October 2021 CAM Magazine Special Issue

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CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

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C H I P P E WA

C H A M P I O N

C E N T E R

ferndale electric

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“The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

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DIRECTORS PUBLISHER EDITOR

Kevin Koehler Diane Sawinski

Gerald C. Caratelli

Architectural Building Components, Inc.

Jeffrey Chandler Valenti Trobec Chandler, Inc./VTC Insurance Group

Matthew D. Cramer ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Dee Cramer

Mary Kremposky McArdle

Michael J. Green GRAPHIC DESIGN

John E. Green Company

Tim Andrews

Frank G. Jonna SALES & MARKETING MANAGER

Jonna Companies

Cathy Jones

Teresa K. Miller ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Plante Moran CRESA

Roy Jones

Todd A. Moilanen Cloverdale Equipment Co.

DIRECTORS OFFICERS Chairman

Tricia S. Ruby Samuel J. Ruegsegger III The Christman Co.

Vice Chairman

Stephen J. Frantz

Vice Chairman

Paul A. Stachowiak

Retired

Integrated Design Solutions LLC

Treasurer

Joshua T. Barney

President

Kevin Koehler

JJ Barney Construction

Ruby + Associates

CAM MAGAZINE EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Gary Boyajian Division 8 Solutions, Inc.

George Dobrowitsky Progressive Mechanical

Daniel Englehart Peter Basso Associates, Inc.

Dennis King CAM Magazine (ISSN08837880) is published monthly by the Construction Association of Michigan, 43636 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302-3204 (248) 972-1000. $24.00 of annual membership dues is allocated to a subscription to CAM Magazine. Additional subscriptions $40.00 annually. Periodical postage paid at Bloomfield Hills, MI and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER, SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO: CAM MAGAZINE, 43636 WOODWARD AVE., BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI 48302-3204.

For editorial comment or more information: sawinski@BuildwithCAM.com For reprints or to sell CAM Magazine: 248-972-1000

DMKING Consulting, LLC

Sanford (Sandy) Sulkes International Building Products, Inc.

Amanda Tackett Consultant

James Vargo Capac Construction Company, Inc.

Copyright © 2021 Construction Association of Michigan. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited. CAM Magazine is a registered trademark of the Construction Association of Michigan.

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Special Issue 21

CONTENTS Table of

Featuring 12 outstanding construction projects

by CAM member companies over the past year

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About the Authors Letter from the Editor

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CMU Chippewa Champions Center

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MSU STEM Teaching and Learning Facility

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Henry Ford Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion

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The Press/321

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UM-Flint William R. Murchie Science Building Expansion

Touchdown! CMU Scores a Huge Win with Its New Chippewa Champions Center

MSU STEM Facility Connects Nature to Learning - and Learning to Nature with Biophilic Design and Mass Timber Creation Creating Hope: New Henry Ford Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion Offers WorldClass Cancer Care in Detroit

Detroit Icon Is Reborn as Prestigious Downtown Address UM-Flint Experiments with the Future — New Science Building Expansion Puts STEM on Display

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ZEISS Michigan Quality Excellence Center

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NMC Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center

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Beaumont Hospital - Farmington Hills Expansion Project

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United Wholesale Mortgage Training Center Expansion

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The Measure of Success: ZEISS’s Award-Winning Michigan Quality Excellence Center Opens in Wixom The Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center Brings Transformative Learning Opportunities to Northern Michigan

Beaumont’s Farmington Hills Hospital Expands for Patient Comfort and Care An Old GM Building and a Former Soccer Complex Give United Wholesale Mortgage More “Kicking Around” Training Space

Stellantis Mack Avenue and Warren Truck Assembly Plants Paint Shops Stellantis Mack and Warren Truck Assembly Plants Paint Shops: Continuing the Driving Force in Automotive Production

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Michigan Veteran Homes

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Berkshire eSupply HQ and Fulfillment Center

Operation Care and Comfort: Michigan Veteran Homes Offers Extraordinary Skilled Nursing Care in a Home-like Setting

Novi’s Berkshire eSupply Delivers Modern Efficiency in Style

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Project Subcontractor Lists

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AD Index

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A B O U T

T H E

A U T H O R S

M A RY

K R E M P O S K Y

M CA R D L E

Mary graduated from Wayne State University with a Bachelor of Arts in English. As associate editor, Mary has been writing articles for CAM Magazine for over 25 years. She appreciates the opportunity to tour wonderfully crafted and beautifully designed spaces, and feels that learning about sustainability, urban restoration efforts and other vital trends is yet another bonus of working for the design and construction industry.

M A R I LY N

S .

J O N E S - W I L S O N

Marilyn graduated from Wayne State University with a bachelor’s degree in electronic journalism, and has more than 35 years of experience in writing, publications and promotion. Currently, she works at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan on member and customer communications. Previously, she was assistant public affairs officer at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Detroit District. As a native Detroiter, she is excited by the city’s resurgence and downtown development.

PAT R I C K

C R OW L E Y

Patrick’s experience as a freelance Michigan travel writer has allowed him to write about the best Michigan has to offer, and writing for CAM Magazine has shown him that there is still more ground to cover. Patrick is a graduate of Oakland University and his degree in film and writing allows him to look at things through a different lens.

L I S A

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B R I G G S

Freelance writer Lisa Briggs is a versatile writer who brings every subject or content to life – with authenticity and distinctiveness. She collaborates with businesses and individuals for their long-term or short-term writing projects.

Lisa has written for various Michigan-based magazines, and she can be contacted at briggs1020lisa@gmail.com.

Letter from the Editor Welcome to the 26th edition of CAM Magazine’s Special Issue, which shines a spotlight on 12 outstanding construction projects completed by CAM member companies in the last year. By no means was 2020 an ordinary year for business. Never in the history of modern construction has the industry had to adapt to a global threat to the health of its workforce, the supply chain, and to our economy all at once. Work was shut down mid-construction, and project teams were forced to pause, regroup, and pivot with a new plan to keep workers healthy and job sites open amidst COVID-19 challenges.

Those interviewed for the articles featured in this issue almost universally commended their staffs for the agility, compassion, grit, and resiliency shown in the face of adversity. I and the staff of CAM Magazine applaud the owners, general contractors, construction managers, subcontractors, architects, and engineers for persevering and achieving great success despite the challenges.

We also want to express our gratitude to those companies who advertise in these pages – we could not continue to provide this wonderful resource each year without you.

Watch your email to learn how to cast your vote for the “Project of the Year,” which will be selected from these 12 Special Issue projects. The CAM Magazine Editorial Board and your input will determine the winner, which will be announced in early 2022.

We hope you enjoy this Special Issue 2021 of CAM Magazine. Stay healthy, stay strong.

Diane Sawinski - Editor 8 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

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Touchdown!

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JASON KEEN + COMPANY

CMU Scores a Huge Win with Its New Chippewa Champions Center

By Patrick Crowley and Diane Sawinski

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ith almost 20,000 students, Central Michigan University (CMU) in Mount Pleasant ranks among the best in the state of Michigan for education, student life, and especially its athletic department.

The plan to update Central Michigan University’s football facility came after the realization that the old building was outdated, small, and no longer met the needs of the current football team. In addition, the facility’s size and lack of proper amenities impacted the team’s day-to-day efficiency and ability to function as a team. It was evident that change and improvements were necessary. The new facility would more accurately match the CMU name, brand, and lifestyle and become a place to gather for athletes, students, and the community alike.

The bold new facility started as an RFP (request for proposal) in early 2017. That same year, the architectural firm GMB Architecture + Engineering teamed with 10 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

Populous, which would act as design architect. Populous has a long history with facilities of this nature, so it was a perfect fit. Granger Construction Company would fill the role of general contractor and construction manager.

Construction began in the summer of 2019, and with it, the future of Central Michigan University’s campus life would change for the better. Soon, CMU’s football team would have a new home, and one that would exceed all of their expectations.

With construction underway, the football team was relocated to temporary facilities to have space for themselves and give room for the build. These temporary facilities, lovingly dubbed “trailer city,” were part of the plan to put the project on a successful path. Granger constructed the temporary facilities, which included coaching offices and planning rooms, team locker rooms, showers and restrooms, in approximately 12 weeks.

This allowed work to proceed without

disturbing the day-to-day operations of CMU’s football team.

Entering a Facility … and a New Era for the Chips Visitors entering the newly constructed 50,000-square-foot Chippewa Champions Center within the Kelly/Shorts Stadium are met with a large sculpture of a stylized block letter “C” (the “Action C” as it has come to be called) in maroon and gold, CMU’s school colors. A simple addition, yet one that sets the tone for what is to come: a dynamic sense of team spirit and togetherness.

The entrance to the new Chippewa Champions Center creates a welcoming environment yet does not compromise privacy. This notion works in synchrony with the lobby within, which is an open space designed to be multi-purposed. As much as it is a space to welcome anyone who enters, the area is available for donor events and gameday activities.

CMU’s influence in the design is evident “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

Central Michigan University’s bold new Chippewa Champions Center teems with school spirit and state-of-the-art equipment.

in its branding to embolden and elevate school spirit. The phrase and slogan of CMU, “Fire Up Chips,” appears strikingly on the walls to further fill the players and fans with a sense of team pride.

Denver Finlinson, Lead Design Architect for Populous, weighed in on the use of the phrase: “We focused on the unique saying ‘Fire Up Chips’ and some associated imagery of the history of that saying with campus bonfires, homecoming, and the camaraderie that is offered amongst CMU students and alumni. This led to us choosing a design direction and palate that fit within that context and ultimately was designed around.”

This camaraderie is evident in many aspects of the Chippewa Champions Center. The walls of team meeting rooms, the auditorium, and hallways all show signs of the branding, most prominently in the center’s Hall of Heroes. According to Andy Reihl, now the Director of University Engineering and Planning, but who started as the Project Manager: “The Hall of Heroes was one of several elements from a branding and recruitment standpoint to provide an identity of past student-athletes that had an impact on the university and where they went.” The Hall of Heroes highlights the success of alumni athletes moving on to play professionally and showcases a passion for CMU football and team spirit.

“The Chippewa Champions Center is not only transforming the athletics experience at CMU but also is a testament to CMU’s commitment to elevating student success and attracting the next generation of student-leaders to CMU,” said Amy Folan, CMU’s Zyzelewski Family Associate Vice President/Director of Athletics. “It's the kind of project that has a positive impact reverberating across our campus and is nothing short of a game-changer for our university.”

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The Center’s Hall of Heroes highlights the success of alumni athletes moving on to play professionally and showcases a passion for CMU football and team pride.

Getting on Top of Things with a Second Story Although the initial plan was to have three floors, budget complications forced the team to change the plan to two floors.

Nevertheless, it is clear to all who set foot on the second floor of the Chippewa Champions Center that this floor means business.

According to Reihl, the second floor is a significant upgrade from the old facility.

“There were a couple of meeting rooms, and that was it; compared to the new facility, we have a large team room in which we can have the entire team collaborate. There are a series of position meeting rooms for the team, and all of the

staff offices are there as well.” Each office on the floor has a view of the field, which gives the staff complete visibility of the field. This is especially important so that everyone can maintain their connection to the team.

Each of the separate team rooms, although similar in their appearance, serve vastly different purposes. Each room is dedicated to a specific discipline, e.g., defense, offense, etc. The rooms feature stadium seating to fit with the sports motif, and also to evoke and inspire a sense of fandom in the players.

Additionally, the second floor holds a tiered seating auditorium, which promotes optimal viewing for everyone. Again, the

The second floor of the Chippewa Champions Center holds a tiered seating auditorium, which promotes optimal viewing for everyone. The space is decorated in CMU colors and branding, strongly giving the feeling of team spirit.

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space is decorated in CMU colors and branding, strongly giving the feeling of team spirit.

Creating “Layers of Experiences” David Wilkins, design architect with GMB and CMU client liaison, mentions the idea of layers of experience: “We talked a lot about experiences. There are these layers of experiences, whether that be an everyday experience on campus, a gameday experience, a student-athlete experience, or a fan experience. We went through thinking about what the impact of the project would be on campus.”

The Chippewa Champion Center’s new 7,000-square-foot weight room can house the entire team and more at once—and it is open to all student-athletes on campus.

State-of-the-Art Training and Rehabilitation Amenities The old facility was lacking not only in space but in accommodating the needs of a Division I (DI) football team. For example, the old weight room was so small that everyone couldn’t fit in one space at the same time; now, the new 7,000-square-foot weight room can house the entire team and more at once—and it

is open to all student-athletes on campus.

However, the weight room is only part of the expansion of athlete amenities that the upgrade includes.

The athletes’ care and health were a number one priority in the new build, and something that the old facility lacked was a suitable sports medicine center. Working with CMU to meet the needs of their athletes, Granger Construction, GMB, and

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Populous set forth to overhaul this aspect of the project by installing state-of-the-art sports medicine equipment, including topof-the-line hydrotherapy equipment and strength and conditioning labs. This included a cold and hot plunge pool and a treadmill pool with submerged cameras that monitor and display the athletes’ performance and condition.

The project team traveled with the

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coaching staff to view a specific type of plunge pool at another university and were able to discuss installation and maintenance challenges prior to design and construction to avoid major issues. Given the fact that large-framed athletes will be using the hot tubs, things like surge/overflow had to be considered. The design and construction team also gave careful consideration to other issues specific to the specialized systems, such as choosing the correct size balance tank to use beneath the pool deck and making sure the mechanical room has space for an oversized filter system required to provide fast clean water return rates. The facility also includes a new equipment room, a laundry room, a video operations room, and two nutrition fuel stations.

The new facility features state-of-the-art sports medicine equipment, including top-of-the-line hydrotherapy equipment and strength and conditioning labs. This includes a cold and hot plunge pool and a treadmill pool with submerged cameras that monitor and display the athletes’ performance and condition.

An added educational benefit to the new state-of-the-art training center is that it provides experiences for CMU students enrolled in The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions and the College of Medicine, as well as creating realworld opportunities for students in marketing and hospitality, public relations, and broadcast and cinematic arts.

An aspect that was always on the mind from the start of the project was the desire to create a dynamic gameday experience.

Central Michigan University wanted every person who passed through the Chippewa Champions Center to leave with a newfound appreciation for the team and a sense that they too belong. This is evident in many aspects of the facility, but is perhaps most apparent in the Isabella Bank VIP Club and the stadium’s second-floor loge box seating.

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other athletic facilities. With multiple HD televisions, a sports bar, and a view from its ground-level patio that is just feet from the north end zone, the space offers an immersive experience that is quite unique

in the collegiate sporting world.

Because a key goal of this new facility was to enhance the game day encounter for fans, CMU decided to change from a storefront glass wall system to an

One of the first Mid-American Conference schools to offer loge seating as an option for fans, the Center’s 16 new loge boxes on the second level offer one of the best premium seating experiences in the conference.

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operable glass wall system, a decision that occurred after design was complete.

Operable glass wall systems are an addition that is new to sports architecture in both arena and stadium settings.

To help overcome the construction team’s learning curve, the impact to the schedule, and sequencing of the work, Granger proposed and was granted permission to utilize a design-assist approach with the glass vendor, Lansing Glass Company. This design change greatly impacted the HVAC layout since it would allow a large, free air opening into an air-conditioned space. Due to the sheer size and weight of the glass system, which spans approximately 100 feet, it also required additional structural steel to support its framing system.

The result is phenomenal. This new climate-controlled space has a distinctive indoor-outdoor feel. The glass wall folds in on itself and becomes almost nonexistent, a feature that allows the patio space to open up even more. The wellengineered glass system with eight removable panes fully opens for panoramic views and closes tightly for weather resistance, providing CMU football fans with expansive, unobstructed views of the stadium and their beloved Chippewas. Incorporating the operable glass system makes CMU the first school in the Mid-American Conference to offer this feature for its donors, alumni, and guests.

Another aspect of this space is its proximity to the locker room. The patio

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doors are the same that the players use to exit to the field, giving everyone in the Isabella Bank VIP Club an up-close and personal experience as they watch the players pump up and enter the field for the game.

“We really pride ourselves on creating places that bring people together — sometimes that’s just the team, and sometimes that means an entire stadium of fans,” said Brooke Craig, design architect with Populous. “Leaning on our history with training facilities really let us pull the strengths of GMB and Populous together and marry a nice functional space for student-athletes and fans on game day.”

The entrance to the locker room also holds something special. Inlayed at the entrance is a section of the concrete threshold taken from the original locker room, which symbolizes the history of the team and all sports at CMU. Every player in CMU history has stepped on this slab, and every player from now on will step over this slab; it is an homage to the team and the university.

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Loge Box Seating The second-floor patio’s loge box seating is yet another wonderful, experiencedriven location in the Chippewa Champions Center. The loge boxes blend the open feel of stadium seating with the privacy of a suite, including two TVs in each box. The deck features 16 loge boxes, which are removable to open the space even more.

A Fresh Locker Room Just around the corner from the Isabella Bank VIP Club is a stunning new 4,200square-foot football-shaped locker room.

There is no comparing the old locker room to the new one. Among other modern, high-tech lighting features, a large backlit maroon and gold “Action C” hangs from the ceiling of the locker room. Each player’s locker cube is equipped with an exhaust HVAC duct leading outside, which prevents the dreaded smell most locker rooms are known for. Large televisions placed throughout the space keep athletes engaged and in the know.

A stunning new 4,200-square-foot footballshaped locker room includes high-tech lighting features and TVs, a large back-lit maroon and gold “Action C” suspended from the ceiling, and lockers equipped with exhaust ducts.

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“There is an intimacy created with the placement of the loge boxes so close to the end zone,” explained Finlinson. “The vantage point that is offered from that unique perspective, I think, is something that has not been replicated amongst CMU’s peer institutions in the MidAmerican Conference. This sets a standard for CMU that is truly unique for this size and university.”

Finlinson’s emphasis on intimacy here furthers the facility’s narrative of space for togetherness. The loge boxes enhance that by creating a flexible space that is perfect for private groups yet also allows for revenue-generation through hosting outside client, community, and donor engagement events.

Cutting-Edge Audio/Visual Equipment Bluewater Technologies of Farmington Hills was the contractor selected to outfit the Chippewa Champions Center with some of the most advanced audio/visual technology available.

From the hydrotherapy pools to the sports medicine

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and rehabilitation facilities to the weight room, locker room, meeting rooms, and VIP spaces, technology played an integral role in making this one of the most advanced training and hospitality facilities in the Mid-American Conference. Tying the new A/V systems into the existing Kelly/Shorts Stadium system only days before the first home football game was a major hurdle that was successfully accomplished. In addition, efforts by the A/V vendor resulted in enough savings that allowed CMU to upgrade from a 12’x7’ wall monitor in the main lobby to an impressive 20’x7’ video wall showpiece.

Overcoming Complications Like Champs The project was not without its struggles.

The COVID-19 pandemic was hard for all, and the team involved was no exception.

Due to stay-at-home orders, the construction schedule was impacted.

Officially, work on the center was shut down for two weeks … but the delay not only caused a halt in production work, it

cut into the aggressive schedule needed to coincide with the start of CMU’s football season.

By Granger’s initiative, a comprehensive, accelerated plan was put into action to prioritize worker safety.

Several methods were developed to effectively deal with the COVID crisis, including the use of an onsite screener, a subcontractor tracking app, and the installation of two large monitors in the field where staff could review drawings while maintaining social distancing.

Following a competitive open and transparent bidding process, Granger Construction’s self-perform concrete team was selected to perform the structural concrete package. By selfperforming the concrete work, Granger was able to drive the schedule and set the bar for quality, creating a superior end product along with cost savings for the owner. The build team also onboarded MEP and steel contractors early using design-assist to help meet the aggressive schedule for the project.

This project included a challenging jobsite location as well. Granger had to complete work within the football stadium where the DI program spent a significant amount of time year-round. There were also two adjacent athletic facilities and two large parking lots that remained occupied throughout construction. This, combined with the fact that there was very limited access to the project footprint, required extensive coordination not only with key stakeholders but also with numerous adjacent facilities and utility tieins.

During the 2019 football season while construction was underway, and for other special events held at the field, Granger set up and tore down additional fencing, screening, and put up a temporary scoreboard. At the field level, they used construction fencing with screening along with large plastic, corrugated pads that stretched along the entire north endzone to separate the construction area from the field. This not only provided a more aesthetic feel for game days, but the padding provided additional safety measures for players.

Despite all odds and much to the owner’s satisfaction, this project was “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

Student-athletes and fans began to enjoy a full game experience at the Chippewa Champions Center in the fall of 2021. The facility’s innovative design and state-ofthe-art equipment and amenities will benefit the entire campus community as well as the world of sports architecture.

completed with no lost time accidents and in time for the university to debut the new facility at its first home football game of the 2020 season. No fans were permitted in the stadium due to COVID safety protocols at this time, but the team played on, and in style.

Looking Ahead to the Post Game With the start of Central Michigan University’s football season in the fall of 2021, COVID restrictions were lifted and both student-athletes and fans were able to begin enjoying a full game experience at the Chippewa Champions Center. The facility’s innovative design and state-of-theart equipment and amenities will benefit the entire campus community as well as the world of sports architecture.

While not a new concept, the idea of having a space that is accessible yearround, not just for athletics, is appealing to athletic programs at other universities.

“Specifically, regarding college football, the ability to house all of your operations under one roof and have close adjacencies to both your competition and practice fields is a huge win for their day-to-day operations,” said Finlinson. “This type of organization and thinking can be replicated and upscaled and applied to others that desire this type of efficiency and will influence what is to come for sports architecture down the road.” The year-round facility will serve all of Central Michigan University and is a testament to CMU’s commitment to student success and attracting the next generation of Chippewas.

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Central Michigan University President Robert Davies echoes this sentiment.

"Since I arrived at Central Michigan University, I've told every coach and administrator in our athletics department that my goal for our student-athletes is simple—a ring on one hand and a diploma in the other,” explained Davies. “Our

responsibility as a university community is to create the conditions to help make this possible. Facilities like the Chippewa Champions Center not only help us to develop the young men and women on our campus, but attract the next generation of student-leaders to CMU."

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Photo courtesy of Chris Lark

MSU STEM Facility Connects Nature to Learning — and Learning to Nature — with Biophilic Design and Mass Timber Creation

By Lisa M. Briggs

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ichigan State University achieved something no else in the state of Michigan has ever done – it built a $110 million, 173,000square-foot educational superstructure using mass timber, specifically crosslaminated timber (CLT). This type of timber is an engineered type of multilayered wood extending in two directions; it has strength, sustainability and is moisture resistant, and it requires no sanding, painting or staining.

The development transformed the longabandoned Shaw Lane Power Plant into a new instructional space that helps meet increased STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) course demand for MSU students. “Old silos are now conference rooms and the 1964 limestone entrance welcomed the return of Spartan students. Original steam boilers and mechanical hardware are art installations,” according to MSU officials. The adaptive re-use of the power plant makes this one of five buildings in the United States that 20 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

has undergone such a transformation. The unique building is drawing significant attention in the industry, including from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources – the agency hosted an inaugural Mass Timber Summit to promote more commercialized construction projects like this in the state of Michigan. Extensive additions and renovations were built by Granger Construction Company on the north and south side of the power plant. The 40,000square-foot, former coal burning facility adjacent to MSU’s Spartan Stadium is gone – but not all of it.

Deciding to Build with Mass Timber “The idea to adopt a new STEM pedagogy and collaborative learning environment for students started back in 2016,” said Jeff Bonk, MSU Infrastructure, Planning and Facilities (IPF) Project Delivery ManagerDesign Manager. “A year later they started the design and brought on partners, members of the campus community,

stakeholders, and that’s when the idea to use mass timber as a product came about. With encouragement from the state of Michigan in the form of a grant and support from the Department of Agriculture, we stopped looking at mass timber as a potential way to build and said this is something we are going to do. It’s an innovative product, and what better way to put teaching on display than by using an innovative building product such as mass timber. The biophilic and environmental piece is an added benefit.”

The original state of the wood is a correlation to the concept of this project being a biophilic building. “We left the wood exposed,” said Bonk. “We are also a construction management school on campus, as well as forestry, and environmental sciences, so sustainability is a big thing for MSU. The structure, it is really untouched or unstained, it’s in the original state as it was delivered to us.”

The original state of the wood is part of the biophilic design unique to this “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

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building. “Biophilia refers to innate human connection to nature,” said Bill Senior Bofysil, Project Manager at Granger. “Biophilic is an design emerging trend that designers are starting to consider when they put together the building elements.

This building is a benchmark for future mass timber and hybrid construction projects.”

According to Wikipedia, the word biophilia originates from the Greek, “philia” meaning “love of.” It means a love of life or living things. The timing of this exemplary biophilic construction model came during the onset of a global pandemic. Delays, challenges and a new way of doing things came along, but in the end, students were welcomed on July 6, 2021, when classes officially re-opened in the new facility.

Students are loving their new STEM space, which was designed to connect them to nature while putting teaching and learning on display.

“The last academic building we built was Wells Hall over 40 years ago, so that’s a milestone not just for Granger, but for MSU as well. It’s also one of the first mass timber buildings used as a laboratory,” said Nestor DeOcampo, MSU member of Office of Planning and Budgets; Infrastructure, Planning and Facilities team member, and Data Resource Analyst. Early on, DeOcampo served as MSU’s administrative liaison and was heavily involved in the construction side of the project.

“The mass timber was an initial consideration as a unique feature of the building,” said DeOcampo. “It was under Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

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Original equipment and mechanical hardware are now art installations in MSU’s STEM facility. The interior of one of the decommissioned power plant’s boiler is space that students or visitors can walk through and view interactive, digital art. An immersive art installation commissioned by artist Refik Anadol is enshrouded in the circular-shaped space. Photo courtesy of Chris Lark

consideration, and we actually had a partnership with Granger to do a costbenefit analysis. At that time, which was February 2018, steel versus mass timber was equivalent. It was cost neutral. This was brought to the attention of the MSU executive leadership, and at that time we were looking at several different wood products. It was decided mass timber would be a good option to proceed with, giving a unique environment for our students, because this is a student facility.

It was something that could be very beneficial to the campus and also forward-thinking with regard to sustainability – a lot of what the university stands for.”

Constructing a Milestone Development DeOcampo’s description of this project being a milestone might be an understatement. “This building has become an instructional facility, so why not combine instruction in construction as part of that? So, when you enter, you’ll see that everything was left open so that students can see what is the infrastructure? What does it take to provide a facility like this to students?” said DeOcampo.

“There are so many outstanding design elements of the facility, the mass timber, the way the flexible labs and adjacent breakout spaces and circulations spaces support collaborative learning, the visibility

The STEM building has become an instructional facility. To provide opportunity for instruction in construction as part of that, elements of the physical infrastructure have been left open and visible.

Rendering courtesy of Ellenzweig

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of the exposed building systems that make the building itself a teaching tool,” said Jeff Kasdorf, MSU IPF Project Architect. “But for me, the most outstanding feature of the design is how the STEM portion of the facility interacts with the Power Plant. We wanted this contrast between the old and the new to be visible to amplify the difference between where technology has been to where it is going. This theme reoccurs throughout the design.”

The boiler is a perfect example of what Kasdorf mentions. It is something old, but has been re-created into something new.

The space connects people to the past in meaningful ways – and that was an intentional design goal. “Everyone gets to experience the boiler whether they are walking through or coming to the back administrative area,” said Tim VanAntwerp, Vice-President of Business Development at Granger. “It’s super industrial and blends the past in a thought-provoking way.

People are going to, and already are, asking lots of questions about this building,” he said.

Merging the Past and Present into One Building “What’s amazing about this adaptive reuse project is the fact that MSU and Granger worked to retain portions of the obsolete boiler plant,” said VanAnterwerp.

“When I’m in a space like this, it makes me think about how everything today is so disposable. To be able to take a boiler and transform it into a functioning conference room is astonishing. It would have been so much easier to just tear it down, but to have the inspiration and willingness to keep it, and turn it into a really interesting space is remarkable. Most people take the easy choice these days – they would’ve just torn it apart and thrown it away. There was a lot of intention behind what was left and what was kept.”

Combine biophilia and CLT and you get the interior of the newest, and most environmentally responsible, STEM teaching and learning facility on MSU’s campus. Its biophilic design concept incorporates glass and mass timber for users of the space to experience

MSU built the first mass timber structure in the state of Michigan. Cross-laminated timber is an engineered type of multi-layered wood extending in two directions; it has strength, sustainability, is moisture-resistant, and it requires no sanding, painting or staining. Photo courtesy of Granger Construction 22 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

technology and nature at the same time.

Immediately, upon entering the facility, the vast wood, prominent sunlight, openness, and historical elements – such as the metal artifact wall, envisioned by the architect, Integrated Design Solutions (IDS), and implemented by Kasdorf and IPF Shops, on the second floor. It’s an artistically arranged, welded collage of upcycled power plant memorabilia including hand wheels, fixtures, valves, plates and machine components.

Visitors to the building get the sense that they’re in a museum, outdoor café, and nature park all at once. This intentional design of connectivity to natural elements provides students a beautiful, breath-taking space, a desire to remain present, and greater potential to cultivate and develop scholarly minds.

Yes, it appears to be much more than a milestone – it’s an ecosystem and mass timber landmark. It’s a breakthrough for a new way to build in the region. A new way to think about designing and building.

“Design is an iterative process,” said Kasdorf. “This facility was designed, refined, and redesigned hundreds of times. At first conception of all the big ideas encouraged and celebrated, and through the iterations the best and most achievable ideas survive while those less practical, affordable, and achievable fall.

So, it’s less like concept being constructed, and more like a vision being realized. That opportunity to explore big ideas doesn’t always exist. Sometimes, pragmatics is the only rule of design. We were very fortunate that everyone involved bought into the magnitude of the opportunity early and are extremely proud of the result.”

The preservation of the past is deliberately integrated in some fascinating ways inside the new MSU STEM building that is now serving nearly 40,000 undergraduate learners.

If you can, imagine the people who worked hard to load the hot, dusty, pulverized ash – the leftover byproduct of burning coal – into the 200-foot-tall ash silo. Those individuals could never have dreamed that the silo would one day have a floor built into it, and it would be turned into a cozy conference area for twentyfirst century MSU students to study in,

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hang out, and collaborate with one another.

The labor of another era can be forever remembered thanks to the forethought and intention by Michigan State University’s Infrastructure, Planning and Facilities team to keep portions of the historic, defunct power plant. The old became the new when MSU mapped out innovative ways to build around its

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bygone boilers, water tank, and iconic smokestacks. Architects from IDS and Ellenzweig and builders from Granger gave MSU the forward-looking results they envisioned – to convert the decommissioned plant into a newly distinguished and celebrated MSU STEM learning hub.

Bofysil, who worked on site from demolition to completion, admits with a

little nostalgia in his voice that the transformation of the cavernous ash silo into a modern, well-lit, technologically equipped student gathering space might be one facet of the adaptive re-use construction project that means the most to him. “The re-purposing of the ash silo is definitely something I’m proud to have worked on,” said Bofysil. He recognized the ash silo’s original 1940s masonry as superb, and it even tells a story about previous styles of workmanship. “But today it’s fragile,” he explained. “The ash silo was just a cylinder shell made of clay block,” he said. “We cut into it and we created this unique space. If, during construction, you destroy a piece, you can’t go get a new piece. The material we were working with is delicate and hollow, so we had to be very careful about how we did the construction around this clay block. The result really puts a stamp on the building.”

Modern tradespeople found themselves working around artisan skills from another time period that did not include technology.

“I couldn’t imagine building this building in the 1940s without the technology we have today,” said Bofysil. “It would definitely take a lot longer. Technology allows us to be efficient with our resources, and it’s a time-saving tool for everybody.” The teams used Building Information Modeling (BIM), which provided three-dimensional visuals of every aspect of the project. Working with mass timber means that steel strapping is necessary to distribute load weight across the floor – the BIM allowed the team to know the precise location to install straps.

The stately MSU STEM structure brings together the historic and contemporary; it’s the best of “then” and “now” under one roof. There is plenty of old concrete and new, and there is a distinct color between the two. “This colored concrete on the first floor outlines where the other boilers were,” said Bofysil. “You’ll see big, dark splotches of colored, polished concrete to show that there was a boiler there. The imperfections help relate it back to the old power plant.” In addition, there is concrete in the lab space that includes old and new – the latter of which had to be installed to complete the floor.

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There is also CLT timber as part of the flooring, which heightens the beauty.

Identifying work from the past becomes quite noticeable once you know the difference. “You can see the differences between the existing and new steel,” said Bofysil. “If you see rivets on something, that’s the old steel, versus if you see bolts, then it’s new.”

Developing a Type III-B Building Noteworthy about this mass timber creation is its Type III-B building designation. “It is exceptional in every way, safety included,” said Bofysil. “It is fully sprinkled with fire protection, fire alarms, and smoke heads throughout.” He explains another advantage of a Type IIIB title: “When it comes to mass timber, the III-B identification allows construction to exclude cladding the timber, wrapping it, or hiding it in drywall. It allows the

timber to be exposed. Everything is exposed in this building. It has a certain fire rating to the columns or beams, or whatever element is used. It lends itself to the aesthetics.”

Researching Extensively before Construction As the project manager, Bofysil realized that working with mass timber was going to require him to do, give, and know more.

“Seeing the mass timber and trying to understand how it is different from steel was my priority,” he said. “This is the very first mass timber project in the state of Michigan. That’s what’s so exciting about this project; there are so many firsts. Since I love a challenge, I really dug in deep to figure out what mass timber was – and called everyone I could from suppliers to designers to find out everything I could and understand how it interfaces with

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different materials. That’s probably been one of the biggest learning curves for me with mass timber – how you work in and around it contrasted with a conventional steel and metal deck type of construction.

