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BUSINESS NEWS PRIMORIS EARNS $11 MILLION INDUSTRIAL AWARD Primoris Services Corporation (Dallas, TX) has announced a new industrial award valued at $11 million for a mining customer. The contract was secured by the Infrastructure & Maintenance division of Primoris’ James Construction Group, part of the East Construction Services segment. The award is for the construction and completion of a perimeter dam at a mine site in central Florida. Con- struction on the project is scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2015, and completion is expected in the second quarter of 2016. TRIGON ASSOCIATES WINS $600 MILLION USAID CONTRACT Trigon Associates LLC (New Orleans, LA) was recently awarded a global indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for architect-engineer services with the U.S. Agency for International Development. This five-year, multiple-award contract has a maximum value of $600 million. It is administered by USAID, a U.S. foreign assistance program providing economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 80 countries worldwide. Trigon will provide A/E services including design, construction supervision, and related services to develop vitally important infrastructure in develop- ing countries. Trigon will support USAID in providing engineering design, construction supervision, and related support on both short and long-term services for infrastructure projects involving water resources, water supply, wastewater, utilities, environmental, transportation, and facilities. “Trigon is honored to have been selected by USAID for this important contract,” said Lisa Cookmeyer, Trigon’s CEO. “We look forward to supporting USAID in its goal to provide institutional and infrastructure development via this effort, building upon our successful projects with USAID over the past five years.” KCCT HOSTS LEADERSHIP STUDENTS Karn Charuhas Chapman & Twohey (Washington, DC) hosted 25 summer camp junior high students and high school counselors from the One Way Leadership Camp earlier this summer. OWL Camp provides a one-week opportunity for students to explore different occupations through hands-on creative experiences. The students spent a morning visiting the KCCT offices, where they received an intro- duction to architecture and worked in teams to develop plans and models for a community center. KCCT served as a “mock client” for the week by providing a basic “program of requirements” for the community center. Students viewed examples of other centers, learned about architectural drawings, and practiced using scales. With guidance, students developed floor plan and elevation drawings. The charrette concluded with a demonstration of modeling techniques. At the end of camp, KCCT employees served as “subject matter experts” for student presentations of the work.

T3, from page 9

Green says that buildings such as this are part of “a van- guard of sustainable construction technology that will be called upon to create taller and taller buildings going for- ward.” “With so much of our energy footprint going toward con- structing and maintaining buildings, it only makes sense to move away from resource-intensive steel,” he says. “It’s the beauty of what we’re doing here, incorporating modern technology with good, old ideas. We’re not reinventing the wheel, we’re just bringing back a very good wheel.” Green’s firm is well known for its seven-story Wood Innova- tion and Design Centre in Prince George, British Columbia. It’s currently the tallest of its kind in the world. FROM THE GROUND UP. In order to meet code requirements, Mi- chael Green Architects had to start with a concrete founda- tion. The skeleton will be steel, but the majority of it will be wood sourced from the West Coast. Here are some other features and benefits: Saving old growth timber. The core and floorplates will be made from huge panels of engineered lumber that have been nailed and glued together, with support provided by engi- neered wooden columns (pressed together to replicate the load-bearing abilities previously provided by massive beams cut from old-growth timber). Added fire safety. The panels’ density actually means that they won’t burn through completely, but instead will form a protective charcoal layer. More energy efficiency. The marriage of old and new tech- niques will provide a more energy-efficient building because of the naturally sourced materials. Wood, unlike other ma- terials such as steel and concrete that bring in the cold, will provide insulation.

Hines’ director, Bob Pfefferle, adds: “This project is located in the coveted North Loop neighborhood that embodies the live, work, play lifestyle that progressive tenants are seeking in order to recruit and retain today’s knowledge workers.” Most office buildings today are built out of concrete or steel. Wood construction is “stuff that was done 100 years ago, but really hasn’t been done since,” Pfefferle says. “Wood buildings are greener and faster to build than other types of construction,” he says. “Some of the materials are more expensive, but a shorter construction timeline helps balance out the costs.” Unlike Minneapolis Warehouse District buildings – such as Butler Square and Ford Center , which were built out of huge logs – modern timber buildings use wood engineered from several layers of younger trees. Wood construction is more sustainable than other types of construction because its primary material is a renewable resource. “A new wood building wouldn’t have the deficiencies found in vintage warehouse buildings, like inefficient heating and cooling systems, bad acoustics, inefficient layouts, and lack of natural light,” Luthman says. OLD SCHOOL MEETS NEW SCHOOL. When completed, this T3 build- ing will be the first tall timber building of its kind in the United States. When it’s completed, it will challenge assumptions that many have about wooden structures and represent a mas- sive technological leap beyond the old-school timber ware- houses that surround it, says Michael Green of Michael Green Architecture.

THE ZWEIG LETTER OCTOBER 19, 2015, ISSUE 1124

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