Each year, when the calendar strikes August 25, the operations of Perrault Farms kick into high gear.
For the next 35 days, the Toppenish, Wash., facilities operate around the clock to harvest, dry, bale and chill the hops that will be sold to commercial and craft brewers worldwide.
“It’s a very perishable crop,” says Steve Perrault, president of the fourth-generation family business. “Hops are kind of like a wine grape—when they’re ready, they’re ready, and we need to be very efficient at processing them.”
Perrault commissioned new metal buildings to replace the business’ previous cramped and outdated facilities. The buildings are designed to support maximum productivity during the crop’s brief harvesting season.
A 19,530 square-foot hop kiln building is the first stop for the green hop cones after they are stripped from the vines. In this building, propane furnaces blow hot air on the cones to remove excess moisture. The entire process takes about nine hours, 25 percent faster than at the previous facility.
“We’ve cut down our drying time, which has also reduced our propane use and electricity substantially, so it’s a much more sustainable facility,” Perrault says.
After drying, the cones are transported via conveyor to the adjacent 26,000 square-foot hop baling building, where they begin to cool. Ambient air blows through vented air trenches within the concrete floor slab, reducing cone temperature while eliminating the risk of spontaneous combustion.
A four-foot cupola extending the full length of the building allows the moist, hot air to escape out of the roof.
Next, the hop cones are compressed into 200-pound bales, stacked and transported by conveyor to the building’s refrigerated cold room where the temperature is reduced to 28 degrees Fahrenheit.
A second-story office area and conference room at the center of the building overlooks the baling operations, providing a powerful sales tool. The facility also includes a laboratory used in the business’ hop-breeding program as well as an onsite pilot brewery where new varieties of hops can be tested.
The exteriors of both buildings feature metal panels, reinforced concrete tilt-up panels with exposed aggregate finish, and a standing seam metal roof.
“The panels around the buildings contribute to the architectural design and also protect the structures from damage from forklifts and tractors as they maneuver around the site,” says Steve Young, general manager of Concord Construction, the Star builder in Wapato, Wash., that oversaw construction. “The concrete also adds structural strength to the hop baling building when the hops are cooling.”
Extensive use of metal liner wall panels contributes to the structure’s interior aesthetics, and the interior space also features hot dipped galvanized structural steel on all frames, columns and rafters so they won’t be susceptible to rusting from the excess moisture in the air.
The project also includes a 7,500 square-foot equipment cover building.
Because the new facilities process significantly more hops than the previous ones, Perrault Farms has been able to increase the acreage of crops it plants by more than 30 percent.
The new buildings also accommodate the stricter food safety guidelines required by craft brewers, which typically use fresh hops in their brewing process.
“With the craft brewing industry growing so rapidly, food safety is very important to all of us,” Perrault says.
The new complex has definitely impressed other hop farmers in the Yakima Valley, the largest hops-producing region in the U.S.
“Everybody who has gone through the buildings is amazed; it’s one of the top facilities in the industry right now,” Perrault says. “This is something I had to do for the next generations coming up.”
Project construction was completed in 10 months.
“By going with metal buildings from Star Buildings, it really decreases the construction time, which also makes it more cost-effective,” Young says.
Related Stories
| Jun 12, 2013
5 building projects that put the 'team' in teamwork
The winners of the 2013 Building Team Awards show that great buildings cannot be built without the successful collaboration of the Building Team.
| Jun 12, 2013
Sacred synergy achieves goals for religious education [2013 Building Team Award winner]
A renovation/addition project at Columbia Theological Seminary unites a historic residence hall with a modern classroom facility.
| Jun 12, 2013
‘Talking’ Braille maps help the visual impaired
Talking pen technology, combined with tactile maps, allows blind people to more easily make their way around BART stations in the Bay Area.
| Jun 11, 2013
Music/dance building supports sweet harmony [2013 Building Team Award winner]
A LEED Gold project enhances a busy Chicago neighborhood, meeting ambitious criteria for acoustical design and adaptability.
| Jun 11, 2013
Vertical urban campus fills a tall order [2013 Building Team Award winner]
Roosevelt University builds a 32-story tower to satisfy students’ needs for housing, instruction, and recreation.
| Jun 11, 2013
Building a better box: High-bay lab aims for net-zero [2013 Building Team Award winner]
Building Team cooperation and expertise help Georgia Tech create a LEED Platinum building for energy science.
| Jun 11, 2013
Finnish elevator technology could facilitate supertall building design
KONE Corporation has announced a new elevator technology that could make it possible for supertall buildings to reach new heights by eliminating several problems of existing elevator technology. The firm's new UltraRope hoisting system uses a rope with a carbon-fiber core and high-friction coating, rather than conventional steel rope.
| Jun 10, 2013
Lake Washington STEM school combines modular and site-built construction to meet ambitious schedule
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.
| Jun 7, 2013
Must see: Building façade made of massive concrete drain pipes
Looking to create a unique atmosphere using natural materials for the Prahran Hotel pub near Melbourne, local architect Techné Architects cleverly incorporated a series of concrete sewer pipes into the building's main façade.
| Jun 7, 2013
40 Under 40 retrospective: Where are they now?
Every month we’ll be catching up with past 40 Under 40 honorees to see what they’ve been up to since winning the award. This month we focus on a construction manager and a healthcare designer.