International Terminal D
Submitted by: DFW Airport
Location: DFW Airport
Key Players:
Owner: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Construction Manager at Risk: Austin Commercial Inc., Dallas
Design Architect: HKS Inc., Dallas
Architect of Record: Corgan Associates Inc., Dallas
Lead Design Architect: HNTB Cos., Kansas City, Mo.
Parking Garage Architect of Record: Gresham Smith and Partners, Dallas
Structural Engineer: L.A. Fuess Partners Inc., Dallas
Civil Engineers: Carter & Burgess Inc., Fort Worth, and LOPEZGARCIA GROUP, Dallas
MEP Engineers: Friberg Associates Inc., Fort Worth, and Blum Consulting Engineers Inc., Dallas.

A design-build project, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Ambulatory Clinical Building, totaling 781,700 gross sq. ft., was designed as the "signature" building on M.D. Anderson's site, housing cutting-edge technologies within an environment of spacious lounges and rooftop gardens utilizing natural lighting..

The building's lower five floors are built from 130,000 cu. yds. of cast-in-place concrete, while the upper seven floors are structural steel. The team decided to transition between the two materials after examining ways to optimize the grid for a parking garage and a first-class health-care building. .

To meet M.D. Anderson's aggressive schedule, the team elected to transfer the load from concrete to steel on level two, as the building would be speedier to erect using structural steel. Level two now features large concrete transfer girders to accommodate the larger column spacing in the underground parking garage.

Health Care
Baylor Medical Center at Irving Medical Office Building and Educational Conference Center
Submitted by: MEDCO Construction, Dallas
Location: Irving
Key Players:
Owner: Healthcare Realty Trust, Nashville, and Baylor Health Care System, Irving
General Contractor: MEDCO Construction
Architect: PageSoutherlandPage, Dallas.

.

Baylor Medical Office Building II is a 127,000-sq.-ft. office building intended to house medical practices of varying sizes and create an atmosphere where education is a driving force. .

The new five-story facility features a wireless network, wiring to support the latest technology, a conference center with seating for up to 300 people, self-contained kitchen, sky bridge, after-hours card key access system and space for a variety of medical practice. .

One highlight of the facility is the education center, a large conference room that can be converted into two, three or four smaller rooms. The closets, on two sides of this room, contain walls that slide on rails to convert the area into smaller rooms..

Sensors located along each rail electronically notify the lighting system as to whether the room has been divided and allow each individual room to control its lighting. .

The conference center contains a wireless network that allows computers and projectors to function without cables. It features a self-contained kitchen area so Baylor employees don't have to prepare food offsite.

Health Care
Baylor Radiosurgery Center, Gamma Knife and CyberKnife
Submitted by: MEDCO Construction, Dallas
Location: Dallas
Key Players:
Owner: Baylor Health Care System
General Contractor: MEDCO Construction
Architect: Henningson, Durham, and Richardson, Dallas.

The 2,500-sq.-ft. Gamma Knife/CyberKnife project includes patient rooms, teaching room, waiting areas, a staff conference room and two large vault-type rooms for the Gamma Knife and CyberKnife.

advertisement

The type of technology involved with the Gamma Knife and CyberKnife is revolutionary. The Gamma Knife consists of a hollow helmet-shaped half-sphere of metal, perforated by 201 holes that all point to the center of the sphere. .

By positioning the patient's head so the tumor lies in the sphere's center, a large dose of radiation can be given to the tumor while sparing the surrounding tissue. Because the patient's head must be placed precisely within the sphere a metal frame is mounted to the skull. .

CyberKnife is slightly different from the Gamma Knife; no head frame is required. Instead a robotic device guides a linear accelerator around the patient, stopping periodically to deliver one beam at a time. The CyberKnife's advantage is its potential for treatment of tumors throughout the body. Physicians are investigating the use of this treatment for tumors located in the lungs, liver, kidney, pancreas, prostate and breast.

Health Care
Hybrid Operating Room Suites
Submitted by: Linbeck Group LLP, Houston
Location: Houston
Key Players:
Owner: St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
General Contractor: Linbeck Group LLP
Architect: RTKL Associates, Dallas
MEP Engineer: SSR Engineers, Houston.

The Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston is the third health-care facility in the United States to construct hybrid operating suites. These rooms are extremely complex in both function and appearance. .

The hybrid procedure is an innovative approach to treating coronary artery disease. It allows minimally invasive heart-bypass surgery and angioplasty in the same operation. Although these two procedures are not new, combining them into one surgical procedure is. .

A hybrid operating procedure requires the participation of 12 to14 health-care professionals. To maximize space and to enhance staff safety while performing their jobs, the only item that connects to the floor is the base of the surgical table. All other equipment is suspended from the ceiling. The exception is a three-part robot, used for telesurgery, in which a surgeon manipulates the robot to perform surgery from a remote location..

Once the parameters for the suites were set, the team began the process of reconfiguring the space. Since the suites are located in the hospital's heart institute, extreme care was essential to safeguard the sterility of the environment.

Health Care
University of Texas Southwestern, Medical Center Phase IV
Submitted by: Austin Commercial LP, Dallas
Location: Dallas
Key Players:
Owner: University of Texas System, Austin
Contraction Manager at Risk: Austin Commercial LP
Architect: Omniplan Inc., Dallas.

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center is a recognized leader in studying and developing treatments for diseases such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and problematic cholesterol..

With the completion of the phase four campus expansion, UT Southwestern added approximately 1 million sq. ft. to its current biomedical research facilities, allowing the incorporation of fields such as neurology, pharmacology, biochemistry, histology, DNA sequencing and developmental biology into its research curriculum. .

UT Southwestern is also a teaching facility for approximately 3,500 medical, graduate and allied health students, residents and postdoctoral fellows each year. .

The new phase four biomedical facility encompasses a total of 760,000 sq. ft. of new facilities, including a 16-story, 558,000-sq.-ft. research tower with underground parking; 372,000-sq.-ft. interstitial research support building parking structure with a landscaped plaza; expansion of the existing thermal energy plant; and site and utility infrastructure..

The faculty dining area contains a full kitchen and dining area with the capacity to serve 208 people. There also is an elegant, 154-seat executive dining area. .

The conference center features a 60-person conference room as well as three, 20-person conference rooms.

Higher Education/Research
Harte Research Institute, TAMU
Submitted by: Zachry Construction Corp., San Antonio
Location: Corpus Christi
Key Players:
Owner: Texas A&M University
General Contractor: Zachry Construction Corp. and Centex Construction, Dallas
Architect: Richter Architects, Corpus Christi, in association with Watkins Hamilton Ross Architects, Houston
Civil Engineer: MEI Govind Inc., Corpus Christi
Structural Engineer: Walter P. Moore Engineers + Consultants, Houston.

The Harte Research Institute Building is a $13.36 million, three-story scientific research and teaching facility. Scientists from Cuba, Mexico and the United States will use the facility as a place to study the Gulf of Mexico, part of a collaborative effort to ensure its long-term use and conservation.

Zachry/ Centex's work on the HRI included construction of research and teaching laboratories for marine biochemistry, environmental geochemistry and fisheries and aquaculture specialties.

Facilities include a seawater lab, wet and dry research labs, shell space for future labs, a GIS computing lab and shared laboratory support areas. The building houses administrative offices and a conference center.

Curtain walls offer a view of the Corpus Christi Bay. The building was designed with windows that face north and south, which helps deflect heat from the sun. Masonry walls make up the uniquely curved walls of the staircase and conference center.

Each of the seven warped walls was constructed using reinforcing steel and fully grouted cells in 12-in. block, concrete masonry units. This served as a backup to the corbelled brick veneer.

Industrial
Beaumont Cogeneration Project
Submitted by: Zachry Construction Corp., San Antonio
Location: Beaumont
Key Players:
Owner: ExxonMobil Corp., Beaumont
General Contractor: Zachry Construction Corp. as part of Jefferson County Power Partners, San Antonio
Civil and Structural Engineer: Black and Veatch, Overland Park, Kan.

.

ExxonMobil Oil Corp. selected Jefferson County Power Partners, a joint venture between Black & Veatch and Zachry Construction Corp., to provide complete engineering, procuring and constructing services for the Beaumont Cogeneration Facility.

