2025 Mountain States Best Projects
Best Higher Education/Research: Madera Cyber Innovation Center

Madera Cyber Innovation Center
Colorado Springs
BEST PROJECT
Submitted by Bryan Construction
Owner U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Lead Design Firm Clark Nexsen
General Contractor Bryan Construction
Civil Engineer Garver USA
Structural Engineer MGA Structural Engineers
MEP Engineer ME Engineers
Communications Engineering PK Electrical
Built to enhance higher education and research in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, this 48,000-sq-ft facility features 14 specialized laboratories and classrooms spread across four floors. The design-build project integrated multiple advanced technological amenities while complying with historic preservation standards and allowing for features such as a self-supporting sculptural staircase and complex systems integration.
Located on the edge of the Air Force Academy Cadet Area’s raised pedestal, the building was constructed as an extension to an existing parking garage. Slabs of solid granite were carefully removed from the adjacent structure for reuse, while the existing parking garage entrance was infilled to prepare the existing 20-ft-high retaining wall for construction activity.
To construct the steel structure, 2,200 individual moment welds were necessary to meet the building design to resist progressive collapse specifications—a unique Dept. of Defense requirement. Each weld underwent ultrasonic testing to ensure zero imperfections as well. Due to the high amount of welding and prolonged hot work activities, thousands of hot work permits were issued, contributing to zero fire incidents.
Photo courtesy U.S. Air Force Academy Association & Foundation
The Madera Center is designed to withstand 142-mph wind loads, and this was tested regularly throughout construction. The design specified a custom-engineered reusable weather enclosure system, which allowed interior work to proceed while fabrication was underway on the custom exterior structural glazing system.
Natural daylight now floods a majority of the building through the nearly all-glass facade.
However, due to the oversized and extremely heavy glazing panels on the third floor system—each panel spanning 7 ft by 13 ft and weighing 1,250 lb—the team constructed an onsite bridge crane to perform this work.
To install the sculptural staircase, a complex scaffold was designed to fit around the floating stair structure and adjacent construction while it twisted 39 ft though the unusually shaped opening, allowing crews to paint and finish the stair structure prior to turnover.


