METHODIST UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTHERN FRENCH ANNE MOODY HALL
Dallas
BEST PROJECT
Sent by: The Beck Group
OWNER: Southern Methodist University
LEADING DESIGN AND MEP ENGINEERING COMPANY: Smith Group
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: The Beck Group
CIVIL ENGINEERING: RLG Consulting Engineers
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING: LA Fuess Partners Inc.
SITE DEVELOPMENT/MASTER PLAN ARCHITECT OF REGISTER: GFF Architects
At 44,000 square feet, the new home of SMU’s Moody Graduate School is a three-level building that includes an enhanced atrium for special functions, along with collaborative areas, a student lounge, spaces for events, an auditorium for 170 people, classrooms, stylish workstations and a multimedia studio. Its open core structure from ground level to the dome also allows natural light to penetrate the building. The land development portion of the project consisted of residential demolition and site infrastructure improvements from the central floor to the east side of Airline Road to support Moody Hall and future buildings.
Completed on time and on budget, the $49 million project also includes a green space quad and a 374,000-gallon underground stormwater detention system. To install chilled water and electrical conduits 30 feet below the roadway on Airline Road, the contractor used boring techniques to create the paths instead of extensive excavation. This allowed public services to be installed without affecting traffic. Traditional methods would have required closing sections of a road to remove and replace pavement after utility installations were completed.
Photo courtesy of The Beck Group
The extensive use of prefabrication sped up the work and allowed the team to inspect and correct any issues before the components were even shipped to site. A prefabricated elevator, the second of its kind the contractor has installed on the SMU campus, and the lift chamber were fabricated off-site and delivered for installation. Once the building was dry, the team used the elevator, which saved time and money. The exterior wall system was also fabricated off-site, including components such as exterior studs, sheathing, masonry relief angles and waterproofing. Once delivered, all exterior walls were installed within five weeks, reducing the overall critical path of the exterior facade by approximately 120 days and mitigating seven potential weather days. Moody Hall is pursuing LEED Silver certification. Low-flow and flow fixtures and water-friendly landscaping help the building reduce its water use by more than 72,000 gallons per year. Improved building envelope, mechanical system and lighting controls also help reduce overall energy consumption.