The Beaumont Cogeneration Power Project was constructed over a two-year period on a piece of property located less than 500 ft. from neighborhood homes and families.

ExxonMobil acquired the land from the city and had it de-annexed. Jefferson County Power Partners and ExxonMobil worked together to balance the construction aspects of this project with the local community's concerns. By hosting regular information-sharing meetings with the neighborhood, ExxonMobil and JCPP were able to mitigate the project's impact on residents' daily lives.

The facility is a multiple-unit combustion turbine and heat recovery steam generator facility that provides 480 MW of electricity and 1,500 psig steam production. The plant uses a 3X3X0 configuration that incorporates three General Electric 7FA combustion turbines and three Nooter/Eriksen HRSGs.

The units are single-fuel, natural-gas-fired and the HRSGs include selective catalytic reduction for emissions control. Commercial operation is planned for mid-2006.

K-12
Rutledge Elementary
Submitted by: American Constructors LP, Austin
Location: Leander
Key Players:
Owner: Leander Independent School District
Construction Manager: American Constructors LP, Austin
Architect: Tew Associates, Austin
Civil Engineer: PBS&J, Austin
Structural Engineer: L.M. Swayze Engineers, Austin
MEP Engineer: MEP Engineering Inc., Austin.

Leander ISD wanted to provide a new elementary school for the fast-growing Austin suburb that would be energy efficient, highly resistant to mold, have a minimum 50-year durability and express the style and stature of the existing structures in the district.

American Constructors and architect Tew Associates traveled to Florida, North Carolina and Ontario, Canada, to find the right solution: site-precast tiltup wall panels with integral-composite insulation and thin brick veneer.

The handsome building resembles masonry construction but is made of thin brick cast directly into the tiltup wall panels utilizing the Versa Liner system provided by Innovative Brick of Louisville, Colo.

The school evokes the images desired by the school district: strength and durability with a modern look that connects to the values of the past.

The exterior tiltup wall panels also feature 2-in.-thick expanded polystyrene insulation integrally cast into the panels using the Thermomass System by Composite Technologies of Boone, Iowa. A key benefit of the system is the elimination of cavity wall construction that can contribute to the growth of mold in buildings.

Private Building
Federal Reserve Bank
Submitted by: Linbeck Group LLP, Houston
Location: Houston
Key Players:
Owner: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Houston Branch
Construction Manager/Builder: Linbeck Construction Group LLC
Architect: Michael Graves & Associates
Structural Engineer: Walter P. Moore Engineers + Consultants, Houston.

.

The Houston Branch Building Project is a 297,000-sq.-ft. facility with a total of seven separate building structures intended to be a 50-year-plus facility.

The Houston Branch Building Project is the first Federal Reserve Bank facility constructed under the new Federal Reserve System Facility & Security Guidelines issued after Sept. 11.

The project served as the first installation of many new, upgraded design and construction features to thwart the threat of terrorism. The nature of the bank's operations obviously requires a sophisticated building and site security system, utilizing the latest technology in all components and individual systems.

One of the core functions of the Federal Reserve Bank is the processing and storage of currency and coin for local banks. The Houston Branch Building Project included construction of the second-largest currency vault in the Federal Reserve Bank system, with inside clear dimensions of 58 ft. wide, 166 ft. long and 67 ft. high.

The vault floor/foundation consists of a 36-in.-thick concrete mat, and the vault walls and roof are thick heavily reinforced cast-in-place concrete.

All concrete building structures on the campus were built entirely with crews from Linbeck, including concrete formwork, reinforcing steel placement and concrete placement and finishing.

Public Building
METRO Downtown Transit, Center and Admin Building, Houston
Submitted by: Manhattan Construction Co., Houston
Location: Houston
Key Players:
Owner: Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority
General Contractor: Manhattan Construction Co.
Architect: PGAL Architects, Houston
Engineering Consultants: Walter P. Moore Engineers + Consultants, Houston
MEP Engineer: I.A. Naman + Associates Inc. Consulting Engineers, Houston.

The new Metropolitan Transit Authority Administration Building is a 14-story office building that houses METRO administrative offices and also provides an important transit center function for METRO customers who are transitioning between bus and light rail service.

