MIAMI—International development and construction firm Skanska has completed work on the Arts and Innovation Center building for St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School, located in the Coconut Grove section of Miami.

The project entailed work on educational space that will increase the school’s ability to teach more courses in the sciences, arts, math and even technology. The project was designed by recognized architecture firm Perkins + Will.

The builder fashioned gathering rooms, classrooms and various breakout rooms for the 23,000-square-foot Arts and Innovation Center.  The project also entailed adding an open-air stage for performances as well as upgrades to the school’s parking lot and landscaping.

In addition to the renovation of the existing structure, Skanska also provided construction management for the necessary demolition of two structures previously at the site that needed to come down.  Skanska worked closely with school personnel to ensure that the disruptions to classes would be kept to an absolute minimum.  In addition, safety barriers were maintained in case students were perhaps tempted to wander onto the jobsite.

“Not only was the project site situated directly in the middle of the school’s campus, but it also remained fully operational, with the project team attempting to cause as little disruption as possible for the day-to-day activities of students, faculty, and staff,” said Frank Longo, vice president and project executive for Skanska USA.

Michael C. Brown, executive vice president and general manager for Skanska Florida building operations, added that the additions and renovations to St. Stephen will allow students to learn in an updated environment as the notion of what schooling is has continued to evolve, especially in the era of covid-19.

“With a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics, or STEAM, educational programs, the school is preparing students for a bright academic future,” said Brown.  “At Skanska, we’re proud of our role in bringing this project to life that will help foster the next generation.”

Another phase to the project, currently on hold, will involve the school’s 3,700-square-foot Ministry Building, where plans are to build out administrative space, storage areas, classrooms, a kitchen and a reception area.

Though headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Skanska’s American operations, based in New York, entail a significant presence in the South Florida area.  Other current educational projects in the region for Skanska include the University of Miami’s Knight Recital Hall and its Frost Institute of Chemistry and Molecular Science in Coral Gables.

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DALLAS, Texas—McCarthy Building Companies is currently working on the Collin College Technical Campus in Dallas, Texas, a 360,000-square-foot facility that specializes in a high-demand technical workforce education.

With a completion date slated for August 2020, the new $142-million project will feature a 42,000-square-foot shared classroom and dual credit building for Allen ISD, a 151,000-square-foot academic building for classrooms, administration, common spaces and student services, in addition to a 23,700-square-foot conference building housing meeting rooms and a full conference center.

The campus will also include a 177,646-square-foot trade building for technical and trade classrooms including open lab spaces, mechanical electrical and plumbing shops, welding shops, auto shops, carpentry shops as well as campus support areas. In addition, the campus will include an underground parking garage for approximately 600 cars.

McCarthy is self-preforming concrete—30,000 cubic yards of concrete and almost all exposed and cast-in-place tilt walls. Utilizing an innovative building technique, the trade buildings required a crane to lift/put walls in place. McCarthy had to use post shores—which had never been done before—to support the slab the crane was working on to put walls in place.

“One of the most difficult challenges on the project was developing and executing a plan to walk a 250-ton crane weighing over 500,000 lbs. on top of an elevated deck to erect tilt wall panels for the exterior of the building,” said McCarthy Senior Project Manager Matt Schrodel.

“It was a team effort and took multiple iterations of engineering and planning to come up with the design to execute the operation in a safe and successful manner. Over 10,000 reshores were required to support the structural deck during the erection process.

Perkins+ Will is the architect on this impressive project.

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KENT, Ohio — The Kent State University Board of Trustees approved a $3.2 million contract with Akron’s Signet Real Estate Group to lead the design phase for the new home for the College of Business Administration, a marquee building that is proposed to anchor the first phase of the Kent Gateway Plan.

The project is part of the university’s “Gateway to a Distinctive Kent State” $1.2 billion master plan to transform the Kent campus over 10 years. The new College of Business Administration building is proposed to anchor in the transformation of the Front Campus along East Main Street, which will include a signature gateway to the university, additional green spaces and a new parking deck.

“Our College of Business Administration is currently in a building that is really limiting their ability to deliver the programming they want,” said Michael Bruder, executive director for facilities, planning, and design at Kent State.

Bruder said that the current building has instructionally-fixed, tiered-seat lecture halls that make it difficult for students to do group work. He said that the new building would include flexible rooms for project-based learning and group work, and will also have a mock trading floor for students.

Also included in the new building’s design is a sort of Main Street of centers for various aspects of study within the College of Business Administration that will be lined up in the center of the building in order to highlight students’ research work, according to Bruder.

“There is a lot of causal social space for students to interact with each other,” said Bruder. “We will also be able to engage the rest of the campus in the downtown area of our city in ways that will be transformative.”

At its Sept. 12 meeting, Kent State’s Board of Trustees approved the $3.2 million contract toward the design phase of the project that is set to begin immediately and culminate in the summer of 2019.

In addition to study and gathering spaces, and common areas that will encourage greater collaboration among students, faculty, staff and business leaders, the proposed building also includes a variety of classroom and learning laboratories, and faculty and administrative offices. The new building is said to potentially model the type of learning environment that best supports students who will become the business leaders and entrepreneurs of the future.

“We are excited for the opportunity to create a new, iconic College of Business Administration building that will create a collaborative learning environment for business students from all over the world,” said Kevin Belt, vice president of development at Signet. “Kent State’s use of a P4 [public-private partnership plus philanthropy] approach to developing the project provides a creative development solution not previously utilized for a building of this type.”

Signet was chosen from four finalists as offering a vision with the best overall value and most cost-effective approach for completing the project.

The Akron-based firm has assembled a team to assist in the delivery of the new College of Business that includes a design team of Perkins + Will and The Collaborative Inc., a construction team of Turner Construction and Ozanne Construction, and an engineer team of Scheeser Buckley Mayfield, Barber Hoffman and CESO.

“The innovative design presented by the Signet team appropriately reflects the success and pride of the college and its alumni, by creating an environment that emphasizes forward-thinking, educational best practices to prepare students for business careers of the future,” said Dr. Deborah F. Spake, dean of Kent State’s College of Business Administration.

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