In the end, I would do it again in a heartbeat. It’s so different and unique. It definitely has some advantages, and if you know how to use the material you can use it to your advantage for the speed of construction, and obviously for the aesthetics part of it.”

Before mass timber leaders, Nordic Structure, from Montreal, Quebec, were selected to provide the wood for MSU STEM, there was a lot of research and discussion. Two men in particular, Professor Richard Kobe, MSU Chair of the Forestry Department, and George Berghorn, MSU Professor of Construction Management, acknowledge they are privileged to work in such rare and unduplicated educational space to help advance the art of mass timber construction for the next generation. They both give tours of the facility and were

The use of cross-laminated timber (CLT), an engineered type of multi-layered wood extending in two directions, has strength, sustainability, and is moisture-resistant. The building’s Type III-B designation allows construction to exclude cladding the timber, wrapping it, or hiding it in drywall. It allows the timber to be exposed. Photo courtesy of Chris Lark Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

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involved in the Mass Timber Summit.

“This is something I think is the result of a collaboration across lots of different entities at MSU,” said Kobe. “The facility and operations planning team came together with the academic side, and typically, those two don’t come together at a university – but they should.” In this case, they did, and with distinguished success – engineers, architects and designers from all over the state are checking in with MSU to see this building.

“Other design teams and other universities are coming here to tour the facility,” added Bofysil.

Kobe modestly views his role as instrumental in providing forestry-related expertise and knowledge about the benefits of using wood to the IPF team.

He helped by lending his understanding about harvesting trees to cutting them down to building with them, leaving the information in the hands of MSU decision makers. “I’m a scientist, so yes, I was advocating for this, but I also think to be leaders in education a university should

try out innovative things and experiment.”

Berghorn, an MSU alumnus and a former east coast construction manager, is an enthusiastic promoter of mass timber and is glad Michigan is catching up with this building method, which other parts of the world already embrace. “The United States as a whole is behind Europe and Canada when it comes to mass timber,” said Berghorn. “The early adopters and initial movement of mass timber is in the Pacific Northwest. This is a good thing for our state and region.”

Berghorn, who also holds a Master’s degree in forestry, learned about mass timber seven years ago from an architecture teacher in Grand Rapids. “It just sort of struck a chord in me, and it was something I really wanted to pursue once I started learning about it.”

When DeOcampo and the MSU planning team decided to go with wood, Kobe and Berghorn were delighted.

“Using wood as the base in construction helps reduce carbon emissions, and it is much lower compared to using concrete

and steel. If wood is possible to use, it definitely has its advantages, such as climate benefits and reduced emissions,” said Kobe.

Teaching Mass Timber Concepts to STEM Learners Kobe and Berghorn have the honor and challenge of teaching the intricacies of building with mass timber to the next generation. The MSU pair of professors, who have contributed to and witnessed the raising of their dream mass timber project become their new work environment, get to draw on this authoritative example to teach it.

Their vision to incorporate lessons for students with the live construction happening on campus came to a halt during the 15 months students were off campus due to COVID-19. “Things were just getting started,” said Berghorn, “and then it all stopped. Students missed the construction process.”

Fortunately, technology saved the day-to-day construction advancement to be utilized and studied. “We developed a good relationship with Granger,” said Berghorn.

“They set up a live webcam allowing us to see the progress from that perspective.

We also got a ton of information from IDS – all of this we can use in our teaching and share with students.”

This generation of MSU learners will reap the benefits of the use of mass timber with their instructional leaders guiding them – and they’ll always remember it since it happened during a global pandemic. “I try to give students enough background information about what mass timber construction is to get them curious,” said Berghorn. “What I’ve noticed is the ones who are curious and want to learn more will approach me and inquire if there are other things to learn about this technique on buildings that have been built this way.”

Giving MSU Students a Sustainable Edge “I take it with the approach of trying to help students look at the material, look at construction systems using that material, look at the code implications, and then we talk about the environmental implications of building with a material that, in and of

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The former 200-foot ash silo that once served three coal-fired boilers has been removed to create a cozy space for students to study in, collaborate with one another, or relax in between classes.

Photo courtesy of Chris Lark

itself, sequesters carbon,” said Berghorn.

“In all of that wood, about half of it is made up of carbon. It’s interesting how the sustainability aspect of it is where I see a lot of students getting interested – this generation of learners has a very keen awareness about environmental issues, and mass timber piques their interest because of its relation to sustainability,” he said.

Kobe believes that the entire project is an ideal, educational model for students studying forestry or construction management, “since it allows them an opportunity to see firsthand what wood can build, and to see how contemporary use of wood is implemented into a building, rather than learning about it in a photograph, article, or textbook.” With so much interest and enthusiasm centered on this pioneering mass timber construction project, Kobe said that MSU is developing an educational and outreach program related to it. “We’ve hired an expert to help further introduce and expand on learning about mass timber here on campus,” he said.

The MSU professors who have substantial knowledge about mass timber were consulted by those who would build the new facility. “Nordic Structures provided the wood,” said Berghorn, “Granger was the general contractor, and Christman Constructors was the erector.”

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project for MSU – and the first for the state of Michigan – VanAntwerp and Bofysil knew it would require some effort to get everybody up to speed on how to work with this material versus a traditional steel and concrete job.

Working in and around mass timber had to be explained to the subcontractors.

“The biggest question I had when going into this – working with mass timber – was making sure that all of the trades understood the differences and nuances associated with mass timber,” said Bofysil. “We had to widen our scope and articulate to them about how to coordinate this job. Everything is exposed; there are no ceilings. Every time you screw into the timber deck you need to make sure it’s in the right place at the right time, because you don’t want to pull that out and then have damage. The BIM was very high-detailed for that purpose.

Everything down to the quarter-inch hanger was on the BIM model. It was a very intense process, and it was important to get that right,” he said.

Getting bids from subcontractors to work with something as foreign as mass timber wasn’t an issue for Granger, according to Bofysil. “It wasn’t hard to get the bids because we have a great relationship with the subcontracting community, and we did a good job of explaining how to work in and around the mass timber itself. There’s definitely a CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

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level of trust there with the subcontracting community that helped.”

Granger helped to educate all of its subs. “I think one of the big things to consider, depending on the trade, is they need to know how to protect the timber when working in close proximity. So, for example, if it’s a painter, they need to mask off correctly. If they’re painting a drywall wall adjacent to the timber, protection is evaluated. Even in the beginning when we’re placing the concrete topping on the CLT decks, the concrete subs would wrap the timber columns up high enough so they wouldn’t have to worry about concrete splash. The challenge really is protecting the mass timber from the installation procedures performed by the subcontractors.”

Since damages happen on every construction site, Bofysil knew he’d take the approach of how to handle it, if it happened.

Weekly subcontractor progress meetings helped diffuse issues.

Working intimately with mass timber allowed Granger to develop a method to

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protect it in advance of the trades entering the scene. “We made a wrap made of rigid foam and plywood to install and protect the column,” said Bofysil. “This limited any type of damage to the mass timber.”

DeOcampo assents: “I think it was constant reminders to the trades,” he said. “Granger had to consistently give reminders about how to work around a finished product involving mass timber.”

Diving into Demolition and Refurbishment “This power plant was a functioning power plant decommissioned in the early 1970s, but everything was still in it,” said Bofysil. “It took us about a year to do the demolition and abatement to get it ready for the re-purpose part of the project. It was not your typical run-of-the-mill demolition.”

VanAntwerp agrees: “They had to feel their way through it to do it safely, to update things, and there were a lot of hazardous materials that had to be removed for construction and long-term

safety,” he said. “There was a lot of planning and expertise that went into the demolition. Every day the demolition crew had to sort of come up with a plan of the day and adapt. They were thinking about how to use the building to help serve a purpose.”

One of those innovative ways the team put the past to use was by utilizing the power plant’s 13,000-gallon expansion tank during abatement tasks. It provided easy access to water on site, was used for dust control, and even for decontamination showers. The tank is now suspended from the ceiling and is another power plant artifact to be admired, talked about, and fondly remembered today as something once used as part of many workers' livelihoods.

An historic window company helped authenticate the windows. “All the windows were made to the exact profile they once were in the original power plant,” explained Bofysil. “The windows we pulled out look exactly like these newer yet better ones.”

The facility’s exterior showcases an abundance of glass and brick. The brick facade that can be seen is a remnant of the existing power plant. “Tons of refurbishment was completed, but the brick is original to the power plant,” said Bofysil. In addition, there are three vertical stacks remaining that once served the three vertical boilers in the plant. “The two boilers from the north and south were removed for the program of the building, but the middle one has been left as an artifact,” said Bofysil.

The interior of the boiler, located on the first floor, is now space that students or visitors can walk through and view interactive, digital art. An immersive art installation is enshrouded in the circularshaped space. California artist Refix Anadol was commissioned to implement an artistic and architectural dream-like environment in the former boiler’s interior.

Standing in an 80-year-old structure while viewing twenty-first century algorithm-style art transports the viewer to the past while enjoying the present moment. The first floor also houses an attractive, stainless-steel and glass food court to meet the sustenance needs of students. “The first-floor conference “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

The second floor of the STEM facility features a metal artifact wall, an artistically arranged, welded collage of upcycled power plant memorabilia including hand wheels, fixtures, valves, and machine components. Photo courtesy of Kevin Marshall, Integrated Design Solutions

rooms and administrative space on the bio side is related to the hybrid construction portion of the project, which includes the new steel with the mixture of CLT floor on top of it,” said Bofysil.

The second floor is designed as a passthrough, so again, there are lots of interactive features with the old and salvaged parts of the power plant and new, modern spaces to collaborate, study or meet peers.

Some bench seating and table bases and stools throughout the building have power plant relics incorporated into their design. Kasdorf and Jackson artist Kyle Orr collaborated to re-fashion motor mounts, metal springs, wheels and covers into retro furniture.

Remarkably, the third floor is a brandnew floor within the building. There are tons of steel modifications that were made to the interior steel itself.

Eliminating Student Mobility Issues MSU’s DeOcampo likes how the 236-seat lecture hall sets a new standard in learning for instant collaborating, and for anyone with a mobility issue. This alone truly signifies how the university is removing outdated instructional laboratories. “It’s an active, learning classroom,” said DeOcampo, “so the modesty panels are actually whiteboards that flip up or down depending on the needs of the learners.”

Everything is mobile, too. Chairs and table on wheels can be reorganized to accommodate group projects and discussions.

Bofysil explains the new design concept offering mobility options. “The most unique feature about this lecture hall is the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) handicap accessibility unit – traditionally,

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in a lecture hall setting, the handicap row is either in the back or front,” he said. “So, there’s intention to make this middle row a lot wider and allow accessibility in the middle to provide more options for all learners. They can go down the ramp, on either side and choose to sit in the front, middle or back. This design intended for those with mobility issues is a first of its kind. Another teaching room in the MSUSTEM seats 180 students.

Designing for Purpose There have been lessons learned along the way, too. “This project reinforces the idea that design constraints lead to design innovation,” said Kasdorf. “I don’t believe that if we had built this on a green field, on a square flat site with nothing to interact with that it could have been as special and that this can and should be repeated as we plan for future facilities on and off campus. That adaptive re-use and revitalization can birth a dynamic that urban sprawl cannot.”

The meaningfulness of the MSU-STEM building holds a special place in the heart of Granger’s VanAntwerp, who once studied on the campus as a student. “Our company, Granger, has been on campus for probably 50 years,” said VanAntwerp.

“I’ve been on campus for 10 years with Granger, and this is probably the most significant project we’ve built in a very long time. So, to get to be a part of that at MSU, and just to do something like this that nobody’s ever done before … to play a small part in this, it’s been such a memorable experience for all of us. Our team is exceptional.”

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Creating Hope: New Henry Ford Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion Offers WorldClass Cancer Care in Detroit

By Mary Kremposky McArdle • Associate Editor

B

y late January, the dark days of winter begin to ease and subtly shift toward the light. As the New Year began its annual opening to the light, the Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion opened its doors on January 20, 2021, to patients of Henry Ford Cancer Institute’s new global destination for cancer care in the heart of Detroit. The building’s very architecture is a healing force.

SmithGroup’s design speaks in the language of light to convey hope, confidence and encouragement to cancer patients and their families: the east façade’s generous glazing glows in the morning light and the lobby’s 30-foot-high walls of glass become a light-filled vessel drawing in views of Henry Ford Health System’s (HFHS) flagship hospital across West Grand Boulevard. At night, the building stands as a shining beacon of hope embodying the leading-edge 32 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

medicine and the supportive healing environment within this innovative cancer center.

From the infusion center and its outdoor rooftop terrace to the first-floor placement of radiation oncology services typically located in a sunless basement, every patient space benefits from this architectural form of light therapy. Henry Ford Health System and the design and construction team went the distance in delivering this life-saving facility offering hope and healing to oncology patients across the country and even around the globe.

As construction manager, Turner Construction Company’s Michigan office partnered with associate construction manager KEO & Associates, Inc. to deliver hope on schedule. The team even provided more than the Henry Ford Cancer Institute hoped for in the new facility. Budget-wise,

Turner-KEO worked aggressively with the entire team to deliver “more scope than the original base project,” said Jeffrey Ringvelski, HFHS Director, Facilities Design & Construction.

In late December 2020, Turner-KEO turned over the entire project, including the building’s six-story tower and its threestory section, a 690-car parking garage due south of the building, and a pedestrian bridge, christened the Nancy Vlasic Skywalk, directly linking the new outpatient pavilion to the in-patient Josephine Ford Cancer Center in the main hospital across West Grand Boulevard.

Merging History and High Technology The design and construction team wove together the building’s varied massing and diverse exterior façade, including unitized glass, metal panels, and a series of brick columns in harmony with the main “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

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Photo Credit: Justin Maconochie Photography LLC

The brick aesthetically links the new facility to Henry Ford Health System’s flagship hospital across West Grand Boulevard. The building’s glazing and contemporary design speak to the innovations in cancer care and precision medicine available in this world-class facility.

hospital’s iconic brick façade. In what SmithGroup’s Vice President, Health Studio Leader Ann Kenyon calls “a merge of history and high technology,” the brick aesthetically links the new facility to Henry Ford Hospital, a centennial healthcare institution opened in 1915. The building’s glazing and contemporary design speak to the innovations in cancer care and precision medicine available in this worldclass facility.

The architectural marriage of these early twentieth century and early twenty-first century buildings continues in the interior.

The glass-wrapped lobby invites in views of the main hospital’s signature façade, while a signature feature, called the DNA Wall, expresses the pavilion’s medical advances in oncology treatment. The DNA Wall is an architectural feature formed of wood panels and a futuristic pattern of backlit acrylic glass cylinders softly glowing in different shades of Henry Ford blue.

The DNA Wall expresses the Institute’s innovations in cancer research and treatment, and more specifically, the backlit cylinders represent DNA and the Institute’s expertise in advanced precision medicine.

Defeating Cancer Precision medicine tailors cancer treatment to each person’s genome or unique set of genetic instructions.

This personalized approach to oncology is transformative and vital because “two people may have the same type of cancer, but no two people respond to treatments in precisely the same way,” according to the HFHS website.

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“A decade ago – I dare say even five years ago – some of the cures and treatments we have today were thought of as space-age science fiction, but because of the miracles of modern precision cancer care and the hope and perseverance of our teams, and especially our patients, those dreams are now a reality,” said Steven N. Kalkanis, M.D. at a virtual celebration of the new facility in January 2021. Dr. Kalkanis is CEO of the Henry Ford Medical Group and Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of the Henry Ford Health System.

Standing in front of the lobby’s DNA Wall during this virtual celebration, Dr. Kalkanis said the DNA Wall “is a symbol of the spirit of this pavilion and this team. It’s created to signify the DNA strands that define us and are helping unlock answers to defeating cancer.”

SmithGroup designed and Turner-KEO oversaw the construction of the DNA Walls located in the lobby and at the entrance of a specialty space called the Tumor Board room. Located near the pavilion’s entrance to the skywalk, this collaborative hub accommodates 50 clinicians around a grand table and along perimeter bench

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seating, while the room’s sophisticated communications includes technology linking clinicians to colleagues across the globe for the benefit of patient care.

This nexus for leading-edge cancer care offers a clinical trials research program, retail and research pharmacies, and “some of the most advanced radiation therapy options available,” said SmithGroup Associate Ed Pocock, Healthcare Planning Manager and Senior Project Manager. “The Henry Ford Cancer Institute was the first in the world to offer the ViewRay MRIdian Linac® at one of its facilities and now at the new cancer center.” The instrument is a MRI-guided radiation therapy capable of precisely locating the cancer site prior to radiation treatment with a medical linear accelerator (LINAC).

This comprehensive cancer care facility offers oncology support services to strengthen patients physically and emotionally. According to Pocock, the OncoStat Clinic is an urgent care facility exclusively dedicated to the needs of cancer patients, The Market offers lightfare and comfort food geared toward oncology patients’ dietary needs, and in

At night, light shining through the glass-wrapped lobby, along with the soft glow of accent lighting on the brick columns and piers, turns the building into a shining beacon of hope. Photo Credit: Justin Maconochie Photography LLC

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addition to this supportive environment, an Art Walk and Healing Arts Gallery eases the spirit.

Altogether, the Henry Ford Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion occupies 187,000 square feet of space, and “every square foot is designed to help defeat cancer,” said Robert G. Riney, HFHS President, Healthcare Operations and Chief Operating Officer at the virtual celebration. At the event, Riney recognized the efforts of SmithGroup, Turner-KEO and the entire design and construction team. “They deserve a tremendous amount of gratitude for their dedication to helping make something that is truly unique and inspirational,” Riney said. “They didn’t just help create a building, they’re creating hope.”

The Spark: Mr. Mort Harris It all began with a man named Mort Harris.

Brigitte, his wife of 46 years, battled pancreatic cancer for two years and passed away in 2016. In memory and in honor of his wife, this successful businessman and generous philanthropist

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donated $20 million to Henry Ford Health System for the new pavilion and another $20 million to support precision medicine, brain cancer and pancreatic cancer programs.

Turner Senior Project Manager Charles Hornacek commented on meeting the building’s main benefactor on the site: “Mort Harris was an amazing man. His dream was to make this building spectacular. His vision was unbelievable, and I believe the team did everything they possibly could to make it right for him and for cancer patients.”

Passing away only a few months after the virtual celebration, the 101-year-old Mort Harris had a long history with Henry Ford Hospital. In fact, he grew up only a block away from the hospital and was a patient at the age of five, having fallen off the roof of his house in 1920s Detroit.

Harris recounted this boyhood tale at the pavilion’s groundbreaking. Wearing a Turner hardhat, Harris also attended the topping-off ceremony and afterwards began touring the site fairly regularly. “He was genuinely interested in the building,”

said Turner Project Executive Ron Dawson.

“He would talk to the tradespeople on site who appreciated his site tours. He was inspirational to the entire team.”

Mort Harris toured the building just prior to its opening. “It’s one of the happiest things that has happened in my life,” Harris said via video during the virtual celebration.

“I was able to bring some happiness to the remembrance of my darling wife – my dear, wonderful Brigitte. But this marvelous facility is much larger than just my family.

It’s a gift for mankind. … I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has joined me in this building. You have no idea how much thought and effort has been put into this structure.”

The Right Team Over four years in the making, the entire team poured their talents and energies into creating this comprehensive, world-class cancer center built from the ground up.

HFHS selected SmithGroup as architect of record in February 2016 and Turner-KEO as construction manager in mid-2016. “We partnered with KEO & Associates, Inc.

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The grand, light-filled lobby is a curvilinear sweep of space with a monumental stair, soaring wood-clad columns, and a signature element called the DNA Wall (left), expressing the pavilion’s advances in precision medicine and oncology treatment. Views of the main hospital fill this grand volume through the lobby’s glasswrapped walls. Photo Credit: Justin Maconochie Photography LLC

because the company is a quality MBE contractor that we have worked with in the past,” Dawson said. “The project gave KEO the opportunity to gain experience in the healthcare side of construction.”

As a collective of firms with deep roots in Detroit, SmithGroup, Turner and KEO were natural choices. “The firms are based in Detroit, and all are committed to the resurgence of the city,” Kenyon said.

SmithGroup brought a diverse team of minority- and women-owned businesses to the project, including SDG Associates, a Detroit firm responsible for the design of the architectural portion of the skywalk.

SmithGroup worked with Grand Rapidsbased Enviah, a women-owned enterprise that according to Enviah’s website develops “ways to align built (healthcare) environments with operations by removing the barriers that work against staff success and patient satisfaction.”

The Right Site After over a century of growth, HFHS’s existing campus had no room left for expansion. A five-acre parcel on the Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

emerging south campus offered a broad canvas of space to build this comprehensive and collaborative care facility. “Clinicians were striving to bring all cancer care services together in one building so that they could collaborate better with one another and provide seamless care to the patient in all aspects,” Kenyon said. “It allows them to provide genetic counseling, and to bring all of the oncologists, patient care-givers, and researchers together to provide personalized treatment planning in one building.”

A new facility would more easily accommodate new approaches to cancer care. “The leadership of the Henry Ford Cancer Institute has been very forwardthinking on new methodologies and treatments and better ways to treat the entire person,” Ringvelski said.

Design-wise, “since the pavilion offers a new way of thinking about cancer care, we had to rethink how to organize the building to best treat the patient,” Pocock said. With its extensive national portfolio of cancer centers, SmithGroup brought an invaluable

level of knowledge to the facility’s planning and programming.

Following a Patient’s Advice As part of planning and programming, SmithGroup met with Henry Ford’s medical team and with patient, family and survivor advisory groups over the course of four months. “We conducted visioning sessions and traced the pathway of the patient through their cancer journey to make sure we understood their needs,” Pocock said.

The design fulfilled the patients’ wish list for an outdoor rooftop terrace next to the infusion center, a weather-shielded connection from the parking deck to the building, and abundant natural light.

Particularly in the lobby, “it was very important to patients that when they first walked into the facility that it was bathed in natural light,” Kenyon said.

Patients, already navigating the stress and complexities of cancer, requested clear way-finding as well. SmithGroup designed the lobby as a curved sweep of space easily flowing into the curvilinear main corridor. In turn, the corridor offers a CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

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A collaborative hub, called the Tumor Board room, accommodates 50 clinicians around a grand table and along perimeter bench seating. Sophisticated communication systems in the Tumor Board room include technology linking clinicians to colleagues across the globe. Photo Credit: Justin Maconochie

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smooth pathway leading directly from the lobby to radiation oncology. “By making a space curvilinear, it helps people intuitively understand where they need to go,” Pocock said. “The main corridor starts as a wide funnel and then narrows to a 12foot-wide corridor as it nears radiation oncology. For ease of navigation, the elevators open directly to patient check-in on each floor.”

For patient ease, SmithGroup designed a combination exam and consultation space called a care room. Larger than a traditional exam room, the care room includes separate zones for the patient and family to accommodate privacy during the exam. Each care room has floor-to-ceiling windows and a comfortable patient chair used during consultations; the chair folds out into an exam table when necessary.

SmithGroup provided generous levels of natural light and clinical furnishings with a hospitality appearance and feel in the care rooms and in all patient spaces occupied for a protracted period of time. “We wanted people to feel comfortable and for the furnishings to help create a very elegant space,” Kenyon said.

SmithGroup designed a patient-centric layout for the infusion center. “We created neighborhoods of six to seven people in a V or wedge shape,” Pocock said. “The nurse, sitting in the narrow part of the

wedge, has a direct sight line to patients; the patients can be seen by the clinical staff and have views through the windows to the outdoor terrace.”

The infusion center accommodates both individual privacy and community with a combination of enclosed rooms and open bays. In the open bays, patients can draw the curtain if fatigued or leave the curtain open to enjoy the support of fellow patients. “Patients have their infusion every time with the same group of people, and they often start forming relationships and support groups,” Ringvelski said.

Overall, Pocock said the infusion center programming includes the outdoor terrace to the north and the extensive clinical and research pharmacy that helps develop each patient’s individual chemotherapy treatment due south.

Managing the Budget During planning and design, Turner-KEO “worked closely with HFHS, SmithGroup, our estimating group and the subcontractors to build the project to the desired budget,” Dawson said. (Total project cost is confidential.)

Three measures proved significant: • Metal panels replaced much of the glass on the building’s less visible south face.

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can still provide natural light but in an affordable way,” Pocock said.

• Gorgeous blue-speckled terrazzo flooring enlivens the lobby while tile or quality sheet good materials cover the first and second levels.

• In an innovative approach to the mechanical system, “we have three very specialized DX (direct expansion) airconditioning units that allowed us to do more for the money while meeting all of the building’s HVAC needs,” Pocock said. “The units were placed on the roof instead of using floor space, which would have cost much more money.”

Given these and other cost-control measures, “we were able to build more than we originally thought we could build,” Pocock said. Added scope included the first-floor café space and building out shell space for more administrative and research offices on the sixth floor. These offices gave Henry Ford Cancer Institute the ability to house more specialties in the pavilion, aiding in the “condensing of operations from disparate locations, either from within our hospitals or from the main hospital, into one building,” Ringvelski added.

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and the demolition and underground utilities for the remainder of the south campus.

For its part, Turner-KEO installed “new primary electrical from the nearby DTE substation, which now services the cancer center, parking structure and site lighting on the roads,” Hornacek said. “All new sanitary, storm, gas and other types of utilities are now underneath the new realigned roads.”

Turner-KEO launched caisson drilling for the cancer center and parking structure in November 2017. Beforehand, HFHS enlisted the services of Testing Engineers & Consultants to conduct an early investigation of soil conditions. “They drilled a significant amount of soil borings to establish the true conditions on the site and surrounding the site,” Hornacek said.

“In some instances, artesian water conditions were found about 150 feet down.”

The parking structure and the building’s three-story section both rest on caissons, or drilled piers, some extending 145 feet in

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depth. “The depth of the caissons varies, but that early survey and analysis helped us understand the true water conditions past that point,” Hornacek said. “This helped us avoid spending a great deal of money on artesian conditions.”

For efficiency, Turner-KEO oversaw caisson placement on both the parking structure and the three-story building section at the same time using two separate caisson rigs to expedite the schedule. In total, Rohrscheib Sons Caissons, Inc., New Hudson, placed over 160 caissons.

The caissons will accommodate the future expansion of the three-story section.

“It’s also a friction design,” Hornacek added. “The caissons require a certain depth, because in addition to bearing on the bottom to support the load of the building, the caissons have to have so much bearing on the side of the caissons themselves. The precast concrete parking deck has caissons of different diameters and different spacings to accommodate the load of the cars and the weight of the precast concrete structure itself.”

Laying the Groundwork Turner-KEO worked collaboratively with HFHS and SmithGroup throughout design and construction, beginning with Phase I infrastructure and pad-ready work. In Phase I, collaboration resulted in a costeffective solution for the basement’s shoring or retention system. “The team evaluated the different shoring systems for the basement and chose auger cast piles,” Hornacek said.

Phase I design began early to expedite the schedule. “It allowed us to take advantage of the good weather,” Hornacek said. Phase I work spanned from April to October 2017 and included removal of the “existing infrastructure, including the roads, underground utilities, a few trees and some buildings,” Hornacek said. “We then realigned the roads and installed new underground utilities, prepped the pad for the parking structure and cancer center, and excavated the basement.”

Turner-KEO’s scope involved only demolition and underground utilities on the five-acre parcel, while HFHS coordinated the actual placement of the road pavement

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Hardman Construction, Ludington, installed the retaining walls, or shoring, for the six-story tower, including the drilling and grouting of the auger cast piles, as well as “the shoring that interlocks into the system around the perimeter,” Hornacek said.

The six-story tower rests on a three-footthick concrete mat foundation. The mat foundation was placed in three different pours to cover a building footprint roughly measuring 160 x 240 feet. “SmithGroup helped us develop a method to where we could place three separate pours versus one pour, resulting in two construction joints in the mat slab,” Hornacek said.

Specialty Construction The team wasn’t finished with the intricacies of concrete. As determined by a hospital physicist, the four linear accelerator (LINAC) rooms in radiation oncology called for three-foot-thick concrete walls and ceiling structures.

“Sometimes the room has six feet of concrete in areas that are in the direct path of the LINAC’s laser-like beam,” Dawson said. The first-floor LINAC rooms bear on substantial spread footings and are located in the west end of the three-story portion – a section without a basement.

High-Dose Radiation (HDR) therapy requires a room with lead block walls.

“Lead block is stacked between the steel,” Dawson said. “It was quite incredible. They actually ran the lead block across the ceiling as well.” NELCO Worldwide, a specialty contractor based in Burlington, Massachusetts, engineered, fabricated and installed the radiation shielding for the walls, doors and ceilings.

According to Dawson, the LINAC rooms have lead shielding installed inside of large specialty steel doors, along with special block-outs in the floors that make it possible to run all the electrical cables and the control equipment from the LINAC room to the technician’s adjacent control room. Building Information Modeling (BIM) was used to plot the installation of mechanical systems in the LINAC, MRI and CT rooms and throughout much of the building. “The building has a tremendous amount of mechanical systems,” Hornacek said. “In these specialty rooms, we used 3D modeling not just above the ceilings but actually in wall rough-ins. Coordinating

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these mechanical components and identifying how they are actually placed within the wall in regards to rough-ins helps the trades expedite the work and ensure it is correct for the vendors.”

Expediting the Schedule Turner’s planning and supply chain management expedited the building’s critical path mechanical systems. “The release of an early mechanical package helped us to expedite the purchase and procurement of the large mechanical and electrical equipment,” Hornacek said.

The large equipment was slated for installation in the basement, meaning “it had to be delivered early in order to close up the building,” Dawson added. “Large rooftop air-handling units needed to be on site early in construction because a massive crane was needed to lift the units in place. Bringing such a sizeable crane to the site later in the job would have been an issue.”

Turner used SourceBlue to purchase these large mechanical and electrical components “directly from the manufacturers,” Hornacek said. “This expedited submittals and deliveries, and in turn helped the subcontractors expedite installation.”

The same attention to expediting the schedule drove structural installation. “We initiated the precast in the parking structure first, and progressed to the cancer center’s steel framing before building the bridge last,” Hornacek said. “Getting a jumpstart on the precast concrete parking structure while we did our engineering for the trade work and got the design packages out for the cancer center was an efficient way of scheduling the work.”

In building the 420-foot-long span of the Nancy Vlasic Skywalk, Turner-KEO arranged a weekend shutdown of West Grand Boulevard with the State of Michigan to erect steel in three sections. As the last step, installing the glass enclosure and the roof called for the temporary closing of two lanes of this major thoroughfare in the New Center area.

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structure of different heights and a varied interplay of recessed, projecting and offset sections. On the east, a recessed section, clad in glass and a row of brick columns, rises directly above the vegetated roof of a lower building tier housing the grand lobby.

The pure glass curtain wall of this tier and the main east façade turns the six-story building into an illuminated tower of light.

“The building as a beacon of light begins

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on the lobby side but translates all the way through the building,” Pocock said.

Along West Grand Boulevard, the tower and the three-story section each have a projecting layer of brick columns and glass set in a broader glass frame, creating a double-layered façade. On the tower, the projection and its row of brick columns is set in the center of the main glass façade.

Adding further complexity to this varied

Dynamic Massing Varied massing and a diverse façade create a dynamic but demanding building envelope and exterior façade. Rather than a uniform box, the building is a layered

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The infusion center accommodates both individual privacy and community with a combination of enclosed rooms and open bays. Photo Credit: Justin Maconochie Photography LLC

shell, the uppermost level of the tower’s main glass façade is slightly inflected, creating a concave, V-shaped section capped by a metal brow. The lower building is formed of two offset rectangles; the rectangle with the procession of brick piers edges further west than the other to create

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a platform for the outdoor rooftop terrace.

The building’s multiplicity of layers is part of “a beautiful design that is also dynamic from within because many spaces project slightly out from the rest of the building and offer outstanding views,” Ringvelski said.

“The building’s variations give the

architecture more energy and some movement as opposed to just having continual rectilinear spaces.”

Both lower façades are pedestrianfriendly and urban-centric. Brick piers and precast details at street-level weave the new building into the urban fabric of the New Center area. “We wanted the building to have a streetscape one would expect in a city,” Pocock said. “That is why it has a relatively short sidewalk close to West Grand Boulevard versus a suburban development pushed away from the street.”

Street-level building details are designed to a human scale. A landscaped pocket park with a seating area is even tucked in between the taller and shorter portions of the pavilion, adding to the people-friendly streetscape.

A Diverse Facade The building’s exterior façade is a weaving together of unitized glass, metal panels, and precast capitals on the lower and metal capitals on the upper levels of the tower’s brick columns. This diverse façade called for extra vigilance in detailing and waterproofing every material junction to prevent moisture migration. “Our Building Technology Studio spent a great deal of time making sure that moisture migration and the vapor barrier were addressed in all of these different systems,” Pocock said, “and in determining how these systems had to relate to one another to keep water out.”

Given the building’s layering and diverse materials, Kenyon said mockups had to be created for many different conditions and complex details. According to Pocock, “these mock-ups showed contractors how to execute the details correctly before wide-scale installation. It was a proactive approach to making sure a complicated system went together well, and the Turner team was very instrumental in making sure that happened.”

After receiving shop drawings, group meetings were held to resolve lingering issues and questions. “It was a very integrated process throughout design and construction, and the same applied to the complex roofing details,” Pocock added.

The building’s multiple roofing systems included the two garden roofs and the roofing details for the two projections that

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“pushed” the brick columns to the forefront of the façade.

Dawson provided a sense of the sheer complexity of building this diverse façade: “The building has so many different materials and types of waterproofing, ranging from sheet waterproofing behind the masonry and sealants within the glazing. In the most challenging areas where these materials all come together, we needed to make sure that we were lapping and tying them in properly.”

In identifying the most difficult area, Pocock and Dawson point to the area melding together the metal brow and the inflected curtain wall, along with the metal capitals and integrated accent lights.

