The city of Austin’s 51st Street Elevated Reclaimed Water Storage Tank is the industry’s first “green” elevated water storage tank. Photo: Bphoto Paul Bardagjy Related Links: Best of 2010 Awards In addition to its primary function of providing pressure and peak demand regulation for the water system, the 2-million-gallon tank features a unique aesthetic design that integrates with the surrounding community while incorporating solar power generation and rainwater collection to further contribute to overall sustainability. The project broke new ground with a unique design solution, and it was delivered within budget and timeline requirements with community support and cost-effective construction
The Western Heritage Parking Garage is a unique, seven-story, 416,080-sq-ft parking structure designed to blend into the nearby landscape and architecture and reflect the cowboy heritage of Fort Worth. Related Links: Best of 2010 Awards Unique aspects include large mosaic-tile murals, atriums that take advantage of daylighting and architectural elements that echo the design of nearby buildings. The city’s strict guidelines regulated some of garage’s design and required consideration to be given to the parking garage concept. The city of Fort Worth had defined from the beginning that it did not want to mechanically ventilate the garage. Therefore, the fa�ade
The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, the “jewel” in Dallas’ newly named AT&T Performing Arts Center, seats 2,200 and is designed to accommodate opera, musical theater, ballet and other dance forms. Photo: John W. Davis, DVD Design Group Inc, Related Links: Best of 2010 Awards Located on a five-acre site with landscaped plazas and a reflecting pool, the 220,000-sq-ft building is located in the heart of the Dallas arts district and is a monument to innovative and challenging construction. Delivered on time and on budget, the aesthetically dramatic and acoustically precise space fully serves its complex function while making
One of the first challenges encountered in the construction of Pearland’s first public recreation center and swimming facility was dealing with extremely wet subsoil conditions, primarily due to the area’s low elevation. Related Links: Best of 2010 Awards Pearland, which lies within the Houston/Sugar Land/Baytown metropolitan area, is located in the northern portion of the Gulf coastal plain, a 40- to 50-mi swath along the Texas Gulf Coast. With a great deal of meetings and cooperative planning among general contractor, EMJ Corp., the structural and soil engineers, and others on the project team, a solution was found that fit the
Despite complexities faced during building and renovation at Richland High School, the project finished early. Photo: Randal Vanderveer Related Links: Best of 2010 Awards Renovations encompassed more than 450,000 sq ft and involved the complete demolition or gutting of every building on the school’s campus. Facilities included offices, classrooms, a science wing, cafeteria, auditorium, band hall, choir hall, library, gymnasium, agriculture building, ROTC space and common areas. To keep personnel and students safe, general contractor Adolfson & Peterson built emergency egress corridors. With entrance points at existing exit doors leading to parking lots, the corridors had to pass directly through
With a construction timeline of nearly six years, the Roosevelt High School Replacement Campus was the longest duration job to date for Joeris, the job’s construction manager. Photo: Joeris Related Links: Best of 2010 Awards The 465,000-sq-ft job was an entire campus rebuild done while the existing school remained fully operational. The campus underwent a complete inversion of its previous layout, from a central core of buildings surrounded by open space to a large central courtyard surrounded by new buildings. Work included 11 bid packages, from three bond programs. New facilities include science labs, art rooms, music halls and practice
Cedar Ridge High School is the Round Rock Independent School District’s fifth high school and the largest building under one roof in the city of Round Rock. Photo: Jim Lincoln Related Links: Best of 2010 Awards The 375,000-sq-ft, two-story, tilt-up concrete building’s systems include structural steel and tiltwall interior framing, slab-on-grade with footings and drilled piers, exterior metal panels and architectural flyovers. The entrance floors are terrazzo with 10-ft-diameter school logos laid in the design. The school includes grades nine through 12, including seven career and tech academies. Other space includes fine art and performing art classrooms, black-box theater, media
C.D. Henderson Construction Group, the general contractor for the Southwest Airlines General Use Building, trained a number of its employees to be Green Advantage certified or a LEED-accredited professional in anticipation of construction of the airline’s first LEED project. Photo: Brent Combs Related Links: Best of 2010 Awards The 55,000-sq-ft industrial building is divided roughly into thirds and includes a cargo area for bulk air-freight shipping, a provisioning area for the onboard food and beverage service and a ground-support equipment area to serve all non-flying equipment for the airline. The building was the first project to kick off a major
The new 44-story Spring condominium tower is Austin’s first “point tower,” a design concept that lends itself to far-reaching views and offers a tremendous amount of space efficiency. Photo: Park Street Photography Related Links: Best of 2010 Awards Its slender design allows for glass-walled living rooms and bedrooms in each unit that overlooks the city. The concrete-frame building has HVAC ducts embedded inside 7.5-in.thick post-tension concrete slabs. There are no interior columns. The 249-unit tower also includes a seven-story garage with two underground and five above-ground levels of parking and approximately 10,000 sq ft of ground-level commercial/retail space wrapping the
At 115,000 sq ft, the Tellepsen Family Downtown YMCA is the flagship facility of the YMCA of Greater Houston. Photo: Thomas Mcconnell Photography Related Links: Best of 2010 Awards Four generations of the Tellepsen family have served on YMCA boards. The project is seeking LEED silver and may receive LEED gold. Innovations incorporated into the facility include an in-slab electrical system for strength/cardio equipment to prevent cords from being seen and becoming a trip/safety hazard. It also includes metal mesh ceilings to increase airflow and reduce humidity, polished concrete floors in public corridors and a glass wall at the main
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