On April 5, Shawmut Design and Construction broke ground on a 41,900-sf expansion and 53,100-sf renovation of Boston University’s Goldman School of Dental Medicine.
The building team that includes Smith Group JJR (design architect, SE, MEP), Compass Project Management (project manager), and Haley Aldrich (geotech engineer), expects to be onsite for 32 months, during which the school—an active building with over 200 students, plus faculty, staff, and thousands of patients per year—will remain open.
This is a common challenge for rehab projects, complicated in this case by a tight urban site and a building with only a 13,000-sf floor plate—“a postage stamp,” says Shawmut’s Vice President Kevin Sullivan—the building team has to work within.
To keep the school open during work, Sullivan says his firm started by “overcommunicating” with shareholders who included the school’s dean, and its directors of facilities and operations.
The Building Team came up with a multi-phase schedule that will work on the basement, first floor, and part of the second floor first; the two additions next; and then renovate the upper floors. Sullivan explains that this schedule allows for floors and utilities to be isolated, which will sometimes require installing temporary systems to avoid operational disruptions. It will also minimize the need to move students and patients around.
A link to download a virtual reality walkthrough video of this project, posted by Shawmut, can be accessed here.
A rendering of an operatory inside Boston University's renovated and expanded dental school. Image: SmithGroupjjr
The isolations will also allow the team to minimize vibration on occupants caused by drilling into concrete to install new façade that lets in more light into the building and blends in with the facades of other buildings in the neighborhood. Because of the tight site space, the Building Team had to close two traffic lanes and move a bus stop.
The expansion will include office, instructional, clinical, and student collaborative spaces on seven existing levels, plus support spaces and a new 140-seat auditorium on the first floor.
The renovation will reconfigure the layout of the patient and student/faculty entry, as well as its clinical, classroom, and student spaces.
All told, the project will increase clinical space by more than 60%, make treatment areas more comfortable and flexible, and provide a student and resident lounge, a café, and collaborative study area on the first floor. With the addition, the school’s floor plate will increase to 18,000 sf.
The project’s completion data is slated for December 2020.
Related Stories
| May 16, 2014
BoA, USGBC to offer $25,000 grants for green affordable housing projects
The Affordable Green Neighborhoods Grant Program will offer 14 grants to developers of affordable housing in North America who are committed to building sustainable communities through the LEED for Neighborhood Development program.
| May 16, 2014
Toyo Ito leads petition to scrap Zaha Hadid's 2020 Olympic Stadium project
Ito and other Japanese architects cite excessive costs, massive size, and the project's potentially negative impact on surrounding public spaces as reasons for nixing Hadid's plan.
| May 15, 2014
Biking to work up by 60 percent, according to Census Bureau report
Many U.S. cities are seeing an increase in bicycle commuters, according to new a U.S. Census Bureau report. While bicyclists still account for just 0.6% of all commuters, some of the nation's largest cities have more than doubled their rates since 2000.
| May 14, 2014
Construction growth looking up: Gilbane Spring 2014 Economic Report
Construction spending for 2014 should finish 6.6% higher than in 2013, with nonresidential work contributing substantially.
| May 13, 2014
First look: Nadel's $1.5 billion Dalian, China, Sports Center
In addition to five major sports venues, the Dalian Sports Center includes a 30-story, 440-room, 5-star Kempinski full-service hotel and conference center and a 40,500-square-meter athletes’ training facility and office building.
| May 13, 2014
J. Vinton Schafer & Sons initiates leadership transition
J. Vinton Schafer & Sons, Inc., a Quandel Enterprises Company, announced today that Ronald E. Knowles, P.E., who has served as president of the firm for 20 years, has transitioned to chairman and CEO, and the company has appointed Warren L. Hamilton as its new president.
| May 13, 2014
Kevin MacClary named VP of Foulger-Pratt Contracting
Foulger-Pratt Contracting, Rockville, Md., has promoted Kevin MacClary to VP.
| May 13, 2014
China Construction America acquires Plaza Construction
China State Construction Engineering Corp., China’s largest construction company, has made a significant investment in a U.S. construction firm closing the deal for an undisclosed amount to acquire Plaza Construction.
| May 13, 2014
Karl Kreutziger named President of Driver SPG
C.W. Driver– a premier builder serving California since 1919 – has promoted Karl Kreutziger to president of Driver SPG, the company’s Anaheim, Calif.-based construction affiliate.
| May 13, 2014
19 industry groups team to promote resilient planning and building materials
The industry associations, with more than 700,000 members generating almost $1 trillion in GDP, have issued a joint statement on resilience, pushing design and building solutions for disaster mitigation.