New Multi-Modal Transit Facility

Weatherford, Texas

The Multi-Modal Transit Facility serves as the center of operations for the Public Transit Systems, a rural bus system for Parker and Palo Pinto Counties in central Texas. The primary building contains administration space, call and dispatch centers, bus driver locker rooms and exercise areas, community/training room with full kitchen, bus maintenance administration, bus service bays, parts storage, drive thru bus washing system, and support areas. A public transit station is provided in a secondary building for commuter service to downtown Fort Worth. Commuter parking is also provided.

The main building structure (13,218sf) is a pre-engineered frame with standing seam metal roof system and cold formed metal framing for exterior walls with insulated sheathing and integral air barrier. Interior finishes include polished concrete floors throughout, gypsum board walls and suspended acoustic ceilings. The second building (825sf), the Public Transit Station, included interiors with polished concrete floors, burnished limestone CMU with graffiti costings, and gypsum board ceilings designed to be maintenance free and abuse resistant. A large, adjacent free-standing canopy protects patrons waiting for buses. All exterior facades used rock faced veneer water table with dark gray horizontal ribbed metal panels.

Funding was provided through Federal Transportation, TxDOT, and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Construction was completed in May 2019 by Pete Durant & Associates.

Transportation Maintenance / SHARP Lines Facility

Wichita Falls, Texas

The Transportation Maintenance Center design was completed in January of 2020 by SLA. Once constructed, this facility will provide storage and maintenance facilities for the City’s FallsRide bus system as well as Rolling Plains Management Corporation’s (RPMC) SHARP Lines Rural Transportation.

The project scope includes administrative offices for the City of Wichita Falls Transportation staff and RPMC staff, maintenance facilities, parking, both covered and uncovered, for both organization’s fleet, and bus washing area and fueling station. The site is designed to handle the capacity of as many as forty-three transit vehicles of various sizes. Access control and surveillance systems are utilized for both the site and all buildings.

The 8,468sf administrative building includes multiple offices for RPMC SHARP Lines, FallsRide, Wichita Falls Metropolitan Planning Organization and the DAV Chapter 41 staff, along with a shared conference/training room, break room, and secure vault. The design also includes a wellness room with fitness equipment and shower facilities. A dispatch office is located right off the lobby area. Adjacent to the administrative building, and connected with a covered walk, is the maintenance repair building. The 11,426sf building consists of seven drive-thru bays, parts and tire storage areas, mechanic offices, mechanics work area.

TxDOT – Culberson County Safety Rest Area

Culberson County, Texas

This Safety Rest Area is located on both sides of Interstate Highway 10 in Culberson County which is roughly ten miles east of Van Horn, Texas. Each site features one main visitor building (8700sf) consisting of a bank of restrooms and anchored by a lobby with exhibit space, and one stand-alone restroom building (2700sf), one play area with a canopy structure, multiple picnic arbors, and a network of concrete walking trails.

Due to the nature of the site, the architectural theme revolves heavily around the expansive desert landscape and voluminously star-filled night skies. The main visitor buildings are elevated on the mesa which allows the motorists to venture upwards toward a higher perspective as they approach the buildings. The buildings then continue to escalate in height, directing the public toward views that encapture Guadalupe Peak (75 miles away) and the surrounding desert terrain. The main lobby wall is angled to toward the mountain views to lead visitors to an open air observation deck where they can experience the arid environment and vast views. Lobby materials include durable terrazzo flooring to mimic the desert sand, clear finished maple wood slat ceiling like the ceiling of the adobe huts that once stood in its place, plaster finished walls, and exposed steel structure.

The facility’s primary purpose is to prevent road weariness and accidents by attracting drivers to break for a few minutes. Educational and interactive exhibit areas are used for this purpose which illustrate the local culture and history as well as to provide information on the native surroundings. Amenities include storm shelters, DPS Offices, vending areas, restrooms and video surveillance systems.

Chapel for America’s Airmen

JBSA-Lackland AFB, Texas

SLA Architects was the architectural and interiors consultant on this project for the Fort Worth District US Army Corps of Engineers on the Kenall/Freese and Nichols JV team. The goal of the project is to consolidate the current insufficient and scattered worship and educational facilities into one well-planned, well-designed area. The new building(s) should inspire spirituality and be welcoming for all trainees at JBSA-Lackland AFB and will serve as a place of spiritual respite for all trainees during their stay.

Our task was to develop the Planning Charrette Report, Level II which documents the validation of programming and initial budget for the Chapel for America’s Airmen at Joint-Base San Antonio in Lackland AFB. The facility must accomodate nineteen separate religions while respecting the traditions of each but not giving more significance than any other. The Chapel Center & Ed/Admin facility totaled 86,977sf and featured a 10,370sf canopy. The proposed design provides worship spaces, administrative and religious educational classrooms for the great variety of religious groups that attend the Basic Military Trainee (BMT) program at JBSA-Lackland AFB.

