the building of america
NEWS October 21, 2010
Ironwood Hall at Chandler-Gilbert Community College
Chandler, Arizona—In order to support enrollment growth and also provide flexible spaces for curriculum needs, Chandler-Gilbert Community College completed construction on Ironwood Hall, a new two-story academic building.
Encompassing 58,459 square feet, Ironwood Hall includes state-of-the-art laboratories for chemistry, physics, engineering and geology, as well as general classrooms, faculty offices and a tiered lecture hall. Additionally, the building houses a ceramics studio with gas, electric and Raku kilns. “Display shelving and a glass roll-up overhead door allow the entire campus to view the art and experience the creative learning process,” said Carl Marcon, senior project leader for Caliente Construction Inc., the project’s construction manager at risk.
According to project architect Architekton, the building was designed to function as a capstone to the north end of the campus. The facility is formed by three parallel bars of differing lengths, which are positioned to interact with surrounding buildings and existing pedestrian pathways. This layout allows for the creation of a central courtyard, which is protected from the sun by a 250-foot-long shade canopy. “The configuration of forms on the site allows it to tie into the north end of the existing primary north-south mall on campus, providing a defined point of entry from the north where the circulation spine can be continued in the future,” said Catherine Britt, AIA, LEED AP, project architect for Architekton. “The east-west orientation of the bars themselves defines two additional entry points from the east and west parking lots along a previously underutilized pedestrian mall. A 16-foot cantilever of classrooms on the second level helps to shade this new path of circulation.”
Ironwood Hall’s unique programs and spaces are arranged in relation to the campus and one another in order to form outdoor spaces, facilitate circulation and gathering, and expose students to multiple disciplines throughout the building. “The design of the building is quite unique with its various indoor-outdoor spaces and interior study nooks [that] serve as an extension of the traditional classroom and create opportunities for students to gather and collaborate in non-conventional, contemporary settings,” said Marcon.
“The entire building attempts to break down the standard paradigm of teaching/learning only within the traditional classroom environment,” said Gary Eberhard, architectural project manager for Maricopa County Community College District, the project’s owner. “There are ‘sticky spaces’ such as breakout rooms, etc. that are scattered throughout the building for students to utilize; whether it is studying class material, small group brainstorming or just hanging out and drinking coffee.” The exterior courtyard allows teaching to be extended from the interior classrooms, and the use of shade and landscape helps to buffer this space from the harsh Arizona summers, he added.
Primary building materials used on the new facility include insulated concrete forms (ICF), structural steel, glass and commodity metal siding. Other sustainable materials and strategies were used in achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification (gold certification pending). “While capturing the benefits of the ICF wall system (rapid construction and high R value) the team took an alternative approach to the application of the ICF,” said Britt. “This included peeling the outside layer of EPS foam to expose the concrete core of the block on the first level. This lightly sandblasted natural grey concrete is then offset by the use of a commodity metal siding applied on the building’s second level over the traditional ICF system. One-inch metal panels in three standard green colors were randomly applied with an accent of flush tangerine panels and blue glazing that complement the multi-chromatic palette of the campus.”
“While the alternative use of ICF resulted in an attractive, durable and maintenance-free exterior finish, it presented some challenges,” said Marcon. One issue involved providing a uniform finish on the peeled wall, given the exposed nature of the concrete. An additional challenge included placement of the concrete to minimize the location of cold joints in the exposed walls. “This was accomplished by placing a 7-foot lift and utilizing additional bracing, which resulted in a single cold joint. This is the first time that we know of that ICF has been used in this way,” he added.
According to Britt, another obstacle was finding a way to meet redundancy standards for accessibility without installing a second elevator in the building. To overcome this, the team constructed a pedestrian bridge from the new building to an existing, adjacent facility that already had an elevator. “This distinctive iron bridge designed by Tucson artist Barbara Grygutis has given the college a significant piece of public art while solving a technical dilemma and serving to integrate the new building into the existing campus.”
Staying within the budget was also a major challenge, said Marcon, adding that each member of the team worked together to ensure the project met all requirements while staying within budget constraints. “Because this project was delivered through the construction manager at risk format, Caliente Construction was able to work with the team throughout the design, exploring all opportunities to develop an effective design that was within the owner’s budget. We also worked with key subcontractors to provide input on pricing and alternative materials and incorporate value engineering savings into the budget reports, which allowed the team to make decisions based on the most current information.” “Overall, the creative efforts by both Architekton and Caliente Construction during design and construction were awesome,” said Eberhard.
“The entire design and construction team on Ironwood Hall was a pleasure to work with and fully supported, encouraged and advocated sustainable building practices,” said Brooke Bogart of Ecological Environments, one of the project’s subcontractors. “It is not often that a team comes together like this one—and magic happens. From its immense water and energy savings to the building’s orientation and interaction with the site to the unique use of materials throughout, Ironwood Hall is not just a living, breathing example of sustainability, but an excellent teaching tool for the college campus.”
—Amy Pagett
Owner: Maricopa County Community College District
Type of Project: A new academic building
Size: 58,459 square feet
Cost: $12,874,637 (construction costs)
Construction Time: August 2008 - November 2009
The Need: A new academic building to support enrollment growth at the college
The Challenge: Overcoming issues related to the alternative use of ICF on the building, making the building accessible, and staying within budget
The Building of America Network Team Members Architect: Architekton Construction Manager at Risk: Caliente Construction Inc. LEED® Consultant: Ecological Environments