Dawn Reiss, Contributing Editor

New Construction Silver: A project of hope

VIew the full story, including all images and figures, in our monthly digital edition The Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is probably best known for its nationally acclaimed Ivy League preparatory Cranbrook School, which sits on a 40-acre campus. In that same city is the Wing Lake Developmental Center, a school that serves approximately 100 students with special needs—ages three to 26—who reside in the 28 Oakland County public school districts. For many years, the center operated in a building that dated back to a 1880s one-room stone schoolhouse. Although the antiquated school expanded in the 1940s and '50s, decades later it had to contend with poor ventilation, limited power, and poor technology access.

Renovation Silver: On the hill

View the full story, including all images and figures, in our monthly digital edition Since it was originally completed in 1916, Utah's State Capitol building has been a landmark of civic pride. Modeled after the nation's capitol, the Salt Lake City building architecturally echoes its Washington, D.C., sibling. Previous renovations to house modern electronic conveniences and other modifications left the building a shadow of its former self, with many false ceilings that covered up historic handcrafted details. The state's other major concern: upgrading the building to withstand a sizeable earthquake, since the capitol is used as an emergency command center. “The plan was to return it to its original glory and breathe new life into it,” said David Wesemann, Salt Lake City-based Spectrum Engineer's lead engineer for the project. Challenges and solutions One of the biggest tasks for the 330,000-sq-ft state capitol was installing 265 base isolators that would protect the capitol from earthquakes up to an 8.0 magnitude.

Renovation Gold: Data crunch

View the full story, including all images and figures, in our monthly digital edition In the heart of Silicon Valley is a high-demand data center owned by Equinix. Equinix needed to rapidly expand and convert its existing data center (SV2 facility) in Santa Clara, Calif., to meet the growing number of customers who rent computer room space. That meant the two-story, 160,000-sq-ft data center building needed a $50 million renovation. Less than a third of the 80,000-sq-ft second floor was already occupied by rentable space.

New Construction Bronze: Bioengineering for the future

View the full story, including all images and figures, in our monthly digital edition. It's no easy task to plan a medical research campus that responds to today's needs while preparing for the unforeseen tasks of the future. That's exactly what University of Colorado Denver wanted for its Anschutz Medical Campus Research 2 building. Located in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colo., the campus was part of a $3 billion master plan that would create a series of research, clinical, educational, and hospital centers on the decommissioned Fitzsimons Army Post (the same place where President Eisenhower spent seven weeks in the hospital recovering from a heart attack in 1955). The action plan Raleigh, N.C.-based KlingStubbins was brought into the project, along with Fentress Architects, ME Engineers, and a series of additional consultants for the first two research laboratory buildings.

New Construction Gold: Platinum dreams

View the full story, including all images and figures, in our monthly digital edition When it comes to saving energy, Great River Energy wanted its headquarters to be at the forefront of conservation. Located in Maple Grove, Minn., Great River Energy is the second largest electric utility in the state, based on generating capacity, and the fifth largest generation and transmission cooperative in the United States in terms of assets. It is a not-for-profit cooperative that provides wholesale electricity to more than 1.7 million people through 28 member distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin with more than $2 billion in assets. When Great River Energy approached Minneapolis-based Dunham Assocs ., it wanted a fully electric building that was as efficient and as environmentally friendly as possible. “We were charged right out of the gate with something that has never been done before,” said Dunham's Randy Olson, PE, LEED AP, who served as project manager.