Colin Gordon Associates was involved in two more award winning facilities! With over 70 entries contending in this year’s Best Projects 2015 Competition, a panel of experts from all walks of the engineering industry recently announced the winners of California’s Excellence in Safety Award and Energy/Industry Best Project Award. As one of the key players in both projects, lead design firm ZGF Architects LLP received these awards for their work on the UCLA Center for Health Sciences South Tower Seismic Renovation and Stanford University Energy System Innovation. CGA teamed up with ZGF Architects as the acoustical and vibration consultants for these challenging and award winning projects.
The California’s Excellence in Safety Award was awarded to ZGF Architects’ work at UCLA. Constructed in 1951, the UCLA Center for Health Science is a 12-story hospital turned research lab. It was damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake and needed substantial repairs. In order to meet current seismic safety requirements, crews made renovations to the building by constructing and reinforcing 29 shear walls, carried out extensive demolition, and performed shell upgrades to improve the overall functionality of the building. CGA provided vibration consultation with regard to laboratory order soma online us pharmacy spaces within the UCLA facility. After conducting a detailed structural analysis of the building, CGA proposed retrofits to predict the eventual vibration performance in the facility’s sensitive laboratories. Overall UCLA saved $78 million by retrofitting instead of rebuilding the building.
The Energy/Industry Best Project Award was awarded to ZGF Architects’ work at Stanford University. The main focus of Stanford University’s $380 Million project was to maximize energy efficiency in the buildings on campus. This goal was successfully met through high-efficiency new-building standards and overall improvements to existing buildings. With the help of a state-of-the-art solar array to supply renewable energy to the new central energy facility which proudly boasts the first-of-its-kind and largest heat-recovery chillers ever installed in the U.S., Stanford University is looking to, “…reduce campus emissions approximately 68% from current levels and save 15% of campus potable water” (Stanford University). CGA was brought on board the project to limit the environmental noise impact from the various energy plant sources on the surrounding campus and adjacent residences.
For more details on these award winning projects, follow the links below:
UCLA Center for Health Sciences South Tower Seismic Renovation
Stanford University Energy System Innovation