Two years after being built, the St. Helena Branch Library was again recognized for its architecture and design. The St. Helena Branch Library was featured as a 2014 Building of the Week in the American-Architects online newsletter. American-Architects took a state-by-state look for the feature and chose the St. Helena Branch Library as the building to highlight in South Carolina. American-Architects described the design of incorporating attributes of the Gullah-Geechee Sea Island culture and its modern look and feel as the reasoning for the library being chosen as a winner. To see the other buildings in the United States chosen for this recognition, go to http://www.american-architects.com/en/pages/50×50.

We are pleased to celebrate the grand opening of the new Alpharetta City Hall and first phase of the City Center, located in the heart of Alpharetta, Georgia. City staff members moved their operations into the 50,000-SF facility, which was presented to the community at a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on December 15. Developed by JLL and designed by architects Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart, & Associates and David M. Schwarz, this dramatic development of 22 acres revitalizes Alpharetta’s historic downtown with a vibrant blend of commercial, residential and community uses. Intended to reinforce downtown as a focal point of civic life, the pedestrian and family-friendly environment contains a City Hall building, 450-space public parking deck, five-acre park/green space, Town Green, “pocket parks,” and five development sites for future retail spaces. Designed with traditional column and brick, the 48,000-SF City Hall includes community spaces and a history room. The Town Green, which frames a front formal view of the City Hall, is the focal point of the historic district, acting as a hub for farmer’s markets, street fairs, and performances. Another green space located adjacent to City Hall is the City Park of five contiguous acres, which includes a small amphitheater, bandshell, pathways, and stream.

Choate Construction’s own Director of Virtual Construction Todd Barrett spoke at the fourth annual ENR FutureTech Conference, which brings together engineering, construction and architectural firms, technology experts and industry analysts to discuss how emerging technologies are transforming modern construction practices and processes. Todd discussed how mobile technology is driving high performance in the field. Todd covered what Choate is doing on projects to capitalize on this powerful trend including initial considerations for successful implementation of mobile technology, and examples of field based construction apps that address critical workflows such as communication, viewing documents and models, QA/QC, and daily reports.

Crate and Barrel, located in The Shops Around Lenox, received the Silver Award in Retail Store Design from The International Council of Shopping Centers U.S. Design and Development Awards. The Awards honor and recognize the premier design and development trends of retail projects, new developments, renovation and expansion projects, and retail store design within the United States. Designed by Good Fulton & Farrell Architects and the Crate and Barrel Architecture Department, Crate and Barrel Atlanta was designed as two overlapping volumes with a two-story glass façade to create transparency and bring natural light into the selling space. The 25,000-square-foot store, a relocation from a nearby mall, has a façade of white brick and western red cedar that exudes light and color alongside a projecting canopy that folds into a landscape planter. Natural light and wood planks, character-grade oak flooring, white brick and stone give warmth to the modern interior space. Linear skylights and punched windows accentuate the décor. And Crate and Barrel, for the first time, utilized many prefabrication techniques during construction.

Choate Construction’s Virtual Construction Specialist Tim Riefenberg presented at Autodesk University in Las Vegas on Virtual Installation: Augmented Reality of Install Detail. This class was targeted toward designers, fabricators, and installers who wanted to learn how to properly demonstrate the way to build their products through augmented realty animation. Autodesk University is a four day event held each year in Las Vegas and typically has over 9,000 people attend from the Manufacturing, Building and Infrastructure, Media and Entertainment and Education sectors with the majority being from the AEC industry. The event encompasses training classes, hands on labs, talks, roundtable discussions, and keynote addresses from the industry’s leading professionals and experts. AU also hosts a major Exhibit Hall to explore the latest technologies, software and hardware that work with and support Autodesk software.

Charlotte Premium Outlets has been chosen to receive a “Heavy Hitters Commercial Real Estate” award, from the Charlotte Business Journal of the many selections received this year. Charlotte Premium Outlets is a 450,483-SF retail factory outlet mall, which includes 95 designer and name-brand stores, and is a unique joint venture between Tanger Outlets and Simon Property Group, Inc. The awards honor the best commercial real estate deals and developments across the region from June 30, 2013, to July 1, 2014. The winners were selected by a panel of industry experts working in combination with the CBJ staff.

Choate Construction Company received the highest honor of Project of the Year from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of the Carolinas during the “Excellence in Construction” awards banquet at the Hilton City Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The project recognized was Clemson University’s SCE&G Energy Innovation Center, a wind turbine testing facility which houses the world’s most sophisticated and most powerful wind turbine drivetrain testing equipment. “It is an honor to be recognized for this incredible project,” says Millard Choate, President of Choate Construction. “This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of every member of this team. The recognition belongs to Clemson University, our partners and staff at CURI, the project team, and the subcontractors for their significant impact on earning this award.” Located within a decommissioned U.S. Navy warehouse atop a rehabilitated brownfield site, the 82,264-SF facility is designed by AEC and support the critical testing of next generation off-shore wind turbines by allowing businesses to simulate in mere months over 20 years of rigors faced by the turbine systems at sea. The facility is also home to the Duke Energy eGRID, a 15-megawatt hardware-in-the-loop grid simulator capable of testing and validating the impact of wind energy on the nation’s aging electrical grid without the real-world risks to the existing grid. This project was also the recipient of an Eagle Award from the ABC Carolinas and the Best Energy/Industrial from ENR Southeast Best Project. Choate was also given an Award of Merit in the commercial construction $25 to $50 million category for the Red Ventures campus construction.