“Anytime a building has those types of undulations it makes it more challenging to build a water-tight facility, Dawson said.

“We worked closely with the contractors to make sure all those intricacies were properly detailed.”

Turner-KEO water-tested the entire façade. “A specialty inspector was up on a power lift with hoses and spray nozzles to water-test the building by simulating

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different rain and bad weather patterns to find problems and correct them before we closed up the wall,” Dawson said. “While not uncommon on projects, this one needed extra care because of its many intricacies.”

Shop Assembly of a Monumental Stair For interior construction, building the monumental stair was a massive scheduling and logistics feat in itself.

“Since the stair has some very high-level quality finishes, such as terrazzo treads and stainless steel rail and glass, we worked very closely with our suppliers to assure deliveries were on time to make the schedule work,” Hornacek said.

Having quite a large span and supported midway by a set of columns, the stairway ascends in a curve the full height of the lobby. Couturier Iron Craft, Inc., Comstock Park, actually built the steel for the stair in the company’s shop before disassembling, transporting and re-assembling the stair in the lobby, all to ensure “everything fit the curve properly and met the right points,” Dawson said. Artisan Tile, Inc., Brighton,

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the terrazzo flooring contractor, even went to the Grand Rapids shop and fieldmeasured the stair treads.

The COVID-19 shutdown occurred during construction of the monumental stair and just as large-format tiles for the elevator shafts were slated for shipment from Italy. “We didn’t think we were going to be able to get the material,” Dawson said, “but they were able to load it on the ship, and it was delivered and installed.”

Turner-KEO “righted the ship” of the project itself soon after the announcement of the COVID-19 shutdown. “Within a week, we created a safe, back-to-work plan that followed CDC guidelines,” Hornacek said. “Work on this essential project began a week-and-a-half after the shutdown.”

Building the DNA Walls The DNA Walls cover curved wall sections in wood and a pattern of backlit acrylic glass panels. “We built at least three different mockups of that wall to find the exact size, spacing and colors of backlit acrylic glass,” Dawson said.

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Larger than a traditional exam room, light-filled care rooms are combination exam and consultation spaces equipped with comfortable patient chairs that fold out into an exam table when necessary.

Oncologists and other specialists come to the patient for examination or consultation rather than having the patient and their family members move from room to room during their stay.

Photo Credit: Justin Maconochie Photography LLC

Once HFHS and SmithGroup approved the mockup, Nelson-Mill Company, the Southfield-based millwork contractor, built templates based on the curved walls.

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“They took the curved templates back to their shop, matched special wood veneers and stain exactly to what the architects prescribed, and built the panels in the

shop,” Dawson said. “The architects came to the shop several times during fabrication. It was very challenging, and a great deal of effort was poured into those DNA Walls.”

For backlighting, “the millwork contractor put the back panels in place and drew out on the wall exactly where each of the LED lights should go,” Dawson said.

“The electricians mounted them in those locations, the millwork contractor hung the front wood panels in place, and it all turned out beautifully.”

SmithGroup designed these welldesigned and beautifully crafted DNA Walls as part of HFHS’s rebranding effort across all of their cancer and ambulatory care facilities. The first installation was in a West Bloomfield Ambulatory facility, but it now reaches its full expression at the flagship Henry Ford Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion.

A Light-Filled Space The parking deck, valet area or main entry all lead to the lobby, a grand light-filled volume with soaring wood-clad columns.

The goal was to “align the interior architecture with the ideas of hope, confidence, healing, and innovation,” Kenyon said. “The goal in the lobby is to create a space invigorated with activity, and the vision is to offer people a grandness of space to inspire confidence when patients and families come into the building.”

The monumental stair, curving upward through the great height of the lobby, “reflects the cancer journey,” Kenyon said.

“Many times when patients first come to the building, they don’t feel well enough to take the stairs; they automatically take the elevator. Hopefully, at the end of their treatment, they’ve gained strength, and it becomes a sort of emotional achievement to take the stairs.”

A pendant sculpture of winged forms graces the upper levels of the monumental stair. “In the way that the monumental stair wraps around the suspended art piece, it helps to integrate the art program into the design,” Ringvelski said. “Art is an important part of the healing process. We have commissioned art in the lobby and have formed a partnership with the Detroit Institute of Arts for a rotating gallery.”

From ceiling to floor, the lobby details are as beautiful as the volume is grand. “The

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terrazzo floor is just spectacular,” Ringvelski continued. “The flecks in the terrazzo floor are Henry Ford Blue in just the right amount. The team worked hard and created several different mockups to achieve this beautiful result.”

In form, the lobby is based on a series of curves, beginning with the slight arc of the lower building’s east face and extending to the monumental stair, the second-floor overlook, the ceiling soffits and the overall lobby itself. “I think one of the design features of the building was to soften the building by adding organic curves, and Henry Ford felt very strongly about that from the beginning,” Pocock said.

The Healing Path Now open, Henry Ford Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion showcases the tremendous effort poured into the building’s well-planned design and quality construction, all for the benefit of cancer patients, families and survivors. The firstfloor houses ExCITE (Exercise and Cancer Integrative Therapy and Education), a space for exercise, acupuncture and massage. Other first-floor services include a retail pharmacy, a reflection room, The Market, and a multipurpose room that can host everything from nutrition education and training to yoga.

First-level clinical spaces include a convenient blood draw area adjacent to the OncoStat Clinic. The monumental stair, the lobby elevators, and the skywalk all lead to the easily accessible Tumor Board room. A cancer patient never walks alone as demonstrated in this collaborative hub outfitted with four 96-inch monitors for clinicians to share patient case information with experts from around the world. The large wood conference table’s elliptical central opening mirrors the ellipse in the ceiling, and both ellipses incorporate hightech lighting and sound systems.

According to Dawson, a hinge in the table grants access to the table’s central opening and the extensive computer and IT equipment built unseen into the table itself.

The third-floor infusion center has a direct connection to the parking structure without having to navigate stairs or even elevators. Also on the third floor, unique mechanical systems service the Stem Cell Transplant & Cellular Therapy Clinic and the

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Clinical Pharmacy & Investigational Drug Service. Turner-KEO oversaw installation, balancing and proper commissioning of mechanical systems capable of meeting “the positive/negative air pressure requirements and regulatory standards set for these areas,” Hornacek said.

The Henry Ford Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion offers 14 different clinics and care rooms located on floors two through five.

The fifth floor houses the precision medicine program and the clinical trials center, while the sixth floor is reserved for staff offices.

Turner-KEO delivered the building in late December 2020 and the doors of the Henry Ford Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion opened to patients in late January 2021. Many families have been touched by this disease, and Dawson’s own family history inspired him to give the project his all. “I am extremely proud to have been a part of the project,” Dawson said. “I lost my dad and sister to cancer, and I was inspired by their memory to try and do my absolute best.

I am very proud to be part of such a great

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facility that is going to save thousands and thousands of lives. Working with all of the Henry Ford team members – the nurses, the doctors and the directors – and seeing how passionate they all are inspired us to try to do our best.”

Mort Harris was deeply grateful for the entire team’s efforts. “Mort Harris met a team member of ours on site just before the opening,” Kenyon recalled. “He was so thrilled with the building and the facility, and said, ‘This is exactly what I was hoping for.’”

This life-saving facility and the Henry Ford Cancer Institute’s ability at the new Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion to deliver advanced precision medicine is exactly what an untold number of cancer patients and their families have been hoping for in their journey with this difficult disease. New advances promise to shed light on the fight for the cure, all available within this welldesigned, beautifully crafted, and natural light-filled building in Detroit.

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Photo Credits: Curt Clayton, Clayton Studio, Detroit, MI

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n architectural masterpiece in the 1920s, the Detroit Free Press building at 321 West Lafayette boasted Art Deco sculptures on its limestone facade, including goddesses of Commerce and Communication on either side of its front doors, and eight carved bas-reliefs of prominent Michiganders along with Benjamin Franklin and Horace Greeley. Designed

by Albert Kahn, the original home of the Michigan’s oldest newspaper is over 300,000 square feet and six stories, with a 14-story central tower.

After the newspaper moved away to cost-saving locations, the building lay dormant from 1998 until 2017, when Bedrock and Kraemer Design Group took up the challenge of transforming this downtown artifact into a vibrant new address, The Press/321, an up-to-the-

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minute multi-use showplace that honors the past while making its presence felt in Detroit’s future.

“The landmark building provides unique residential opportunities within walking distance of the Central Business District,” said Jonathan Mueller, senior director of development at Bedrock. “As an original Kahn building, the project provides a special quality for the Detroit area, and incorporates additional flexible office and retail space.”

Dormant for Decades Since 1925, everything that went into writing and publishing the Detroit Free Press took place at 321 West Lafayette, including printing the paper on huge presses in the two-story basement. But financial stresses on the newspaper business took their toll over the years.

After the creation of a Joint Operating Agreement with The Detroit News, the Free Press moved from its 75-year home, leaving a beautiful relic of another time.

Empty for almost two decades, the building would need a new roof, new elevators, hazard and water damage remediation, and general modernization of its mechanical systems – all while preserving as many of its original high-end finishes as possible, such as marble wainscoting, terrazzo floors, Pewabic tile, mahogany paneling, and murals.

As the largest real estate developer in downtown Detroit, Bedrock began collaborating with Kraemer on architectural designs in November 2016, relying on their shared expertise in bringing one-of-a-kind properties to new life. Turner Construction Company joined forces every step of the way to make it “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

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A landmark in downtown Detroit, the iconic Free Press building boasts new life as The Press/321, with 105 apartments in the central tower and office and retail spaces on the lower floors.

happen by October 2020.

“The whole team was involved from day one,” said Laura Mitchell, project architect at Kraemer Design Group. “We were able to anticipate construction issues and work through them together before we ran into issues on site.”

“The construction team, including many specialty subcontractors, worked closely with Kraemer to obtain the end results,” said Jerry Moses, senior project manager at Turner.

Given the long period of decay, phase one of the construction in 2017 tackled core and shell renovation. “Few structural repairs were required. But designing modern structural components to tie into the existing structure was challenging,” Moses said.

“New beams were added to existing beams to frame the new freight elevator shaft. The existing beams were encased in concrete and had concrete pan joists poured into them. Special connections were made to keep the new beams flush with the existing floor without damaging surrounding concrete,” he said.

Phase one included replacing historic windows, installing new mechanicalelectrical-plumbing (MEP) systems throughout, and bringing fire and life safety measures up to code.

“Fitting in proper egress was also a challenge with all the existing stairs being central in the building,” Moses said.

“We had to cut through potential tenant spaces on the first floor to create exit corridors to the exterior of the building to meet egress requirements,” he said.

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during phase one was the necessity of replacing all six existing elevators and adding a freight elevator. Bays had to be removed one at time to build new shafts.

“The existing elevators, while plentiful, were small, so it was important to find a place to fit a service elevator that would be usable for tenant move-in,” Moses said. In the process, some of the terrazzo flooring had to be removed. Empire Tile carefully matched the coloring, chip size and density to blend new with the remaining tile.

Custom elevator cabs were created so that the previous elevator rails and doors could be salvaged and reused.

Nothing Hits the Ground Before the freight elevator could be constructed, Turner Construction needed a way to transport people and materials throughout a building whose footprint takes up an entire city block, with no space to spare. A 265-ton crane and buck hoist was installed in the alley to the south. This allowed all elevators to be replaced at the same time while ensuring safe access to all floors.

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To move out demolition debris and install the new mechanical and electrical systems, a large hole had to be opened up on the north side, where the basement extended underneath the sidewalk.

Temporary lane closures on West Lafayette also allowed staging for a limited amount of material.

Turner’s “nothing hits the ground” policy meant that all materials had to be stored on wheeled carts or pallets so that subcontractors could easily move them out of the way as needed. This practice helped to minimize injuries on site and ultimately maintain a reduced incident rate for the project.

Other innovations include the use of ground penetrating radar to locate existing conduits and pipes in concrete before demolition, and working around the limited amount of power on site by managing peak usage times.

The main lobby shows off a mix of historic details, such as terrazzo tile, restoration of the ceiling, and new lighting inspired by historic photos.

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A Dance between Restore and Replace An early challenge was restoring the building’s facade, which meant finding limestone to match where the existing stone was missing or damaged, and refabricating 100-year-old details of historic storefronts.

“We worked with Allen Architectural Metals to take molds of the cast iron framing that was still in good condition, to

recreate areas that were too far deteriorated,” Mitchell said. Another specialty contractor, Modern Mirror & Glass, seamlessly incorporated insulated glass into vintage design.

Luckily, original plans and blueprints were well preserved and accurate throughout the project. “We used the drawings to recreate the decorative molding on the crowns of the new

storefronts,” Mitchell said.

“That’s a great example of dancing between restoring and replacing. There was remaining original material, but much of it was rusted and damaged beyond repair. Those areas were cut away, and the new molding is a blend of original cast iron and new cast materials based on what remained on the building,” Mitchell said.

The main lobby ceiling was another place where the original plaster had deteriorated. “New plaster was patched in using molds from adjacent areas that were still in good condition,” she said. “The ceiling was cleaned, and the paint touched up based on the cleaned historic colors.”

The framing in the lobby is all original, hidden under stainless-steel cladding. But the process of revealing original features and weighing options for preservation requires constant decision-making over what can be saved or salvaged, and what needs to be replaced.

For example, the original corridors were clad in marble, but the walls and mud holding the marble in place contained asbestos. “We worked very closely with the State Historic Preservation Office and ultimately made the decision to remove the remaining marble and walls to clear the building of contaminants,” Mitchell said.

“We found a marble tile that was a nearidentical match to the original that we used in the new corridor construction. In the original design, the base of the marble walls in the corridors was about ¼-inch thicker than the wainscoting above. We replicated this detail by using a thicker marble at the base paired with the thinner tile for the wainscotting,” she said. New light fixtures were also based on historic photography.

Adapting for the Pandemic Any 2020 story must include the unforeseen delays and safety measures required by the arrival of COVID-19 concerns that March. “As with all construction projects in Michigan, work had to be halted during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic that spring,” Mueller said.

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“We were slightly delayed bringing the project online due to this, but Turner Construction did a great job making up for lost time when we were allowed to resume working,” he said.

Work resumed about a month later with safety standards in place, including controlled screening areas for entrance to the site with temperature checks, social distancing, masking and face shields, hand-washing and hand-sanitizing stations throughout the worksite.

“We used staggered work shifts with smaller subcontractor crew sizes to better space out work teams and conducted more advanced, routine daily cleaning throughout the day,” Moses said. Video technology such as Microsoft Teams, WebEx and Zoom facilitated collaborative meetings while also minimizing in-person gatherings.

“It’s part of Turner’s policy of ‘active caring’ – demonstrating continuous respect toward workers – that enabled us to take a pause and go that extra step to protect our coworkers,” Moses said.

Saving Time and Money With the core and shell renovations complete, phase two began with 105 apartment buildouts. To maintain quality and troubleshoot any issues in advance, the team constructed a physical mockup of one unit so that the owner, design team and subcontractors could set baseline standards in advance and try out designs.

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A common room for tenant use features bright and muted colors, a newly added skylight and wainscoting that reflects the building’s original 1920s aesthetic.

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Apartments range from studios to threebedroom layouts on floors 4 through 13 in the center tower of the building.

“This collaborative, hands-on approach spurred great ideas,” Moses said. The approach allowed problem-solving that ultimately streamlined completion of a greater number of units in less time.

Another way that Turner smoothed out the edges throughout phase two was by utilizing its own supply chain management company, SourceBlue, to procure major MEP equipment, lighting and architectural products for each apartment unit.

By using SourceBlue, Turner was able to buy everything from bathroom and

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Finishing Touches The team came together to make late additions to the project’s scope, including an automated parking system in the bottom two levels of the building where once printing presses had churned out newspapers.

“We had to add steel to accommodate fitting the automatic parking into the original structure,” Mueller said. “Features

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like the parking as well as the retail spaces can be used by both residential and commercial tenants.”

Another late inclusion is a west-facing rooftop pool on the seventh floor, with a sundeck, lounge and grilling area, that required extra structural members installed in the ceilings of five apartments.

The pool itself is composed of a stainlesssteel shell from Italy.

kitchen fixtures, appliances, lighting, flooring, countertops and HVAC as needed. “Lean innovative procurement helped the overall project save on costs,” Moses said.

Interior construction and units were finished by September 2020. By October, the building formally opened with 105 apartments on floors 4 through 13 in the center tower, ranging from studios to three-bedroom layouts, appointed with resort-style amenities and vast city views.

Floors 2-3 were set aside for offices and the ground floor for shopping and dining.

The 105 apartments are appointed with resortstyle amenities and city views.

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A rooftop pool, with sundeck, lounge and grilling area, was added at the seventh-floor level. Composed of a stainless-steel shell from Italy, the pool required extra support on the sixth floor without sacrificing ceiling heights in the tenant units.

“The pool and the parking both added a unique challenge to this building,” Mitchell said. “Adding the pool to the roof at the seventh-floor level, we had to provide proper support. The sixth floor

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had such a tall ceiling that we were able to have the underside of the pool within the ceiling without sacrificing ceiling heights inside the units.

“The parking in the basement and sub-

basement was a perfect adaptive use for the historic mechanical area of the building,” she said. “Always a tall open space, the steel and support for the parking was interwoven within the column structure and provides a great feature for the building.”

These two late editions – or rather, additions – form the pièce de resistance.

Mitchell loves how well the new and vintage materials melded to restore some of the most newsworthy features. “We’ve created a new space for people to call home out of an historic gem in the city,” she said.

“The whole team working together was able to cultivate a great relationship over the duration of design and construction,” Mitchell said. “Problems that came up were addressed as a team on site.”

By preserving the beauty of the historic Free Press building and rewriting its story, Bedrock, Turner Construction and Kraemer Design Group have turned a new page on West Lafayette Boulevard. The Press/321 is once again making news in downtown Detroit.

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UM-Flint Experiments with the Future – New Science Building Expansion Puts STEM on Display

By Lisa M. Briggs

T

he resilient city of Flint – the midMichigan town that is not foreign to headlines related to auto plant closures or a water crisis – is proud of its newest headline: the construction and notable completion of the University of Michigan-Flint's recent 61,000-squarefoot, four-story expansion of its William R. Murchie Science Building.

“It's truly an investment in the future,” said Chris Pearson, a former UM-Flint physics professor who now serves as the Dean of College of Innovation and Technology. Pearson is a believer in active, engaged learning and makes it his teaching mission to guarantee students are never bored by lectures. “There was a definite thought process that went into trying to get rid of that distinction between lecture and lab,” said Dean Pearson. “We wanted it to be a dual-learning environment. That was a strong goal.” He and UM-Flint planners did research on what industry leaders look for in graduates. “That's why this space is designed the way it is, because we had authentic input.”

The new Murchie building backs up his pledge – and then some.

Flint, once known as “Vehicle City” and the birthplace of automotive manufacturing jobs, is evolving. Today, its economic profile centers on education, healthcare and manufacturing. “There are challenges in manufacturing, but manufacturing isn't going away,” said Pearson. “So UM-Flint 56 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

Photo courtesy of Travis Griswold, Commercial Contracting Corporation

had to take a look at how we need to help students prepare for the future. This building was a huge investment. It shows the community that we're invested, and UM-Flint can help create the workforce for companies to be successful.”

Designed by architects from Southfield's HED (Harley Ellis Devereaux) and constructed by Auburn Hills-based Commercial Contracting Corporation (CCC), the $30.5-million project, named after one of the school’s founding faculty members, is the first pursuant to Gold LEED Certified accomplishment for the UM-Flint campus. It's also the first major construction undertaking in Flint for CCC. Dealing with Challenges At a midpoint in construction, everything on this project came to a crippling halt. The arrival of COVID changed everything. Never before in the construction industry – or in any industry for that matter – did those in authority face a health pandemic causing a mid-construction shut down.

“The construction industry as a whole came to an abrupt stop,” said Travis Griswold, CCC Construction Project Director, adding that he'll never forget

March 2020. “COVID definitely made it challenging. We lost a lot of momentum.

Everything came to a standstill, and not knowing when we'd return to work became a day-by-day, week-by-week thing.”

CCC's construction crews and tradesmen came back to work slowly.

Griswold, along with Brad Francek, CCC Superintendent, Tanner Burkhardt, CCC Project Engineer, and Ravon Gillum, CCC Safety Supervisor, teamed up in the middle of a global health crisis to get a grip on how to complete construction on this dream building for UM-Flint. What was happening? No one really knew, but the construction industry is resilient. Yes, the economy took a hit, but guys were willing to work, needing to work, and at this time were wondering if they'd be able to complete the legacy project that would live on to educate Flint's future STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learners.

But they did it. It is a real credit to CCC how quickly and creatively they approached getting the project back up and running in the middle of a pandemic.

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students working and using the facility.

“They quickly recognized that the spaces we developed here were conducive and inviting to meet their needs,” explained Pearson.

Innovating Inside and Outside At first glance, the building’s sleek, gray and white polished facade is characterized by HEDinspired architectural beauty, featuring an abundance of glass windows and 210 prefabricated panels fastened to the building. “It's a cutting-edge building,” said Francek.

Students and guests arriving in the all-glass, cantilevered vestibule can immediately feel secure and enjoy the natural sunlit space before journeying on to their classes, fluids lab, wind tunnel lab, woodshop, or meeting rooms. These hands-on

work spaces feel spacious with their industrial-style, open ceilings. Aesthetically pleasing inside and out, the newest and most functional building on the campus since 2002 was specifically built for the needs of a twentyfirst century learner.

“It's a very complex building,” said Francek.

“It's extremely exciting because of all the technology designed throughout the facility’s space. It just makes you step back and fully appreciate it.”

A theme of maize and blue furnishings create a fun, cohesive environment on each floor. The fourth floor's individual learning pods “inspire students who want to hibernate or collaborate, and they have amazing built-in footstools,” said Jen Hogan, UM-Flint Executive Director of Marketing and Digital Strategies. Yellow and

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blue, by default, is even threaded up high in the exposed network of wiring and complicated cabling – it boosts morale to see school colors everywhere. Standing on the first floor, one can look up to the second level thanks to a see-through staircase design and glass barrier walls that create openness and enlarge the appearance of the space. Halo-shaped LED lighting creatively suspended from the ceiling can be solar-dialed down; they conserve energy and modernize the space.

The fourth floor also contains a one-of-akind space that select Genesee County high school students are now privileged to call their own learning space. “This is the Early College Lab – it's been built as the most advanced and unique lab for high school students who are dual-enrolled in college courses,” explained Pearson.

The new distinguished space connects to the old building by way of a half glassenclosed and original brick pass-through on the second floor, where students and faculty can easily navigate to their destinations. The adjoined buildings have two distinct looks. The newly expanded portion is a magnet to STEM students, as well as students in other departments. In contrast, the 1988 outdated section seems like a shadowy apparition from another era.

Modern, yet retro-looking furniture offers seating to students who need to meet to study, hold discussions or collaborate in the Murchie Science Building. Photo credit: Martin Chumiecki, Photoelement

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The school’s student population of 6,800 is dominated by a 98 percent demographic of commuter-based learners. University officials couldn't be happier observing students purposefully finding reasons to come and utilize the sophisticated open spaces, collaborative learning pods, $2 million worth of state-of-the-art equipment inside the labs, technology-friendly access points, six robots, and three-dimensional

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printers for prototyping. The building boasts furniture conducive for group or independent study, private conference rooms, and something once a barrier to students – access to their professors minus the secretary, hidden office, and need to schedule appointments. “Students are telling us they want to leave their residence halls to come here. They're coming from across the campus to be in the cool space

that's made for them,” said Hogan.

UM-Flint's investment is one that is evident – especially to learners or guests actually interacting in the space. “You can walk by and look into the shop from the second floor,” Pearson said. “You can look at the hanging solar car racer on loan from UM-Ann Arbor campus and realize how much this space inspires.” This helps learners to cultivate and concentrate on what they are there for: an education.

The third- and fourth-floor perimeters of the complex seem like a built-in gift to the teaching staff with its roomy offices, allwindow views, and push-button, electrical standing-style desks. A student favorite, the “Club Hub” is a space that can be reserved for all kinds of collaborative learning purposes from students in crossdisciplinary fields of study.

Evidence of the city’s resiliency is brought to life in the four-story science building, which isn’t just about microscopes and beakers, but also about technology and versatility. The new Murchie Building offers excitement to STEM learners.

“This building really embraces technology,” said Hogan. “The classrooms are brought to new life – group work is now elevated to new heights with monitors on the walls, and everything is so interconnected that when you have to do your work, everybody's got their laptop plugged in, it's on the screen, and the teacher can switch it up to the front of the classroom. They can also synchronously share their learning with students at home or around the globe. It's that whole thing about a classroom no longer having walls.

You can invite anyone you want from anywhere in the world into the learning experience. These classrooms are impressive – the design and use of technology is made for this kind of new learning.”

Working Through a Global Health Crisis In the middle of a pandemic, the building, which broke ground in April 2019, was finally unveiled and celebrated in January 2021 by UM-Flint faculty, students, city officials, senators, architects, and construction workers. But not without a sound strategy and a lot of hard work.

“In early May, we returned to the job site in small phases of ramp-up as it made

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sense and as our procedures got more comfortable with everybody,” said Griswold. “We started back with maybe 15 guys the first week. Then, by about four or five weeks in, we were back to 95 to 100 guys working on the site.”

Griswold expressed that it seemed “the odds were against us.”

But construction persevered, and Flint's maize and blue collegiate treasure received a new building along with jobs, inspiration and hope.

“There was a lot of strategy Glass, twenty-first century lighting, and openness in the design provides space to move from floor involved to make sure that when to floor. Photo credit: Martin Chumiecki, Photoelement we did come back, we were in a good place and could maintain everything we were trying to do. went to zero hand paperwork,” said hour dedicated to screening the guys,” he Fortunately enough, even with all the Francek. “No pen, no writing; everything said. “The extra several hours invested manpower we had here, we didn't have we did was online, from quality control made it all successful. We strategized in the any COVID cases that resulted,” said down to daily pre-tasks and screenings. beginning by bringing out superintendents Griswold.

Even orientations – everything.” and foremen prior to their own crews Francek and Burkhardt became familiar Burkhardt added: “When it came to daily showing up to get the supervision with everything related to leading the operations, we'd spend 40 minutes to an comfortable with how we were making the trades in the midst of a pandemic. “We

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too. We knew they were reputable, but we'd never personally done any work with them. That was a new component for us here in Flint.”

Griswold was pleased with the entire team. “Throughout the project, our coordination with HED and UM-Flint developed, and we all faced some hurdles.

You can plan everything out the best you can, but there are always going to be changes or some unforeseen additions that we expect. Anything that we could come across on this job got Booth-style seating, with a maize and blue color scheme, serves the needs of independent study time. The attached foothandled with utmost urgency. As stool is a definite attraction for learners who need to stay a while. Photo credit: Martin Chumiecki, Photoelement a whole, it was a lot of fun. Even though COVID was very impactful to the job, it was great to see this building come together.” job safe. After they got a good feel for how Flint,” said Griswold. “That was news to me The foursome of construction leaders – we were running the site, their positive because we had never really been involved Griswold, Francek, Burkhart and Gillum – attitudes trickled down to the tradesmen on in a UM-Flint project. For us it was exciting. talked daily and spent time developing their crews. We had a good group of guys.”

This is a good size addition, and we had a ways to assist a labor force that expertly “As I came on as the Senior Project great team pulled together from our internal worked with their hands – not technology.

Manager, I learned that this was one of the side. We were working with a handful of They required a daily health screening, kept largest jobs in quite some time for UMFlint subcontractors that were new to us,

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everyone six feet apart, and each morning the men sat at a table with their computers and Excel spreadsheets, which categorized the tradesworkers by company name, arrival time, body temperature and other critical screening details.

To minimize infection on the job site, protocols were in place for disinfecting work zone areas – anywhere people congregated, such as portable toilets or break areas, were super-sanitized. “We were not only making sure our construction and tradesmen were safe, but we also worked to protect any U of M faculty members or students that we may have come in contact with,” said Francek. “Since the expansion project tied into the existing building, there were teams of workers who periodically performed work in both the old and new building. We met with UM-Flint officials to determine how everything would be handled. When we had to crossreference into populated areas of the university, we had to fill out the UM-Flint's health screening process – so it was a double form of protection, and it worked.”

Once a worker was screened and processed, a colored wrist band was issued, allowing them access to his or her designated work zone.

“Our biggest challenge was educating and answering questions that sometimes we didn't even know the answer to,” said Francek. “Everything going to an electronic format was a definite challenge for a lot of the tradesmen because it was so 'tech.'

Everything was QR codes or scan codes, and that's not something that everyone is savvy with. What's this? How does this work? They'd get frustrated. This isn't working right. Our job was to help them calm down and let them know we'd walk them through it.”

“You have multiple facets of work being completed,” said Francek. “Going to the social distancing style of working meant keeping the trades separate.” For tight working quarters, face shields were utilized as supplemental caution. Unheard amounts of time were dedicated to log books, record keeping, and maintaining guidelines, but at the end of the day, “it was a joint effort, and we all had a role in staying safe during this time,” Francek said.

As owners of the project, UM-Flint didn't know what to expect either. But they, along with the rest of society, knew that keeping everyone safe was the highest priority.

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Building for Flexible, Experiential Learning The capital outlay, which began in January 2017, started well before the pandemic.

University officials were having conversations and brainstorming about industry needs, community needs, and most importantly how the transformation of STEM education would change learning in the future. The idea for a combined STEM learning facility would combat the lack of space these programs were previously operating under.

“We were clearly running out of space,” said Dean Pearson, “The Harrison Annex was renovated to provide a bridge until something else could be built. The design here in this amazing space is about having all the instructional labs built for lecture and lab together – we no longer have to separate those anymore. You just do whatever you need to do in the room.

Everything in the learning labs is movable – tables, chairs, podiums, equipment – it can be arranged, moved, and creatively rearranged according to the needs of the lesson. It's ultimately for engaged, hands-

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UM-Ann Arbor campus loaned a hanging solar car racer to put on display at UM-Flint's new Murchie Building.

Photo credit: Martin Chumiecki, Photoelement

on, experiential learning,” he said.

All of this makes Pearson happy, but UM-Flint junior Sam Polikarpus is even happier. “There's a big difference between the old science space and the new,” he said. “This space is specifically designed for engineering students. The space is

unbelievable and organized.” Polikarpus likes working in the woodshop space. He works at his own pace replacing the suspension on an old car with new wooden pieces, sort of mock replacement shocks.

He's a member of a student organization known as the Flint Vehicle City BAHA Club,

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which designs and tests off-road vehicles for endurance and engineering standards. also Polikarpus appreciates the space’s large shed-style doors, which allow students to easily move cars in and out. “In the old building, we had to take the door frames off in order to get the cars in and out,” he said. He believes the roominess and open space is “more accommodating and less crowded, which helps with the COVID aspect.” Every piece of equipment is of the highest industry standards, and parallel to what he'll use at an official job site once he graduates. He hopes to put his UM-Flint mechanical engineering degree to good use in the renewable energy field.

As the new spaces were coming to life, Pearson, Hogan, and the entire construction crew continually walked around in awe. “What the university had vision-wise—these learning spaces are incredible,” said Francek. “When I was in college, it wasn't like this – it wasn't interactive; you didn't go into classrooms where the tables were mobile. We were looking at the drawings for these labs for months, and then finally we got the space built and the furniture came in and it's like okay, wow! To see it in its full scope was amazing.”

Someone with a genuine “then and now” perspective is previous student Jen Hogan, who walked the campus when the original building opened in 1988. A UM-Flint sophomore studying communications at the time, Hogan remembers when the thennew science building opened and allowed her to transfer her science classes at Mott Community College. “When I walked into the building, even in 1988, it did not feel like a student-friendly building,” she said. A traditional and typical setting of walls and halls, and fossil-like plastic fiberboard desks lined up in rows constituted her higher education learning environment.

She’s impressed walking into the new science building, which “is so conducive to

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a positive student experience,” she said.

“There's so much thoughtful design, and it's interesting to see the evolution of the space in a 30-year period.”

Creating a Hopeful Incentive to Female STEM Learners The concept of science on display and being able to see students working in the viewable labs is another goal to help attract

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future learners – especially more girls – to enter STEM fields of study. “It's almost like the museum experience,” said Hogan. “You have these dioramas of people working and learning at the same time, and it's the idea of academics up close at every turn.”

McKenzie Rottman, 25, is a mechanical engineering student in her senior year at UM-Flint, who remembers what learning was like before the Murchie expansion.

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mostly self-taught. The teachers did a good job of posting lectures and assignments, but you can only do so much online.”

Rottman's UM-Flint education during COVID didn't seem to faze her too much – she's used to adapting.

“I'm one of only two females in my engineering classes,” she said. Statistically, STEM classes have a UM-Flint’s new Murchie Science Building includes spacious, flexible learning labs that feature state-of-the-art significantly lower equipment including robots and 3D printers. Photo credit: Martin Chumiecki, Photoelement female representation, but that’s changing.

“Out of about 18 “The new space is open, airy, and there’s long process,” she said, “but it's paying students, there are two girls, sometimes so much natural light,” she said. A Sterling off.” Her senior year will include a co-op four. We're the minority.” Rottman views Heights native who recently moved to Flint, position as an engineering student at this all positively. “It's actually helping me Rottman works full time at a dog kennel Nexteer in Saginaw – and hopefully no since I'll be working with mostly men in the and pays her own way through college. She Zoom classes. “When COVID hit, we industry,” she said. “I might as well get selected UM-Flint because she knew it was weren't allowed to go to the lab, everything used to working with them now to be financially smart for her needs. “It's been a was less hands-on,” she recalls. “We were prepared for the future,” she chuckles.

