Project Profile
During the late 1990’s the Butler YMCA had expanded and renovated its main building in Butler using Landau Building Co. In 2003, when the leadership approved the project they called on Landau again. “We were told that having a contractor and architect work on the project together from the start would give us the best chance for a successful project,” Garvin says. “That way the architect’s ideas could be tested by the contractor’s experience and if there were more cost-effective ways to do something we could get what we needed without spending more than we needed.” The YMCA assembled a volunteer selection committee to hire the professionals for the Cranberry facility and ultimately formally chose Landau to be the contractor and RSSC Architects (formerly Ross Schonder Sterzinger Cupcheck) to design the project. Project architect Ralph Sterzinger had been tracking the progress of the project since its early stages. One of the first sites considered for the YMCA was just off Route 19 north of Zelienople, in Jackson Township, where Sterzinger served on the planning commission. He and partner Steve Cupcheck had both served on YMCA boards and founding partner Jack Ross had been a leader with the YMCA of North Hills when Sterzinger joined the firm. Since that time RSSC had worked on YMCA projects throughout the region and had a comfort level with the organization’s goals and design standards, having just completed the Baierl YMCA in Franklin Park. “I think our experience with the YMCA’s and other non-profits showed we had the patience to work effectively with committees,” Sterzinger says. “Those kinds of groups need understanding about fundraising needs, a sensitivity to budget so they can get the best bang for the buck.”
With an original budget of roughly $11 million, that meant finding a couple million dollars. Larry Garvin explained that the growth in the program of the project wasn’t due to a design gone wild but rather some prudent long-term planning. “There didn’t appear to be any end in sight to the population growth in Cranberry Township and we wanted to make sure that what we built wouldn’t need to be expanded,” he says. “You can build gyms with walls that you plan to knock out later but when you do it never looks right. With swimming pools you have a lot of ceramic tile and features that are tough to enlarge.” Part of the headache in planning this YMCA was that there wasn’t the need for building a facility with capacity for growth because the growth was already occurring. From early surveying of the community it was clear that the building would be well-used. The problem was “everyone wanted to join but not so many wanted to donate,” remembers Sterzinger. He says the transient nature of the residents created a disincentive for investing in a facility when many of the members would be moving in a few years, and because the community was so young there wasn’t a backbone of long-term residents with roots in Cranberry Township. It became apparent that the project would be paid for by users rather than benevolent donors, and that influenced the design and scope. “When the design heated back up we talked with Larry about some new ideas for the spaces,” says Sterzinger. “We felt the aquatic center should be much bigger because the Y’s marketing study had shown this was going to be one of the big attractions for members. The gymnasium was also going to be a big draw so we needed to add a court that would make the gym about 30% bigger.”
Having Landau on board during pre-construction helped deal with the ‘bang for the buck’ issues, just as Larry Garvin had been advised. During the programming and schematic stages of most construction projects there is a certain amount of scope creep, but in the case of the Cranberry YMCA it was more of a scope leap. “One of the first big issues was that the building grew about 20 percent during the process of preliminary design without any increase in the budget,” laughs John O’Brien, vice president at Landau building Co., who was involved in the preconstruction process. “The gym grew to three courts and the aquatic center grew to three pool areas, so we had to make a lot of suggestions to bring it back to the budget.”
Photo by Denmarsh Photography
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