flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Lake Washington STEM school combines modular and site-built construction to meet ambitious schedule

Lake Washington STEM school combines modular and site-built construction to meet ambitious schedule

New high school built in just seven months thanks to modular construction


By M SPACE | June 10, 2013
When the Lake Washington School District outside Seattle needed a new high school built on an ambitious permitting and construction schedule of seven months, modular construction proved to be an ideal solution.
 
“Conventional construction just wasn’t an option,” said Allan Long, Sr. Project Manager for M SPACE, the modular contractor for the project.
 
The LWSD ran into various permitting issues restricting site work on a new Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) school that was set to open in the fall of 2012. Since the modular process allows the bulk of construction to be done offsite in a factory, with minimal site disruption, the LWSD chose modular as the solution to its challenges.
 
The school is now serving 300 students, and by 2014, will be at near capacity with 600 9th-12th graders.
 
Integrus Architects, the designer on the project, began working the modular aspect of the project into it from the beginning, according to Yong Sun Lee, project manager with Integrus.
 
 
 
 
“In schematic design, we met with and toured various modular manufacturers’ facilities to understand the fabrication process,” Lee said. 
 
“It was in the early stages that we were sensitive to issues of modular dimensions (transportation widths and heights), structure and material types.  In design development, we maintained communication with the participating modular manufacturers and dealers with constructability/design insight,” she said. 
 
Blazer Industries in Oregon began building the “mods” in April 2012, and M SPACE started craning them into place in July 2012.  The school was constructed in two phases, with the first phase ending in August 2012. M SPACE contracted with Absher Construction as the onsite GC for the civil work, modular construction, roofing, sprinkler system and mechanical, electrical and plumbing.
 
 
 
 
M SPACE began setting the second phase in September 2012 and finished the following month, with the remaining site work completed by March 2013. With the two phases combined, the permanent 65,000 square-foot two-story school has 24 classrooms, a presentation hall, common areas, administrative offices and a nurse’s office. Additional features include photovoltaic panels in part of the roof, storefront windows, power cord reels in the science studios, two-hour rated walls, and light dimming ballasts in fixtures.
 
Four spaces in the school were site built, allowing modular and traditional construction to be combined to best suit the client’s need. The site-built commons has 22-foot ceilings, offering an open and inviting space for students. The top of the commons – the roof mods – were built in the factory, reducing the amount of time that workers had to spend at significant heights, according to Alan Duer, M SPACE Pacific Northwest Territory Manager.
 
“Mixing modular construction with conventional construction proved to be a valid alternative to the old ways of building,” Duer said. 
 
To learn more about the school, please visit the M SPACE website.
 
 
 

Related Stories

| Aug 11, 2010

BIM adoption tops 80% among the nation's largest AEC firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 survey

The nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction companies are on the BIM bandwagon in a big way, according to Building Design+Construction's premier Top 50 BIM Adopters ranking, published as part of the 2009 Giants 300 survey. Of the 320 AEC firms that participated in Giants survey, 83% report having at least one BIM seat license in house, half have more than 30 seats, and near...

| Aug 11, 2010

World's tallest all-wood residential structure opens in London

At nine stories, the Stadthaus apartment complex in East London is the world’s tallest residential structure constructed entirely in timber and one of the tallest all-wood buildings on the planet. The tower’s structural system consists of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels pieced together to form load-bearing walls and floors. Even the elevator and stair shafts are constructed of prefabricated CLT.

| Aug 11, 2010

Integrated Project Delivery builds a brave, new BIM world

Three-dimensional information, such as that provided by building information modeling, allows all members of the Building Team to visualize the many components of a project and how they work together. BIM and other 3D tools convey the idea and intent of the designer to the entire Building Team and lay the groundwork for integrated project delivery.

| Aug 11, 2010

Great Solutions: Healthcare

11. Operating Room-Integrated MRI will Help Neurosurgeons Get it Right the First Time A major limitation of traditional brain cancer surgery is the lack of scanning capability in the operating room. Neurosurgeons do their best to visually identify and remove the cancerous tissue, but only an MRI scan will confirm if the operation was a complete success or not.

| Aug 11, 2010

Great Solutions: Collaboration

9. HOK Takes Videoconferencing to A New Level with its Advanced Collaboration Rooms To help foster collaboration among its 2,212 employees while cutting travel time, expenses, and carbon emissions traveling between its 24 office locations, HOK is fitting out its major offices with prototype videoconferencing rooms that are like no other in the U.

| Aug 11, 2010

2009 Judging Panel

A Matthew H. Johnson, PE Associate Principal Simpson Gumpertz & HegerWaltham, Mass. B K. Nam Shiu, SE, PEVP Walker Restoration Consultants Elgin, Ill. C David P. Callan, PE, CEM, LEED APSVPEnvironmental Systems DesignChicago D Ken Osmun, PA, DBIA, LEED AP Group President, ConstructionWight & Company Darien, Ill.

| Aug 11, 2010

Inspiring Offices: Office Design That Drives Creativity

Office design has always been linked to productivity—how many workers can be reasonably squeezed into a given space—but why isn’t it more frequently linked to creativity? “In general, I don’t think enough people link the design of space to business outcome,” says Janice Linster, partner with the Minneapolis design firm Studio Hive.

| Aug 11, 2010

BIM school, green school: California's newest high-performance school

Nestled deep in the Napa Valley, the city of American Canyon is one of a number of new communities in Northern California that have experienced tremendous growth in the last five years. Located 42 miles northeast of San Francisco, American Canyon had a population of just over 9,000 in 2000; by 2008, that figure stood at 15,276, with 28% of the population under age 18.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021