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As one of the rare young women involved in the UM-Flint STEM program, Rottman considers being on campus during the opening of the William R. Murchie Science Building expansion an enhancement to her education. “I'm definitely getting a better education in this new facility,” she said. “There's new machinery, work rooms, a woodshop room, computer-controlled mills and lathes, power tool room, welding area, paint booth – it's all going to benefit me in the fall when I start my senior design project classes. This type of hands-on experience that UM-Flint is providing us is going to help us better prepare for the workforce. We'll be ready when we enter the industry.”

Her dream is to build a career in renewable energy, solar panels, wind turbines, or electric cars. “I was always building stuff as a kid,” she said, adding how she diligently watched her father, an auto-body mechanic, do his work. “Taking stuff apart and putting it back together is why I like engineering. I have a passion for how things are designed.

I want to build it from start to finish and know all the details about it.

I really want to improve everything I work on for sustainability purposes.”

Developing Sustainable Amenities Speaking of sustainability, Rottman and other UM-Flint students can take a look around at their new educational environment and actually get a lesson on sustainability. From controllability on lighting, water and electrical components to low-emitting construction materials, to the complex HVAC and hood ventilation systems – every aspect of the Murchie building's design is purposeful and integrated into providing a complete learning experience.

Support for the William R. Murchie Science Building expansion comes in all forms. Whether it's on a plaque for everyone to see, or whether it's inside one's heart about what happened during the twoyear building process. “We obviously went through some trying times,” said Griswold. “We were going through uncharted waters and figured out what to do in an abnormal situation. When a curveball at that magnitude comes – it’s a lot to take on.”

Francek agrees and adds, “You can kind of sum it up to this: A year ago, we learned how to operate in the field a lot differently than we are right now,” he said. “Not just on this project, but everybody in the industry – no matter if it was construction or not. We all learned a different way of how we conduct ourselves to work on a daily basis.

That's a major adjustment.”

Flint Kept Going UM-Flint officials understand the building's immediate and long-term legacy.

“This is a transformational building on this campus, that's for sure.

It raises the bar. It is so open and welcoming,” said Pearson. “It was a real boost to the local economy in the fact that this group came in and there were a lot of job opportunities for local folks in the construction industry,” said Jen Hogan. “In relation to the pandemic and how so many people took a hit with unemployment, the fact that they found a way to get this back up and running in a really tough time says a lot.” Hogan continues, “At a time when nobody on the planet knew anything about how to live through a global pandemic, Flint kept going,” she said. “It's always going to be this landmark building that pointed us in the direction we need to be going toward the next century.”

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The Measure of Success: ZEISS’s Award-Winning Michigan Quality Excellence Center Opens in Wixom

By Mary Kremposky McArdle • Associate Editor mithGroup and The Christman Company gave the full measure of their talents to the delivery of the new ZEISS Michigan Quality Excellence Center in Wixom. In its architecture and construction, this sleek, sophisticated building is all about precision and basic materials beautifully expressed. As part of its precision fit, the building’s two large volumes – a north and a south wing – intersect in the north wing’s glasswrapped connector. Follow the clean, sweeping line of the south wing from the parking lot, and near its very end, a sizeable tip of the south wing slices through the connector glass, entering the

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very interior of this double-height space in a seamless flow of white pleated metal panels.

The building’s precision fit is the perfect fit for this new quality excellence center for a German-based company known for its metrology services. Metrology is the science of measurement, and within the glass and pleated metal panel walls of this almost 83,000-square-foot facility, ZEISS offers its clients instruments capable of measuring the dimensions and fit of a part “down to a submicron level – only a fraction of a human hair,” said ZEISS Technical Sales Engineer Dylan Coutelle.

ZEISS instruments measure the

dimensions and fit of almost everything from the thousands of parts of a jet engine to the metal pieces of a knee or hip implant.

ZEISS Vice President of Marketing Chris Grow provides an overview of the company’s machinery and markets: “Our metrology and multi-sensor inspection systems include everything from 3D optical scanners that are used to digitize and reverse-engineer parts to very sophisticated programs for inline inspection in the automotive world and in the aerospace, medical and optical industries.”

ZEISS’s diverse client base even includes “a customer who actually “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

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Photo Credit: James Ewing The building embodies the precision and workmanship of a ZEISS machine. With the same sense of craftsmanship and attention to detail, The Christman Company and its team of trade contractors delivered this precision gem of a building and its seamless flow of exterior and interior elements. Deep overhangs along the building’s east face mitigate solar gain.

measures antique musical instruments so they can reverse-engineer and try to figure out how to reproduce the sound of these original instruments,” Grow said.

“Smucker’s is a customer who uses our instruments to measure jelly jars and lids to make sure everything seals properly. We have a very wide range of applications for our instruments.”

ZEISS has a wide variety of instruments as well. Walk into ZEISS’s new gleaming white showroom and watch a leading-edge machine, called the O-INSPECT, measure a small object using an 8- to 16micron stream of white light in a touch-free process called a DotScan (one of two ways of measuring for the OINSPECT). Being touch-free, the accuracy of the measurement is not distorted by an actual physical probe manipulating the object, Coutelle explained.

The O-INSPECT offers a glimpse into the finesse and exacting control needed for ZEISS’s level of measurement. In its role, SmithGroup designed a HVAC system capable of maintaining a stable temperature to prevent temperature fluctuations from subtly expanding or contracting either the materials being measured or the actual measuring instruments. More cost-effective and energy-efficient than a typical metrology facility, this HVAC system maintains temperature uniformity and prevents any distortion of the measurement results.

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SmithGroup invested 8 to 10 weeks immersing itself in ZEISS’s complex operations, along with its temperature control requirements and the optimal working environment for the ZEISS staff.

“In listening to ZEISS staff discuss and show us their world-class tools, we were trying to reach a certain level of understanding and appreciation for what they do in order for us to realize a space that meets their wishes,” said SmithGroup Vice President, Corporate Design Director George Karidis.

“We held deep-dive workshops with all the stakeholders from different departments, making sure that we understood not only what the space needs were but how the business operated,” added SmithGroup Associate, Design Architect Jordon Gearhart. “Our design stemmed from those early workshops that gave us an understanding of how ZEISS works and the needs of people who work at ZEISS.” All of the wishes of the ZEISS team came true in this complex building designed and constructed as a fitting expression of ZEISS operations and as an inspired integration of the people-friendly and machine-oriented spaces within its walls.

The “parts” of this multi-faceted project include:

· · · ·

Producing a building with the fit and finishes as precise and well-formed as a ZEISS machine and well integrated into the site’s natural setting Engineering an HVAC system capable of cost-effectively generating the stable temperatures necessary for accurate measurement Generating a design that “opens” the window-less, closed black-box of a typical metrology lab to natural light for the benefit of ZEISS staff and clients Installing energy-conscious systems to help ZEISS achieve its mission of sustainability and carbon neutrality.

As a measure of the team’s success, the project has already garnered several awards. AIA Michigan granted the project a 2021 Design Honor Award and the American Council of Engineering Companies of Michigan (ACEC/M) presented the project with an Engineering Honorable Conceptor Award in the

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International 2021 Engineering & Surveying Excellence Awards Competition.

“This project perfectly reflects our identity and is a great representation of the ZEISS brand, both leading and precise,” said President Michael Kirchner, ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions, in a press release describing the February 2021 virtual awards event. “It demonstrates exemplary engineering design by SmithGroup, along with inspiring concepts for our staff and customers. The elevated workplace environment encourages creativity, innovation and collaboration, and offers comfortable and efficient customer spaces.”

Part I: A ZEISS Machine in a Garden In line with the ZEISS brand, the building embodies the precision and workmanship of a ZEISS machine, both in the confluence of its two large volumes and in its details and systems. “In German-engineered fashion, every hose, every wire, and every connector is in its perfect place in our instruments,” Grow said. “Remove the cover and it still looks beautiful.”

In Christman-built fashion, the interior’s exposed steel and steel details, and its placement of building systems in open ceilings, share the same level of craftsmanship. “ZEISS is about precision, and Christman built this building in the same way,” said SmithGroup Principal, Workplace Studio Leader George Athens, AIA. “If you look above the ceilings, you would see workmanship that in my experience is uncommon.”

The entire building shares this same level of craft in the fit and finishes of its almost elemental palette of glass, metal and wood.

Along the building’s east face, the two predominately metal-clad wings frame and angle in toward the double-height glass connector. In the connector space, the north wing’s exterior wall of gray pleated metal panels cuts through the glass curtain wall and becomes the interior backdrop for a wood monumental stair and stadium seating; the material warmth of this wood assembly echoes the soaring, 25-foot-tall wood accent columns, or fins, drawing the visitor toward the adjacent main entry and to the event and communal space housed within the connector. Even the scale and patterning of the felt acoustic ceiling baffles translate into the almost bead-board-like CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

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exterior metal panels cladding the building’s deep overhangs.

Gearhart explained that the design is meant to blur the boundary between the interior and exterior. From within the connector interior, this blurring of boundaries leads the eye towards the site’s landscape of native plants and ponds serving as storm water control elements. The site’s landscape and the precision building establish a rhythm of the natural and the technical, of wood and metal, of daylight-filled spaces for people and more sun-shielded lab environments that ripple throughout the building interior.

On the west side, the configuration of the building – two large wings opening at a splayed angle – creates an extensive Ushaped swath of open space directly facing a natural wetland; the building is actually shaped to accommodate the wetland. Within this broad but deep pocket of space, SmithGroup’s site team designed a lovely oasis blooming with native plants and dotted with clusters of outdoor seating. A glass curtain wall rings this U-shaped terrace, drawing natural light and serene, Zen-like views into the open offices and meeting spaces blessed with a window seat on the world. “The very form of the building takes advantage of the natural setting and connects people to these natural areas,” Athens said.

The building’s integration of site and programming led the jury for Michigan AIA

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to call the building “sublime” and to single out the overall building as “successful at every scale and level of detailing.”

SmithGroup credits The Christman Company’s meticulous execution of the design details as the source of the project’s success. “In the end, the design is about making the building look clean, sophisticated and simple seeming, but in the details and in actuality it is not simple at all,” said Gearhart. “I think Christman’s execution of those details really helped the building sing.”

Part II: An Efficient HVAC System Athens regards the building as a whole “as a beautiful melding of art and physics,” the art being the building’s sophisticated glow and the physics referring to the mechanical engineering necessary to generate stable temperatures for accurate measurement.

The need for temperature stability strongly shaped the configuration of the building, essentially breaking it into two different wings to best protect the high-bay lab from solar gain. Located in the north wing, the high-bay lab – the most temperaturesensitive space in the building – houses “a very large area for computed tomography – essentially an X-ray – where we actually scan inside of the part for dimensions, flaws, gaps or voids,” Grow said. In the south wing, the solar-sheltered customer showroom houses space for inspection and measuring of parts,

product demonstrations and field service technical training, said ZEISS Assistant Victoria Lalama. Private customer integration rooms line one wall of the showroom; each room has its own overhead door for delivery of confidential parts.

For temperature control in these spaces, SmithGroup designed a HVAC system unique to most metrology environments. On the one hand, ZEISS Michigan had been operating in leased facilities with conventional package rooftop units, which allowed larger-than-desired temperature swings. On the other hand, ultra-precise, highly-strung HVAC systems have been used in other facilities, but with several times the initial cost and operating costs. Instead, the team took a new approach that focused on what really mattered.

Gearhart explains the system’s basic operation: fan-coil units temper the air flowing through fabric ductwork. Air is discharged at low velocity along the entire length of the fabric ductwork, creating symmetrical swaths or bands of air.

“Destratification fans then constantly but slowly churn this large volume of treated air to create a more homogenous and stable temperature regime that doesn’t fluctuate as easily over a longer period of time,” Gearhart said. A series of building sensors enable the user to track any temperature fluctuations and adjust the system accordingly.

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Photo Credit: James Ewing A sizeable tip of the south wing slices through the connector glass, entering the very interior of this double-height space in a seamless flow of white pleated metal panels. This communal space binds the two wings of the building together and offers a natural light-filled space for events and presentations.

As the mastermind behind this HVAC design and its 12-foot-diameter destratification fans in the high-bay lab and its 8 to 10 smaller destratification fans in the showroom, Karidis explains that “by understanding the temperaturecompensation features built into the ZEISS metrology tools, the HVAC system design pivoted around the distinction between the need for temperature precision and temperature stability.”

Basically, the temperature need not reach a precise set point but it must remain stable during measurement. “If the room temperature is 68.5 degrees versus 70 degrees – or whatever set point is established – is not as vital as maintaining a constant temperature during measurement,” Karidis continued.

“In this approach, the fan-coils and destratification fans create a very stable temperature over larger zones,” Karidis said. “ZEISS can tweak these areas over the course of days to fine-tune the temperature, and then just maintain that air temperature using a very stable chilled water supply system, including large tanks serving as thermal flywheels, and a heating hot water system.”

A central heat pump then moves energy rejected by the chilled water system into the heating hot water system to accommodate simultaneous loads.

“Basically, it acts like a thermal battery,” Gearhart explained. “Captured energy from internal cooling loads are moved to heat outside air and the perimeter of the building.”

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the machines but also with the exterior in order to create an environment that people actually want to inhabit?”

The central question becomes, according to SmithGroup, “how does one create a workplace that meets stringent temperature uniformity while still offering its patrons access to natural light?” The building’s programming offers a large part of the answer to these questions. “Both the high-bay lab and the showroom are centralized in each of these larger wings to create distance between these spaces and the building perimeter,” Gearhart said. “The program elements surrounding these centralized areas serve as buffer spaces on all sides.”

The perimeter buffer spaces – the open offices, meeting rooms, collaborative seating areas and the sales and display areas – shield the temperature-sensitive spaces from solar gain. (ZEISS instruments are so sensitive to changes in radiant temperature that operators can detect tiny dimensional changes in heavy granite equipment bases related to whether LED

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lighting is on or off.) The glazing is concentrated in the buffer spaces and in the west terrace and east connector to satisfy the basic human need for natural light and connection to the natural world.

As a case in point, the terrace-side second-floor meeting spaces are bathed in natural light but their walls directly block the high-bay lab from solar gain. In other cases, the division of technical and buffer spaces is more nuanced. Natural light indirectly filters into the south wing’s showroom from the interior glass walls of the sales, microscopy and display rooms.

These spaces are aligned directly along the building’s exterior windows, and in turn, these windows are protected by deep overhangs along the east face and a portion of the south.

The high-bay lab is directly adjacent to the natural light-filled communal space in the connector, offering lab staff easy access to daylight and gardens views. Glazing in the lab doors draws some natural light into the lab entry; blinds can be drawn to completely seal the lab when necessary.

Part III: Windows in a Metrology Facility?

The ZEISS Michigan Quality Excellence Center has another rarity among metrology facilities: windows. “The underpinning of the design is all about pushing what a metrology lab can be,” Gearhart said.

“Instead of an enclosed black-box, how can we make it more human? How can we create these connections between not only the spaces where people are working on

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“We tried to find a balance between the human space and the machine space, and to figure out how they could interact together,” Gearhart said. “Even people inside the showroom or high-bay lab have glimpses back to the outside. This is extremely uncommon for a metrology space.”

Karidis praises the subtlety and sophistication of this design approach: “Jordon (Gearhart) wrapped these main metrology spaces in the heart of the building in a series of buffer spaces in a brilliant and understated way that mitigates solar gain.”

SmithGroup’s day-lighting and energy analysis was pivotal in making this light-

filled facility possible. Solar gain mitigation strategies include high-performance glass with a unique ceramic frit on the west curtain wall and deep overhangs along the building’s east face. Even the wood fins accenting the connector play a role in mitigating solar gain. According to Gearhart, the fins serve as a solar shade against early winter morning sun, along with adding material warmth to this predominately metal and glass building.

Double walls with a vertical plenum were used in two select walls, one each in the high-bay lab and showroom. “George (Karidis) designed ‘buffer walls’ in the two exterior walls without a buffer space to reduce thermal shock, if you will,” said SmithGroup Associate and Project Manager Marta Gazda-Auskalnis.

Karidis explains his double wall design: “We move return air in low and exhaust it out high through a cavity that provides a thermal buffer. The wall will not radiate into the space because there is an interior wall at room temperature. “Double-layered doors in the shipping and receiving areas protect the high-bay lab and showroom from thermal fluctuations as well.

Part IV: Earth Rise at ZEISS The building’s windows on the world are in line with ZEISS’s corporate motto “Seeing Beyond.” Founder Carl Zeiss, along with friend and colleague Otto Schott, began the firm in 1846 as an optics company in Jena, Germany. Today, the company offers an extensive line of light, electron and ion microscopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, telescopes, planetarium projectors and other optical equipment.

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Photo Credit: James Ewing The rhythm of wood fins echoes the patterning of the white pleated metal panels.

ZEISS camera lenses were even NASA’s choice for its Apollo missions to the moon.

ZEISS lenses captured the first photographs ever taken of the moon’s surface, and according to a ZEISS July 2019 press release celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing, the iconic image of the Earth from the moon was taken with a ZEISS lens. Called Earth Rise, this world-famous photo of our blue, cloud-swirled planet in the black depths of space – an image capturing the Earth’s beauty and vulnerability – is often credited as one factor in helping to inspire the first Earth Day and the environmental movement.

Having long embraced sustainability and now carbon neutrality as part of its corporate mission, ZEISS brought its own Earth-friendly sensibility to the new Wixom facility. According to Grow, the facility has about 10 charging stations in its parking lot for new energy vehicles, and the company’s world headquarters in Oberkochen, Germany, funded a 496 kW HELIX DT photovoltaic rooftop array capable of offsetting 67 percent of the building’s electricity consumption on an annual basis.

For energy performance, the building has a type of energy recovery system to capture waste heat. “The building has some process heat gain that is constant,” Karidis said. “We have a heat pump with a high coefficient of performance that moves heat back and forth between the chilled water system and a low temperature heating hot water system at about 120 degrees F. The heat pump system is engaged first to heat and cool the building. “The chiller only comes on when we have net cooling load, and the boilers only come on when there is a net heating load,” Karidis said.

“This is how we keep energy use intensity down, and that coupled with the photovoltaic system, which makes up over half of our energy, is how we keep the overall energy use down. If we can use this system as opposed to a steam system at 350 degrees F for heating or a chiller for cooling, we limit the amount of combustion for heating and cooling to what is only needed.”

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Other sustainability measures include the site’s native landscaping and natural storm water management system. These sustainability measures are part of this 175company’s even broader year-old commitment to social responsibility. “Social concern was present from the very beginning of the company,” Grow said.

“ZEISS instituted the 40-hour work week in the company 175 years ago.”

A National Showcase Formerly, ZEISS had been operating in four different leased facilities located in relatively close proximity in Southeast Michigan. “We needed to add efficiencies by bringing everybody into one location,” Grow said.

The driving force for the new building was the need for more demonstration space in its increasingly cramped Brighton facility. Due to its own growth, along with some acquisitions, ZEISS had simply outgrown a space vital for demonstrating its products and solutions to potential and current customers. “As we continued to grow and expand our product portfolio, it

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was even difficult to move some of our machinery in and out of the building,” Grow added.

As another prime goal, ZEISS wanted a building worthy of serving as a national showcase for its products. “The Detroit area is sort of a central hub for our customer base, and we really wanted to grow that capability and have more products in one place,” Grow said.

Nationally, the new facility now houses “some of our more advanced solutions,” Grow said. “Globally, I think we have the greatest range of solutions in one facility or within walking distance from one end of the building to the other.”

According to Coutelle, the new showroom services aerospace, new energy vehicles, medical and additive manufacturing or large-scale 3D printing.

“Major manufacturers are buying some seriously large 3D printers, and printing materials such as metal or ceramic,” Coutelle said. “They need a way of inspecting the materials. The medical community also is investigating additive

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manufacturing. They may be printing 3D hip implants in the future. With additive manufacturing, there is very minimal scrap, so it offers a tremendous cost-savings” – and it wastes less material resources.

In this one-stop measuring shop, entire vehicle sections can be brought into the Automated Inspections Group lab. The lab is filled with the whirring sound of robotic

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arms, each equipped with a ZEISS scanner used to measure and inspect the fit of automotive components.

The Right Place, The Right Team ZEISS selected this large, sprawling property along Lyons Drive in Wixom because of the site’s natural areas, along with good highway access, space for future

growth, and the close proximity of ZEISS staff to the facility. Moving to another state was not a consideration because of the Detroit area’s excellent airport hub, and “historically, we have a large customer base in Michigan,” Grow added.

For team selection, ZEISS chose SmithGroup because of its strong emphasis on delving deeply into a company’s operations to gain a comprehensive understanding of the needs of management, staff and clients alike – and SmithGroup clearly lived up to these expectations.

“Once selected, SmithGroup’s workshops with our team explored how employees would use the building, how we wanted employees and visitors to feel, and even how we wanted to bring equipment in and out of the building,” Grow said.

At ZEISS’s request, SmithGroup played a strong role in formulating a list of recommended construction management companies and even participated in the interview process. “Christman was on our list,” Athens said. “We felt Christman would be a good partner, and it became evident during the interview. It was conversational, and everyone participated in a shared dialogue, leading ZEISS to understand that the project would be a collaborative effort between SmithGroup and Christman. The interview was an important moment in deciding that Christman was the right company.”

Green Infrastructure Collaboration was the intangible foundation of this complex project.

“Open communication and effective collaboration between Christman, SmithGroup and

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Photo Credit: Jeremy Bitterman The building’s two large volumes – a north and a south wing – intersect in the glass connector. The lush site and the precision building establish a rhythm of the natural and the technical, of metal and wood accents, and of daylight-filled spaces for people and more sun-shielded lab environments that ripple throughout the interior.

ZEISS representatives were probably the key factors for us all during construction,” said Gazda-Auskalnis. “We were kind of a three-legged stool.”

This collaborative effort drove the entire project, beginning in the shaping of the site itself. In late spring, wild roses and irises bloom across this landscaped site dotted with newly carved ponds. This sculptured swath of ground is actually part of the storm water management system. “A majority of the storm water is captured through a series of five detention ponds that were designed to meet the storage volume requirements,” Gazda-Auskalnis said. “In what is considered a more conventional storm water management approach, there is some limited area of underground storage tanks that release some of the storm water at a reduced flow rate to the storm system.”

Both beautiful and functional, “the ponds are significant design features but they also work to return a majority of the storm water back to the site’s natural wetland,” GazdaAuskalnis continued.

A mix of native water-loving and dryadapted plants “keeps the ZEISS landscape design diverse, and with that diversity, supports habitat,” GazdaAuskalnis said. “Native plants can best survive the swings between dryer and wetter periods. Because we are an integrated design firm with an incredibly strong landscape architecture and civil engineering group, we leaned on our colleagues to help make the design unique and the site successful.”

Christman had to excavate a certain volume for each pond to meet storm water control requirements. “We held upfront meetings with our site contractor who even used GPS to make sure all of those ponds had the volume required by the county,” said Christman Senior Project Manager Jennifer Emerick. “Once final pond grading was completed, the landscape contractor had to follow right behind in order to stabilize the soils around the ponds.”

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undercutting for the placement of concrete spread footings, and the site’s high water table called for the installation of a dewatering system during placement of deep site utilities. SmithGroup’s survey and soil analysis revealed these conditions long before the launch of construction. Knowing the conditions upfront, Christman was able to competitively bid the undercuts and the dewatering system to “get the best bang

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for our buck,” Emerick said.

SmithGroup’s proactive site design mitigated any potential problems in working on a site with a high water table.

“As more or less insurance, we elevated the building and parking areas on a slight plinth to make sure that any fluctuating, and unpredictable conditions, could be mitigated once the work started on the site,” Gazda-Auskalnis said.

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The close proximity of the site’s natural wetland on the west side of the site presented construction challenges of its own. “We constructed site roads that hugged the building tightly,” Emerick said.

“Careful sequencing and coordination avoided having too many trade contractors and equipment operating in this area at the same time.”

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Color-Coded Steel SmithGroup color-coded the modeled steel to ease both design and construction of the building’s partially exposed structural steel frame; the BIM model was color-coded red for exposed and white for non-exposed steel.

During design, “everyone coordinating around the model automatically knew that red signaled that one should take a closer look at the

appearance of the details,” Gearhart said.

“This early planning was crucial to the development of a detail in the connector space where the tube steel meets the larger structural steel framing of the building.”

On the terrace side, triangles, or inverted V shapes, formed of exposed steel columns and companion bracing, are visible through the ZEISS blue tinted glass.

On the interior, the apex and base of each inverted V shape display the beautifully detailed, triangular knife plate connections.

“We dove into drawing the actual profiles out of the knife plate conditions and bolt arrangements to make sure the steel worked aesthetically with the language of the rest of the building,” Gearhart said.

Christman used SmithGroup’s colorcoded “map” during construction to attend more closely to the exposed steel and its details. “I think the color-coding helped save some costs on the overall project, because we knew which steel was going to remain exposed,” Emerick said. “We paid special attention to these areas; for example, we made sure any holes from our safety cables were patched, ground down and painted.”

A Perfect Fit Close collaboration was vital in achieving the precision fit of the south volume slicing into the north connector. “We had a lot of pre-installation meetings with all of our subcontractors and with SmithGroup to look at the details of how the window systems, the metal panels and all of the other components came together,” Emerick said. “During installation, Marta (GazdaAuskalnis) and Jordon (Gearhart) were on site quite often with us and with our subcontractors to analyze some of the details. We wanted to make sure we were fitting together all the elements as planned, and I think it came together very nicely.”

For the connector, the challenge was not only achieving a precision fit but installing custom metal panel corners and working around the already installed wood fins.

Shortly after steel installation, Christman had to install the series of 25-foot-tall wood fins in front of a portion of the connector.

“Many lifts were clustered around the fins for the installation of the glass and metal,” Emerick recalled, “and we had to protect the fins throughout the installation of the glass, metal panels and other

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Photo Credit: James Ewing SmithGroup engineered an HVAC system capable of generating the stable temperatures necessary for accurate measurement in the building’s metrology spaces, such as the showroom above. The showroom, the high-bay lab and other metrology spaces are located in the heart of each building wing and are wrapped in a series of buffer spaces.

components.”

Collaboration between Christman and its trade contractors was of prime importance for installing the extensive MEP systems in the connector.

“The MEP systems of the building’s two large wings join in the connector,” Emerick said, “and it called for extensive BIM coordination to make sure all of the systems would fit. The trade contractors did a great job in installing the MEP systems.”

The team brought the same level of collaboration to the assembly of the connector space’s signature element: the wood monumental stair and stadium seating. In the spirit of ZEISS workmanship, the entire assembly, including the precision angles of the stadium seat risers and the glass and stainless steel railing, had to come together as a well-crafted object.

In the design phase, “Christman had their trade contractors provide three different detail options, and we would come to the site and discuss the best choice,” Gearhart said.

Prior to construction, “we also spent a great deal of time with the trade contractors upfront to make sure the dimensions were appropriate and would fit together correctly,” Emerick added.

The high level of collaboration crafted a beautiful fusion of wood and metal elements in this communal space filled with natural light. “We wanted this to be a showplace, a space for events and presentations, and to be what binds the two sections of the building together,” Grow said. “I think it came out to be a fantastic space.”

frit is a series of horizontal lines arranged in vertical columns, but the size of the lines varies over the column’s length to balance solar gain mitigation and preservation of the grand views of the great outdoors. “The frit reaches its widest point at the top of the glass but narrows gradually as it arrives at eye level to simultaneously maximize the

view and block solar gain,” Gearhart said.

Christman used an inspired problemsolving strategy to assist SmithGroup in arriving at this frit pattern. “The fritted glass was a long lead item that had to be ordered immediately, leaving us little time to create a true mockup for the glass frit,” Emerick said.

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Photo Credit: Jeremy Bitterman On the west side, the configuration of the building – two large wings opening at a splayed angle – creates an extensive U-shaped swath of open space bordering a natural wetland. SmithGroup’s site team designed a lovely oasis blooming with native plants and dotted with outdoor seating clusters. A glass curtain wall rings this U-shaped terrace, drawing natural light and serene views into the open offices and meeting spaces.

As a solution, Christman set up a plain glass panel as a mockup base, printed several different proposed frit patterns on clear plastic sheets, and then hung each in succession on the clear glass for SmithGroup’s and ZEISS’s review. “This strategy allowed them to nail down the exact frit pattern, and it allowed us to get the glass ordered right away so that we could meet the schedule,” Emerick said.

As the other dominant facade material, the metal panels posed a unique set of

demands during installation. “Most of those metal panels were off-the-shelf, but it wasn’t an off-the-shelf type of installation,” Emerick said. “They are one-foot-wide panels, but some were 32 feet long and potentially could have been dented fairly easily.”

From material details to scheduling, ZEISS, SmithGroup and Christman worked collaboratively to deliver this complex project under budget and on schedule. “If we saw an issue, we brought it up very

early and all of us coordinated our efforts to determine the best option for moving forward,” Emerick said.

One scheduling constraint was shared collectively on almost all construction sites in Michigan and around the world: COVID19. Only six weeks from completion, Michigan’s COVID-19 shutdown began on March 23, 2020. “We had great momentum from the very beginning of the job, and we were poised to end the job strong,” Emerick said. To reboot after the lockdown ended, Christman held meetings with trade contractors “to try to generate that excitement again,” Emerick said. “Luckily, the trade contractors came back rested and strong, and with all the materials already on site, we delivered the project.”

With meetings becoming virtual, ZEISS, SmithGroup and Christman were able to easily increase the number of meetings during the shutdown. “We had the opportunity to address any concerns that we thought might be a challenge once work started moving on site,” Gazda-Auskalnis said. The team completed the project in June 2020.

Interior Glass: Reinforcing the Business Upon arrival at the ZEISS Michigan Quality Excellence Center, many clients and visitors first enter the customer experience room. Mounted on a wood wall is a presentation screen doubling as an interactive timeline telling the story of this long-lived company. Glass-wrapped on the other three sides, the room offers a view of the showroom filled with ZEISS instruments to the south, and to the north, a daylightfilled seating area and garden views.

Interior glass walls draw in daylight and “create strong connections that reinforce the business,” Gearhart said. Following suit, a large viewing window in the aftermarket meeting space on the second floor offers a grand overview of the workings and instrumentation in the showroom below. A

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wood wall with a mounted glass whiteboard turns the space into a prime meeting area for ZEISS staff and clients.

The glass-walled, customer-centric spaces along the south wing’s exterior windows include a display room filled with traveling exhibits on loan from ZEISS’s German headquarters, according to Lalama. The exhibits showcase historical ZEISS cameras, microscopes and other products alongside contemporary, leadingedge counterparts. In the Lake Superior Room, “customers from across the country, as well as Canada and Mexico, either purchase a machine or train on the software needed to operate an already purchased machine,” Lalama said. Other glass-enclosed spaces include a microscopy room, including ZEISS’s powerful electron microscopes.

Throughout the interior, the ceiling systems – the destratification fans, the lighting, the ductwork and the acoustic baffles – are a part of the building’s aesthetics. In the showroom, “the acoustic baffles create a kind of datum at the ceiling plane,” Gearhart said. “The fans and the lighting are built into this rhythm and are related to the structure itself. As one marches down the building and moves from structural bay to structural bay, the system starts to repeat itself.”

Similar datum lines track throughout the building’s other ceiling planes. On the terrace side, the slat-like metal panel ceiling pattern translates into the repeating lines of the ceramic frit. “One of the design features we aimed to implement was to find a rhythm and a balance between all of the parts and pieces in an exposed ceiling,” Gearhart said. “The materials are kept very simple, but very particular attention is paid to how those materials start to play off one another and relate to each other in terms of scale.”

Inspired design thinking shaped the overall building and every detail within its walls; Christman and its trade contracting team turned design plans into well-crafted details and spaces, and through this collaborative effort, the entire team produced a building beyond measure.

From the purely technical to the simply beautiful, SmithGroup and The Christman Company have created a sophisticated building that radiates quality, meets a metrology lab’s stringent temperature demands, and embodies ZEISS’s own precision workmanship.

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The Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center Brings Transformative Learning Opportunities to Northern Michigan

By Diane Sawinski

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raverse City is one of Michigan’s top tourist destinations. The vibrant town, situated on Lake Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay, is known for its freshwater beaches, winter sports, and food and art festivals. In recent years, this “Cherry Capitol of the World” has also become popular for its craft breweries, wineries, and distilleries. Traverse City is also home to Northwestern Michigan College (NMC), a publicly funded two-year community college located at the southern base of the scenic Mission Peninsula.

But Northwestern Michigan College is not just a pretty place.

In 2018, the college embarked on a 80 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

multi-million-dollar project to turn its 50year-old West Hall into a 66,000-square-foot, multi-story, twentyfirst century Innovation Center, with transformative learning environments, a new library, and multiple academic and simulation spaces. The building also houses a cafeteria and coffee shop, campus security, a technology help desk, and the WNMC 90.7 FM college radio station. The center opened just in time for the Fall 2020 semester.

In July 2021, the facility was renamed the Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center to honor the school president’s decades of service to NMC students, the college, and

the community. The Board of Trustees of Northwestern Michigan College voted unanimously to rename the building after Nelson, NMC’s longest-serving president who retired from the college in 2019 after leading the institution for over 18 years. The board credited Nelson's drive, vision, and commitment to making NMC a world-class institution.

The development of the center, located on the main campus of the college, included the partial demolition, renovation, addition, and modernization of an outdated building and was the largest project to be built on campus in decades. The work would nearly double the size of West Hall “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

Photo courtesy of Grand Space Media The exterior of NMC’s new Innovation Center has a modern, cutting-edge feel. Brick was selected to match the existing materials, and metal panel “blocks” appear to be pushing through the brick mass.

