January 15, 2014

Lakeside opens $22M athletics center

Photos courtesy of Lease Crutcher Lewis [enlarge]

Lease Crutcher Lewis built the 63,500-square-foot project in 10.5 months.

Lakeside School last week held a grand opening for the $22 million Paul G. Allen Athletics Center in north Seattle.

The 63,500-square-foot project was built on the site of the former Ackerley Athletics Center, in Lakeside's Upper School campus.

It has the Ackerley Gymnasium with seating for 800 and an NCAA regulation basketball court; the fieldhouse gymnasium with an additional full-sized basketball court; space for strength and cardio equipment; a mat room for wrestling practice; three classrooms rigged for audio-visual presentations; locker rooms; offices and meeting spaces; a lobby with event space; and increased storage.

General contractor Lease Crutcher Lewis was able to build the athletics center quickly at a cost of $16 million. The schedule was tight because Lakeside had no gym on its Upper School campus during construction.

“This would have been quite a comfortable 14- to 16-month schedule but we did it in 10 and a half months,” said Lewis project manager John Crichton in a release.

To fast-track construction, the team used lean approaches such as Last Planner scheduling, where every participant constantly looks for efficiencies and ways to accelerate tasks.

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A rooftop solar panel system can produce 16,500 kilowatt hours of electricity per year.

Get the Point laser scanning and Robotic Total Station allowed one layout person using a handheld device to instantly compare completed construction with the 3-D drawing grid. Scanning during installation of the roof trusses ensured accurate placement even while trusses were being bolted in, then another scan ensured that each span's flex was within tolerance.

Sustainability was also a big focus. The old gym floor was reused in the new mat room and main lobby stair area. Other reused materials are training room casework and furniture, cold and hot therapy tubs, and a rooftop condensing unit.

A rooftop solar panel system was installed that can produce 16,500 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. Its performance can be monitored by an interactive touchscreen that doubles as a teaching tool for students.

Photovoltaics were not originally planned, but were adopted after a student came up with the idea and a donor funded it.

The Seneca Group was the owner's representative.

LMN was the architect. The design team was: Coughlin Porter Lundeen (civil), Magnusson Klemencic Associates (structural), PAE (mechanical), Sparling (electrical), dark|light (lighting), and Karen Kiest|Landscape Architects.

Key subcontractors were: Northwest Construction (civil), PCI Democon (demolition), Fairweather Masonry, Yakima Steel (structural steel supplier), Corona Steel (steel erection), Cobra (roofing and siding), Herzog Glass, PCI (wallboard, framing, acoustic ceiling tile and insulation), Grund & Co. (painting), Nor-Pac Seating Co. (bleachers), Barclay Dean Architectural Products (athletic equipment), Pacific Earth Works (landscaping), NW Wind & Solar (solar system), Kone (elevator), Holmes Electric, Holaday-Parks (HVAC), Stirrett Johnsen (plumbing), Patriot Fire Protection (fire sprinklers), Western Hardwoods (athletic flooring), Flooring Solutions (polished concrete and epoxy floors), Division 9 Flooring (carpet and tile), North West Handling Systems (lockers), and MicroK12 (audio-visual systems).