DALLAS—The Texas A&M University College of Dentistry recently dedicated its new Clinic and Education Building in Dallas.

The 160,000-square-foot, nine-story building will provide underserved patients with greater access to dental care. It will also enable the college to shift its curriculum from a traditional discipline-based approach to a team-based “whole health” model.

Vaughan Construction was the construction manager on this $127 million project. Kahler Slater of Milwaukee led the programming, planning and design for the new facility, partnering with architect of record BRW Architects of Dallas.

This is the first stand-alone building built for the college since 1950. The new Clinic and Education Building features nearly 300 dental-chair stations ranging from general practice to prosthodontics and implant surgery, each equipped with the latest technology. It also includes specialized clinics, clinical support spaces, faculty areas, classrooms and study spaces. Dedicated patient parking is available on the building’s first three floors.

The new building will also allow the college to increase patient visits—currently numbering approximately 100,000 per year—by as much as 40 percent. There will also be the capacity to expand enrollment to meet the demand for dental care providers in underserved parts of the state.

“No longer will students and patients be going to different areas of the school or clinic to seek information about treatment and care,” said Dr. Lawrence E. Wolinsky, dean of the College of Dentistry.

“The patient will actually be the center of the treatment and treatment will come to them. Our students, faculty and staff will flourish in this incredible environment.

This project has also facilitated an overhaul of the college’s curriculum to a team-based approach that is patient-centered and reflects the more collaborative learning style of today’s students. This group practice model exposes students to numerous specialists and fosters students’ engagement in their work helping prepare them to work in whichever practice model they ultimately choose.

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DALLAS, Texas—A groundbreaking ceremony was held in late September on the new Noble Family Performing Arts Center at Parish Episcopal School’s Midway Campus in Dallas.

When completed in Spring 2021, the $27.7 million performing arts center will host student performances, community and milestone events, awards ceremonies and high-caliber speakers and cultural events.

 Award-winning firm BOKA Powell is the architect on this new state-of-the-art facility. Construction will be led by McCarthy Building Companies.

The 55,000-square-foot expansion of the campus will consist of a 515-seat performance hall and a 120-seat black box theater, rehearsal rooms, a film screening room and a dedicated dance studio. It will also house associated back-of house spaces including a scenic shop, dressing rooms and tailoring shop. Other features include a gallery to display student and works by visiting artists, concessions area, storage, offices, a dedicated storm shelter and a relocated loading dock.

The chamber of the performance hall is more than 50 feet tall and will be constructed by tilt-up panels for acoustics.  Also, precast panels in a unique shape with glass will align the exterior wall along the entrance of the building.

“Just imagine, two years from now on this very courtyard, will stand a new state-of-the-art venue worthy of our students’ talents,” said Dave Monaco, Allen Meyer Family Head of School for Parish, in a statement, at the groundbreaking ceremony.

“Here we will highlight their performances, celebrate community milestones, and showcase artists and speakers to broaden our students’ understanding of the global society. The potential in this new edifice will far exceed its walls, because it will cultivate limitless possibilities for young people of impact.”

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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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DALLAS — Merriman Anderson/Architects (MAA) recently announced that the historic Dallas High School has achieved LEED Gold certification.

The 102,000-square-foot, four-story building was built in 1907 and sat empty for nearly two decades before being purchased by Matthews Southwest and redeveloped into 78,000 square feet of historically converted office space, along with 10,000 square feet of restaurant, retail and outdoor patio space.

MAA is the design architect, historic architect and architect of record for the building shell and interior restoration, including the LEED certification process.

In order to receive LEED gold certification, MAA implemented many sustainable site and material strategies, as well as envelope improvements to optimize energy efficiency.

“To increase the energy performance of the building, the envelope was improved per historic preservation standards, which was the biggest challenge,” said Aimee Sanborn, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal and Team Leader at Merriman Anderson/Architects. “However, with the envelope and lighting improvements, combined energy savings improved by more than 21.9 percent.”

A few sustainable site strategies included the abatement of contaminants in the existing building, such as the installation of native vegetation with drip irrigation and priority parking for fuel-efficient vehicles as well as on-site electric charging stations.

Highly reflective thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) roofing membrane, an efficient HVAC system, and LED lighting were all established within the building to improve energy efficiency. With the installation of low flow fixtures, the potable water use within the building was reduced by more than 49.31 percent.

More than 99.64 percent of the existing core and shell were reused, and products were installed that possessed recycled content reducing the amount of construction waste. To improve the environmental health throughout the building, MAA installed low-emitting materials.

Dallas High School recently won a 2018 Preservation Dallas Achievement Award, which honors Dallas’ outstanding residential and commercial historic preservation projects and the individuals who are committed to making Dallas a better place to live by protecting its architectural heritage.

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