May 31, 2018

Public Building
$5 million-$20 million

Photo provided by Absher Construction Co.

The roof of the Elson S. Floyd Cultural Center was built without straight lines or right angles.

Elson S. Floyd Cultural Center

Location: Pullman

This 16,000-square-foot facility was designed to celebrate the cultural diversity of the Washington State University campus and heritage of the land. The building not only celebrates diversity, but also honors the site as the native land of the Nez Perce Tribe.

Indoor and outdoor spaces blend seamlessly through transparent operable walls. The interior was designed similar to Native American pit houses sunk into the earth. The sunken living room serves as a central common gathering area, surrounded by four “knowledge rooms” above it that act as “cliffs” and open to each other and into the living room.

To create the organic shape of the cultural center, the team took inspiration from the longhouses and pit houses of the Nez Perce.

The roof was designed to mirror the rolling hills of the Palouse, which resulted in a completely radiused structural system — with no straight lines nor right angles. The curved roof utilized 32 glulam grids (84 curved beams) with zero repetition — every structural connection was different. Each beam had an average of three connections to a combination of structural steel, concrete walls or walls with blockouts.

The 7,000-pound curved glulam beams were created from a Port Orford cedar that was harvested in Oregon. Absher met with APA to validate that the glulam beams would not deteriorate.

Two-dimensional drawings could not detail the complexity of the compound curving beams. The entire project was designed and built through a 3-D model to ensure accuracy of fit before on-site construction.

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• GRAND AWARD CONSTRUCTION
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  Over $5 million
  
• Tenant Improvement
  Under $5 million
  
• Construction Manager: Safety
  Under 100,000 hours
  
• General contractor: Safety
  TIE: Under 250,000 hours
  
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• General Contractor: Safety
  250,000—350,000 hours
  
• General contractor: Safety
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• General contractor: Safety
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• Highway/Civil Contractor: Safety
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• Specialty Contractor: Safety
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• Specialty Contractor: Safety
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• Specialty Contractor: Safety
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• Culture of Care
  
• Superintendent of the Year
  
• Public Building
  Over $100 million
  
• Public Building
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• Public Building
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• GRAND AWARD SAFETY
  General contractor: Safety
  500,000-1 million hours
  
• Innovation
  
• AGC/Moss Adams Service to the Community Award
  
• Champion of Diversity
  
• Diverse Business of the Year
  
• Heavy/Industrial Under $5 million
  
• Heavy/Industrial
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• Heavy/Industrial
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• Private Building
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