Photo courtesy of Grand Space Media A subdued palette of beiges and greys and pale blues and greens along with light-colored, horizontal-slat bamboo feature walls reflect the look of the region’s trees, water, and sand.

and provide for 13 adaptive learning spaces that can be configured to accommodate traditional learning, hacker space, and entrepreneurial activities.

Forming the Project Team Spence Brothers was brought on as construction manager early in the project to provide its preconstruction and constructability expertise. The company has been around since 1893 and has a long history of building projects funded through the State of Michigan capital outlay process for universities and community colleges. Spence Brothers had already worked with NMC for more than a decade, having built several renovations and new housing on the community college’s campus. As the largest project on campus in some 20 years, the Spence team was eager to participate in the development of an Innovation Center of this magnitude in the heart of the campus.

Cornerstone Architects of Traverse City was selected to handle the design work.

Cornerstone specializes in the design of educational facilities, having completed numerous projects ranging from small dormitory and office remodeling to new multi-million-dollar collegiate campus facilities.

Nealis Engineering, also local to the area, handled the plumbing, geothermal heat exchanger, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, under-floor air distribution, snow melt, lighting, power distribution, primary power distribution, emergency power generator, communications, and fire alarm systems.

Constructing for the Future Prior to construction, the project received extensive campus and community input, including 270 comments during a campuswide opening conference and 17 user group workshops. It also won the support of state legislators, including Sen. Darwin Booher, R-Evart, and Sen. Wayne Schmidt, Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

R-Traverse City. Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget recommendation for the fiscal year 2016-17 included NMC’s West Hall renovation project as one of only three recommended community college capital outlay projects.

Work on the old West Hall began in the late summer of 2018. The project ended up with combined state investments of more than $7 million for important renovations and modernizations of the building, while NMC-funded investments totaled more than $7 million. An additional $6 million was involved in moving the library from its location in NMC’s Osterlin Building to the Innovation Center, where it now offers expanded services and hours.

The design of the new Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center sought to fully integrate a technologically driven learning environment, adding another layer to how spaces would be used by students and educators. Because of the need for interactive displays, room scheduling, and flexible meeting rooms, the design needed to be adaptable, allowing for a changing configuration from day to day while still being specific and functional. The furniture is easily moveable to accommodate all types of learning, from individual study to group team building. Power and data are all run under an access floor system so power and data outlets can move with the furniture systems as the space is rearranged.

A variety of thoughtful spaces support learning to explore and execute a variety of STEM (science, technology, engineering,

and math) related activities, including breakout areas that extend the capabilities of adjacent learning labs. The technologyenhanced labs allow for interactive conversation and work with national and international partners as well.

Interior spaces feel modern and spacious. A subdued palette of beiges and greys and pale blues and greens along with light-colored, horizontal-slat bamboo feature walls reflect the look of the region’s trees, water, and sand. Selective pops of oranges and pinks add a youthful element to the design. In common areas, vast walls of windows allow for abundant natural light to fill the space. The lighting package was unique for projects in Northwest Michigan.

LEDs, used in varied fixtures and patterns, were installed throughout the center.

Meeting the Challenges of a Difficult Job With the project involving the renovation of, and addition to, the existing West Hall building, one of the more challenging aspects of the design was seamlessly tying together the new and the old in a single structure that would contain multiple and varied programming options. The original structure, built in 1962, underwent several renovations over the years. These required careful consideration by the design team and contractors during the preconstruction phase and as construction progressed.

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contemporary addition. The resultant scope included a partial demolition of the existing building to make way for the addition. The importance of maintaining the structural integrity of the existing facility, despite selective demolition requirements, was clear from the very beginning. Upon completion of demolition activities, it was paramount that the remainder of the existing structure accommodate a seamless tie-in of the new addition.

Explained Spence Brothers Superintendent Brian Hinman: “We removed two sides of the existing building.

We basically had to go in, make a section point, and work down both sides. Cut here.

Remove this. Water mains, electrical. All that stuff had to be a clear line of path for the mass demolition.”

Key to the team’s success were the constructability reviews during the project’s early planning stages. “As we discussed ideas for over-framing, we were talking about removing the precast concrete tees.

Working through, we decided it was best to add steel, stacking it on top of the other columns,” Hinman said.

Getting into Deep Water Adding to the scope’s complexity, the project’s site resides within a very high water table. Prior to the start of construction, the geotechnical report indicated that the groundwater level measured 2.5 to 3 feet below the existing 82 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

basement slab elevation. Early in design, the owner and architect decided to drop the lower levels for the access floor by 24 inches, according to Project Manager Chris Touhey.

“The groundwater rose 3 feet during construction,” noted Hinman. “With the campus located between the east and west arms of Grand Traverse Bay at the base of Old Mission Peninsula, the water table is quite high. Add in the rise of Great Lakes water levels, and the team was in deep water, literally.”

“Basically, right now, the elevation of the groundwater is higher than our basement slab elevation,” noted Touhey. While the team was accustomed to pumping water due to experience on many other jobs, conditions at West Hall required them to go above and beyond with documentation for the owner and owner’s representative.

The groundwater presented significant challenges for the entire team, according to Touhey. “We paid a lot of extra attention toward dealing with that. Oftentimes, our approach wasn’t necessarily something we had to do, but rather something we did because it was the right thing to do for our owner.”

In addressing the groundwater challenges, Touhey credits Brian Hinman and Andrea Nelson for their attention to detail in documenting everything. “All three of us did well in this project. We always had a paper trail for change orders and “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

Photo courtesy of Grand Space Media Northwestern Michigan College turned its 50-yearold West Hall into a multi-story, twenty-first century Innovation Center, with transformative learning environments, a new library, and multiple academic and simulation spaces.

Photo courtesy of Grand Space Media In common areas, vast walls of windows allow for abundant natural light to fill the space. The lighting package was unique for projects in Northwest Michigan. LEDs, used in varied fixtures and patterns, were installed throughout the center.

conditions in the field, whether it was pictures uploaded to Procore from Brian or an RFI in the office. The job was really tight in that way,” he added.

Dealing with Concrete Complications “Due to the timing of the project’s funding, the project schedule put demolition on the critical path,” according to Hinman. “We removed a good portion of the south part of the building, which exposed foundations that we needed to protect to keep them from freezing and heaving.”

“We had auger cast and some micro helical piles under the existing portion,” added Touhey. “The soils were bad, so we had to reinforce the footings and foundations’ ever-increasing loads,” noted Hinman.

Given these challenges in the schedule, concrete was poured into the winter months. The team relied on its extensive experience working during the coldest months of the year. According to Hinman, “We started concrete at the beginning of winter and poured it all winter long. It wasn’t fun, but we did very well.”

us, it was more about the momentum impact. We were scheduled to finish strong, and then the pandemic kind of shut things down,” explained Touhey. “It took

the wind out of our sails a bit with everyone having to pull off site. We were just hoping that when it started back up, we would have the commitment from all the subs to

Keeping on Schedule During the Pandemic Though COVID-19 impacted the last few months of the project, it also provided a surprising advantage.

“Before the pandemic, the plan involved opening up the original part of the building to construct the cafeteria and other portions between semesters,” explained Touhey. “It would have cost a lot more money for them to basically put a fire separation wall in between the two portions of the building and disconnect a bunch of duct that had already been run.” With the advent of COVID-19, however, school was cancelled in March for the remainder of the semester.

Without a doubt, the pandemic also inspired concerns about manpower. “For Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

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Photo courtesy of Spence Brothers The project sought to use areas in the existing West Hall building that fit spatial requirements, while more flexible learning spaces would be built into the contemporary addition.

Photo courtesy of Grand Space Media Interior spaces feel modern and spacious. All of the furniture is easily movable and the space is designed so it can be continuously re-arranged to accommodate all types of learning from individual private study to group team building.

come back and finish what they had started,” he added. “Despite no guarantees, we ended up with a truly excellent commitment from the subs.”

Experiencing Excellence in Project Management Led by Preconstruction and Project Director John Galnares, the Spence Brothers preconstruction team was essential to the project’s success, according to Cornerstone Architects. “They

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provided accurate construction cost estimates throughout the design process and provided valuable input on constructability,” noted Project Architect Andy Lin. “Their value engineering did not sacrifice aesthetics or quality and ensured the project stayed on budget throughout the duration of construction.”

The level of detail given during preconstruction made a tremendous difference for Project Manager Chris Touhey, who joined the West Hall team only

months before the project started. “I came on in August 2018, and we started demo in October of 2018,” said Touhey. “Almost immediately, I was putting the bid packs out and finishing the awards. I looked at the drawing review comment logs that the preconstruction team had for Bid Pack One, and there were some 160 comments.

I could clearly see the advantage of having us involved early on so the bidders got clean, complete drawings.”

Touhey credits the rest of his team for making the transition easy for him. “It was a challenge getting caught up to speed on a project that the team had been working on for the better part of a year, but working with Brian was easy, and Project Administrator Andrea Nelson as well. We had a good understanding of roles and worked efficiently in our communications with the owners and subs. It was a great project for me to be involved with, that’s for sure.”

“What helped tremendously was the work that John Galnares and Brian Hinman did before I even showed up,” Touhey explained. “Their work during precon set the job up for success and gave the confidence that there was enough money to build it, making sure scopes were clearly defined.”

A significant amount of work was added to the contract after the project started.

“Our original contract included the new portion of the building and some minor construction in the existing portion,” explained Touhey. “After the project commenced, the scope changed to renovating the cafeteria and lower-level of the building as well,” he said. “It was a change order of over $1,000,000, which came in at the very last minute and threw us a curveball by adding new subcontractors for the piping and drains in the existing portion of the building.”

Adding to its intricacies, certain “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

components of the project had separate funding sources that needed to be segregated. Although the addition and much of the renovation was funded by a state capital outlay appropriation, portions of the project were funded by NMC. “The second floor of the library was paid for by the college, as well as last-minute changes for the cafeteria and work on the lower level,” noted Nelson. “It definitely was challenging, having two separate processes. We had to keep a lot of things separate for the college and state.”

The state funding also required an enhanced level of reporting to the State Department of Management, Technology, and Budget (DTMB). “We had to meet once a month and walk the DTMB rep through the whole job,” explained Hinman. DTBM Project Manager Chris Kulhanek played a key role in the success of the project, according to Cornerstone, saying that he had unwavering support for the project from the design phase through construction.

In addition to the state, the college also employed an owner’s rep, which required additional reporting. “His office is in Southeast Michigan, so it was definitely an extra communication component as opposed to the owner being on site locally 24/7,” explained Touhey. “It added a whole other layer of reporting, but I think that he trusted us because we were open and transparent with him on everything.”

Familiarity with the project architect was also an asset. “Brian can build a Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

Cornerstone building without seeing the drawings,” Touhey joked, in reference to Hinman’s experience working with Cornerstone Architects over the years.

“Yeah, I’ve done projects with them before,” Hinman added, humbly. Nelson agreed: “The familiarity is important.

They’re accustomed to our processes, and vice versa, which helped keep things moving along with tremendous efficiency.”

Touhey also credited Hinman for his ability to manage subcontractors: “I had never worked with Brian before, but I worked with plenty of other superintendents. It stands out having someone who knows the drawings, knows the specs, and understands the project’s logistics so well.”

Hinman’s charisma on the job site was just as noteworthy. “He has an even-keeled personality and isn’t fired up very easily.

Every time you’d go on site, it felt like everybody was working together. It was clear he had the respect of the subcontractors,” explained Touhey.

In describing the attitude of the team, Hinman discussed a dynamic that extended beyond the project. “We had Friday cookouts where we had a job site grill set up and people would just say, ‘well today I’m bringing hamburgers, what are you gonna bring?’”

Working with Sensitivity to the Environment and Surroundings Familiar with working in K-12 school environments where the majority of work

takes place during summer recess, Hinman recognized the challenges posed by the college campus environment on this 14month project. “Here, the students have the right-of-way, which can impact arrival of deliveries.” Being at the center of campus, the project occurred in a hive of campus activity. The preconstruction team developed detailed logistics plans to optimize limited laydown space, outline specific areas for subcontractor parking, and efficient delivery procedures. The staging plan made sure to provide ample pedestrian pathways and options, since the building essentially divided the campus into east and west.

The location also made the project team the center of attention. “You get to know all of the facilities’ guys, their bosses, the people at the radio station, the librarian,” noted Hinman. “Being a smaller school, you really got to know all those people.”

Providing Excellence in Client Service With a limited facility management team, NMC has become accustomed to a smooth process working with Spence Brothers. “While we had two projects on our end, we were able to make it seem like one single project for NMC,” explained Nelson. “By keeping open lines of communication between everyone — the owner’s rep, architect, and the state — the additional reporting and documentation demands led to a far smoother project execution for everyone.”

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Photo courtesy of Grand Space Media NMC’s new Innovation Center, designed by Traverse City’s Cornerstone Architects, received the Michigan American Institute of Architects’ 2021 Honor Award for Design Excellence. The Center opened its door in September 2020.

Architects, credits Spence Brothers for helping achieve detailed drawings. “Together, we were able to fill in the gaps that are often missed during Schematic Design and Design Development when documents are not fully detailed. Spence Brothers also allowed us to better plan for the building’s tie into existing campus infrastructure, streamlining the design process.”

Touhey, noting his appreciation for the proficiency of Cornerstone Architect’s approach, explained, “Andy stood out on his responsiveness.

He doesn’t let things sit in his court. He is conscious of what we’re up against with the timeliness of his responses, while also considering the project’s budget and schedule.”

Honoring the Project’s Design In 2021, NMC’s Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center won a statewide Michigan American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Award for Design Excellence. The award jury commented: "The volume of this enlarged and renovated building is well-balanced inside and out, through a skillful integration of materials and massing. The interior is warm and filled with natural light, while the flowing plan successfully reflects its flexible function. Finally, the jury greatly appreciated the design team's goals of equity and minimal environmental impact."

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Beaumont’s Farmington Hills Hospital Expands for Patient Comfort and Care

By Marilyn S. Jones-Wilson hen planning began for a multiphase master plan to renovate Botsford General Hospital in Farmington Hills, there was no pandemic in sight, just a desire to offer the community-enhanced patient options, up-to-the-minute technology, and the best critical care at an attractive, accessible location.

With a budget of $160 million, predesign for the master plan started in 2014, with the need to modernize and update private patient rooms. The plan encompassed a new emergency room, intensive care units and surgical suites.

In 2015, Botsford, Oakwood Healthcare and Beaumont Health merged, resulting in a name change from Botsford to Beaumont-Farmington Hills. “The goals of the merger and changes were to maintain quality and safety while increasing efficiencies, improving utilization and reducing costs,” said Donald Paul, Beaumont senior project manager. “All of these were prioritized in the master plan project to better serve patients and families.”

Under the master plan, the hospital expanded more than 210,000 square feet, with renovations to over 61,500 square feet. “The additions and renovations offer the most advanced care in a safe, welcoming environment, while giving

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Photo Credits: HKS Architects

physicians and caregivers the tools they need to provide extraordinary care,” said Joe Siekirk, vice president at Plante Moran Cresa, program manager for the project.

Integrated Team From the beginning, Plante Moran, HKS Architects and construction manager Barton Malow/AIMS Construction worked closely with the Botsford-Beaumont team to anticipate obstacles and collaborate on solutions, including staying within the owners’ firm budget. The extensive planning and coordination, incorporating early contractor involvement, contributed to cost savings and ensured quality.

“The team worked closely to provide early input on drawings for best practices,” said John Avdoulos, HKS principal. “We collaborated to forecast

and control expenses, assess constructability, and calculate cost consequences, all while accelerating schedules and ensuring safety.”

Starting with a new parking structure, all construction took place with the hospital in full operation. The addition of 473 spaces offset surface parking lost due to footprint expansion on the 10-acre site.

The team arranged with the city of Farmington Hills to create temporary entrances for construction vehicles without ever impacting hospital emergency traffic or patient access.

Mindful scheduling and logistics took daily hospital routines into account to minimize interruptions in operations. “The majority of construction occurred right at the front door of the campus, requiring extensive coordination, detailed scheduling, and 3D logistics,” said Mike “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

Bonner said. “Extensive knowledge of the site by every tradesperson and coordination were key in alleviating what could have been a life-or-death situation while waiting for a tow truck to arrive.”

The South Pavilion of Beaumont’s Farmington Hills hospital includes 80 new private beds, 124 renovated beds and dedicated units for orthopedic, oncology and respiratory patients.

Bonner, senior project manager for Barton Malow/AIMS. Campus modeling, utilizing laser scanning and 3D software, enabled the team to update construction progress at every phase and keep all stakeholders aware of potential traffic changes well in advance. “Site work was done in five phases to keep traffic flowing smoothly,” Bonner said.

Just-in-time delivery, specified in each subcontractor’s contract, helped keep the project lean and on track. “Doing so limited the amount of staging area needed for trucks, equipment and material on an already tight site,” he said.

Specially trained flag people, clear signage and full-time security kept construction activity separated from hospital routines and pedestrians to guarantee safety and prevent any Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

impediment to emergency vehicles or patient care.

“We collaborated extensively with the city of Farmington Hills, which was an extremely positive and beneficial experience,” Bonner said, “with on-site training and drills with the hospital, building, police and fire departments.”

The project team proved to be especially responsive when in February 2017, an injured patient abandoned his car in the path of the emergency and ambulance entrance, blocking traffic flow in this critical area. The construction team’s flag crew immediately stepped in to reroute traffic to ensure emergency vehicles could enter safely.

“At all safety orientations, it was instilled in every tradesperson that priority one was safety, and keeping the hospital fully functional at all times was paramount,”

Power to Grow by After the parking structure, the team installed a new 20,000-square-foot central energy plant, with cooling towers, chillers and generators, along with a dedicated 40-kilovolt power line and associated equipment for the needs of the entire campus.

“The project was designed with sustainability in mind,” Avdoulos said.

Existing mechanical-electrical systems were upgraded with variable frequency drive and other improvements to increase efficiency by 30 percent.

Team members were acutely aware at all times that their work directly impacted hospital operations. For example, a 50year-old existing underground steam line feeding the hospital failed during the installation of the central energy plant, requiring three days and two nights of replacement and welding of pipes to replace it and keep the hospital functional, according to Bonner.

Another challenge related to the CEP involved installing utilities under an important access road that needed to remain open as a back-up entrance for ambulances. Instead of running the utilities underground, a massive 107-footlong trestle had to be fabricated, brought to the site and laid on the ground in two pieces so that conduits, massive piping and supports could be pre-installed. A crane then set it up over the road on a single Saturday. The planning and prework shortened what would normally take months, minimizing the road closure to that single day.

The hospital’s medical oxygen plant was also moved and 2,000 linear feet of ductwork added in multiple phases – another way in which the project’s upgrades had to occur during operations without causing disruption.

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visitors with openness and natural light.

The project’s goal was to increase privacy, stress and reduce promote healing by offering a supportive environment for both patients and visitors. For example, the hospital has prioritized private over semi-private rooms, The hospital’s East Pavilion emergency department was expanded with 58 treatment and evaluation bays, while adding seating, a 17-bay observation unit, and three level-II trauma rooms, increasing the ER’s capacity by nearly 40 percent. electrical outlets and lighting to waiting areas surgery department was enlarged, performance features to enhance patient with families in mind. including nine new operating rooms and a care overall.

ER beds previously separated by larger family waiting area. The helipad was The hospital’s East Pavilion emergency curtains are now separated by sliding relocated for better access. department was expanded with 58 glass partitions and drywall – a change The new five-story South Pavilion treatment and evaluation bays, a 17-bay that is also more sanitary. Pod spaces are includes 80 new private beds, 124 observation unit, and three level-II trauma flexible, able to expand and contract to renovated beds, and 29 observation bays, rooms, increasing the ER’s capacity by accommodate patient intake numbers. as well as dedicated units for orthopedic, nearly 40 percent.

“The major upgrades improve patient oncology and respiratory patients. An Twenty critical care beds were added, care, reduce costs, increase efficiencies entirely new entrance lobby and reception along with 27 pre- and post-op private and streamline operations,” Avdoulos area welcomes patients, families and patient rooms and 10 infusion bays. The said. “A safer, more secure environment

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during the time of greatest need.

“As the number of patients who turn to Beaumont-Farmington Hills continues to grow, the expansion and renovations have created a safer, more healing environment designed to meet the needs of the surrounding communities,” Avdoulos said.

“The emergency center is staffed and equipped to handle severe illnesses and injuries, as well as the bumps and scrapes that also need medical attention. Today, the hospital has a Level II trauma status,” he said. “It is a major osteopathic teaching facility with residency and fellowship programs, and is the base teaching hospital for Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.”

A 20,000-square-foot central energy plant accommodates the needs of the entire hospital campus. Designed for sustainability, the plant increased efficiency by 30 percent.

Passion and Purpose The hospital’s original master plan, conceived in 2013, came together on time and within budget – in the face

has been created and great care is taken to prevent the spread of infection, which has been especially important over the past year.”

Timing Is Everything There was no way of knowing that as phase one neared completion in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic would arrive and shut down on-site construction completely. The team continued to meet virtually, preparing to restart with safety restrictions three weeks later.

Immediately an office area was transformed into a locker room area for workers, now down to 10 from 60, with space to sanitize clothing and tools.

Checkpoints and cleaning protocols were set up to comply with CDC recommendations. State building, health and fire inspections had to be conducted virtually.

While phase one was delayed six weeks, preparations for phase two allowed the project to catch up and finish on time in November 2020.

The team’s strategic planning and focus enabled the hospital to continue operations through the pandemic, providing vital support to hospital staff Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

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competing demands on the limited available capital.

“Plante Moran Cresa was able to successfully advocate for the Farmington Hills project, incorporate the goals and priorities of Beaumont Health, and maintain the intent of the original project, along with the priorities of the original Botsford medical staff,” he said.

The proof lies in how those multiple perspectives were Private rooms with ample seating for family members promote a supportive, healing environment. Glass and resolved through everydrywall partitions replaced curtains in assessment and treatment areas to ensure privacy and sanitation. day decision-making.

“During the course of the project, there were Beaumont Health made the project of a global pandemic – due to the difficult days and situations,” Avdoulos possible as the merger provided the foresight and coordination of the entire said. “Then there were days when funding,” Siekirk said. “But Beaumont team. frustrating problems turned into unique Health also brought many other “The merger of Botsford Hospital with solutions, which reminded everyone why they are so passionate about what they do.

“This was a complicated multi-phased project, and each team member exercised patience and worked to their strengths to achieve the ultimate end goal. In the end we learned that almost everything can be worked out, and sometimes even better

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than the original solution,” he said.

“I am proud to be associated with a project and team that transformed a longstanding and important piece of the community into a refreshed and state-ofthe-art medical facility that will continue to serve the surrounding area for many more years to come,” Avdoulos said.

From the owner’s perspective, Paul admires how the Beaumont and Botsford teams came together and made the commitment to invest in the hospital. “As the two cultures merged, you could see how every employee was doing their very best to help in any way and keep a great attitude,” he said.

“The construction team along with hospital leadership and the medical staff worked together on the design for the towers to make that patient experience second to none. Working directly with the construction team was a great experience. Their priority throughout was the hospital’s best interest and keeping impacts to patients and their families and staff members to a minimum,” he said.

Bonner agrees that teamwork was key.

“When it comes to the BeaumontFarmington Hills project, I’m proud of our ability to work together and create a place where people in our community can receive extraordinary care in an environment specifically designed to promote healing.”

Waiting areas anticipate family needs by adding phones, electrical outlets and comfortable lighting.

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Photos courtesy of United Wholesale Mortgage

An Old GM Building and a Former Soccer Complex Give United Wholesale Mortgage More “Kicking Around” Training Space

By Lisa M. Briggs

I

f you haven't heard of United Wholesale Mortgage, perhaps you're familiar with the company’s logo – the one professional basketball players like Luke Garza, Cade Cunningham, and Killian Hayes happen to wear over their hearts.

Still not sure who United Wholesale Mortgage is?

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), one of the most recognizable wholesale lending companies in America, officially began trading on the NYSE (UWMC United Holdings Corp) in early 2021 – after a merger with a west coast company. The $16.1 billion-valued company recently, with its recognizable, block-lettered UWM logo, held a spot on the jerseys of Detroit Pistons players as the team's official sponsor during the NBA Summer League games.

Two major expansion projects devoted to training help UWM do their work more efficiently. The company recently renovated a total of 360,000 square feet of space: the newest UWM building, which they refer to 94 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

as the South Building, now houses UWM's Operation Teams, Sales Executives, Client Experience Department, People Teams, and Capital Markets. The Dailey Company recently resuscitated the 265,000-squarefeet of outdated single-floor space for its client. Along with that, The Dailey Company modified another 100,000 square feet of space down the street at a former sports complex, the former Ultimate Soccer Arena, and plowed through mounds of dirt to complete an additional 4,000 parking spaces. The company refers to this as the UWM Sports Complex.

The Ascension of the UWM Team Previously known as United Shore Financial Services, the company's leader, Mat Ishbia, a former Michigan State University basketball player whose father, Jeff Ishbia, founded the company in 1986, offered his son an entry-level job in 2013. The entrepreneur-minded prodigy elevated the company beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

At UWM, he and his team of 9,000 continue to create new goals, explore new inspirations, and effortlessly bulldoze through the competition. Mat Ishbia came onboard and revolutionized the company's way of doing business – his uncommon vision about how to take care of employees and how to help Americans get the fastest, easiest-on-the-pocketbook mortgage helped him ascend to his current role as President and CEO. The ongoing construction and expansion of UWM's physical space is ascending, too – it's an example of how the leadership values its most treasured asset: team members, or more simply put, its people.

The UWM company name, logo, buildings, and expansions are everywhere – the goal to help clients and team members achieve success is undeniably at the top of UWM's to-do list. Also on that list is a check mark next to The Dailey Company, a third-generation and highly reputable construction company based in “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

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Lake Orion and led by President Steve Dailey. The mortgage ruler knows the value of The Dailey Company's team because the company created an interior empire of pure goodness for everyone connected to UWM. “The work we do for UWM is very rewarding,” said Steve Dailey. “Their creativity and ideas for their corporate campus are always unique and they provide us all an opportunity to build something not normally associated with typical commercial construction. The design elements they come up with can be challenging to construct, but they truly define the character of their culture. It's all about their employees, and UWM is focused on creating a positive, productive, and fun environment.”

The phenomenal growth of UWM's brand, worth and recognition is multiplying.

Evidence of that is seeing the renovated administrative complex in the south end of the city of Pontiac. The expansion at UWM puts the company at 400+ acres, which is definitely noticeable to Pontiac's population of just under 60,000. UWM cleverly transformed a 100-year-old General Motors automotive factory, which

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then morphed into miscellaneous offices through the years into a 21st-century version of an “information-servicetechnology factory.”

The millions of UWM dollars invested into renovations could also be viewed as an investment in relationships. Building relationships keeps UWM employees smiling, motivated to work, and loyal.

“Every day is different, which is great,” said UWM Assistant Vice President of Campus Development Tim Zub. “The people and the culture are fantastic – coming in every day and seeing everyone smiling is our goal. No one dreads coming into work. As you're walking through, you can see everyone smiling and happy – UWM is a great place to be.”

UWM Thinks Pontiac Is a Great Place to Be

“This is our home,” said Laura Lawson, UWM Chief People Officer. “Knowing that we're never going anywhere, we do really cool and creative things, like purchasing the bridge and this building at 700 East Boulevard.”

Whenever any UWM team members see a plastic barrier of Visqueen going up, it

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can only mean one thing: the company is expanding – again!

Most construction sites utilize Visqueen, a brand of polyethylene plastic sheeting used in the construction process to minimize debris from entering other spaces not part of the construction. Visqueen is a welcomed sight for UWM team members.

Zones of construction are common at UWM – they are key to the company’s growth. The Dailey Company made it possible for employees to continue working, even while construction was in progress. “We did a hard partition with insulation to keep the noise down,” said Paul Danko, Project Manager at The Dailey Company. “At a certain point you have to drop the partition to build it out, so we would drop the partition, throw up the Visqueen partition, maybe five or six feet away, so we could finish that area and move on to the next phase.”

Thousands of team members file through the high-tech turnstiles and don't blink an eye when there's construction at UWM – they know and trust they'll safely be rerouted around the interior renovations. “It's kind of like 'pardon our dust,' but this is

Evidence of UWM’s phenomenal growth is seen in the wholesale lending company’s renovated administrative complex in the south end of the city of Pontiac.

UWM’s space is impeccably open and collaboratively functional. Working without walls means more openness, receptivity, observance, and responsiveness.

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coming soon,” said Lawson. “When you give teasers about what is coming, it helps build excitement. We had a rope around the shipping container zone and when we dropped it, the employees could explore it.” Danko said that they created little cutout plastic windows to let employees sneak a look at the progress. UWM leaders and The Dailey Company seem to have figured out how to keep the grind going – it’s all part of their formula of building premium space that is convertible, changeable and flexible.

“It's about more space, getting more space built as quick as possible,” said Danko. Talking about UWM's new employee training facility is easy for him, since he's been part of their construction projects for the past nine years. “I started at their old Troy headquarters at 1414 Maple,” said Danko.

“What it comes down to is scheduling, getting the product, and building it,” said Danko. “Much of the time, we start building the space before the design is finalized. We make changes on the run as far as getting

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material here. There's a lot of things we collaborate on with the owner, UWM – and they make decisions quickly — so we're constantly working on keeping the schedule and getting everybody to buy into the whole project.”

“We appreciate and use The Dailey Company because we're difficult clients,” jokes Lawson.

The jousting back-and-forth kinship between UWM and The Dailey Company is at the heart of the foundation – the one that can be seen with the eye, and the relational one that can be felt. That kind of long-term rapport – and the demands of UWM – might not be understood or anticipated by other construction companies.

Lawson gives an honest estimation of UWM's last-minute approach. “There are always last-minute adds,” he explained. We want it built in, and we want it on schedule.

We're very much a ‘we want it now’ kind of organization, so what would normally take months and months, The Dailey Company helps shave all those months off. They understand us now and our drive to meet

expectations.”

Zub summed up how the project was handled: “We built this space out in phases,” he said. “We were doing 6080,000-square-feet and turning it over every two weeks as we were going.”

Working and Having Fun Employees don't mind enduring renovation noise when the results produce space made and designed just for them. UWM is committed to creating and providing work environments that include elements of entertainment, leisure, sports, competition, and theme-based celebrations. Leadership is continually designing and re-designing ways to provide unique opportunities for enhanced teamwork.

The space inside the UWM training center in the old Ultimate Soccer Arena is unlike any other typical office space. It looks like a maze. There are three open levels without any walls – there are stairs and ramps to get from one surface to another. Natural light pours in from ceilinglevel windows, and gigantic fans swish air around. The top level, the third floor so-tospeak, features a shuffleboard deck where team members can compete against different departments or have friendly competitions with each other. Eight new kitchenettes were installed and additional bathrooms were built and others were modified.

The first floor offers stylish meeting spaces. “All of our large conference rooms are named after major stadiums,” said Lawson. “The Palace” conference room is sectioned off with silent, weightless sliding glass doors and includes authentic seating from the now-demolished Auburn Hills arena. “We also have smaller ‘huddle’ rooms.” She added that there are also conference rooms with signature titles such as the Silverdome and Joe Louis Arena.

“We do a lot of sports analogies.”

A striking and alluring feature inside the UWM Sports Complex is the shipping container zone, which consists of 14 metal containers with ceilings reaching up to 38 feet. “We take shipping containers and carve them out to make unique destinations,” said Lawson. “We like to create areas of interest.” Some are stacked on top of each other to give the environment more depth and to break up the space.

The construction elements were handled “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

during the COVID lockdown according to Danko, who said this was the first major container shipping project for The Dailey Company. “This was a very unique part of the project. We pieced it all together like a giant puzzle,” said Danko.

“The containers came on a big fork lift. We put foundations in and then welded them to pads.” Two of the containers welded together provide a spacious UWM company store – a A striking and alluring feature inside the UWM Sports Complex is the shipping container zone, which consists of 14 metal place to purchase containers with ceilings reaching up to 38 feet. company logo shirts, hoodies and other gear. pinball machines. The sound of bells, other people,” said Lawson. “Say you're in For those who are brave, there's a dings, and zaps appeal to some at UWM as underwriting and you need to meet with fireman's pole in between shipping a place to have fun and do business at the someone in sales, you can meet in here containers, which team members can use same time. “We create a lot of investments and talk, make friends, and get your work to slide down from one level to another. in our space where our people can meet done.”

Lawson said the company's “yes mentality” made the shipping container project possible. “I don't know an example of this magnitude happening indoors because normally you need a huge crane lift, but instead we pushed them in. Call it our 'there's nothing impossible at UWM' attitude, which helped maneuver the heavy containers.”

The metal boxes are full of wonderment for employees. Three of the repurposed shipping containers have sliding glass doors and comfortable seating and are known as “collaboration areas.” Other creative collaboration areas have themes, too. “All the conference rooms feature aspects of a house, since we're a residential lender — it makes it kind of fun.”

The “kitchen” room features an original, vintage 1950s Formica table with vinyl chairs, a stove, and a GM Frigidaire refrigerator. Another room is a “library” where team members can go to read a book, enjoy quiet time, meditate, or listen to music. Team members can reserve space through the company's Outlook calendar to meet in cozy spaces for conversations, powwows, meetings, or training sessions.

There is an arcade room lined with both retro and modern electronic games and Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

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UWM’s shipping container structures are full of wonderment for employees. The “kitchen” room features an original, vintage 1950s Formica table with vinyl chairs, a stove, and a GM Frigidaire refrigerator.

For those not afraid of heights, there is a cargo net suspended between shipping containers “The cargo net lets team members have huddles during lunch,” said Lawson. “They can grab a laptop, read a book, or just get away.” She explains that UWM boldly tries various unconventional ways to engage employees. “We observe to see if it's working. If it doesn't work, then we change it. But people love the cargo net.”

