Seeing Through to the End

Over 30 years in North Dakota means we’ve seen big projects, but this gas plant called for new heights of commitment and effort. We saw it through by seeing through it: using x-rays and other methods to test safety, and bridging our client’s quality assurance process with our own. See how we did it.

The Science You Build On.

To see the science our clients built on, go to www.braunintertec.com/Tioga

A HUSBAND. A DAD. A HUNTER. A FISHERMAN. A VOLUNTEER. A MENTOR. A CIVIL ENGINEER. ACKERMAN-ESTVOLD.

Meet Steve. He’s a smart, forward-thinking civil engineer. But we know there’s more to Steve than project management and hydraulic calculations. He’s a dad you may pass on the road, taking his kids to school. He’s a hunter that assesses the land while vying for the next big buck. So when Steve designs a roadway or plans the next utility lift station, he’s not only envisioning your future, he’s building his.

Would you like to be a part of building your community? View our job listings at www.ackerman-estvold.com

WE’RE GROWING PLACES

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For commercial clients, reclaimed products can sometimes provide the double-benefit of showing environmental awareness and connecting with customers. When United Savings Credit Union worked with R.L. Engebretson to design its new Fargo location, the credit union expressed a desire for the building’s interior features to relay back to its mostly blue-collar member owners, says Kim Manuel, principal and director of interiors at R.L. Engebretson. The firm incorporated metal beams, stone reclaimed wood, including redwood ICSS had salvaged from Minnesota State University Moorhead’s quad, into the design.

Manuel says reclaimed products are definitely growing in popularity and she believes it is a trend with lasting power. “I would say everybody would like to use reclaimed products and be environmentally friendly,” she says. “I think people want to be greener.”

Cost can be a prohibiting factor in incorporating sustainable products into design, but Manuel says some sustainable materials have become more affordable in recent years and, as with any product, many price points are available. She readily admits that having a resource such as ICSS is a significant benefit to designers in the Fargo area and helps them in the search for interesting wood products. “I think [Seth] has done a great job in the community in continuing to seek out products that can be used,” she says.

Brad Ciaveralla, founder and principal at Mitchell, S.D.-based Ciavarella Design Architects, says there is definite interest in sustainable design but it can be a challenge to reclaim and condition those types of products. “The sustainable design effort is really in full swing ... the challenge is finding someone to reclaim it, the condition [and] the cost. And those types of products are just rare.”

Ciaveralla says the best use of sustainable design is giving new life to buildings that have been underutilized or are set to be demolished, a process which also often seems to include reclaiming and repurposing materials. In 2011, he and a partner purchased a former school in Mitchell, S.D., and his firm has transformed the space into 19 apartments and space for the firm’s office. Many of the building’s materials were re-used, including slate chalkboards, which became countertops and doors. Some of the slate was also used for flooring at a two-room schoolhouse in Alfred, N.D., which Ciaveralla redesigned as a lodge and part-time residence.

Although there isn’t a reclaimed specialist like ICSS in the Mitchell area, Ciaveralla has tapped other local resources to obtain salvaged materials including an antique shop in Mitchell and a lighting store in Aberdeen, but he also does a fair amount of salvaging himself. He and his wife once tore down a stone wall themselves - with the owner’s permission of course - and the firm has also reclaimed wood, including a floor from the Mitchell high school which they refinished and repurposed as the flooring for a tenant recreation space in the newly imagined building.

Ciaveralla’s firm designs many custom homes, and the affluent owners of those homes can more easily afford to include rare, reclaimed products as design elements, but Ciaveralla firmly believes that everyone is interested in those types of products and would apply them to their projects if they could. “There are companies out there but you have to know where they’re at,” he says. “We need more of them because a lot of these old structures are getting torn down and what do you do with the material? ... If someone is building a standard house and they have access to barn wood they’re going to use it where they can. I think it’s just opportunity and access to the material that limits the use.” PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business 701-306-8561 , kbevill@prairiebizmag.com