The $38-million Globe Mills project in Sacramento transformed a long abandoned historic industrial site into a thriving residential community with 112 affordable senior apartments, 31 contemporary lofts and neighborhood-oriented commercial spaces. The transit-oriented, green and sustainable infill project succeeds through historic adaptive reuse and new construction in a public/private partnership. Related Links: Best of California 2009 The project consists of three multi-story buildings on a one-acre site and 24 six-story historic concrete silos. Two buildings are new construction and contain senior units, while the Mill Building was adapted from the former Flour/Cereal/Cleaning Mills to accommodate the loft-style apartment units. The
This $3.4-million project reconstructed the racetrack with a new track material called Tapeta, which was required by the California Horse Racing Board. It also included installation of an extensive drainage system. Related Links: Best of California 2009 Given the tight constraint of the schedule due to the racing season, the entire new track literally had to be built in three months, and both the owner and contractor team worked to achieve that goal. Tapeta is made up of sand, recycled rubber and plastics and wax and is being used more and more in the country’s race tracks. With the new
A church campus that serves thousands of parishioners received a needed expansion after the project team finished the Harvest Church expansion project. The $13.6-milllion Harvest Church expansion consists of a two-story, 24,997-sq-ft multipurpose building and a two-story, 52,426-sq-ft children’s ministry building. Related Links: Best of California 2009 The facilities were built to accommodate a growth in parishioners at Harvest Church. The multipurpose building will be used to house school staff and includes basketball courts, volleyball courts, bleachers and a multimedia system. The building also includes a youth center for teenagers and sanctuary overflow for church services. The children’s ministry building
The Henderson Community Building demonstrates that going green does not mean a project has to be complicated. Related Links: Best of California 2009 Seeking LEED gold certification, the community building relies on thermally-insulated concrete walls for its natural and green touch. The building, meant to house the city of Palm Desert’s Chamber of Commerce and other community groups, was designed to work with the desert’s warm temperatures. All wall surfaces and a majority of the ceiling surfaces are kept as natural concrete finish which required no paint and no drywall. All floor surfaces were polished concrete, which required no additional
Judges: • C. Keith Boswell, AIA, director, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP • Wendell Clark, business development director, J.D. Diffenbaugh • Simin Naaseh, SE, president & CEO, Forell/ Elsesser Engineers Inc. • Lori Reed, director of marketing and communications, American Institute of Architects, California Council • Kirsten Ritchie, associate principal/director of sustainable design, Gensler • David Rova, director of design, HMC Architects • Greg Stedman, regional vice president, KHS&S Contractors • Gwen Stone-Garis, vice president, National Association of Women in Construction, San Gabriel Valley Chapter #110 • Peter Tuma, vice president of construction, Taisei Construction • Phil Varni, district manager,
The project team that built the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics created a project that focuses on the stars not just within the classroom walls but with a design that leaves plenty of room for stargazing.
The Show is a more than a 2,000-seat theater built to serve as a showpiece of the Agua Caliente Casino. The $64-million, 91,000-sq-ft theater features multi-level seating, dressing rooms and management offices. A 10,000-sq-ft warehouse was built to support the hotel and casino operations. Related Links: Best of California 2009 The theater was designed to allow patrons to exit and enter the theater quickly. The circulation and way finding through four levels of seating is efficient, with exit times for a full event averaging around five minutes. The project team used a number of techniques to make the project succeed.
There’s no question that for the past year, the California Department of Transportation has played a major role in working to right the state’s construction employment downturn during the economic recession. Related Links: Best of California 2009 Caltrans’ positive relationship with contractors and its new stimulus leadership position has prompted the editorial staff of California Construction Magazine to name it the Owner of the Year 2009. When Randell Iwasaki took over as director of the department earlier this year, the beginnings of the Recovery Act funds were appearing nationally. Acting in consort with the governor’s office, California now leads the
This $105-million, phase one office tower project adds layers of mixed-use elements to the South San Francisco community, including an adjacent parking garage, 30,000 sq ft of office support and retail space, on-site child care facility and a performance and conference center as well as an off-site fire station and gymnasium. Related Links: Best of California 2009 The owner, architect and contractor worked previously together on a similar office tower project in San Francisco. This prior experience as a team provided an opportunity to draw on the insight gained from the past project to effectively and efficiently collaborate on the
The builders of the 46,000-sq-ft University of California, San Diego Conrad Prebys Music Center had a difficult challenge. How would they build a music center that would allow for concerts, but also minimize the noise in classrooms and offices throughout the building? Related Links: Best of California 2009 Constructed of architectural cast-in-place concrete and an exterior curtain wall system, the $46-million music center contains offices, classrooms, student recording suites, computer music labs, practice rooms, a flexible black box theatre, 150-seat lecture/recital hall, ensemble hall and a 400-seat concert hall. Because of the complexity of the project, the team decided early