Clemson’s SCE&G Energy Innovation Center Rated LEED Gold Certified CLEMSON – Clemson University’s South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G) Energy Innovation Center at the Restoration Institute in North Charleston has been awarded LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification accredits buildings that meet rigorous standards for sustainability, water and energy efficiency, resource selection and indoor environmental quality. The center houses the world’s most-advanced wind-turbine drivetrain testing facility and the Duke Energy eGRID (Electrical Grid Research Innovation and Development). The combined facility is capable of full-scale highly accelerated mechanical and electrical testing of advanced drivetrain systems for wind turbines and other multi-megawatt devices, such as those for energy-storage, photovoltaic smart inverters, distributed generators, micro-grids and smart grid technology. “This rating has been accomplished through a diligent effort by all the involved project staff and contractors,” said Nick Rigas, SCE&G Energy Innovation Center director. “Given the facility is an industrial-grade center and the site was a brownfield, there were many concerns as to how to even achieve the silver rating required by the university.” Engineering design was performed by AEC Engineering in Minneapolis, and Choate Construction of Mount Pleasant provided construction management services. Design of the facility had to take into account poor soil conditions, seismic considerations, hurricane resistance and many other factors that come with the design and construction of a one-of-a-kind facility. Advanced technology designed into the facility will recover 75 to 80 percent of the 22.5 megawatts of electricity needed to operate the test dynamometers. “We are very pleased and proud that the Clemson SCE&G Energy Innovation Center has achieved LEED Gold status,” said Thomas Lorentz Sr., vice president of AEC Engineering. “It is a fitting tribute to the project team that this unique, world-class energy research facility be recognized as having successfully integrated sustainability and efficiency in the design and construction process.” More than 50 percent of the existing building materials, including concrete, cladding and structural steel were reused. This re-use included the repurposing or remanufacture of structural steel elements into new uses for the materials with an end result that more than 75 percent of what might have been construction debris was recycled. Environmental concerns were further addressed by enhancing the facility’s indoor air quality by using low-emission admitting compounds for paints, flooring wood and agricultural fiber projects. Airflow monitoring systems and occupancy sensors for lighting will provide for greater energy efficiency. “With each new LEED-certified building, we get one step closer to the U.S. Green Building Council’s vision of a sustainable built environment within a generation,” said Sara O’Mara, LEED Fellow and director of LEED/Environmental Services for Choate Construction Co. “As the newest member of the LEED family of green buildings, Clemson’s SCE&G Energy Innovation Center is an important addition to the growing strength of the green building movement.”

Young Harris College Holds Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony to Mark Official Opening of Rollins Campus Center and Zell and Shirley Miller Library On Oct. 23, Young Harris College held a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony to mark the official opening of the $41 million, 121,000-square-foot Rollins Campus Center, the largest building constructed on campus to date. Members of the Rollins family were on-site to cut the ceremonial ribbon. “This is a historic day for the College,” said YHC President Cathy Cox. “The Rollins Campus Center would never have come to fruition without the generosity of so many that believed in the College and what we are trying to achieve for our students. We offer heartfelt thanks to the Rollins family for their generous lead support in making this facility possible.” Designed to catapult the student experience into the 21st century, the facility houses four distinct areas: a 60,000-square-foot, multi-purpose student center; the state-of-the-art Zell and Shirley Miller Library; an expanded Grace Rollins Dining Hall; and a 350-seat, versatile Charles Edwin Suber Banquet Hall. A second ceremony was held to dedicate the 40,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Zell and Shirley Miller Library. U.S. Senator and Georgia Governor Zell Miller, ’51, his remarkable wife, Shirley, ’54, and several members of their family cut the ceremonial ribbon outside of the new library. The library more than doubles the College’s previous physical space, utilizing three floors of the center for group study rooms, reading carrels, computer stations, and areas for permanent and special collections. It features a prominently displayed, permanent exhibit that showcases the Millers’ inspiring story, including their legacy of public service to the state of Georgia and the nation. It is a fitting tribute to the couple, who met as students at YHC. In addition to the Zell and Shirley Miller Library, the Rollins Campus Center features the new Grace Rollins Dining Hall with healthy, customized made-to-order meals plus grab-and-go options. The 500-plus seat space includes multiple platform grills, a salad station and dessert bar. The Charles Edwin Suber Banquet Hall provides an elegant, spacious venue for group gatherings, guest lectures, workshops and receptions. Featuring a sound system, retractable screen and portable stage, this multipurpose space will be available to the surrounding community for rental. Additional highlights of the facility include space for student activities and services in the third-floor Mary Ripley Warren Student Organization Loft, a multimedia theatre with stadium seating, a Chick-fil-A Express, a Starbucks coffee shop, and a game room with a pool table, foosball table, big-screen televisions, and gaming consoles. The glass, brick, and stone facility has been designed to be energy efficient and environmentally friendly. The building boasts many sustainable features, including the use of geothermal wells, and is expected to earn LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. The center optimizes the surrounding mountain views and maximizes outdoor space with numerous expansive porches that create a relaxing space for students to socialize and study.

The Triangle Building and the DIA Hotel and Transit Center are featured in the Top 12 Most Anticipated Openings in Denver! To see the full article click the link.