A project to build five nursing school buildings for the Montana State University requires a high degree of collaboration between designers and five general contractors working in the State -distributed places.
Using a donation of $ 101 million from the founders of Goosehead Insurance Mark and Robyn Jones, the university is building the new facilities on its Bozeman campus and on land donated near existing medical centers in Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell and Missoula. This presented a challenge for designers, a team of architects Cushing Terrel and CO, to create plans for buildings that have the feeling that they belong to the same university and meet the needs of the nursing program, while transmitting a look. different regional to belong to its environment.
The team working in Billings must deal with one of the largest building footprints and the smallest lot.
Langlas & Associate Courtesia photo
To do it, designers used a “birth kit” approach using unifying elements such as a central “nursing” gallery, flexible learning spaces and study spaces, as well as construction of silhouettes inspired by the silhouettes Montana mountains. The exterior of each building uses similar materials, but on a different palette inspired by local geology. For example, the Bozeman installation has tanning tones arranged vertically reminiscent of the basalt columns of Palisade Falls, while the installation of billings uses horizontal grays that are given to me by the Rimrocks Penya.
“They are a kind of jewelry and jewelry created here in the state of the treasure,” says Schwenneker, a design designer of Cushing Terrell.
The MSU Nursing Program is similar from place to place, but there are different class sizes provided for in the different facilities. As a result, some elements were climbed differently among the locations, although they had similar requirements. The buildings range from about 17,000 square meters to 27,000 square meters.
Most places were donated near existing care facilities.
Langlas & Associate Courtesia photo
“There must be equity in terms of how students will learn, the amenities they will have and the experience they will gain,” says Jonathan Kanda, director of CO ARCHITECTS. “So trying to create this equality between five places, even when they are disparate in terms of geography and class size, it was really important.”
Using a general approach to the construction contractor/manager, the designers collaborated with five different GCs working all five places. They include Langlas & Associates with Billings, Martel Construction in Bozeman, Sletten Construction in Great Falls, Swank Enterprises of Kalispell and Jackson Group Contractors in Missoula.
Contractors provided comments on designs that helped reduce costs. The foreground to build massive wood structures had to be abandoned in favor of steel to adapt to the budget and the calendar. The GCS was also concerned about its ability to supply enough material and find massive wood subcontractors experienced in the area, says Noah Taylor, responsible for the Langlas project.
Even with the materials with which they have the most experience, with five overlapping projects with separate contractors, they had some concerns about the availability of special subcontractors, adds Brooke Logan, a project manager.
The silhouettes of the building and the outside coating were inspired by local geology near each place.
Photo courtesy cushing terrell
“Montana, although it is a very large state, is not too populated,” says Logan. “So the sharing of subcontractors and sellers, and not having them excessive so that they cannot fulfill our deadlines; we were all curious as it could work.”
To manage it, the GCS began to discuss the substances that they probably wanted to use during early planning meetings, according to Taylor.
“We just asked us,” who are the first three substances you plan to use for the electrician [or for] MEP? , “He says. “Steel would be a big one and we assured that not necessarily all would be laser focused on a sub-sub-sub-sub-publisher.”
Although having to share Sub presents some programming challenges, it also provides a benefit in specialized work in being able to bring lessons learned in one of the places to the next. Earth problems in two places also delayed the start of work, but had the advantage of relieving some of the problems in the overlapping calendar.
The designers identified common unifying items to use at the five facilities.
Photo courtesy cushing terrell
“Many of the shipments we are achieving in other projects, we have already responded to Great Falls. So we have found some really fantastic efficiency,” says Schwenneker.
Dealing with the different places has also required strategies other than contractors. In Billings, Langlas treats the smallest place and one of the largest footprints. The contractor found that the tight place did not offer enough space for a disposition area, so he used his courtyard on the other side of his local office, about seven kilometers from the place, to Previous items such as wallflowing panels. Then, when they are ready, they transmit the items to the site and install them.
The work is still well enough for Logan to finish the work at the Great Falls site earlier this summer. Work is expected to be completed next year.
“I think everyone realizes how important it is for the state,” says Kevin Nelson, Cushing Terrell’s architect for the place of Great Falls. “From here came the donation in the first place, a person realized that the state could use better [medical] Services, especially in rural areas. “”
