November 13, 2019

3 local design-build projects in the national spotlight

Photo from HOK [enlarge]

At Concourse D Annex, the design-build team had to redesign the building’s foundation due to unstable soils.

Three western Washington projects won national awards last week at the Design-Build Institute of America conference and expo in Las Vegas.

Local winners of 2019 Design-Build Project/Team Awards were: Sea-Tac Airport Concourse D Annex (Aviation category), Mud Mountain Dam (Federal/State/County/Municipal) and International Software Developer Buildings (Best in Design — Architecture).

Concourse D Annex is a 32,400-square-foot building with six gate waiting areas, concessions, charging stations and restrooms. It also has a mezzanine of over 7,000 square feet.

A news release from DBIA says this project benefited from design-build when the team had to redesign the building's foundation due to unstable soils encountered while footing excavation and formwork operations were underway. The $25.75 million project was finished on schedule (12 months) with no safety incidents.

Here's the project's design-build team: Port of Seattle, owner; The Walsh Group, design-build firm, general contractor and project manager; HOK, architect; and Lund Opsahl, engineer.

Work at Mud Mountain Dam in Enumclaw involved re-armoring the dam's 9-foot-diameter tunnel that is used to flush sediment known as bedload. Here, the team developed an alternative design to line the 1,900-foot-long, horseshoe-shaped tunnel with granite block instead of steel. This extended the life of the tunnel, reduced safety risk and helped the project finish $400,000 under budget and in 22 months — a year ahead of schedule.

Project cost was $8.52 million.

Here's the project's design-build team: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Seattle District), owner; Garney Construction, design-build firm, general contractor and project manager; and ILF Consultants, engineer.

In Redmond, the International Software Developer Buildings project consisted of two concurrent 180,000-square-foot tenant improvements in adjacent buildings. Two atriums were added to one building and three to the other. These new spaces have collaborative areas, conference rooms, kitchenettes, workspace “neighborhoods” and breakout areas.

Exterior improvements included new paint, underground waterproofing and re-seaming the roofs.

The news release says design-build allowed this project to be completed in six months and in phases, minimizing the impact to people in the building.

Here's the project's design-build team: Microsoft, owner; Howard S. Wright, a Balfour Beatty company, general contractor and project manager; B+H Architects, architect; Swenson Say Faget, engineer; and PSF Mechanical, specialty contractor.

DBIA's Project of the Year for 2019 was the Sharp Chula Vista Ocean View Tower in California.

“Design-build continues to deliver impressive results on projects of all types and sizes in communities throughout the nation. One look at this year's national DBIA award winners shows why design-build is the fastest growing and most popular delivery method in America,” said Lisa Washington, DBIA executive director/CEO, in a statement.

DBIA is a Washington, D.C.-based association representing architects, engineers, owners, contractors and manufacturers.