GSBS-Designed Project Wins Merit Award from Intermountain Contractor

Intermountain Contractor, in its "Best of 08" issue (December 2008), awarded the Barnes Aerospace project with a Merit Award. This project included construction of a 165,000 s.f. tilt-up concrete building shell at the Business Depot Ogden (BDO).

Several elements made this project unique:

• Multiple pits with varying depths
  
• Changes in fire suppression systems
  
• Structural factors for suspended cranes
  
• Increased slab-on-grade thickness
  
• Extensive industrial water demand

The project team included Big-D Construction (GC), GSBS Architects (architect), Great Basin Engineering North (civil), BNA Consulting Engineers (electrical), Colvin Engineering (mechanical) and Dunn Associates (structural).

GSBS wishes congratulations to the entire team!

GSBS Architects Hires New Director of Sustainable & Energy Services, Broadens Capabilities

Salt Lake City— Most buildings use twice as much energy as automobiles, so in their continuing efforts to create superior facilities, GSBS Architects has hired Curtis Clark, a former State Energy Manager for the Utah Department of Administrative Services and founding member of Utah’s chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council.

“Our firm is thrilled to have Curtis join our team, and we are pleased with our increased ability to add an additional value to our clients through his unique set of abilities and years of experience,” said Mike Stransky, president of GSBS. “We are especially excited that as we move forward with several new projects, we’ll be able to put Curtis’s talents to work in helping our clients reach their energy efficiency and environmental goals.”

As the principal author of Utah’s High Performance Building Rating System, Curtis has the insights to proven sustainable design, and the ability to make recommendations that will ensure each project leaves the smallest possible carbon footprint.

“I admire GSBS for taking such a big leap forward in the global effort to reduce the negative environmental impacts of buildings,” Curtis said. “It’s one thing to just hire an energy consultant to tell you you’re using too much energy—at GSBS, we’ll tell you where you’re overbudget on energy, and will help you find creative ways to make the proper changes, without destroying the aesthetics of your project.”

Curtis has additional experience in conducting energy modeling and finding ways to improve the efficiency of the building and the health of its occupants. He has a proven track record of helping clients make significant changes in the way their buildings operate, resulting in significant financial savings.

GSBS Architects is a 90-person firm offering architecture, landscape architecture, interior design and planning services through offices in Salt Lake City, Utah and Fort Worth, Texas. 2008 marks GSBS’ 30-year anniversary, during which time the firm has completed hundreds of projects of various project types including recreation, commercial, academic, government, justice, hospitality and health care. A recognized leader in sustainable design, GSBS has built an impressive portfolio of LEED-certified projects, currently more than any other architecture firm in the state of Utah.




Learn more about our Sustainability & Energy Consulting

For a Utah Museum, Polshek Takes Its Cue from the Land

GSBS Architects mentioned in Architectural Record Online - original article here.

All images courtesy of Polshek Partnership.

Polshek Partnership has designed a new, 161,000-square-foot facility for the Utah Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City. The $98 million project will enable the 45-year-old institution to better showcase its collection of fossils, rocks, minerals, and other artifacts. Presently, only 1 percent of the museum’s 1.2-million-piece collection is on display in its current location, the George Thomas Building on the University of Utah campus.

The new venue, also on the school campus, sits on a 17-acre site surrounded by 600 acres of protected desert. Nestled into a hillside overlooking the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, a popular recreational path, the building offers dramatic views of the Great Salt Lake Basin, Oquirrhs Mountains, and Kennecott copper mines, the largest copper mine in the world.

The concrete and glass building has an angled massing that follows the site topography. Clad in horizontal bands of local copper alloy, its façade mimics geological strata. “The building is conceived as an abstraction, extension and transformation of the land,” says Polshek design partner Todd H. Schliemann, FAIA.

Inside, each of the four levels has a theme: sky, life, land, and past worlds. There will be eight permanent exhibit spaces totaling about 37,500 feet, in addition to a 1,200-square-foot children’s gallery. Terraces will offer a direct connection to outdoors exhibits and the surrounding landscape. In addition, the museum will contain a 150-seat theater, a bookstore, a café, and 31,500 square feet worth of storage space.

The architects hope to achieve LEED Gold for the project. The design calls for high-performance mechanical systems, recycled building materials, and a wind turbine. The facility also will have a planted roof system that will capture stormwater for use in irrigation.

Construction began July 29 and is scheduled to be finished in early 2011. The new venue is expected to increase attendance by 65 percent, attracting 220,000 visitors annually. The local firm Gillies Stransky Brems Smith is architect of record.

Ralph Appelbaum

Governer Huntsman to Meet with President Elect's Transition Advisor This Morning

View original article here.

Energy policy » Western governors have a proposal

By Thomas Burr

The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 11/21/2008 06:24:43 AM MST

WASHINGTON » Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer will meet this morning with President-elect Barack Obama's top transition leader to deliver a bipartisan energy proposal from Western governors.

The plan, supported by 14 Western governors, includes what Huntsman labeled a "road map" for the new administration and includes a so-called cap-and-trade program, goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing renewable energies, and suggestions for weaning the country off foreign sources of oil.

Huntsman, a Republican and chairman of the Western Governors Association, is scheduled to meet in Washington with John Podesta, co-chairman of Obama's transition team, to present a four-page letter that the Utah governor said outlines principles that should be incorporated into national energy policy.