The new METRO building anchors the development of a full city block in the heart of downtown Houston.

Construction includes a poured-in-place pan slab concrete structure with post-tension girders, architectural precast with punched windows on two sides and glass curtain-wall cladding on two sides.

The new home for METRO also includes a nine-bay covered bus transit center with a vaulted, standing-seam metal roof and curved glass skylights. Overall, the administration building project size totals 395,000 gross sq. ft., and the transit center represents 25,000 sq. ft.

Interior finishes include a ground-floor lobby area that is open to the second floor, with finishes that include Gascogne Blue limestone walls and terrazzo flooring. The second floor lobby provides access to the 3,500-sq.-ft. boardroom that comfortably seats 150.

Renovation/Restoration
Cathedral Guadalupe Tower and Steeple
Submitted by: Andres Construction Services, Dallas
Location: Dallas
Key Players:
Owner: Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas
General Contractor: Andres Construction Services
Architect: ArchiTexas, Dallas
Engineer: Jaster-Quintanilla, Dallas.

Designed by renowned Texas architect Nicholas Clayton, the cathedral was dedicated on October 26, 1902, as the Sacred Heart Cathedral. It is one of the last remaining examples in Dallas of the High Victorian Gothic style.

In 1975 the cathedral combined its congregation with that of the former Guadalupe church of Dallas, and in 1977 it became the Cathedral Shine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The bell tower/ steeple construction renovation is part of a master plan to restore and renovate the cathedral for its role in modern-day Dallas while respecting the structure's history and architecture.

The 225-ft. bell tower was part of Clayton's original design, but because of lack of financial resources at the turn of the century the Cathedral choose to build an 85-ft. tower with a temporary roof with the hopes of completing the construction in the future.

More than a century later Andres Construction Services had the opportunity to complete the architect's vision.

The outside perimeter of the tower is 20 ft. by 20 ft.; the tower construction is all load-bearing masonry, including 8-ft.-deep by 7-ft.-wide masonry-grade beams. The new mat foundation is 35 ft. by 35 ft. by 8 ft. deep, with two sides of the foundation excavation on the interior side of the church.

Holes were saw cut through the existing masonry beams and foundation rebar was threaded through them to combine the old and new foundation into one.

Renovation/Restoration
Sunset High School, Addition and Renovation
Submitted by: McCarthy Building Cos. Inc., Addison
Location: Dallas
Key Players:
Owner: Dallas Independent School District
Program Manager: Jacobs/Pegasus, Dallas
General Contractor: McCarthy Building Cos. Inc.
Architect: BCI Architects, Dallas
Mechanical Contractor: Federal Mechanical Systems, Carrollton
Electrical Contractor: Design Electric, Dallas.

The project involved completing a $9 million, lump-sum bid, HVAC upgrade and interior renovation to Sunset High School, a 155,000-sq.-ft. building, which was originally built in 1925, and constructing a new 50,000-sq.-ft. classroom addition in 10 months, one week and one day.

That might not sound all that tough, but throw in a host of other schedule constraints and combine those with the fact that school started on Aug. 15 and the city awarded the certificate of occupancy on Aug. 12.

McCarthy attributed its success to its onsite project-management-based approach and to having an excellent electrical subcontractor that performed well beyond expectations.

They started on a promise of: "When we finish the value-engineering process and receive the contract from DISD, we will send you one."

This trusting relationship allowed the procurement of the main electrical gear necessary for the power conversion to take place before "contract agreements" were officially in place.

Renovation/Restoration
The Tower
Submitted by: Turner Construction Co., Dallas
Location: Fort Worth
Key Players:
Owner: TLC Development, Fort Worth, and Greenfield Partners Inc., Chicago
Construction Manager: Turner Construction Co.
Design Team: Corgan Associates Inc., Dallas, and GideonToal, Fort Worth.

Originally built in 1974, the Tower, one of Fort Worth's first skyscrapers, was scheduled for demolition after a tornado struck and severely damaged the building in 2000.

When the owner decided to implode the building in 2002, it was discovered to be too dangerous to public health because of the potential for asbestos entering the air.

TLC Realty Advisors recognized the high-rise residential potential of the damaged property and worked with the owner and the city of Fort Worth to finance the project, forming a partnership with Greenfield Partners in 2003.

