Missouri Has First Green College Campus

The St. Louis Community College Campus in Wildwood, Mo., is reportedly the first college campus in the Show Me State to receive LEED certification. It reached gold.

The 66-acre campus has a 73,000-sq-ft building equipped to serve up to 2,500 students with “smart classroom” technologies and expansive daylighting and views from the classrooms, offices and commons. The facility also features a multipurpose room for college and community activities, recharging stations for electric/hybrid vehicles, water conserving fixtures and a large pond for storm water retention and treatment.

More than 95% of construction waste was diverted from local landfills as part of the project.

Chesterfield-based L.A. Schaefer Construction Co. Inc. was the construction manager, and Overland-based Vertegy was the LEED consultant.

Discovery Pier Cited For Structural Engineering

Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin in Milwaukee has won top honors in the Engineering Excellence Awards in Wisconsin.

The Grand Award goes to Milwaukee-based Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates Inc. with Minneapolis-based HGA Architects and Engineers. They provided site/civil engineering; structural engineering; mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design; architectural design; and landscape architecture.

The competition sponsor is the Madison-based American Council of Engineering Cos. in Wisconsin.

The building demonstrates creative structural engineering solutions, technically innovative mechanical engineering design and attention to sustainability throughout, the ACEC-WI says.

Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin is a unique example of forethought, technical design and community concerns. No aspect of this project was completed without taking each of these into consideration. The result is a complex and environmentally sustainable learning destination that serves as a real world demonstration of what science can do.

The museum affords 360-degree views of Lake Michigan and Milwaukee due to its over-water design. Engineers had to overcome many issues to ensure a sound structure that appears to float above the water. A unique Z-frame was designed to slip over pipe piles driven into the lake.

The aquarium, constructed beneath Lake Michigan, needed to withstand downward forces as well as hydrostatic uplift pressures of 1040 psf, and the entire structure had to be waterproofed to keep Lake Michigan out.

Sustainability was also a key design factor as engineers and architects planned the project.

Also, there were eight projects that achieved Best of State Awards, and 18 winners of State Finalist Awards.

Get more information by visiting the Web site of the ACEC-WI, www.acecwi.org.

Modernist-Style Campus To Get Renovation

A $34 million addition and remodeling is planned for the Communication Arts Building and adjacent structures at the University of Wisconsin at Parkside.

The project will reflect the existing architectural character of the modernist campus for 5,000 students. The university’s core complex of four interconnected buildings, completed between 1968 and 1972, comprises modernist structures with exposed concrete, matching brick face and clear bronze-tinted windows.

The project will house the school’s expanding music, theater and visual arts programs. It includes approximately 108,000 sq ft of remodeled space in three interconnected buildings to include the Communication Arts Building, Molinaro Hall School of Modern Industry and Wyllie Hall. A 45,000-sq-ft addition to the Communication Arts Building is also planned.

Minneapolis-based HGA is the architect on the project.