EwingCole completes first design-build project for the USMA

EwingCole recently completed a $98,000,000 relocation of the US Military Academy Preparatory School (USMAPS) from Fort Monmouth, N.J. to the grounds of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point.

The 57-acre campus development includes the following:

73,000 sf classroom and administrative buildings
87,000 sf athletic and fitness space
14,000 sf dining and exchange facilities
246-bed student quarters
3 NCAA athletic fields

Site constraints led to the configuration of the building as a continuous ribbon stretched along the edge of a large, open plane on a steep hillside. This freed virtually the entire plane for athletic fields with little disturbance to the forested hillside, a primary amenity of the site. A gently curving drive leads to the center of the academic block –the heart of the school.

Phase I was completed in the summer of 2011, in time for Reception Day on July 18 when the institution welcomed 244 new cadet candidates, the first class to occupy the new facilities. The second phase of the project, which includes the academic buildings and the lacrosse and football fields, was completed in January 2012. The Athletic Building, which is the last phase of the project, will be complete this Spring. BD+C

Two innovations—program manager Gafcon’s SharePoint360 project management platform and a new BIM “wall creator” add-on developed by ClarkDietrich Building Systems for use with the Revit BIM platform and construction consultant—show how fabricators and owner’s reps are stepping in to fill the gaps between construction and design that can typically be exposed by working with a 3D model.