Turner Construction Co. was brought in early to provide preconstruction and construction management services for the renovation and conservation of the 37-story building.

The final renovation consists of 511,000 sq. ft. of residential space, 290 condominiums and four penthouses as well as 135,000 sq. ft. of retail and commercial office space.

Renovation/Restoration
Warwick Terrace
Submitted by: SpawGlass Construction Corp., Houston
Location: Houston
Key Players:
Owner: Warwick Towers
General Contractor: SpawGlass Construction Corp.
Landscape Architect: Kudela & Weinheimer, Houston
Structural Engineer: French Engineering, Houston.

The Warwick Towers, located in the heart of Houston's Museum District, had a vision for the creation of a rooftop terrace for residents.

SpawGlass self-performed $300,000 in concrete work. The project consisted of the demolition of the existing landscaping and waterproofing, as well as selected structural concrete demolition of the planter beds, existing water feature, building expansion joints, overlay slabs and ramps.

All of the work was done on the fifth floor of the parking garage while the entire high-rise condominium remained occupied and operational.

The project had to be built using a narrow 50-ft. access area on the north side of the building. Every piece of material that was installed throughout the project had to be lifted to the site by a crane or other hoisting mechanism at a single location. The entire block had to be shut down in order to accommodate the 175-ton crane needed to reach the roof.

The rooftop oasis is now a resort-like space with several decorative concrete patterns, shrubs and trees, three-tiered fountain, putting green, copper-roofed gazebos, tennis court, jogging trail and areas for barbecuing.

Transportation
Access Control Points Project
Submitted by: M.W. Builders of Texas Inc., Temple
Location: Killeen
Key Players:
Owner: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
General Contractor: M.W. Builders of Texas Inc. .

The Access Control Points Project began as an $18,577,000 project to upgrade all the major entry gates into the Fort Hood military installation.
The project required the construction of 21 entry-gate facilities, two truck inspection facilities and one visitor control center building.

Each entry facility, or ACP, included a gatehouse for guard operations and a canopy covering all lanes of inbound traffic for identification and verification of vehicle traffic. There also were extensive site upgrades such as widening of existing inbound and outbound lanes, concrete medians, concrete-lined ditches, new electrical site and roadway lighting, new chain-link fencing and metal-beam guard rail, new pavement marking and traffic signage, and new utility and infrastructure upgrades.

There were three types of ACPs constructed on the project, depending upon their use, location and extent of traffic flow. Five primary ACPs, 10 secondary ACPs and six housing/limited-use ACPs were built to meet a wide variety of access control needs.

The project included the construction of two truck inspection facilities to be utilized by security forces to inspect, X-ray and verify all truck traffic entering Fort Hood.

The project also included the construction of a new 2,800-sq.-ft. visitor control center building to serve as the main hub for all new visitors to the installation.

The ACP project grew to a current contract amount of more than $28 million through numerous owner-requested changes to include additional security measures.

Transportation
State Highway 45
Submitted by: Zachry Construction Corp., San Antonio
Location: Austin
Key Players:
Owner: Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Transportation Authority, Pflugerville
General Contractor/Manager: Zachry Construction Corp. and Gilbert Construction LP, Fort Worth
Civil and Structural Engineer: PBS&J, Pflugerville.

The project, along with the Loop 1 extension, SH-130 and U.S. Highway 183 A will eventually be the four connected toll elements comprising the 122-mi. Central Texas Turnpike Project.

The CTTP is the biggest and most expensive toll-road work ever undertaken in Texas.

The CTTP aims to increase mobility and improve travel safety in Central Texas, but other benefits such as economic development are expected as well.

The project is a joint venture, known as ZGC, between Zachry and Gilbert Texas Construction LP, with Zachry assuming the lead. The project is located approximately 1 mi. west of Interstate 35 at FM 1325, north of Austin in Round Rock.

The project encompasses the construction of an interchange facility connecting new SH-45N with Loop 1. It includes pavement, base, grading, drainage and illumination.

ZGC self-performed most of the work on the project, including earthwork, lime stabilization, roadway grading, concrete paving and box culvert, drainage and bridge construction.