworkers proudly watched the eagles soar over the jobsite.