The challenge was to design an “architecturally significant building” that would serve as a showcase location on base “similar to the US Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel” in Colorado Springs, CO. With no budgetary numbers given at notice-to-proceed, we provided a cost estimate based on other significant buildings such as the Perot Museum in Dallas, TX and the Sydney Opera House in Australia. The initial budget came in at $150M, which well exceeded the government’s preliminary costing analysis. Through an intensive week-long charrete at Lackland AFB with the full Project Delivery Team on site, we engaged with the nineteen different religions who required both worship and educational space to determine their space requirements and special needs (which were abundant). After the charrette, we returned back to the office and developed a new program that provided a slightly less “architecturally significant” facility, but that still met all user needs and had an initial cost estimate of $49M.

Falcon Troop Medical Clinic Renovations

Fort Drum, New York

SLA provided architectural support to Gensler for this USACE design/build project, which is a major transformation and renovation of an existing, one-story, 11,700sf modular building built in 2006 for use as a Battalion Headquarters. The new clinical facility supports the mission of the Falcon TMC to provide medical services to active duty assigned to the Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB).

The facility’s modular structure supports a spatial configuration optimized for a new clinical accommodation, which is defined by the circulation corridors for ease of access and flexibility within the facility. The reception desk is positioned as the gate-way for all patients entering the clinic, as well as Behavioral Health, and is the touch point when exiting. This area has direct access to the public restrooms and the wheelchair alcove and is the on-stage hub for services for the Primary Care Clinic, the Behavioral Health Clinic, Physical Therapy Clinic, Phlebotomy, and the Hearing and Vision Clinic. The Behavioral Health Clinic is its own separate suite and is located off the main waiting area and has direct access to an existing exterior egress door as part of the “escape corridor”. The floor plan visually defines the on-stage areas and the off-stage areas optimizing the facility operational spaces by grouping the departments and their programmed functions.

Building services are centrally located (communications room, administration spaces, copy and record rooms, soiled and clean services, and the waste recycling room) in the offstage areas for ease of access for staff. The staff lounge and toilets, janitor’s closet and equipment storage and supply are located near the staff and service entry.

Four Tactical Equipment Maintenance Facilities (TEMFs)

Fort Hood, Texas

SLA Architects was the architectural and interiors consultant on this project for the Fort Worth District US Army Corps of Engineers on the Kenall/Freese and Nichols JV team. The team completed this renovation design project for approximately 99,843 SF of the Tactical Equipment Maintenance Facilities (TEMFs).

The purpose of this project was to bring each TEMF Complex (B17047, B38053, B44012 and B26014) as close as possible to the current standard design, to make the facilities more functional to allow units to meet mission requirements, and to achieve a longer useful life for the legacy TEMF facilities. The design called for consolidation of core functions which welcomes the opportunity for additional high bay spaces to be carved out the existing bay wings. For the facilities to accommodate the new 10-ton bridge crane, a selected bay is enlarged to the standard minimum width. New high-bay building structures were designed to fit within the confines of the current facility to support the new cranes and to raise the eave height to the standard minimum.

The design utilized the findings and guidance in the TEMF Legacy Facilities Renovation Study, dated 26 February 2013, Revision 1.0 dated 6 May 2013 and DA Facilities Standardization Program, Tactical Equipment Maintenance Facilities (TEMF) Standard Design UFC 4-214-02 dated 24 March 2015. Design includes site functional requirements within the TEMF Complex footprint as described in DA Facilities Standardization Program; Tactical Equipment Maintenance Facilities (TEMF) Standard Design UFC 4-214-02 dated 24 March 2015.

Renovations to Multiple Buildings for Army North

JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, Texas

SLA Architects was the architectural and interiors consultant on this project for the Fort Worth District US Army Corps of Engineers on the Kenall/Freese and Nichols JV team. Our team was tasked with the simultaneous development of five separate D/B/B RFPs in support of Army North at Fort Sam Houston. The overall goal is to provide the users with comfortable offices and administrative/operational facilities that are conducive to their performance for the next twenty-five years.

Building 16: Required additional office space, updated hallways, fire suppression considerations, and renovated restrooms.

Building 44: Included renovations to the second and third story floors (60,000sf) to provide additional office space and to provide installation of fire suppression and detection systems; new interior finish out; new building systems; and design considerations to repair all elevators and to install a new passenger elevator in the lobby.

Building 615: Required renovation to both floors of the 27,453sf facility to provide training and admin space for the 323d Army Band “Fort Sam’s Own”. This included selective demolition/protection of historical elements; removal and replacement of all doors and windows; new elevator addition; new entry portico and stair; new interior finish-out; and new utility systems.