Two containers have been transformed into one of the most covetous spaces in the company. “It's a special destination where team members can gain card entrance to enter and treat themselves to anything in it for 30 days.” UWM leaders help define access criteria to earn time in the room through incentives such as company contests, production goals, client service, or quality performance. The room's content isn't known by most employees, who are asked not to share the details to help shroud the mystique surrounding it. It is stocked with beverages, food, snacks, leather couches, gourmet coffee stations, flat-screen televisions, and other luxury amenities. “It's meant to have that Delta Sky Club or Comerica Park suite-type of feel to it,” added Lawson.

The Dailey Company's method to create elevated space worked. “We put big mass foundations in, sawcut, added some utilities, brought in steel with hi-los and rigged it all up,” said Danko. “We took out the front window curtain wall space and we actually pulled in a pump truck all the way in to get the hoses up to the various levels.”

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above and below. It's a place where we gain more desks, and it helps break up the space, too.” The second floor feels like a sports arena with its four jumbotron-style televisions that can be seen from any angle.

“From a construction standpoint, the shipping containers took a little creative challenge in the coordination all of the trades,” added Zub. “The fire suppression and electrical were made to look like it fits in the space and still designed to function to code.”

UWM – Is It Pontiac's New GM? Some might say UWM is Pontiac's new General Motors. Maybe the fact that they're in an old GM building is truly meant to be part of their legacy.

According to a 1966 Pontiac Press newspaper article focusing on a study of Pontiac by the University of Detroit called “Project: Pontiac,” an interesting perspective and, perhaps some foreshadowing, is presented. Where the article states “General Motors,” insert “United Wholesale Mortgage.”

“Pontiac needs to diversify its current automotive economy in order to have both a stable economy and an increase in tax base...the study results cited the importance of General Motors in the Pontiac story. General Motors, the study said, now gives the city its jobs, prestige and 65-percent of its tax revenue.”

United Wholesale Mortgage doesn't produce automobiles, but they're certainly helping to drive Pontiac's economy.

The Dailey Company is first to get an up-close glimpse of the company's “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

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growth surge, both in people and space – even in the middle of a global crisis. “We just hired 5,000 new employees last year alone – during the pandemic – and at a time when people were not even working in the office,” said Zub. The Dailey Company's weekly construction meetings, once held on site, allowed everyone to give their input.

However, all of that came to a halt during the pandemic. “Everything went to Zoom or video conference calls,” said Danko.

“Yet, we continued to meet through the lockdown with all of our contractors to keep on schedule and on budget.”

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Competition Isn't All that UWM Is Bulldozing A gutting of the former space that once produced automobiles and then later housed a handful of office suites and separate tenants as well as separate heating and cooling units took place. The wide-ranging demolition work was necessary. Walls don't fall without effort.

“There was a lot of demolition work on the walls and ceilings,” said Danko. “Existing ceilings, closed-in spaces, lots of cubiclelike furniture went right out the door.”

“We took out all the walls, since we populated the space,” said Lawson. “Walls are not our style — we make sure there are no silos between teams. By removing the walls, literally end to end, inside the interior of our buildings, all of our team members and amenities are exposed.”

Being “exposed and visible” at UWM is part of the company's overall culture. The space is impeccably open and collaboratively functional. Working without walls means more openness, receptivity, observance, and responsiveness.

The leadership structure at UWM operates under unconventional managerial styles. “We have 850 leaders,” said Lawson, “Only 20 have offices. So, all of

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our leaders are on the floor. When you have that kind of culture, it almost always feels like a burden to have an office because you want to be around the people. At UWM, we all prefer being with everyone.”

“At UWM, we don't have offices,” added Zub. “We have a floating leader desk that's out in the open, which makes accessibility to our team members that much easier.”

A Culture of Appreciation The award-winning work culture that UWM has cultivated is intentional – just as is their renovating, expanding, and building. The corporate culture and experience at UWM is out of the ordinary. “We try to focus on an eight-hour day and then have members go home,” said Lawson. The company works to alleviate stress by offering on-site amenities. “You can get your breakfast here, get your coffee, get your drycleaning, work out here – then you don't have to do all of that before or after work, or on your lunch hour,” said Lawson. UWM employees know they're appreciated – and the leadership shows appreciation to its members for being the reason behind the company's success.

“The culture is great,” said Zub. “When you're walking through, everyone is smiling,

Training for the Future This modern style of a factory-not-afactory is making itself more and more identifiable to sports fans, mortgage seekers, and it is especially apparent to the company's employees. Approximately 2,500 team members are housed in UWM’s new South Building, and the people and space keep growing. Inside the South Building, there are aspects of training that accommodate up to 450 learners at a time. Often the learners are not UWM employees, but rather clients from all around the country who arrive to gain expertise from the mortgage experts.

The training space is divided into areas that can be rearranged by soundproof, remote, movable partitions that silently descend from a pocket in the ceiling.

“This partition is unique because it is known as a sky-fold,” said Danko. “It goes up and down rather than like a typical accordion-style partition, which operates across the room's space. The acoustic properties actually change as the walls go down,” he said.

Lawson likes how the room's divisional aspects are unknown to the guests until needed, and there is plenty of The space inside the UWM training center is unlike any other typical office space. There are three open levels without walkway space for the any walls – there are stairs and ramps to get from one surface to another. facilitator.

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typically a company's small data room that contains raised flooring, so installing access flooring in the giant UWM space was new for him.

“The 5,000 people we just hired are constantly being moved around,” said Lawson.

“It's just kind of what we do, and it's the nature of what we do as a business.” She said the desks and pedestals on rolling wheels make relocating or expanding departments a breeze to complete.

“This is so nice now,” said Lawson about the raised flooring. “The solutions The Dailey Company provides allow us to move teams easily.

It was so costly to move teams before.”

A $5,000 find on an online marketplace gave UWM a 1950s delivery truck, which was actually manufactured and built Zub agrees.

“The over 70 years ago in the same building. It is now in the spotlight and serves as a free fruit truck for employees. flexibility it provides us is remarkable,” he said. “We can heads up. You get greeted at every door. were able to bring restaurants to us to give change over and re-orientate furniture You get greeted as you're walking through, a little lift to those establishments while overnight. We don't have to sawcut or people say ‘hi’ even if they don't know you. offering the convenience of feeding our change the power layout. It can just be There's no specific cultural training, it's just people. People can grab their coffee from done by moving a floor tile. The sales what we preach and the positivity is what Great Lakes Coffee or get smoothies, changeover of 1,000 workstations, which we breed here – which is fantastic.” paninis or wraps from other local includes room for expansion, was done in Lawson is enthused about the new restaurants right here on site,” she said. one week, which is amazing.” spaces, and explains that there are The raised flooring and its ability to be numerous “destinations-to-go” designed to Preserving Industrial Charm switched out is put to the test at UWM. fuel the nourishment needs of team “Since this building was an old GM factory, “Our entire sales team of 900 people from members. UWM also has pop-up we worked hard to retain the industrial the North Building moved into this amenities. “It might just look like a bagel charm of it,” said Lawson. One way that building,” said Lawson. stand, but about 350 bagels are sold here sentiment of charm is felt is through a focal The impermanent configurations of every day,” she said. The company also “art piece wall” of conduit, wires, cables, departments are not as burdensome for the offers free soda and coffee all day long. levers and knobs. “Basically, we thought UWM Space and Occupancy Planners.

A $5,000 find on an online marketplace conduit is beautiful and decided to expose “They do all of our CAD work and floor gave UWM a 1950s delivery truck, which it on one wall. It's a fun, interactive wall that layout according to the seating we need. was re-purposed into a fruit stand. “What's employees can walk up to, push buttons, Based on that, we get with our in-house unique about this old truck is it was pull levers, all which turn on the lights and trades to get it all moved,” explained Zub. manufactured and built 71 years ago in this fans. At UWM, we have a ‘let's keep it and building when it was a GM factory,” said work with it’ attitude whenever possible.”

From Field to Training Forum Lawson. It is now in the spotlight and At the North Building’s 100,000-squareserves as a free fruit truck for employees.

Raising the Floor Saves UWM Time foot soccer complex renovation, the entire “We didn't need the truck to run, we just In construction, raised flooring or access project was a seven-days-per-week needed to make it our own,” said Lawson. flooring is elevated and built above the operation for three months straight, with Apples, bananas or oranges are stocked original concrete slab. It allows mechanical, 100-plus tradesmen on site. daily on the UWM fruit truck and offered to electrical wiring, and cabling to be easily One of the soccer fields was transformed employees. Lawson said they partnered moved. Raised access flooring was into a UWM training super structure, and with a local body shop to restore it to its selected for UWM’s South Building “is more or less a building inside of a original color and glory. because of its serviceability and timebuilding,” said Chuck Walsh, Project There are also pop-up restaurants. saving features when it comes to shifting Superintendent at The Dailey Company.

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rooms ranging in various sizes to accommodate up to 120 guests. Giant windows were added along the perimeter wall, and there is a reception area complete with security and computers to greet visitors.

“It's basically a big renovation,” said Walsh. “We ended up installing bathroom and kitchen space, too. That meant we put inside plumbing and had to run a sanitary line through – find a manhole, go to it, bring the water lines in, and add all the fire suppression. It had its challenges, especially with the 72-foot-high roof.”

Walsh has close to four decades of construction experience under his belt. He works closely with Danko and collaborated with him on the sports complex. “Starting out, we had to rip out the old soccer field that was there, which took the guys a week,” explained Walsh. “We ended up regrading it all out, and in sections of the building underneath every wall is a thick footing. In order to put the floor in, we had to bring a pump inside and the entire building took approximately 1,800 yards of concrete to put in the new slab.”

Because the sports fields had lighting, Walsh said not much was needed, but there was a lot of electrical work to install.

“All these rooms we were building made this job unique,” Walsh said. “We couldn't just tie into the HVAC ducts and redirect, so we actually had to have units on the outside that would cool and heat these rooms individually. We ended up adding onto the exterior, and that kind of work requires a lot of piping work to be done. It's a complicated system that took some time.”

Knowing UWM's “we want it yesterday” attitude, Walsh coped with all the demands. “During the process, did I pull my hair out at times? Well yeah! It was the kind of project where we faced issues every day. Fortunately, Paul Danko is a good guy to run stuff by, and other members of the team always give me answers whenever I need them.”

“One unique thing about this project was the bar joists and metal deck,” said Danko.

“There was a super long lead time, so we changed the design mid-drift to go with cold form metal framing because we could get that instead of doing bar joists. We went with cold form metal framing because we could get those materials faster.”

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Walsh said that all of his lead-time items could be handled by telephone calls. “That was great,” he said. “Managing the tradesmen is part of my job and making sure nobody is stepping on each other.

Everybody was productive and did a good job.”

The new training space that has taken over the old soccer arena is in high demand. UWM hosted 900 people in the auditorium for a recent training session.

The space is modern, spacious, and designed to accommodate every kind of training need.

More to Come …

Believe it or not, more renovations are still in progress on the UWM campus. “There are exterior improvements,” said Zub. “We're fixing the final wrap on the outside columns and changing the colors to all gray.”

Sheets of Visqueen are bound to be going back up at any time. Additional expansions and fun amenities are planned for the UWM team. For example, the

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company is looking forward to developing a tree house conference center that will come with a tire swing and slide. A drive-in movie area and a covered lunch pavilion are also on the “coming soon” agenda.

“We value our relationship with UWM and appreciate being a part of their team,” said The Dailey Company President Steve Dailey. “UWM puts their people first and doesn't cut corners on providing a firstclass, quality campus to help achieve their goals. Their explosive growth and success demonstrates that they are doing it right.”

The Dailey Company's effort in building a new, unforgettable training center is helping to put UWM in people's hearts as well as on hearts. The UWM logo that covered the jerseys of the Pistons basketball players during their two-hour games entertained spectators, but the UWM emblem that employees carry in their hearts is the kind that lasts a lifetime.

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Stellantis Mack and Warren Truck Assembly Plants Paint Shops: Continuing the Driving Force in Automotive Production

By Patrick Crowley and Diane Sawinski

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ost refer to Detroit as the Motor City. We call it this because of our long and storied history with automotive innovation, love for cars, and the driven attitude of all who call Detroit home. This same innovation, passion, and drive go into everything Detroit creates, and its buildings are no exception — especially when the building itself aids in the production of cars. When it was announced that Stellantis would bring forth the first new assembly plant to Detroit in 30 years, the engines started.

Formed from a 2021 merger of Groupe PSA (formerly PSA Peugeot Citroën), Europe’s largest automaker, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), Stellantis brought together 14 vehicle brands from across the globe. With the completion of a merger that had been in the works for more than a year, Stellantis became a world

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Rendering of the Mack Assembly Plant Paint Shop from the Northwest Perspective.

Credit: Ghafari Associates

leader for a new era of sustainable mobility. Now under the Stellantis umbrella are FCA’s Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep®, Ram, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Abarth, Lancia, and Maserati brands, and Groupe PSA’s Citroën, DS, Opel, Peugeot, and Vauxhall vehicles.

Simultaneously Developing Not One but Two Paint Shops In 2019, FCA announced a $4.5 billion investment in five of its existing Michigan plants and the creation of an all-new assembly plant in the city of Detroit, a program aimed at creating more than 6,500 jobs in the state overall. With the growing

demand for the Jeep brand, the company decided to transform its existing Mack Avenue Engine Complex into a vehicle assembly plant. This $1.6 billion project required an all-new paint shop.

Concurrently, the team was developing a new paint shop as part of a $1.5 billion investment at the plant in Warren. By working on both paint shops simultaneously, the team was able to streamline the decision-making process and apply lessons learned from the Mack project to the Warren site.

The design of the 800,000-square-foot paint shop for the Mack plant and a nearly 400,000-square-foot paint shop for Warren Truck was developed around the processes each paint shop would ultimately house.

Both include an adjacent office building featuring an open-concept floor plan along with a cafeteria, exterior substation room, “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

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and an exterior paint mix and storage area.

Eager to initiate production on the new vehicles, Stellantis engaged Giffin, Inc. (Giffin), an Auburn Hills-based equipment supplier and general contractor, to deliver the fastest greenfield, turn-key, highvolume automotive paint shops in the country. Given the aggressive schedule, Giffin hired the design-build team of Barton Malow and Ghafari Associates LLC (Ghafari) to support an accelerated delivery.

Barton Malow was responsible for the core and shell of the paint shop buildings, selfperforming demolition and foundation installations, setting structural steel, and performing building enclosure work and slab-on-grade concrete placement. Ghafari worked for Giffin and Barton Malow on this project, supporting the overall architectural, civil, electrical, mechanical, and structural engineering portions.

Construction was carefully sequenced, so when one part of the building was finished, mechanical electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems could be brought in while construction continued elsewhere on site.

While the size of the paint shops is impressive, and their sleek, uniform design lends to a subtle attractiveness that keeps the eyes following across the lines and edges of its exterior, what really sets these projects apart from others is the interior build-out and construction processes.

Each site consists of three production facilities: a general assembly shop, a body

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Construction of the Mack Paint Shop. Credit: Ghafari Associates

shop, and new paint shop. This article focuses on the project team’s impressive work on the paint shop portion of these facilities.

History Repeats Itself at the Redeveloped Plants The Stellantis Detroit Assembly Complex - Mack Construction of the lower eastside Detroit facility, the first new assembly plant in the city in 30 years, began in the second quarter of 2019. The new five-floor, 800,000-square-foot paint shop was

The first of six sections that form the E-coat dip tank in the paint shop at Stellantis’ new assembly plant on Detroit’s east side is moved into place for installation. Weighing about 17 tons each, the three bottoms and three tops were married together to create a 115-foot-long tank. Credit: Stellantis

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developed to complete the complex, which consisted of two existing former engine plants. The Mack Avenue Engine II plant was transformed into the body shop, where 578 robots weld the frame of the vehicle.

The general assembly plant, the former Mack Avenue Engine I plant, with a floor space of 1 million square feet, handles vehicle assembly in three stages: trim, chassis, and final. It’s here that all of the components and equipment are installed in each vehicle, which, according to Kevin Bagdon, Stellantis’ General Assembly Project Manager, includes “everything from wheels and tires to the engine,” after the vehicles go through the paint shop.

Like most of Detroit, the Mack site is steeped in automotive history, and from that, a level of respect and homage was necessary regarding the approach. If we go back as far as 100 years, we can track this site’s history to 1916. At that time, it was home to the Michigan Stamping Company, which marks the first automotive use for this location situated between St. Jean Street and Conner in the area south of I-94.

In 1920, the original factory (referred to as "Old Mack") was sold to Briggs Manufacturing Company, which made automotive bodies for Plymouth, Ford, and others.

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until 1990, when the city and Chrysler commissioned a clean-up of the site. A portion of the 1975 expansion was used to produce the Dodge Viper in the 1990s, officially dubbing it “New Mack.”

Through the years, the site has seen ups, downs, and different uses, but in 2019 the announcement came of a $1.6 billion investment intended for the development of a new assembly plant for the all-new, three-row Jeep® Grand Cherokee L, next-generation Grand Cherokee and electrified models. And with it came the need for a brand-new, stateof-the-art paint shop, requiring specialized expertise and equipment.

Larry Bechard, project manager with Ghafari, said, “When the decision was made to build a paint shop, they tried to figure out how to incorporate the use of two existing buildings and include a new paint shop on that site. What ended up happening was the renovation of the oldest building, Engine Plant I, turning into an assembly shop. Engine Plant II was renovated and turned into a body shop.

Then they were able to locate the new paint shop building essentially where the old employee parking lot was. This provided the material flow from body, to paint, to assembly.”

Bechard describes the strategic placement of each building in accordance with the proper flow of automotive production. Like the cars it produces, the layout of the facilities is like a well-oiled machine — each adjacent facility handles a different aspect of the production, acting like an assembly line in its own right.

The Warren Truck Assembly Plant This automotive plant, located on Mound Road just north of 8 Mile Road in Warren, has been making trucks since 1938.

Coming off its line in the last few decades has been the Dodge Dakota and Ram 1500. An announcement was made in February 2019 that the plant would undergo a $1.5 billion investment to produce the all-new Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, the premium extension of the Jeep brand, along with the Ram 1500 Classic, creating an estimated 1,400 new jobs. This would be the first time, after producing more than 14.5 million trucks in the plant’s history, that an SUV would roll off its line.

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The state-of-the-art, 800,000-square-foot Paint Shop at Stellantis’ Detroit Assembly Complex Mack plant puts the beautiful finish on the Jeep® Grand Cherokee L. Credit: Stellantis

The investment included building a new, nearly 400,000-square-foot paint shop, the transformation of general assembly and a body shop outfitted with more than 750 robots, 3.7 miles of conveyors, and a 19,000-square-foot quality assurance center, creating one of the most modern, state-of-the-art automotive facilities in the Detroit area. According to Stellantis, the investment will allow the plant to begin producing electrified versions of the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer as well.

Accelerating the Design-Build Process of the Paint Shops One of the main highlights of the construction of the paint shops at both the Mack and Warren sites was the use of a sequenced production method using a collaborative, integrated design-build approach. As a result, the team was able to complete the projects 33 percent faster than traditional methods, according to Ghafari. To simplify the process, all aspects of the builds worked in unity so

The body of a Jeep® Grand Cherokee L goes through the Phosphate E-coat tank in the Paint Shop at the Stellantis Detroit Assembly Complex - Mack plant to apply the first layer of corrosion protection.

Credit: Stellantis

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that when one process was finished, another was ready to start immediately after. Much like an assembly line, this process allowed for an efficient and streamlined process.

“To accelerate the schedule, the building is built as the equipment was fabricated off-site, and as we started drying in the building, they start bringing in the equipment,” said Michael Swiatkowski, Senior Vice President at Ghafari and Project Executive on the Stellantis paint shop projects. “So, basically, when half the building was built, the process equipment started going in, you start walking the building out, and process equipment starts walking in behind it.”

“The process is what drives the entire paint shop, and the building is an envelope that encompasses the equipment, so it goes hand and hand. It’s not your typical project where you build a big building and bring the equipment in afterward. The equipment is very key in its layout and requirements of the facility,” said Swiatkowski.

Developing a State-of-the-Art Production Process Stellantis’ new and innovative paint shops handle an impressive amount of production in an equally impressive timeframe. According to Mack’s Paint Shop Senior Manager Tim Thuston, in a virtual tour of the facility that is available to the public on YouTube, the automotive bodies go through what is “about a 12hour process from the beginning to the end.” The paint shop process utilizes fully automated robotic spray applications. The process includes a phosphate E-coat, sealer, primer, base coat, clear coat, and finesse and polish.

The phosphate E-coat is applied and is the first layer of corrosion protection. The sealer is then applied to all the edges and spaces where metal overlaps; this prevents leaks and rust. The sealing station is comprised of 28 robots, 22 of which apply the sealer, and the other six open the hood and liftgate. The robots here have a tricky job, but Stellantis’ state-of-the-art technology allows for flawless execution. Directly in the middle of the process and paint shop is the primer station. Here, an even primer layer is applied, which sets up the rest of the CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

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process for success. A precise primer layer allows for a better base coat, and a better base coat allows for a better clear coat. In this section, there are eight robots that apply the primer.

The final section is referred to as the Finesse Department. In the Finesse Department, the cars are tended to with sanders and deionized water, removing any imperfections while auditors observe,

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making sure everything is perfect. The Finesse Department guarantees that every vehicle that leaves the building is at its best.

Investing in the Community: Building a Brighter, Greener Future Regarding the Detroit Assembly Complex - Mack plant: “When you have this big of an investment in the city of Detroit, it’s

going to have a tremendous impact, and Stellantis was very strategic in indicating they were going to put Detroit residents to work first,” said Bechard. The commitment to hiring Detroiters first is a bold one, but one that profoundly benefits both the city and Stellantis. With 3,850 new jobs to support production, this creates substantial growth. The pride of Detroit is its residents and long history with automobiles, and when you merge the two, a magnificent fusion of passion is created.

The contributions to the Detroit area do not stop at job creation. Stellantis’ promise to give back to the local communities surrounding the facilities is part of a larger green initiative — one that the company has dubbed “Detroit’s Greenest Initiative.”

In combination with the paint shop’s design, this initiative aims at securing LEED certification for the plant.

While Stellantis may now be an international manufacturer with 14 brands under its belt, it has humble roots as one of Detroit’s “Big Three.” The green initiative includes a comprehensive $1 million investment in the eastside Detroit communities surrounding the Mack facility.

This includes efforts to plant 1,100 native trees in local parks and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Measures go even further with the installation of an ambient air-quality monitoring station to give local residents access to accurate and reliable data about local air quality.

Plans for the future also aim to further improve the environments of area neighborhoods, including providing residents with rain barrels, restoring vacant lots, and implementing wildlife habitat conservation efforts in partnership with the Wildlife Habitat Council.

These initiatives will “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

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The body of a Jeep® Grand Cherokee L is rinsed off after emerging from the Phosphate E-coat tank in the Paint Shop at the Stellantis Detroit Assembly Complex - Mack plant where the first layer of corrosion protection was applied. Credit: Stellantis

help Stellantis achieve LEED certification, an ambition they’ve had from the start, and also will send a positive message to the community and let metro Detroit know that Stellantis is here to stay.

While all aspects and processes of the plants are significant, the paint shops

stand out for their ingenuity, impressive process and results. The paint shops are responsible for achieving the remarkable appearance of the vehicles that roll off the line — it is that remarkable appearance that is symbolic of what Stellantis and the city of Detroit have to offer.

A 2021 Jeep® Grand Cherokee L rolls off the line at Stellantis’ Detroit Assembly Complex - Mack plant after final validation to be loaded onto a carrier. Credit: Stellantis

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Designed with the feel of a contemporary commercial building, the community center is the centerpiece of both the Chesterfield Township Home (shown above) and the Grand Rapids Home. The community centers in both Homes feature therapeutic facilities for behavioral, occupational, physical and group therapy, an exam room, pharmacy, chapel, barbershop and salon, cafe bistro and gift shop. Photo Credit: Jason Keen + Co Photography

Operation Care and Comfort: Michigan Veteran Homes Offers Extraordinary Skilled Nursing Care in a Home-like Setting

By Mary Kremposky McArdle • Associate Editor

“

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hank you for your service” has become a common but heartfelt expression of gratitude to our nation’s veterans. More than words of gratitude, Michigan Veteran Homes (MVH), a branch of the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and the Michigan Veterans Facility Authority (MVFA) has facilitated construction of two, new long-term skilled nursing facilities offering veterans all the comforts of home. A warm blaze in the fireplace of a communal living room, a bistro and a barbershop in the community center and a private room and bathroom en suite for each resident are paired with clinical spaces and quality healthcare services.

Domestic touches create a comforting ambiance, and large picture windows fill each private room with natural light and a view of beautifully landscaped grounds. Nothing is institutional about these well-appointed dwellings recently built in Chesterfield Township and in Grand Rapids.

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In what could be called “Operation Care and Comfort,” MVH has adopted “a strategy of creating home-like environments to take care of veterans,” said Mike Hassan, construction program manager for MVH, the state agency created to facilitate the construction and operation of these new Homes. MVH provides longterm skilled nursing homes for veterans and eligible family members through a federal-state partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

MVH selected The Christman Company and TowerPinkster, along with design partner SFCS of Roanoke, Virginia, as the design and construction version of an elite force tasked with delivering a new model for long-term skilled nursing homes for Michigan veterans. Together, MVH and the team delivered the first development of its Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

kind in southeastern Michigan.

Michigan Veteran Homes at Chesterfield Township is a community of single-story buildings resembling a small neighborhood of homes on a 30-acre site dotted with mature trees. Chesterfield’s counterpart in Grand Rapids is sited on acreage within an existing veteran-centric complex located on 90 acres of beautifully wooded and landscaped grounds near the Grand River.

The state has been serving veterans on this campus since the conclusion of the Civil War. “Both facilities adhere to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs federal design guideline for what is called a smallhouse model,” said Rob Courter, senior associate and manager of the architectural department at TowerPinkster. “Following this model, both the Chesterfield and the Grand Rapids Homes are just over 152,000 square feet, but the square footage is divided among five different buildings to soften the scale of the overall development.”

In this unique configuration, four buildings, called neighborhoods, each offer a combination of private rooms and communal spaces for 32 residents.

Anchoring the complex is the community center, housing clinical spaces and acting as a town hub with an array of services and amenities. “Our main design goal was to create a home-like environment for our veterans and provide them with the privacy that they deserve within their own rooms, but also to create a community environment to celebrate camaraderie and spend time with family and friends,” Courter said.

Using the guideline as a template, TowerPinkster and SFCS produced a successful design that has now become a prototype for future Michigan Veteran Homes. As construction manager, The Christman Company successfully delivered a total build of slightly over 305,000 square feet on schedule and on budget.

In delivering the project on budget, the team never lost sight of the mission. On both sites, according to Michael Tarwater, Christman senior project manager for the Michigan Veteran Homes at Grand Rapids, the team applied the most cost-conscious, value-engineering measures to construction means and methods rather than reduce the quality and aesthetics of

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these residential-style buildings constructed with all the comforts of hearth and home. This approach sparked innovative, shop-fabricated exterior wall assemblies built in a series of panels.

“We had a great team both in Grand Rapids and Chesterfield Township,” Hassan said. Hassan attributes the project’s success to “the team’s close coordination and attention to details, they are the best of the best.”

A Home for Those Who Served the Homeland The guideline established the program, but the talents of TowerPinkster, SFCS and Christman created a series of beautiful, welcoming and appealing spaces. In the community center, the lobby’s spine projects above the roofline, helping to create a double-height space in the interior with generous glazing and a sloped ceiling clad in simulated wood metal panels. This high-ceilinged, light-filled space is a fitting introduction to an overall development whose makers have gone above and beyond the call of professional duty to serve veterans who have served and sacrificed for the U.S. homeland.

Contemporary furnishings and finishes, including herringbone-patterned vinyl plank flooring, turn the bistro in the community center into a space “resembling a downtown restaurant,” Hassan said. From the bistro and dining room to the physical and occupational therapy room, natural light bathes the interior due to the extensive use of almost floor-to-ceiling windows.

This beautiful melding of finish materials and natural light infuses the neighborhood buildings as well. In the interior, attractive credenzas, contemporary fireplaces, the artwork on the walls and decorative accessories weave together an oasis of domestic tranquility. “Michigan Veteran Homes has gone the extra mile in partnering with the design team to make sure that the environment is something that feels very comfortable and welcoming,” said Nikki Kerchner, Christman senior project manager for the Michigan Veteran Homes at Chesterfield Township. Courter credits “SFCS for playing a big part in making the new facilities feel like home. They did a great job.”

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After completion of both Homes, a series of open houses and organized tours for veterans and families elicited pure awe or what Hassan calls “jaw dropping” responses. Hassan recalls, “Everybody simply said, ‘Wow.’” After viewing the first-completed Chesterfield Township Home, veterans felt honored and esteemed for their service to their country. In an MVH news release,

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Byron “Kip” Brand, a retired Air Force veteran and now Chesterfield Township resident, said, "The investment made by many to lead us to this day makes me feel like we are important and that our service to this country is remembered. This new home will offer me a greater level of independence I haven't had in a long time, and I look forward to being part of this community."

In terms of services, the specialized care offered within both facilities includes 24/7 nursing, high-quality culinary services devoted to member nutrition and dedicated environmental services. Life enrichment staff offer programs designed to meet the activity needs of members. An in-house pharmacy, pastoral care and specialty clinics, such as dental and vision care, are also available, as well as memory and palliative care.

A Federal-State Partnership Michigan Veteran Homes now operates three homes across the Great Lakes state: the existing Michigan Veteran Homes D. J. Jacobetti in Marquette and the recently built Michigan Veteran Homes at Chesterfield Township and Michigan Veteran Homes at Grand Rapids. A federalstate partnership launched and funded the development of these two recently constructed facilities. At Chesterfield Township, according to an MVH news release, a $46.1 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Construction Grant Program and $30.4 million from the State of Michigan funded the $76.5 million project. At Grand Rapids, the federal grant program contributed $40.9 million and the State of Michigan covered the remaining $22 million for a project with a total cost of $62.9 million.

As part of planning and development, “Michigan Veteran Homes conducted a survey and established a strategy to place new homes in areas where veterans live,” Hassan said. “We wanted to establish shorter traveling distances, enabling veterans and their family members to be able to more easily visit with each other.”

Hassan said they must continue to move forward with expanding access to Homes like this across the state.

In selecting the optimal location, Hassan said the cooperation of the host city or township is another consideration.

Chesterfield Township’s high level of cooperation and its eagerness to have veterans as neighbors assisted in its selection. “Chesterfield Township was excited that this new Home was coming to their township,” Courter said. “At public hearings, people in the adjacent neighborhood were excited to have the veterans living right next to them and pleased that the property was going to become something very special.”

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For the neighborhood buildings, residential forms and materials, such as pitched roofs with shingles, evoke a home-like ambiance in both the Grand Rapids Home shown above and in the Chesterfield Township Home. Photo Credit: Michigan Veteran Homes The Grand Rapids complex was originally established in 1885 to support Civil War veterans and included the development of a state veterans cemetery.

The cemetery, which was dedicated 135 years ago this past May, was formed in the shape of a Maltese cross and has grown to more than 5,000 gravesites today. In a recent show of support, local community organizations helped to create and fund a new memorial garden for the Michigan Veteran Homes at Grand Rapids (MVHGR).

According to an MVH news release, funds were “raised through MVHGR, the Kent Garden Club, the Michigan Garden Club, Secchia Family Foundation and the West Michigan Alliance for Veterans, along with other veteran service organizations and the community-at-large to establish the garden for the benefit of members.” In August 2021, the Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association granted a Community Landscape Beautification Award to the new memorial garden.

Privacy and Community Launching project design in 2018, TowerPinkster partnered with SFCS to turn the federal design guideline into tangible spaces. While both firms have an extensive portfolio of skilled nursing care homes, SFCS brought added experience in working within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs design guidelines.

Courter provides further details on the guideline’s small-house model: the

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guideline establishes a maximum number of 128 residents in the overall development.

Each 32-person neighborhood building is subdivided into two households of 16 residents to create a more personal, intimate and home-like environment.

Each 29,000-square-foot neighborhood building provides a blend of privacy and community. In addition to private rooms and bathrooms, the guideline calls for “a community room for each neighborhood to host gatherings or shared activities,” Courter said. “Other designated shared spaces include a kitchen, living room, den and dining room, along with outdoor spaces for each neighborhood building.”

Each shared space blends personal and communal aspects. Living rooms offer small seating clusters, and dining rooms have smaller groupings of tables for more personal and intimate interactions. This personal-scale, home-like environment serves a diversity of healthcare needs as well. “One of the four neighborhoods is dedicated to memory care and within each household is a bariatric room featuring a ceiling lift, wide doors and larger-thanaverage rooms,” said Hassan.

For outdoor space, each neighborhood building is configured in a C-shape, creating a “backyard” in the form of an outdoor central courtyard. At the Michigan Veteran Homes at Chesterfield Township, veterans can observe hawks, turkeys, deer and even a family of American bald eagles across the campus.

The community center building offers 33,000 square feet of clinical and community space. According to an MVH news release, “the community center is the centerpiece of the Homes and features therapeutic facilities for behavioral, occupational, physical and group therapy, an exam room, pharmacy, chapel, barbershop and salon, café bistro and gift shop. Members also have access to an adjacent outdoor courtyard to pursue activities or to observe the natural surroundings of the campus.”

“We utilized this small-house model to give direction to the design of these two campuses,” Courter said. “The guideline builds the program, and we then worked with the Michigan Veteran Homes to morph that program into the design that it is today.” The guideline and prototype design have created an amazing template for longterm skilled nursing homes that offer respect and dignity to every veteran.

