Cornerstone Construction will serve as the construction manager for the University of Alaska’s new Integrated Sciences Building.

Often considered a scientists’ playground for discovery and research, Alaska is one of North America’s hotspots for the sciences. But until now, the state’s public university system didn’t have a facility capable of drawing in and retaining current and future leaders in the sciences. In 2009, that will change when the University of Alaska – Anchorage (UAA) unveils its 120,000-square-foot Integrated Sciences Building.

This complex facility will house a majority of the science departments on campus and feature 37 state-of-the-art research labs, faculty office space, a 100-seat auditorium, a 60-seat planetarium, a vivarium and specialized teaching labs for both undergraduate and graduate students. The corridors will connect in the center of the facility under an expansive glass atrium. Valued at $87 million, the science building was funded mostly by appropriations from the Alaska State Legislature and additional funding from federal grants and UAA.

The building will serve as a central location for research and education in the biological sciences, chemistry, environmental biology, geology and physics. “We really wanted to design a community for the sciences where the students and faculty would have to interact,” says Martha Hatch, associate professor and former associate dean of the College of Letters and Science.

True Integration at UAA
The building is intended to meet student demand for science education and research, as well as address inadequacies in the current teaching and research labs on campus. In the last decade, the number of students enrolled in science programs at UAA increased 30 percent, according to Hatch. In that same time, faculty in the sciences has increased from 25 full-time professors and researchers to about 70.

“We wanted to build a real community for the sciences,” Hatch says. “[The project] has come from faculty planning and discussion about where the sciences are going.”

Strong enrollment numbers and an increasing awareness of the need to prevent the state’s “brain drain” fueled the need for the new building. Before, the university could only provide a portion of the students with the latest technology and lab facilities, forcing many to look out-of-state for other programs, and eventually, careers. Now, Hatch says, “there is no doubt we will retain more students.”

Meeting Complex Requirements
Cornerstone Construction, the construction manager-at-risk on the facility, broke ground on the facility in March 2007 after an extensive preplanning process that involved forming a strong partnership with the owner and the architect.

The Anchorage-based company has found its niche constructing complex facilities in Alaska, where the competition cannot. Cornerstone specializes in medical, military, laboratory, educational and industrial projects.

Meeting tight deadlines and budgeting requirements while still building a quality facility requires the company to partner with UAA, a team of subcontractors and ZGF Architects. According to Project Manager Mark Palmatier, the design/assist relationship has helped keep all parties aligned with the budget, allowing the company to make immediate adjustments when needed in the initial design phases. For example, when the project exceeded the budget by almost $6 million, within 10 days, the company used value-engineering, pulled out unnecessary mechanical, electrical and plumbing elements and brought the budget back in check.

In March, Cornerstone broke ground on the facility, constructing the foundation and erecting the steel and concrete frame. The company had to pay close attention to the seismic zone requirements. To meet the zoning requirements, Cornerstone constructed five groups of pilings made of steel pipe that were each driven 40 feet below the surface and capped off with as much as 160 pounds of concrete and steel plates.

“I have never seen anything quite like this – and I have been doing construction for 30 years – with the giant seismic plates of steel that go down so far,” Palmatier says.

As if merely constructing a building of this magnitude wasn’t enough of a feat, Cornerstone must also deal with the seasonal, sometimes harsh, Alaskan climate. “Our timeframe is the biggest challenge,” Palmatier says. “We just don’t have enough summer to get things in place. The building is too large. We’ve been working crews as much as [12-hour shifts, seven days a week].”

The company plans to have the roof in place by early October, which will allow the team to work inside the structure during the winter months.

The location also makes it more challenging for the contractor to meet work force goals. Extensive preplanning and scheduling helped cut the risk of coming up short with its work force.

“We put together an organizational chart; the planning up front was enormous, so we assigned duties before we started,” Palmatier explains. Several members of the team have also been assigned to specific tasks, with individuals in charge of document control and construction management.

Cornerstone also held an extensive interview session to select the 40-plus subcontractors it will have working on site by the building’s completion. During the interview process, Palmatier says, the company looked closely at the subcontractors’ experience in complex design, cost margins and ability to meet tight deadlines. As he explains, the interviewing process ensures better quality control.  

A ‘Community of Science’
For the Integrated Sciences Building, the design was equally important to constructing a quality building. One of the major goals of the project, according to Hatch, was to bring together several science departments to form a cross-learning space.

Beginning in 2001, ZGF Architects of Seattle began the design process to make UAA’s vision a reality. Principal Allyn Stellmacher, the main visionary on the building’s design, says understanding the university’s need for a building that would appeal to prospective students, as well as foster collaboration among the sciences was essential.

His inspiration came from looking at how UAA approached the teaching the sciences. “As an architect, a lot of energy came from working with their young and focused science community on the campus,” he recalls. “Anchorage is a growing, vibrant mecca for young people.”

Stellmacher, an 18-year veteran with ZGF Architects, says that academic research campuses have upgraded their images in the last 15 years to attract students. In addition to considering how the campus offers education, students are also interested in the collaborative experience that the facilities can offer.

Stellmacher was equally as interested in creating a building that blended in with the dramatic, yet delicate surroundings.  “What we tried to do is look at the leadership of the campus and craft something that matches their values; it’s not a cookie-cutter solution,” he adds. “We were interested in creating something that combines the politics, young energy and need for the state into a beautiful site.”

Stellmacher says he never intended to enter the project with the “mentality of ‘bulldoze and build’,” but rather to “create a holistic place that really attracts students here. This project has been about bending a building into a landscape,” he explains. “The winters here can be very long with dark days, so [I] needed to work hard to create environments that addressed those issues and created positive and appropriate spaces.”

The architects arranged the building to foster socialization. The teaching and research labs and faculty offices were built into separate areas of the building, but connect in the center with a large, circular atrium and through several open pathways that would move occupants through the building instead of “hide folks in corridors,” Stellmacher explains.

Equally important to Stellmacher’s design was providing a connection to the outdoors and natural scenery by organizing three large portals and skylights that would allow light to penetrate deep into the facility.

The design mirrors the university’s expectations, and anticipation for the building’s impact on the campus and community is high. “This whole idea of building a community of science, with state-of-the-art technologies is really going to move us forward,” Hatch maintains.

“We really have a different attitude toward how we want to do science; it’s a conscious effort to have a building that reflects the environment,” Hatch asserts. “We want communication, not isolation in this building.”