"It will serve as a useful tool," Huntsman said in an interview Thursday. "There's a lot of thinking going on about energy policy and what it will look like, how it will impact the states, how states will respond, for example, of initiatives coming out of Washington. And we hope that this is a helpful reminder that the West does feel passionate about energy."

Huntsman declined to share the plan publicly Thursday, but said one key component is a cap-and-trade program that would legislate mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions and provide for a trading system for companies polluting more
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than others. Discussions of such a system generally call for a permitting process that would give an incentive to companies to pollute less.

While such a program has hit resistance with some Republican factions, including Utah's Republican-majority Legislature, Huntsman says there will ultimately have to be a price put on carbon emissions.

"You have to value carbon if you're going to take climate issues seriously," Huntsman said. "That either supposes you're going to have a carbon tax or you're going to have a cap-and-trade program. It has to be one or the other."

An Obama White House may be receptive to some of the ideas Huntsman and his fellow governors are pushing.

Obama said in a message to the Bi-Partisan Governors Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles that governors have shown "true leadership in the fight to combat global warming" and that he supports a cap-and-trade program.

"Any change won't be easy and it won't come overnight," Obama said in the taped message. "I promise you this: any governor that wants to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House."

Huntsman, who will lead a delegation of governors to China in the spring to promote their proposals, said three things drove the WGA plan: affordability, energy independence and sustainability.

And he said that the proposal is unique in that it brings together governors of big and small states, of different political parties and with real, on-the-ground experience.

"I don't think anyone brings all these together as part of one plan," Huntsman said.

tburr@sltrib.com

GSBS to begin work on new Burleson recreation center

View the original news story here.

By ELIZABETH CAMPBELL
liz@star-telegram.com

BURLESON — Residents can look forward to a recreation center at Bartlett Park featuring indoor pools, a fitness center, soccer fields and a jogging track.

The City Council last week approved the $17.4 million price tag for the center. The city is working with Hill & Wilkinson, a firm that has built similar centers, spokeswoman Sally Ellertson said. If costs run higher than the agreed-upon price, the company would be responsible unless the city authorizes changes to the construction plan.

Parks and Recreation Director Peter Krause said construction should begin next week, and he estimated that it will be completed in March 2010.

"This has been a long time coming," Krause said.

The two-story, 65,000-square-foot recreation center, on 34 acres, will include meeting rooms, an indoor pool, a five-lane lap pool, a fitness center, gymnasiums and an elevated jogging track. The site will also include an outdoor pool and soccer fields.

The Burleson school district will share the cost of the lap pool so the Burleson High swim team can practice there. Funds will come from certificates of obligation financed by sales tax revenue, Krause said.

The council has hired the architecture firm GSBS to provide design and construction cost estimates for the Bartlett Park soccer fields. The city will use $2.94 million from a 2007 bond package to pay for the fields.

The city also plans to build a fire station in southwest Burleson on Lakewood Drive north of Texas 174. Council members approved an agreement with the construction management firm Modern Contractors to build the station, the city’s third, at a maximum price of $2.2 million. The new station should be finished by next summer.

Congrats to Alison Mitchell!

Ali Mitchell became GSBS Architects' latest LEED-accredited professional in October after sitting for and passing the LEED for Commercial Interiors Exam Track. Congrats, Ali!

Ali joins our almost 30 LEED-accredited professionals in our Utah and Texas offices.

Universe Project Developer Selected

GSBS Architects is honored to be a part of the selected team to design and develop the Universe project at the University of Utah!

November 4, 2008 -- The University of Utah has selected Inland American Communities Group, Inc. as the prime developer to construct the campus's new Universe Project. The firm will work with the university to plan and construct the proposed innovative, mixed-use, transit-oriented project.

Inland American Communities, with offices in Dallas, Tempe and Atlanta, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Inland American Real Estate Trust of Oak Brook, Illinois, and focuses on community building in university and urban infill environments nationwide. Michael G. Perez, associate vice president for facilities management at the University of Utah made the official announcement. "We are excited for the opportunity to provide the university and Salt Lake City with an energizing hub at the edge of campus while continuing our effort to promote sustainable practices by implementing this transit-oriented development."

The project site is located at a 7.9-acre parking lot west of the university's Rice-Eccles Stadium, located adjacent to the existing UTA TRAX light rail station. The Universe Project is envisioned as a vibrant campus center that will contribute positively to the surrounding community. Proposed uses include university continuing education and student recruitment offices, on-site housing, public/student parking, and retail stores.

In light of the innovative nature of the project and location on campus, the university has invited discussion and input from its neighbors and the city. Ross Robb, the managing director of the Universe Project for Inland American Communities says, "our development team looks forward to working with stakeholders both from within the university community and beyond to create a dynamic and unique place that everyone can look upon with pride."

The goals for the Universe Project include:

• Provide amenities that will attract outstanding students, exceptional faculty, neighbors, and visitors from the Salt Lake area and beyond
  
• Create an exciting and vibrant experience for patrons coming to the university, both for scheduled events and general visits
  
• Take advantage of the mass transit opportunities made available through the TRAX rail system
  
• Establish a compatible and stronger connection between the university campus and neighborhood communities
  
• Stimulate high quality development of the western edge of campus as an entry portal onto the University of Utah campus and a gateway to Salt Lake City
  
• Engage the community and weave the interests of the university into the fabric of the local community
  
• Enhance the appearance and functional use of the proposed site without detracting from or reducing the current functional aspects of the area, namely parking

Questions from the public regarding this project should be directed to: Deborah Alto, University of Utah Campus Design and Construction - CDC@fm.Utah.edu.

Original press release can be found here.