Residential Forms and Materials For the building exterior, the design team used residential forms and materials to evoke a home-like ambiance. “The neighborhood buildings have pitched roofs with shingles and operable windows to make them look more like a house,” Courter said. “We utilized cement plank, lap siding for the exterior walls, and a water table, or base, of either brick or stone to create a building with a residential character.” In line with the development’s CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

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residential tone, the neighborhood buildings are not simple boxes, each has a roofline of assorted gables, and the exterior wall line recedes and projects to create the feel of a varied neighborhood of buildings.

With its more extensive glazing, the community center strongly resembles a commercial building. “In the community center, we still utilized many of the same materials and the same (slate-blue) color

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palette, but the shape of the building takes a different and more commercial form,” Courter said. “We wanted people to feel as if they were going downtown.”

All five buildings form a separate but interconnected network of structures.

Heated and air-conditioned, enclosed walkways allow members to comfortably visit other neighborhood buildings and the centrally located community center.

Team Collaboration In the Detroit area, the initial design challenge was laying out this five-building complex prior to final site selection.

Ultimately, the chosen site was the former grounds of Sebille Manor, a military housing complex that once supported the U.S. Army Garrison at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. For the Grand Rapids facility, Courter said the site had to be moved from the south to the north end of the existing veteran-centric complex because of the complexity of remediating the wetlands on the south parcel.

The sheer size of the combined projects added another layer of complexity to the project. At peak design, 15 to 20 designers and engineers from TowerPinkster and SFCS worked on the two MVH Homes.

“The combined sites make it the largest project I have ever done,” Courter said.

“Everybody came together as a team to make it a great project.”

Christman joined forces with the design team in 2018. The project demonstrates the power of collaboration and the strength of longstanding professional relationships.

According to Christman-supplied information, the project teams in West Michigan and Southeast Michigan worked collaboratively to streamline design and construction between both sites. The longtime partnership between Christman and TowerPinkster, a history of completing similar projects together, and a thorough understanding of how each firm operates made it possible for the teams to challenge each other to achieve the best results for Michigan Veteran Homes – and reduced negative cost impacts.

Collaboration began on day one during pre-construction and focused on developing innovative solutions, beginning with the budget management process.

After initial estimates came in higher than desired, the entire team completed a valueengineering exercise and shared ideas for value-added opportunities to provide cost savings. Ultimately, the group was able to recognize over $1 million in cost savings that again focused on construction means and methods and cast a wide net of small cost adjustments over the entire project, all to preserve the compelling aesthetics of these residential dwellings.

According to Christman-supplied information, both Christman project teams

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had a strong understanding of their different labor markets in West and Southeast Michigan. Having developed longtime relationships with key trade contractors, each team was able to bring strong bid coverage and ultimately offer the best costs to MVH. Building a Wheelchair-Friendly Site Christman launched construction in April 2019, and for the two Christman teams, lessons learned on one site were shared with the other over the course of the project. The teams connected on shopfabricated exterior wall panels, resident room mock-ups, MEP routing and coordination, technology system coordination and finish material details.

After tweaking some fire zone separation details and flashing details on the building exterior, the Chesterfield team shared the information with their Grand Rapids colleagues for the betterment of both developments.

Although building details were similar, the actual sites differed greatly in topography and existing infrastructure.

“The Grand Rapids site, having hosted a series of veteran residential care facilities for well over a hundred years, had two buildings of significant size and three or four smaller outbuildings on the site,” Tarwater said.

After MVH completed lead and asbestos abatement, Christman oversaw the demolition of these dated structures. After demolition, Christman encountered both known and unknown utility tunnels and pockets of buried debris from past demolitions. Depending on the material and the location, Christman and the trade contracting team excavated and removed some of the existing obstructions, while others could remain in place without impacting new construction.

Given the sprawling rectangular site, Christman launched construction of the first neighborhood building on the east end, and began demolition, work on new underground utilities and the construction of a retaining wall on the west end. The topography of the Grand Rapids site called for construction of a 1,100-foot-long retaining wall to create a perfectly level, wheelchair-friendly development. “The site was built up, flattened out and leveled to make sure the topography of the site would

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A fireplace, attractive furnishings, and quality finishes in the living rooms of each neighborhood building in the Chesterfield Township Home (shown above) and in the Grand Rapids Home provide an interior with all the comforts of hearth and home. Photo Credit: Jason Keen + Co Photography allow us to connect the neighborhoods without having any steps or elevation changes,” Hassan said.

The retaining wall is over 15 feet high and extends along the site’s entire west end and a small portion of the north end. “We had to haul in a great deal of sand to raise the grade,” Tarwater said, “and we had to build the retaining wall before we could construct the last two neighborhood buildings.”

Protecting the Trees of Chesterfield The vacant Chesterfield site had long ago been cleared of its original military housing and most site utilities. The location was overgrown and encircled by a six-foot-high fence; below-grade, it contained an existing water main and intact storm utilities under the remaining roads. “We conducted extensive road removal and storm utility removal and redirection to conduct stormwater off the site,” Kerchner said.

The site supported a type of “natural architecture” in the form of enormous mature trees. The design and construction team preserved these leafy wonders in all phases of the project. “TowerPinkster and Prein&Newhof did a great job of positioning the entire development and the building layout around some of the site’s significant mature trees,” Kerchner said.

As part of Christman’s tree protection efforts, “we installed fenced paddocks around each of these trees where we were not allowed to park, drive, work or store material,” Kerchner continued. “We also made sure that in cutting the roads and parking areas that we stayed out of the drip line (the outermost circumference of the tree’s canopy that drips rainwater onto the

roots) to protect these beautiful trees.”

Today, these mature trees continue to thrive, adding loveliness to the site and offering a relaxing vista for residents. “A tree in the physical and occupational therapy garden goes from green to red to orange to gold through the autumn,” said Kerchner. “The buildings frame these beautiful trees, and it was very intentional in how the designers positioned the buildings. It is one of the unique elements that add to the veterans’ enjoyment of this facility.”

According to Hassan, “We saved many trees in both the Chesterfield and the Grand Rapids locations. The mature trees have been there forever and are as beautiful as can be. We also added trees and landscaping and both blend beautifully together.”

Optimizing Production Construction means and methods were thoroughly analyzed in every project phase to optimize production and control costs.

Christman placed trench footings at the Chesterfield site as “one of the unique time- and dollar-saving strategies that the site and soil conditions allowed us to implement,” Kerchner said. “Trench footings enabled us to gain some production and save some costs.”

Soil conditions at the Grand Rapids site were not conducive to trench footings.

“Our means and methods were more traditional but similar in detail,” Tarwater added. “We had shallow foundations and spread footings.”

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snow or any type of bad weather,” Hassan said. “The panels were brought to the site and craned in place like a puzzle.”

According to Tarwater, the design and construction team coordinated the details of not only the shop-fabricated assemblies but also the intricacies of applying the façade’s cement plank lap siding to the panels in the field. “In making sure all of the details were properly coordinated, the team was flexible and open to new Both the Chesterfield Township and Grand Rapids Homes host an inviting contemporary bistro in the ideas,” Tarwater added. “The community center. The venue is part of creating a community environment that celebrates camaraderie and community centers were built with provides a wonderful space to spend time with family and friends. Photo Credit: Jason Keen + Co Photography traditional materials to include structural steel, red iron and exterior studs.” neighborhood buildings. Each shoptransported on flatbed trucks in fabricated panel includes “the metal studs approximately 16-by-28-foot sections,” Operation CopperShield through to the insulation and on towards Kerchner said. “It accelerated productivity; At the Grand Rapids site, veterans lived in the air vapor barrier,” Kerchner explained. the installation was much faster than if we the existing, brick-clad, multistory facility Pontiac Ceiling and Partition, LLC had stick-framed all of the neighborhood directly adjacent to the construction site. subcontracted shop-fabrication of the buildings.”

Michigan Veteran Homes built a glassexterior wall panel assemblies to an OhioShop fabrication eased and accelerated enclosed viewing stand on the third floor of based fabricator. the construction process. “By building offthe existing building to give veterans a After assembly, “the panels were site, we didn’t have to worry about rain or

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grand overview of the construction of their future home. “The veterans were quite interested in the construction taking place, but for safety reasons, we couldn’t let them access the site,” Hassan said. “We created this viewing area, and we received great feedback from the veterans. They thought it was awesome. Two or three veterans had even worked in construction, and they were watching very closely.”

The members may even have been watching the work of their fellow veterans.

According to an MVH news release, “the project directly supported veterans and veteran-owned business through contracts and employment. Over the course of construction, 24 veterans were employed on the Chesterfield Township project; 17 veterans were employed on the Grand Rapids project.”

Christman and Michigan Veteran Homes kept the future residents informed about the status of construction. Prior to the pandemic, Tarwater answered questions, listened to comments, and attended the monthly Member Council Meeting to provide construction updates to the veterans next door. Hassan said Michigan Veteran Homes took videos of construction on a weekly basis and aired each “episode” on a television set in the existing Home.

In 2020, Michigan’s three-month COVID19 shutdown caused temporary delays on this crucial project, but project teams used the shutdown to assemble a return-to-work plan. After the shutdown lifted, according to Christman, “full crews were back to work the very first day the project sites reopened.”

Early on, Christman developed and formulated a COVID-19 screening app called CopperShield™. The screening tool makes use of a QR code visitors and workers scan at the entrances to all Christman jobsites and offices. After answering a series of questions, the worker’s or the visitor’s mobile device screen will flash either green for entry or red for do not enter. CopperShield provides a hands-free tool to check the health status of everyone arriving at the site and assists in contract tracing by easily identifying exactly who entered the site and when. “It was a great tool, and it prevented the spread of COVID-19 among the crews, along with the social distancing and sanitization measures used on the jobsite,” Hassan said.

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Today, thanks to this project, the new building’s state-of-the-art HVAC systems provide enhanced air filtration processes.

Private rooms – the gold standard for skilled nursing homes – eliminate shared personal space and offer residents additional infection control protection.

A portion of the HVAC systems are tailored to the comfort level of each individual resident. “Each resident room is served by its own variable refrigerant flow (VRF) unit, giving residents control within a certain temperature range of their own living space,” Tarwater said. “While each unit has its own cooling and ventilation, the central plant in the community center feeds back domestic water, emergency power and other systems to the neighborhood buildings.”

Home-like Ambiance and Healthcare Codes Maintaining a residential sensibility while adhering to health codes for skilled nursing homes was an important design issue throughout the interior. “We tried to have

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finishes that are durable, cleanable and hygienic yet have a home-like feel,” Hassan said. “For that reason, the floors resemble wood, but they are actually vinyl plank and the kitchens have quartz countertops.”

Courter lists several key design solutions: “Per code, we had to use noncombustible materials but we tried to soften those materials through the selection of appealing furnishings and artwork. We used casework to disguise the presence of medical supplies and for handrails and other elements required by code, we used materials such as wood versus metal or plastic to create warm, appealing spaces.”

As another design strategy, “the nurse station was designed to resemble a home office,” Courter continued. This “home office” has open, trellis-like, wood wall dividers. Pottery and other accessories add a touch of domestic warmth to the space and “make it look like a room within a house,” Courter added.

In each neighborhood building, the design strategically placed the nurse

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to the space but to help as a visual cue for wayfinding,” Courter said.

“This is helpful for particularly residents with some memory issues; the color palette helps them to recognize if they are in the right place.”

Welcome Home The team reached substantial completion at Chesterfield Township in January 2021 and in Grand Rapids in April 2021.

Christman takes great pride in having been of service to The amenities and services offered in the Homes match the level of quality finishes as shown in the above photo those who have served us. of the salon in the Grand Rapids Home. Photo Credit: Michigan Veteran Homes "We were honored to be selected as the construction station, aka the home office, in a central the home office and have a conversation manager for this project, and we take great location to establish clear sight lines with the nurse if they need too.” pride in being a part of the team delivering throughout the interior. Healthcare staff The design is an integral part of this beautiful facility for our veterans,” said “can see into the dining room and the living healthcare delivery and patient safety in Kerchner in a MVH news release. “Despite room, and they have a view of the other ways. The interior walls of each the challenges presented during these building’s front entrance,” Courter said. “It’s neighborhood building “have a different unprecedented times, we were able to very open, so that residents can come into color palette to not only bring a warmer feel reach substantial completion on time and are excited to see the deserving veterans arrive at their new home."

Both facilities opened their doors to Universal Fire & Casualty members in July 2021. “We are excited to Insurance Company welcome members to their new home,” said Anne Zerbe, executive director of Is Your One-Stop-Shop Michigan Veteran Homes in an MVH news for License & Permit Bonds release on the opening of the Chesterfield Township Home – the first to open its doors. “Veterans and their families deserve Save Up To 25% compared to online agencies the highest level of specialized care and we are dedicated to delivering just that at this No Bond amazing new home.”

Convenience Fees In an MVH news release, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Rogers, adjutant general and Most Bonds director of the Department of Military and Issued Instantly Veterans Affairs, offered comments on the opening of the Chesterfield Township Home: “The opening of Michigan Veteran 24/7 Availability Homes at Chesterfield Township strengthens our commitment to making high-quality healthcare accessible statewide for veterans, their eligible family members and gold-star parents who have served and sacrificed so much for our country."

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A Sense of Purpose The team felt a genuine sense of satisfaction in creating a home for veterans in their time of need. “I always enjoy

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working on projects with what I call a higher purpose,” Tarwater said. “It was very rewarding when we were close to the end of the project and we were able to witness veterans touring the new Homes. They came into the building and saw a brandnew finished product. Some people got excited, others became emotional and there were many appreciative ‘Oohs’ and ‘Aahs.’”

Kerchner reflects the same sentiments at the end of an 18-month project with 353,485 labor hours. “We worked many hours and with many trades,” Kerchner said. “Being able to see the project through to the finish line and to see folks living in the new neighborhoods is truly gratifying. I walked in the other week, and one member and his visiting family members were sitting in the bistro drinking coffee and playing cards. Seeing the building being used for its intent is very rewarding.”

Just as the veterans now enjoy the camaraderie of fellow veterans and family members in this home-like environment, Kerchner appreciated the collaboration and friendly team spirit of her colleagues. “We felt that we really were one big team,” she said. “It’s not Christman, TowerPinkster and Michigan Veteran Homes, it’s Mike (Hassan), Nikki, Mike (Tarwater) and Rob just getting it done, along with the many skilled tradespeople without whom it would not have been possible.” Courter adds, “Working with the State of Michigan and Michigan Veteran Homes, and once again with the Christman team was not only successful but also an enjoyable process.”

Thanks to the hard work of Michigan Veteran Homes and this team, veterans at these two new facilities now enjoy all the comforts of home. Many of these veterans once served in danger zones far from home, but they now have a beautiful and peaceful dwelling. In the past, their temporary “addresses” may have been Da Nang Air Base in Vietnam or even Heartbreak Ridge in North Korea, but today Michigan veterans in need of long-term skilled nursing care now have a new address: 2950 Monroe Avenue Northeast in Grand Rapids and 47901 Sugarbush Road in Chesterfield Township.

Each development is, as the Chesterfield entrance signage states, “a place of honor and compassion.”

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Novi’s Berkshire eSupply Delivers Modern Efficiency in Style

By Marilyn S. Jones-Wilson ith its strikingly curved façade, imported materials, and custom finishes, the Novi headquarters of industrial tool wholesaler Berkshire e Supply demonstrates that efficiency and functionality can be beautiful.

Founded in 1951 with three employees in Warren, Michigan, Production Tool Supply (PTS) built one of the largest inventories of industrial and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products in North America. PTS caught the attention of the eighth-largest company in the world, Berkshire Hathaway, who acquired what is now known as Berkshire eSupply, a leader in digitizing every aspect of the industrial tool and equipment supply chain for customers, distributors and suppliers.

The integrated Industry 4.0 technology they built for streamlining sourcing, inventory management, private label packaging, transportation and ecommerce solutions was so sought after that it resulted in the need for expansion from the company’s Warren operations to a new site in Novi. In 2017, Oliver / Hatcher Construction began to work closely with Berkshire eSupply, who leveraged the expertise of architect and design visionary Moshe Appelbaum from a sister company in TeFen, Israel.

Oliver / Hatcher Construction and the

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client evaluated more than 10 potential sites before committing to the Novi site.

Once the site was selected, Appelbaum and Oliver / Hatcher Construction worked with civil engineers Mannik & SmithGroup and architects Albert Kahn Associates to integrate the client’s vision within the unique natural environment.

“The client brought all of us together to be a collaborative team and to construct a project they envisioned – a new headquarters and fulfillment center with superior design, high visibility location, campus-like setting, and built on a gradeand contour-challenging site,” said Paul Oliver, Principal at Oliver / Hatcher Construction.

The design work in concert with Appelbaum carried through the corporate color scheme and premium aesthetics of other Berkshire Hathaway locations in Illinois, Texas, Israel and worldwide.

Location, Location …

Located along M-5 near 14 Mile Road, the 62-acre Novi site was strategic – close to active research and product development campuses, near a potential skilled workforce, and most of all, accessible.

The headquarters building was situated on the edge of the property line, making it visible and impactful from nearby roads.

“It was important for the new campus

to be in a visible location,” said Mike Sabrosky, Vice President of Business Development at Oliver / Hatcher.

Berkshire was drawn to the location’s dynamic rolling terrain, natural beauty, and native wildlife. “The significant gradelevel changes, existing wetlands, and natural environment of the site contributed to the client’s holistic approach of integrating a commercial campus into the natural environment,” Sabrosky said.

The multiple grade levels and prevalent wetlands made decisions on where to put the buildings a priority. Those decisions were also impacted by a high-voltage power corridor running through the site, ameliorated by placing the building near to the property edge.

“For Berkshire eSupply, the master plan was pivotal in choosing the site and shaping the design of the campus, which in turn influenced the design of the buildings,” said Pankaj Patel, Albert Kahn’s Director of Architecture.

Oliver / Hatcher Construction began site work in fall 2018, clearing woodlands and working closely with state environmental agencies to measure and preserve three wetland ecosystems, which were relocated on the south end of the site.

Bioswales were added to convey stormwater to an acre-sized water retention pond.

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B E R K S H I R E

Photo Credit: Justin Maconochie Photography LLC

Bright color and a glass curtain wall accent the exterior of the Berkshire eSupply Fulfillment Center on the left. Beyond, a 75-foot-long pedestrian bridge links the curving headquarters, its ends cantilevered to provide views of the wooded site.

The variety of grade changes and excavation of the soil on the site required additional engineering. Oliver / Hatcher Construction worked with the engineering team to install rammed aggregate piers to provide the necessary soil compaction.

The team made the most of the terrain by maintaining as much of the varying grades as possible. “The existing grade was adjusted, and the slope of the elevation was divided to build the basement of the headquarters,” said Dan O’Donnell, Senior Project Manager at Oliver / Hatcher Construction.

Photo Credit: Drone Brothers. An aerial view shows the curved headquarters, linked by bridge to the larger fulfillment center. Twelve acres of preserved wetlands on the lavishly wooded site provide scenic views from the many windows.

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“We put in a 560-linear-foot retaining wall to contain the 23-foot elevation changes on the south end of the fulfillment center, in order to build a roadway connecting the two buildings,” O’Donnell said. The serpentine wall runs along the edge of the buildings near the watershed, visible from the offices above.

A Place for Everything Berkshire wanted all buildings to have clean exterior sightlines, which meant avoiding mechanical, HVAC and electrical systems on the roof. “Everything was geometric, meaning that everything had to line up – even when it came to the placement of ductwork and electrical,” Patel said.

“The team designed a new solution to move the equipment into the basement of the office building,” he said. “This move wasn’t a simple one.” The units were placed in a sloped area below grade, which meant that the team had to cut out part of the site to accommodate the basement and improve air intake and

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access, all while maintaining the unity of the overall design.

The use of 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM) during pre-planning streamlined installation. “We utilized a BIM system to manage and coordinate those trades and address conflicts early on,” O’Donnell said.

“Every piece of mechanical/electrical part, pipe, and equipment had a specific designated GPS location,” he said, comparing the modeling tool to a jigsaw puzzle. “The BIM process helped us define and shape the puzzle pieces that were fabricated to fit each other.”

A variable refrigerant flow air conditioning unit was also installed inside of the building, surrounded by fans and an exterior wall. Destratification fans were used in the fulfillment center ceiling, circulating hot and cold air efficiently to maintain a comfortable temperature.

Clean design also entailed installing dual generators, needed as insurance against power loss, inside of the building instead of on the exterior as is customary.

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The dedicated generator room required fresh air and exhaust ventilation.

Underground utilities and infrastructure continued in the spring of 2019, with aggregate piers anchoring the fulfillment center. Once the structural frames were in place for both buildings, a connecting bridge was added. Parking and roadwork took place concurrently with the fulfillment center, with eventual completion in fall 2020, followed by the headquarters later the same year.

Designing on a Curve The distinctive headquarters building is aligned on an eye-catching curve, clad and floored with imported Jerusalem stone, and cantilevered on each end. “The massing of the structure is such that it steps down as it approaches the ground level,” said Alan Cobb, Albert Kahn Chairman and CEO. “Everything is precisely stacked. We had to accommodate straight lines through a curvilinear building so that everything was aligned on an arc,” he

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Photo Credit: Justin Maconochie Photography LLC The prominent glass elevator, a signature feature of other Berkshire eSupply locations, draws the eye upward in the two-story atrium of the Novi headquarters. Glazed acrylic panels were used throughout the interior of both buildings for high-impact accent color.

said, citing Oliver / Hatcher Construction and its team of subcontractors for the feat.

The challenge of constructing on an arc with differing radii is simplified through BIM and global positioning. “The western radius of the exterior wall – foundations, steel and cladding – differed from the eastern radius, and often had us triple-checking our work to confirm that each element would have an exact and proper fit,” O’Donnell said. “That’s just the building shell.”

“On the interior, every piece of imported stone flooring was fabricated on a distinct radius from east to west. It was in essence a giant 3D puzzle,” said Dan Antishin, senior project superintendent at Oliver / Hatcher Construction. Revit modeling, Lumion, and other 3D software programs were used to achieve intricate control over every element, from stairs to the curved seating and integrated light fixtures in the auditorium.

The choice of imported stone on the exterior is a material consistent with other Berkshire buildings. The Jerusalem stone was chosen for aesthetic reasons and because the owner wanted to incorporate elements from the company brand.

The project team worked with local masons to create drawings that were sent to the Israeli supplier, who custom-cut and polished each piece. The numbered stone pieces were shipped directly to the site and then, like the flooring, installed one at a time by the masons to follow the curves of the building.

Although more time-consuming than constructing with straight lines, the meticulous consideration of each differentsized stone accentuated the beauty of the material.

Simple, Refined Design The selection of finishes throughout the project reflects the overall design vision, which was driven by extensive preplanning and a profound respect for the natural site itself.

“Our building philosophy was simple, elegant, contemporary, clean, and refined, with a high level of detail throughout,” Cobb said. “A variety of materials were used on the exterior of the buildings to visually break up the structures and not overwhelm the site. Everything had to be placed in its proper place – from the landscaping to the interiors of both buildings,” he said.

Splurges on high-impact finishes like the Jerusalem stone were offset by value engineering and the use of budget-friendly materials where possible, without losing the integrity of the design.

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“Each of these selections were intentionally made with the overall vision in mind.

Simple swaps to materials allowed the team to remain faithful to the quality of design,” said Craig Wood, Senior Project Manager at Albert Kahn. Keeping an eye on how funds were allocated enabled the team to make strategic choices where it counted.

Light and Color Both the headquarters building and the fulfillment center, along with the pedestrian bridge between them, are unified by the use of glass and color, reflecting the corporate branding of Berkshire eSupply and the company’s signature dedication to its workforce.

“Berkshire was very conscientious of providing a comfortable and productive environment for their employees,” Wood said.

Photo Credit: Justin Maconochie Photography LLC Designed on a curve, the auditorium has tiered seating for 80 people. Both wood and fabric panels, along with integrated lighting, set the stage for presentations and video conferencing.

“Both the headquarters building and the fulfillment center, along with the pedestrian bridge between them, are unified by the use of glass and color, reflecting the corporate branding of Berkshire eSupply and the company’s signature dedication to its workforce.”

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As visitors and employees enter the headquarters, they are welcomed into a 40-foot-high, two-story glass atrium with three-form Lecen decorative glazed paneling and a multi-floor custom glass elevator.

The front atrium features a high-performance glass curtain wall system showcasing floor-to-ceiling windows. Plate-glass railings line the second-floor walkway throughout the headquarters building allowing natural light to continue throughout the atrium.

Housing spaces for marketing, media, human resources, accounting, and exhibition, the first floor uses plenty of natural light to illuminate both casual and work areas. On the second floor, executive offices feature 9-foot custom maple panels from floor to ceiling. Plenty of open and private office spaces, bright conference rooms, and gathering areas continue the theme with an accordion glass door, etched plate glass walls and splashes of color.

The acrylic used in the lobby and surrounding the elevators in the distribution building was another higher-end material that brought dynamic color to the space. Accentuated with wood and fabric panels, the tiered auditorium seats 80 people and is equipped with audio-visual and video-conferencing technology to adapt to any presentation.

“Inside, bright accent colors are paired with a neutral floor to convey the brand and delineate space. Bright white, grey, and black were used as backdrops to the accent colors,” said Christine Trupiano, Albert Kahn’s Director of Interior. “Wood accents add warmth, while a metallic grid and metal mesh details added to the clean and refined feel of the space.

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Photo Credit: Justin Maconochie Photography LLC A 40-foot-high glass curtain wall brings natural light into the fulfillment center. Largely automated, the warehouse includes racking systems, conveyors and six truck bays.

“For something that looks so simple, it’s really intricate and it takes a lot of effort to get everything to line up exactly as it’s supposed to,” she said. “Nothing is by chance.”

A Workplace that Delivers The much larger fulfillment center is the hub of Berkshire eSupply, receiving, storing and distributing a vast array of industrial products. Approximately 45 feet high, the largely automated warehouse includes racking systems, conveyors, six 50 x 50-foot truck bays, and outdoor kiosks for order self-pickups.

Continuing the use of glass as a unifying element, a 400 x 50-foot-wide glass curtain wall in the fulfillment center lets in an incredible amount of natural light to illuminate the space and provide employees a more naturally lit workspace.

Additional windows line the exterior walls of the building and light the truck bays.

The building also contains a secondfloor mezzanine that looks out onto operations. In the offices above, there are acoustical windows that join the office and warehouse space while blocking out distracting noise.

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The east side of the building includes secure storage rooms for chemicals and hazardous materials, including emergency closure and a separate fire suppression system that flushes into a containment tank in case of an accident.

Linking the office building to the fulfillment center, the 75-foot-long pedestrian bridge extends the clean industrial lines with exposed structural steel trusses, glazed curtain wall and steel cladding with brushed aluminum finish.

Throughout, Berkshire prioritized details to enhance employee experience, such as Dyson touch-free faucets and dryers used in the bathrooms, and toilets enclosed with floor-to-ceiling walls for privacy.

Custom, imported LED light fixtures stylishly conserve energy.

Rooms with Views Both buildings and the connecting bridge take full advantage of the picturesque location. “Wetlands cover 12 acres of the campus,” Wood said. “With so much of the office building sheathed in glass, employees can enjoy the scenic views.”

The master plan encompasses pedestrian and employee flow between

buildings, shipping and receiving areas, parking lots, and recreational spaces, such as trails woven through the wetlands. An area for bike parking encourages employees to leave their cars at home and cycle into work.

Nearby, a retention pond was created to allow the water to drain from the parking lot, one of several sustainable features integrated into the project. Landscaping surrounding the buildings utilizes native, low-maintenance plants that help reduce water usage.

In addition, Berkshire eSupply donated protected wetlands and woodlands to the City of Novi Conservancy to ensure longterm preservation of the campus ecosystem.

Success in the Age of COVID-19 All the careful planning could not have foreseen the arrival of a global pandemic in the spring of 2020. “Our team integrated COVID protocols and continued to keep safety as the number one focus on the job site,” Oliver said. “We worked on the fulfillment center during COVID to allow additional social distancing in the open space and stayed on schedule.”

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“We were managing a schedule with a reduced workforce to maintain social distancing, working within additional safety protocols, and adjusting to the uncertainty of material availability,” O’Donnell said.

“Berkshire’s architect was overseas, based in Jerusalem. Before the pandemic, his locale presented some challenges, as he was only able to visit the site once every three months. Then COVID hit and things became even more difficult,” O’Donnell said. “We regrouped and relied on cloud-based technology and videos to keep him abreast of what was going on in the project due to travel restrictions.”

The team held weekly meetings to review observations and approve any necessary changes or make decisions.

“Everything was conducted via video conferencing. We used OxBlue and OpenSpace to relay real-time-information back to the customer, including 360degree photo captures of the progress,” O’Donnell said.

Museum Quality With occupancy in December 2020, the entire team could take pride in a stunning result that makes the most of its environment, meets the needs of the owner, and does so beautifully.

“The large cantilevers, the colors, the materials, the landscaping – everything works very well,” Patel said.

“The team worked well together, collaborating throughout the length of the project, especially during COVID,” said Paul Hatcher, president at Oliver / Hatcher Construction. “The client’s confidence in the overall team resulted in all the difference in the project’s success.”

“When you actually experience the building, especially when you have been involved in the design from the beginning, it’s such a feeling of pride,” Trupiano said. “It’s an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment.”

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“When you actually experience the building, especially when you have been involved in the design from the beginning, it’s such a feeling of pride … It’s an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment.”

“My favorite part of the project was visiting the completed site with Moshe Appelbaum and experiencing his overall delight in the design and transformation of the site. From finished materials, building angles on elevated grades, and aesthetics in the natural setting, the whole team delivered the final goal,” Sabrosky said.

O’Donnell summed it up succinctly. “It’s a museum-quality product, built through a pandemic. I’m proud of what we all accomplished.”

Photo Credit: Justin Maconochie Photography LLC Etched glass used for office and conference room walls offer the right mix of privacy and light penetration. At the right, the pedestrian bridge has exposed structural steel trusses clad with mill-finished stainless steel.

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SPECIAL ISSUE

SUBCONTRACTORS LISTS • • • • • • • •

CMU Chippewa Champions Center

MSU STEM Teaching and Learning Facility

Owner: Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant Construction Manager: Granger Construction, Lansing Architects: GMB Architecture + Engineering, Grand Rapids; and Populous, locations worldwide Engineer: GMB Architecture + Engineering, Grand Rapids

Owner: Michigan State University, East Lansing Architects/Engineers: Ellenzweig, Boston, Massachusetts;

Trade Contractors and Vendors: • Asphalt Paving – Central Asphalt, Mount Pleasant • Audio/Visual – Bluewater Technologies Group, Farmington Hills • Concrete – Granger Construction, Lansing • Custom Lockers – Hollman, Irving, Texas • Custom Railings – Future Fabricating, Warren • Decorative Fencing – Bill’s Custom Fab, Mount Pleasant • Ductwork – Dee Cramer, Lansing • Electrical – C & R Electric LLC, Shepherd • Elevator – Schindler Elevator Corp., Lansing • Exterior Framing and Sheathing – Metal Arts Construction, Mount Pleasant • Field Goal Net Design and Installation – Gardiner C. Vose, Bloomfield Hills • Fire Protection & Sprinkler – Total Fire Protection, Inc., Grand Rapids • Flooring – William Reichenbach Company, Okemos • Framing and Drywall – Integrity Interiors, Lansing • General Trades – Konwinski Construction, Mount Pleasant • Glass, Glazing and Metal Panels – Lansing Glass Company, Lansing • High-Density Storage – Casper Corp., Farmington Hills • Interior Painting – Murray Painting, Freeland • Landscaping & Irrigation – Murin Company, Freeland • Mechanical – William E. Walter, Inc., Saginaw • Metal Panel Fascia – AMI (Sub to Lansing Glass) • Roofing – Mid Michigan Roofing, Saginaw • Site Electrical – Master Electric Inc., Gladwin • Site Work – McGuirk Sand & Gravel, Mount Pleasant • Specialty Pools – Hydroworx, Middletown, Pennsylvania • Structural Steel – Valley Steel Company, Saginaw • Structural and Veneer Masonry – Straus Masonry, Weidman

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• • •

Sheet Metal – Dee Cramer, Holly Signage – 290 Sign Systems, Grand Rapids Site Concrete – Fessler & Bowman, Flushing Standing Seam Roof – CEI Michigan LLC, Hamburg Steel (Annex) – Bristol Steel, Davison Steel (Shaw Lane Power Plant) – Ideal Contracting, Detroit Steel (STEM Additions) – Kirby Steel Inc., Burton Soft Flooring – William Reichenbach Company, Okemos Tile – Artisan Tile Inc., Brighton Waterproofing – RAM Construction, Livonia Window Treatments – The Sheer Shop, Shelby Twp.