Building 2002: Required additional admin & conference space for the 5th Recruiting Brigade. The scope included selective demolition; removal and replacement of all exterior doors and windows; interior updates and finish-out; and new utility systems.

Building 2006: Required additional admin space for the 5th Recruiting Brigade. The scope included selective demolition; removal and replacement of all exterior doors and windows; new porches and stairs; replacement of wood framing; interior updates and finish-out; and new utility systems.

Special Ops Forces (SOF) Support Battalion

Fort Bragg, North Carolina

This project is new construction through the Design/Build project delivery method with SLA as the prime design firm and 4KG/ACC JV as the general contractor. The objective is to design and construct a quality SOF Support Battalion Administration Facility which includes the Support Battalion and Charlie Company’s Headquarters. The new building is a single-story structure with a gross square footage of 39,915sf for 66 persons. The program of spaces is for the following functions: Battalion Command Suite, HHD Commander, S-1 Suite, S-3 Suite, S-4 Offices, Chaplain Suite, Supply Room, Printer Room, Secure Document Storage, Life Cycle Storage, Breakroom, Building Services and Circulation.

This admin facility required a Structural Interior Design (SID) package which included the building interior and exterior finishes, interior and exterior signage, millwork, and window treatments. Though LEED certification was not required, the project did require completion of the Army’s High Performance and Sustainable Design Record Card. Special consideration was provided for NIPR/SIPR requirements. The security for the NIPR and SIPR rooms proved to be a challenge in order to incorporate multiple companies within the same complex while being in accordance with the latest editions of the security standards. We were able to provide the necessary separation of the companies and levels of security through close coordination with the Design/Build Team, USACE and the User(s).

Two Phases: Rolling Pin Barracks Renovations

Fort Hood, Texas

SLA has served as the Designer of Record on two phases of renovations to the Rolling Pin style barracks at Fort Hood, with both phases being Design/Build partnerships with Guyco, Inc., the general contractor. The purpose of these renovations is to improve energy efficiency, mitigate mold growth, and provide a better living environment for our nation’s soldiers that will last the next twenty-plus years.

Phase I included five barracks on the 12000 Block (B12003, B12004, B12006, B12008 and B12009) and totaled 255,000sf in interior/exterior shell renovations. Phase II also included five barracks, but on the 16000 Block (B16003, B16004, B16006, B16008, and B16009) that total approximately 245,000sf. These buildings are each three-stories above grade with a mechanical room located in the basement level. Three of the barracks on each site have an Arms Vault room, also located in the basement. The first floor of each building contains a Company Operations Facility (COF) comprised of a TA-50 Gear storage locker room, office space, rest rooms, electrical room and mail room.

For the 12000 Block, there are 68 dwelling units provided in each of the buildings, totalling 340 rooms designed for two soldiers per room, so 680 occupants total. For the 16000 Block, there are 69 dwelling units provided in each of the buildings, totalling 345 rooms designed for two soldiers per room, so 690 occupants total. Each room is designed for two soldiers with separate beds, closets and workspace, as well as a shared bathroom/shower, shared kitchen and a shared common space. In each barracks, a Day Room is located on the second and third floors on both the east and west ends, and a laundry room is located on the west end.

Two Phases: H-Frame Barracks Renovations

Fort Hood, Texas

SLA has designed two separate phases of the H-Frames Renovation at Fort Hood, both through the Design/Build project delivery method. For Phase I on the 9200 Block, SLA Architects provided architectural services to a Design/Build team. Phase II was the 14000 Block H-Frame Barracks with Guyco, Inc. as the General Contractor.

The purpose of the renovations to these barracks is to improve energy efficiency, mitigate mold growth and provide a better living environment for the soldiers that will last for the next twenty-five years. Phase I consisted of the complete interior and exterior renovation of Barracks B9210, B9211, B9213 and B9214 along with a Central Energy Plant upgrades for 112 soldiers. Phase II consisted of the complete interior and exterior renovation of Barracks B14019, B14020, B14022 and B14023 for 112 soldiers. In selective demolition of the barracks, all interior spaces were gutted in the structure except at the COF areas which received patch and repair. The utilities were removed with the exception of provisions for general lighting.

These renovations provide living quarters for 224 soldiers with a typical living suite arranged for two soldiers per suite with individual bedrooms and closets along with shared bathroom, kitchen and common space.

Other improvements consisted of providing a new fire protection system with an approved automatic sprinkler system; re-mediating major uneven floor slab settlement issues on the first floor of the barracks buildings; minimizing vapor transmission through the building envelope, improving energy efficiency, providing dehumidified make-up air to provide proper space relative humidity, sealing of building envelope to minimize infiltration; and providing consistent and proper chilled water supply temperatures.