Integrated Design Solutions, Troy

Contractor: Granger Construction Company, Novi Trade Contractors and Vendors: • Asbestos Removal – Asbestos Abatement, Inc., Lansing • Asphalt Paving – Michigan Paving & Material, Lansing • Audio Visual – Bluewater Technologies Group, Southfield • Building Controls – Building Control Integrators, East Lansing • Deep Foundations – Nicholson Construction Company, Kalamazoo • Drywall & Acoustical – William Reichenbach Company, Okemos • Electrical – Summit Contractors Inc., Haslett • Elevators – ThyssenKrupp Elevators, Grand Rapids • Excavation – TCI Inc. of Michigan, Eaton Rapids • Fire Protection – Total Fire Protection Inc., Grand Rapids • Food Service Equipment – Great Lakes Supply Hotel Company, Southfield • Foundations and Slabs – Commercial Contracting Corp., Auburn Hills • Fume Hoods and Overhead Grid – Waldner Inc., Chelsea, Massachusetts • General Trades – Dobie Contracting, Eagle • Glass & Glazing (Interior & Exterior) – Lansing Glass Company, Lansing • Joint Sealants – DC Byers, East Lansing • Lab Casework – Farnell Equipment Company, Troy • Low Voltage Cabling – FD Hayes, Lansing • Masonry – Schiffer Masonry, Holt • Masonry Restoration & Membrane Roofing – Bornor Restoration, Inc. Lansing • Mass Timber – Nordic Structures, Montreal, Canada • Metal Siding – Architectural Metals Inc., Portland • Miscellaneous Metal Specialties – Couturier Iron Craft, Inc., Comstock Park • Painting – Detroit Spectrum Painters Inc., Warren • Plumbing & Mechanical – Gunthorpe Plumbing & Heating Inc., East Lansing

Henry Ford Health System Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion Owner: Henry Ford Health System, Detroit Architect & Engineer: SmithGroup, Detroit Construction Manager: Turner Construction Company, Detroit Associate Construction Manager: KEO & Associates, Detroit Skywalk, Architectural: SDG Associates, LLC, Detroit Parking, Architectural: Rich & Associates, Inc., Southfield Consultants and Trade Contractors: • Acoustical Engineering – Soundscape Engineering LLC, Plymouth • Carpet & Resilient Flooring, Carpentry – TurnerBrooks, Inc., Madison Heights • Ceramic Tile – Eldorado Tile & Marble, Sterling Heights • Concrete Drilled Piers and Shafts – Rohrscheib Sons Caissons, Inc., New Hudson • Concrete (Pedestrian Skywalk) – Fort Wayne Contracting, Detroit • Concrete (Pedestrian Skywalk) – J.J. Barney, Rochester Hills • Concrete Work – Amalio Corporation, Sterling Heights • Concrete Work (Parking) – Tooles Contracting Group, LLC, Detroit • Construction Fence Work – Industrial Fence & Landscaping, Detroit • Consulting Services Work – Hoar Program Management, LLC, Birmingham, Alabama

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S U B C O N T R A C T O R S

• Curtain Wall – Contract Glaziers, Inc., Detroit • Curtain Wall (Pedestrian Skywalk) – Madison Heights Glass, Ferndale • Door, Frames & Hardware – Rayhaven Group, Inc., Livonia • Drywall – Turner-Brooks, Inc., Madison Heights • Drywall & Framing (Interiors, Core & Shell) – Brinker Team Construction, Detroit • Duct & Equipment Cleaning – Aero Filter, Inc., Madison Heights • Earth Retention System Additions – Hardman Construction, Inc., Ludington • Electrical Cut and Cap Work – Williams Electrical & Telecom, Detroit • Electrical and Fire Alarm – Ferndale Electrical Company, Ferndale • Electrical (Parking) – Center Line Electric, Inc., Center Line • Elevators – Otis Elevator Company, Cleveland, Ohio • Elevator Consultant – Lerch Bates, Inc., Englewood, Colorado • EMI & RFI Shielding – Universal Shielding Corp., Deer Park, New York • Epoxy Terrazzo – Artisan Tile, Inc., Brighton • Exterior Building Envelope Review – Architectural Testing, Inc., York, Pennsylvania • Fire Suppression – Elite Fire Safety, Southfield • Fire Suppression (Parking) – Shambaugh & Son, L.P., Fort Wayne, Indiana • Fireproofing – Saylor’s, Inc., Ottawa Lake • Fire-Rated Folding Partitions – Won-Door Corporation, Salt Lake City, Utah • Folding Panel Partitions – Gardiner C. Vose, Inc., Novi • Hardware Consultant – Jenosky Consulting, Inc., Bloomfield Hills • HVAC & Temperature Controls – Washington/Great Lakes JV, Detroit • HVAC & Electrical Equipment – SourceBlue, Montvale, New Jersey • Infrastructure Demo and Pad Ready – Blaze Contracting, Inc., Detroit • Infusion Terrace Railing – P&P Artec, Wood Dale, Illinois • Insulated Metal Panels – CEI Michigan LLC, Whitmore Lake • Interior Glass & Glazing – Universal Glass & Metals, Detroit • Irrigation Design – Graber & Associates, Chesterfield • Jobsite Office Trailer Rental – McDonald Modular Solutions, Inc., Milford • Landscaping – WH Canon Company, Romulus • Landscaping Work – D&B Landscaping, Inc., Livonia • Masonry – Leidal & Hart Mason Contractors, Livonia • Medical Support Systems – Unistructural Support Systems, Cincinnati, Ohio • Metal Wall Panels – C.L. Rieckhoff Company, Inc., Taylor • Miscellaneous Steel – Casadei Structural Steel, Inc., Sterling Heights • Monumental Stair – Couturier Iron Craft, Inc., Comstock Park • Overhead Doors & Grilles – KVM Door Systems, Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

Inc., Clinton Twp. • Painting – Detroit Spectrum Painters, Inc., Warren • Painting & Striping – G&T Commercial Coatings, Inc., Redford • Patient Experience & Research – Enviah, Grand Rapids • Plumbing – Guideline Mechanical, Clinton Twp. • Plumbing – John E. Green, Highland Park • Plumbing (Parking) – Ben Washington & Sons Plumbing, Detroit • Pneumatic Tube System – Swisslog Healthcare, Broomfield, Colorado • Precast Concrete – International Precast Solutions, River Rouge • Professional Surveying Services – Spicer Group, Saginaw • Radiation Shielding – NELCO Worldwide, Burlington, Massachusetts • Roofing & Sheet Metal – ChristenDETROIT, Detroit • Security Systems – Future Fence Company, Warren • Site Electrical – Williams Electrical & Telecom Company, Detroit • Site Fences & Gates – American Fence & Supply Company, Inc., Warren • Site Utilities – Angelo Iafrate Construction, Warren • Temporary Construction Fence Work – Industrial Fence & Landscaping, Detroit • Temporary Toilet Rental – Suburban Sewer Septic Tank, Carleton • Testing and Inspection – Testing Engineers & Consultants, Troy • Waterproofing and Sealants Work – Dixon Inc., Detroit • Woodwork & Casework – Nelson Mill Company, Southfield • Videography – Construction Video Media, Inc., Romeo

Architectural Metals, Talladega, Alabama • Electrical (core and shell) – Shaw Electric Company, Southfield • Electrical (residential) – LaBelle Electric, Mt. Clemens • Facade Restoration – D.C. Byers Company, Grand Rapids • Fire Protection (core and shell) – Absolute Fire Protection, Inc., Mt. Clemens • Fire Protection (residential) – Johnson Controls Fire Protection, Sterling Heights • HVAC (core and shell) – Limbach Company LLC, Pontiac • HVAC (residential) – Allied Ventilation, Inc., Warren • Interior Design – Bedrock, Detroit • Landscape Architecture (Pool) – Aqua Design International, LLC, Tucson, Arizona • Plumbing – Limbach Company LLC, Pontiac • Roofing – Summit Roofing, Sterling Heights • Storefront & Skylights – Modern Mirror & Glass Company, Roseville • Terrazzo Restoration – Empire Tile & Marble Company, Eastpointe

UM-Flint William R. Building Expansion

Murchie

Science

Owner: University of Michigan, Flint Architect: HED, Southfield Contractor: Commercial Contracting Corp., Auburn Hills

The Press/321 Owner/Developer: Bedrock Detroit, Detroit Architect and Historic Consultant: Kraemer Design Group, LLC, Detroit Construction Manager: Turner Construction Company, Detroit Engineers: Peter Basso Associates, Troy; Desai/Nasr (now known as IMEG), West Bloomfield Twp. MEP Engineer: Integrated Design Solutions, Troy Civil Engineer: Giffels Webster, Detroit Trade Contractors and Vendors: • Aluminum Windows – Environmental Glass, Inc, Redford Charter Twp. • Automated Parking Design – Dasher Lawless/AUTOParkit, Warren, Ohio • Decorative Storefront Restoration – Allen

Trade Contractors and Vendors: • Asphalt – Birmingham Sealcoat, Metamora • Audio Visual – Newkirk Electric, Flint • Concrete Floor Polishing – Syncon, Inc., Livonia • Concrete Foundations – Commercial Contracting Corp., Auburn Hills • Concrete Joint Sealants – RAM Construction • Concrete SOG/SOD – Commercial Contracting Corp., Auburn Hills • Doors – FBH, Flint • Drywall – Commercial Contracting Corp., Auburn Hills • Earth Retention System – Hardman Construction, Ludington • Electrical – Weinstein Electrical Company, Flint • Elevator – Otis Elevator Company, Farmington Hills • Excavation and Underground Utilities – Eagle Excavation, Flint • Exterior and Interior Framing and Drywall – Commercial Contracting Corp., Auburn Hills • Exterior Architectural Metal Wall Panel – C.L. Rieckhoff Company, Taylor • Fire Alarm – Newkirk Electrical, Flint • Fireproofing – Saylors, Ottawa Lake CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

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• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Fire Protection – Great Lakes Fire Protection, Clio Flagpoles – Rocket Enterprise, Warren Flooring – NBS, Livonia Foundation Waterproofing – RAM Construction General Contractor – Commercial Contracting Corp., Auburn Hills Glazing-Glass, Storefront Entrances, and Aluminum Framing/Curtain Walls – Glasco Corp., Warren HVAC – S&Z Sheet Metal, Flint Interior Tackable Wall Panels – Integrated Interiors, Warren Joint Fire Stopping – RAM Construction Laboratory Equipment – Detroit Technical Equipment Company, Auburn Hills Landscape – Heritage and Company, Oxford Low-Voltage Electrical and Fire Alarm Systems – Newkirk Electric, Flint Masonry – Davenport Masonry, Holt Metal Fabricator – Kirby Steel, Flint Millwork and General Trades – Commercial Contracting Corp., Auburn Hills Overhead Doors – Security Doors System, Macomb Painting – Signature Contracting Group, Redford Charter Twp. Plumbing – Platinum Mechanical, Flint Projection Screen and Toilet Partitions – Product Resource Company, Lansing Raised Floor – EZ Axez, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Rigging – Commercial Contracting Corp., Auburn Hills Roofing – Summit Roofing, Lake Orion Roofing Tie-Off System – Pro-Bel, Ontario, Canada Signage – DMP Sign Corp., Southfield Site Concrete – Fessler & Bowman, Flushing Structural Steel Erection – Commercial Contracting Corp., Auburn Hills

• Curtain Wall/Interior Glass – Universal Glass & Metals, Inc., Detroit • Electrical – LaBelle Electric Services, Inc., Macomb Twp. • Elevator – Otis Elevator Company, Farmington Hills • Environmental and Wetland Consultant – King & MacGregor Environmental, Inc., Canton • Excavation/Site Utilities – Site Development, Inc., Madison Heights • Fire Protection – Shambaugh & Son, L.P., Southfield • General Trades – Christman Constructors Inc., Livonia • Hard Tile – Artisan Tile, Inc., Brighton • Hardware Consultant – Jenosky Consulting, Inc., Bloomfield Hills • HVAC – R.W. Mead & Sons, Fraser • Irrigation Consultant – Graber & Associates, Chesterfield • Landscaping – WH Canon Company, Romulus • Metal Studs/Drywall/Ceilings – Pontiac Ceiling and Partition, LLC, Pontiac • Metal Wall Panels – Universal Wall Systems, Grand Rapids • Painting – Duross Painting Company, Warren • Plumbing – Progressive Mechanical, Clawson • Resinous Floor – D.C. Byers, East Lansing • Roofing – ChristenDETROIT, Detroit • Rooftop Solar Array – The Green Panel, Brighton • Structural & Misc. Steel – Ideal Contracting, LLC, Detroit • Structural & Site Concrete – Fessler & Bowman, Inc., Flushing • Temperature Controls – CSO, Detroit

• Uni-Strut Systems – Uni-Strut Midwest, Cincinnati, Ohio • Window Treatments – Creative Window, Ann Arbor

NMC Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center

ZEISS Michigan Quality Excellence Center Owner: ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions, Maple Grove, Minnesota Architect, Interior and FF&E Design, Civil Engineer, MEP Engineer, Structural Engineer, Landscape Architect: SmithGroup, Detroit Construction Manager: The Christman Company, Lansing Consultants and Trade Contractors: • AV, IT, and Security Consultant – Acuity, Plano, Texas (Corporate Headquarters) • Audio/Visual – AVI Systems, Inc., Wixom • Carpet/VCT/Wood Floor – Turner Brooks, Inc., Madison Heights 126 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

Owner: Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City Construction Manager: Spence Brothers, Saginaw Architect: Cornerstone Architects, Traverse City Engineer: Nealis Engineering, Traverse City Civil Engineer: Gosling Czubak Engineering Sciences, Traverse City Structural Engineer: Trison Engineering, Traverse City Trade Contractors and Vendors: • 9B Flooring – Bouma Corp., Traverse City • 9D Painting – National Coatings, Inc., Traverse City • 21A Fire Protection – AFP Specialties, Inc., Charlevoix • Aluminum & Glazing – Northern Michigan Glass, Traverse City • Concrete – Schepers Concrete Construction, Grand Rapids • Deep Foundations – Hardman Construction, Ludington • Electrical – Windemuller Electric Inc., Traverse City • Elevators – KONE Inc., Grand Rapids

• Food Service Equipment – Stafford-Smith, Inc., Kalamazoo • Framing, Drywall – Bouma Corporation, Traverse City • General Trades – Hallmark Construction, Traverse City • IT/Structured Cabling – Feyen Zylstra, Grand Rapids • Masonry – Bay Masonry, Traverse City • Mechanical – D & W Mechanical, Traverse City • Metal Wall Panels – Wolverine Enclosures, Inc., Allegan • Roofing – Bloxsom Roofing & Siding, Traverse City • Site Work – Molon Excavating Inc., Traverse City • Structural Steel – Steel Supply & Engineering, Grand Rapids

Beaumont-Farmington Hills Master Plan Owner: Beaumont Health / Botsford Health Care Program Manager: Plante Moran Cresa, Southfield Architect: HKS Architects, Dallas, Texas Construction Manager: Barton Malow Company, Southfield; AIMS, Detroit Engineers: AECOM, Los Angeles; Storey Engineering, Macomb; Desai Nasr, West Bloomfield Twp. Consultants and Trade Contractors: • Civil & Mass Excavation – Barton Malow Company, Southfield • Civil & Mass Excavation – Eagle Excavation, Flint • Concrete – Barton Malow Company, Southfield • Concrete – Colasanti, Macomb • Controls – Siemans, Washington, DC • Deep Foundations – EC Korneffel, Trenton • Deep Foundations – Hardman, Ludington • Demolition – Homrich, Carleton • Dryside Mechanical – Dee Cramer, Holly • Electrical – Shaw Electric Company, Southfield • Elevators – KONE, Livonia • Elevators – ThyssenKrupp, Livonia • Exterior Carpentry – Barton Malow Company, Southfield • Fireproofing – Saylor’s, Ottawa Lake • Fire Protection – Shambaugh, Southfield • Fire Protection – Wolverine, Mt. Morris • Firestopping – Kasco, Royal Oak • Flooring – City Carpet, Detroit • General Trades – Acoustical Ceiling & Partition, Ann Arbor • General Trades – Barton Malow Company, Southfield • Glass & Glazing – Madison Heights Glass, Ferndale • Glazing & Metal Panels – Peterson Glass, Ferndale • Interior Glass – Edwards Glass, Livonia • Masonry – Baker, Whitmore Lake • Masonry – Navetta, Novi • Metal Panels – C.L. Rieckhoff, Taylor • Painting – Future Maintenance, Livonia “The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

S U B C O N T R A C T O R S S

• • • • • • • • •

Piles – E.C. Korneffel, Trenton Precast – International Precast Solutions, River Rouge Roofing – ChristenDETROIT, Detroit Roofing – LaDuke Roofing, Oak Park Roofing – Schreiber, Wixom Steel – Barton Malow Company, Southfield Tile – Michielutti Brothers Inc., Eastpointe Waterproofing – RAM Construction, Livonia Wetside Mechanical & Plumbing – Limbach, Pontiac

Whitby, Ontario • Skyfold Zenith 55’ x 10’ – Gardiner C. Voss, Bloomfield • Sprayed Applied Acoustical Insulation – Stony Creek Services, Westland • Structural Steel – Ross Structural Steel, Detroit • Structural Steel – Sav's Welding Services, River Rouge • Turnstiles – Johnson Controls, Inc., Farmington Hills • Window Treatments – The Sheer Shop, Shelby Twp. Trade Contractors and Vendors for Ultimate Soccer Conversion

United Wholesale Mortgage Training Center Expansion

• • • • • • •

Owner: United Wholesale Mortgage, Pontiac Architect: Von Staden Architects, Royal Oak Contractor: The Dailey Company, Lake Orion Civil/Structural Engineer: Ruby + Associates, Bingham Farms MEP Engineer: MA Engineering Mechanical Electrical, Birmingham Trade Contractors and Vendors for General Motors Building Conversion • Access Flooring – Data Supplies Company, Plymouth • Carpet & Resilient Flooring – Imperial Flooring, Walled Lake • Ceramic Tile – Empire Tile & Marble, Eastpointe • Concrete – Merlo Construction, Milford • Drywall & Carpentry – Pontiac Ceiling & Partition, Pontiac • Electrical Lighting, Power, Data & AV – Advantage Electric and Controls, Shelby Twp. • Electrical Lighting, Power, Data & AV – Building Accessories Corp., West Bloomfield • Fencing – Industrial Fence, Detroit • Fire Alarm – Fire Alarm Services Team LLC, Brighton • Fire Protection – Healy Fire Protection, Lake Orion • Fire Protection – Professional Sprinkler, Inc., Benton Harbor • Glass & Glazing – Clinton Valley Products, LLC, Roseville • Irrigation – Marc Dutton Irrigation, Waterford • Kitchen Equipment – Stafford Smith, Inc., Madison Heights • Millwork – Brown Dog Manufacturing, Redford • Millwork – Gen Oak Fabricators, Orion • Painting – Accurate Painting, Warren • Painting – Acme Wire & Iron Works, Detroit • Plumbing & HVAC – Goyette Mechanical Company, Flint • Selective Demolition – Blue Star, Inc., Warren • Skyfold Zenith 42’ x 10’ – Bravura Interiors, Ltd., Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Access Flooring – Data Supplies Company, Plymouth Auditorium Curtains – North Coast Studios, Roseville Carpet Installation – PCI One Source Contracting Ceramic Tile – Empire Tile & Marble, Eastpointe Concrete – Tretorri Construction, Farmington Hills Construction Cleaning – Michigan Elite Window Cleaning, Waterford Demolition – DKI International, Inc., West Bloomfield Twp. Demolition – Synlawn Michigan LLC, Farmington Drywall & Carpentry – Patriot Team, Harrison Twp. Earthwork – Earth Ex, Swartz Creek Electrical – Bayview Electrical Company, LLC, Redford Fire Alarm Equipment & Installation – Fire Alarm Services Team, Brighton Fire Suppression – Professional Sprinkler, Inc., Wixom HVAC – Delta Temp Services, Clinton Twp. Hoshizaki Coolers – Stafford Smith, Inc., Madison Heights Millwork – Brown Dog Manufacturing, Redford Overhead Door – Michigan Overhead Door & Loading Dock, Grand Blanc Painting – Duross Painting Company, Warren Plumbing – Allor Plumbing, New Hudson Steel – Wolverine Steel Erectors Inc., Ann Arbor Turnstiles – Johnson Controls, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Stellantis Mack and Warren Truck Assembly Plants Paint Shops Owner: Stellantis Paint Equipment Supplier and Overall GC: Giffin, Inc., Auburn Hills Construction Manager: Barton Malow Company, Southfield Architects: Ghafari Associates, LLC, Dearborn Engineer: Ghafari Associates, LLC, Dearborn Trade Contractors and Vendors: The following list is not necessarily all-inclusive, and the

companies supported the projects as a whole (one or both buildings).

• Building HVAC Installation – Partlan-Labadie Sheet Metal Co., Oak Park • Carpentry – Prater Commercial Carpentry, Detroit • Caissons – Rohrscheib Sons Caissons Inc., New Hudson • Cleaning Services – 3LK Construction LLC, Detroit • Construction Joint Sealant – RAM Construction Services, Livonia • Conveyance Systems – Central Conveyor Co., Wixom • Deep-Cleaning Services – Niles Construction Services Inc., Flint • Demolition – 21st Century Salvage Inc., Ypsilanti • Design/Detailing – Comptech Corp., Rochester • Electrical, Mechanical, + Fire Protection – Conti Corp., Sterling Heights • Elevators – Thyssenkrupp Elevator Corp., Livonia • Environmental Control System – Environment Integrated Solutions Ltd., Halesowen, UK • Epoxy Flooring – Hoover Wells, Toledo, Ohio; TriState Industrial Floors, Toledo, Ohio • Equipment Glass Services – Madison Heights Glass, Ferndale • Equipment Roof Curbs – Dee Cramer Inc., Holly • Facility, Process Electrical + Mechanical – Conti Corp., Sterling Heights • Geotechnical Investigation – G2 Consulting Group, Troy • Glazing + Storefronts – Glasco Corp., Detroit • Hollow Metal Doors + Hardware – Laforce Doors, Green Bay, Wisconsin • Interior Signage – Fairmont Sign Co., Detroit • Manufactured Casework – Division 6 Fab & Installation LLC, Warren • Masonry + Waterproofing – Dixon Incorporated, Detroit • Mechanical Piping – Long Mechanical, Inc., Northville • Metal Panels Installation – CL Rieckhoff, Taylor • Metal Siding – Universal Wall Systems, Grand Rapids • Overhead Doors + Dock Leveler – Applied Handling, Dearborn • Paint Circulation Systems – Complete Automation, Lake Orion • Paint + Sealer Robots – FANUC Defense Equipment Co. Inc., Rochester Hills • Painting – Eugenio Painting Co., Grosse Pointe Woods; MMP Painting, Flint • Piping System – Hoyt Brumm + Link Inc., Ferndale • Precast Panels – International Precast, River Rouge; Precast Services, Twinsburg, Ohio • Pre-Fab Walls – Porta-King Building Systems, a Division of Jay Henges Enterprises, Earth City, Missouri

• Process + Building Fire Protection – Wm. Crook Fire Protection, Royal Oak • Process Controls – Commerce Controls Inc., Novi; Indicon Corp., Sterling Heights; Outbound Technologies, Inc., New Hudson • Process Electrical – Center Line Electric Inc., Center Line • Process Electrical Control – Electrical Insights LLC, Wixom CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

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• Process Electrical Installation – Gem Electric, Chardon, Ohio; Lake Erie Electric, Farmington • Process Piping – Goyette Mechanical Inc., Flint • Sealer Automation System – Encore Automation LLC, Auburn Hills • Special Hazard Fire Protection – Fire Defense Equipment Co., Inc., Royal Oak • Structural Steel Fabrication – Indiana Bridge Inc., Muncie, Indiana • Structural Steel Services – Commercial Contracting Corp., Auburn Hills • Refrigerant Piping – John E. Green Co., Highland Park • Roofing – Christen Detroit, Toledo, Ohio • Scaffolding – Solid Platforms, Melvindale • Siding Metal Panels – Liberty Sheet Metal, Romeo • Steel Decking – City Steel, Waterford • Steel Installation – Midwest Steel, Detroit • Steel, Miscellaneous – Concentric Steel, Detroit; Ideal Steel, Detroit • Structural Process Engineering – Gala & Associates, Inc., Beverly Hills • Structural Steel + Misc Metals – Bristol Steel, Davison • Temporary Fencing – Future Fence, Warren • Testing + Inspection – G2 Consulting Group, Troy • Tile – Artisan Tile Inc., Brighton • Toilet Accessories – Rayhaven Group, Livonia • Trench Drain – Eriscons Inc., Dallas, Georgia • Vinyl Flooring – Continental Interiors, Troy

Michigan Veteran Homes, Chesterfield Twp. and Grand Rapids Owner: Michigan Veteran Homes Architects: TowerPinkster, Kalamazoo; SFCS, Roanoke, Virginia Construction Manager: The Christman Company, Lansing Michigan Veteran Homes at Chesterfield Twp. Trade Contractors: • Asphalt Paving – Nagle Paving Co., Novi • Cold-Formed Metal Framing, Drywall, Ceilings, Exterior Carpentry, Siding & Vinyl Windows – Pontiac Ceiling and Partition, LLC, Pontiac • Earthwork & Site Utilities – Blaze Contracting, Detroit • Electrical – Center Line Electric, Inc., Center Line • Food Service Equipment – Great Lakes West, Mattawan • General Trades & Millwork – National Specialty Contractors, Ypsilanti • Glass/Glazing & Aluminum Entrances and Storefront – Edwards Glass, Livonia • Landscaping & Site Furnishings – KLM Landscape, Armada 128 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

• Masonry – Leidal & Hart Mason Contractors, Livonia • Mechanical, Plumbing and Piping – Progressive Mechanical, Ferndale • Resilient and Carpet Flooring – Turner–Brooks, Inc., Madison Heights • Roofing – ChristenDETROIT, Detroit • Site Concrete – Fessler & Bowman, Flushing • Structural Concrete – Amalio Corp., Sterling Heights • Structural Steel – B & A Structural Steel, New Baltimore • Tile – Artisan Tile, Brighton Michigan Veteran Homes at Grand Rapids Trade Contractors: • Asphalt Paving – Rieth–Riley Construction Co., Inc., Wyoming • Cold-Formed Metal Framing, Drywall & Ceilings – Bouma Corp., Grand Rapids • Concrete – Kent Companies, Grand Rapids • Demolition – Pitsch Companies, Grand Rapids • Electrical Systems, Nurse Call, Fire Alarm & Telecommunications – Parkway Electric, Holland • Exterior Carpentry, Siding & Vinyl Windows – JKB Construction, Jenison • Fire Suppression Systems – Blaze Fire Protection, Sparta • Flooring & Tile – Ritsema Associates, Grandville • Food Service Equipment – Merchandise Equipment & Supply, Grand Rapids • Glass/Glazing & Aluminum Entrances & Storefronts – Vos Glass, Grand Rapids • HVAC & Plumbing – Rite-Way Plumbing & Heating, Grand Rapids • Interior Signage – 2/90 Sign Systems, Grand Rapids • Landscaping & Irrigation – Twin Lakes Nursery, Grand Rapids • Masonry – JK Masonry, Comstock Park • Mass Excavation & Underground Sewer Systems – Dykema Excavators, Grand Rapids • Painting & Wallcoverings – H & H Painting, Kalamazoo • Shingle & Flat Roofing – Versatile Roofing, Grant • Structural Steel – Van Dellen Steel, Dutton

Berkshire eSupply Fulfillment Center

Headquarters

and

Owner: Berkshire eSupply Architect, Engineer, Landscape Architect, Interior Designer: Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. Construction Manager: Oliver / Hatcher Construction Civil Engineer: The Mannik & Smith Group, Inc.

Consultants and Trade Contractors: • Aerial Photography – Drone Brothers, West Bloomfield • Asphalt Paving/Sealer – Nagle Paving Company, Novi • Building Insulation/Fireproofing – Stony Creek Services, Inc., Westland • Commissioning Agent – Sellinger Associates, Inc., Livonia • Doors, Frames & Hardware – Rayhaven Group, Inc., Livonia • Earthwork/Building Stone – D & R Earthmoving, LLC, Howell • Electrical – McSweeney Electric, Inc., Wixom • Elevators – ThyssenKrupp Elevator Corp., Atlanta, Georgia • Environmental Waste Removal – Young’s Environmental Cleanup Inc., Flint • Epoxy Flooring – Stonhard, Cleveland, Ohio • Fencing/Gating & Fencing – Future Fabricating, Warren • Finished Carpentry – Trend Millwork, Lincoln Park • Fire Protection – Shambaugh & Son, Wayne, Indiana • Flagpoles – Graph-X Signs & Designs, Inc., Plymouth • Flooring & Tile – Empire Tile & Marble Co., Inc., Eastpointe • Foundations – Amalio Corp., Sterling Heights • General Cleanup – Servicemaster Clean, Southfield • Glass & Aluminum – Calvin & Company, Flint • HVAC Controls – Trane, Livonia • HVAC and Survey & Layout HVAC – Dee Cramer, Holly • Landscaping & Irrigation & Misc. Site Work – Reliable Landscaping, Canton • Liquid & Gas Storage Tanks – The Oscar W. Larson Co., Clarkston • Masonry – Leidal & Hart Masonry, Livonia • Metal Siding – C.L. Rieckhoff Company, Inc., Taylor • Miscellaneous Iron/Stairs – Vertex Steel, Inc., Milford • Miscellaneous Specialties/Equipment – International Building Products, Livonia • Overhead Doors – KVM Door Systems, Inc., Clinton Twp. • Painting & Wall Coverings – Midwest Pro Painting, Inc., Livonia • Piles/Piling – Peterson Contractors, Reinbeck, Iowa • Project Safety – Proficient Training & Consulting, Richmond • Plumbing – Johnson & Wood, LLC, Burton • Roofing – Royal Building Service, Inc., Orion • Rough Carpentry & Flooring-Carpeting/VCT – Turner Brooks, Inc., Madison Heights • Signage – ASI Signage Innovations, Troy • Site Concrete & Flatwork – Fessler & Bowman, Inc., Flushing • Spray-on Fireproofing – Integrity Interiors, Lansing • Structural Steel/Deck – Casadei Steel, Inc., Sterling Heights • Traffic Control – Angelo Iafrate Construction Co., Warren • Waterproofing – Industrial Services, Inc., Manchester

This compilation of contractors, architects, engineers, subcontractors and vendors has been provided by each project team. The Publisher is not responsible for omissions or errors.

“The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

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Ace Cutting Equipment & Supply...........................83

Jackson Associates, Inc. .......................................98

AIS Construction Equipment..................................15

JJ Curran Crane Co. ............................................101

Albaugh Masonry ..................................................59

JMK Engineering, Inc. ..........................................117

Allingham Corporation .........................................107

Kem-Tec .................................................................40

Aluminum Supply Company/Marshall Sales ..........13

Laramie Crane Rental ............................................91

Amalio Corporation ................................................34

Lawrence Technological University ........................17

Arc Dunn Blue ......................................................107

Lee Industrial Contracting........................................4

Artisan Tile, Inc.....................................................110

M & W Crane Rental, LLC ......................................26

B&M Tower Technologies .................................66-67

McAlpine PC ..........................................................39

Barton Malow.........................................................90

McDonald Modular Solutions.................................38

Blevins Sanborn Jezdimir Zack PLC......................78

McNally - Nimergood Co. ......................................71

Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Union Local #2 ............86

Michael J. Dul & Associates .................................25

C.A.S.S. Sheet Metal .............................................48

Michielutti Bros., Inc...............................................93

C.F.C.U. ....................................................................7

Michigan Air Products............................................51

CAM Affinity .........................................................129

Michigan CAT .......................................................IBC

CAM Comp ............................................................75

Michigan LECET.....................................................28

CAM EXPO.............................................................54

Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters .............63

CAM Labor .............................................................53

Midland Tool ..........................................................45

CAM Magazine.......................................................76

MIOSHA CET Division............................................43

CAM Membership ..................................................62

North American Dismantling Corp....................30-31

CAM Newsroom.....................................................64

Novara Tesija Catenacci McDonald & Baas.........115

Campbell & Shaw Steel ........................................18

Nuggett Leasing ..................................................130

CAMTEC ................................................................55

Oakland Insurance .................................................52

CEI Group...............................................................41

Oakland Metal Sales ..............................................65

Cipriano Coating Technology .................................77

Operating Engineers Local 324................................9

Commercial Contracting Corporation ...................60

Pearl Glass & Metals . ..........................................104

Connelly Crane Rental Corp. .................................14

Performance Line Tool Center................................36

Curtis Glass............................................................61

Peter Basso Associates, Inc.. ................................49

D & R Earthmoving...............................................120

Priority Health...........................................................3

D.A. Alexander & Company ...................................29

Progressive Mechanical .......................................114

D.J. Conley.............................................................42

R. S. Dale Co. LLC .................................................87

Detroit Dismantling.................................................12

RAM Construction Services. ..................................23

Detroit Spectrum Painters....................................112

Roncelli, Inc............................................................50

DiHydro Services....................................................79

Ruby + Associates .................................................96

Division 8 Solutions................................................73

Safety 1st, Inc. .......................................................19

DKI International.....................................................98

SANI-VAC Services ................................................37

DM Payroll Solutions..............................................61

Scaffolding, Inc. ...................................................117

Doeren Mayhew. ....................................................16

Spartan Specialties Ltd..........................................27

Edwards Glass Co..................................................92

Spence Brothers. ...................................................82

Facca Richter & Pregler, PC...................................74

Testing Engineers & Consultants............................50

Ferndale Electric...................................................IFC

Universal Fire & Casualty Insurance Co. ....... 36, 116

Fontanesi & Kann Company .................................BC

Varnum Law ...........................................................49

G2 Consulting Group ...........................................104

Ventcon ................................................................106

GD Top Notch Cleaning. ........................................72

VTC Insurance Group...............................................5

Glasco Corp. ..........................................................58

Wade’s Electrical Contracting ................................91

Glazing Contractors Association............................44

Wally Kosorski & Co., Inc. ......................................38

Gordon Advisors ....................................................84

Zervos Group .......................................................130

Homrich..................................................................93 HRPro, Inc .............................................................24 IBEW Local 252......................................................97

130 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

THIS ADVERTISER INDEX IS A FREE SERVICE. THE PUBLISHER IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ERRORS.

“The Voice of The Construction Industry®”

Visit us online at www.BuildwithCAM.com

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132 CAM MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2021

“The Voice of The Construction Industry®”