Construction begins on the Park VII Pool Deck

The residents at the Park VII condominiums in Uptown New Orleans identified the need for a larger more useful deck for their pool, which was located within and above a concrete courtyard at ground level. Working with the owner, HMS Architects enlarged the new deck design by 15% and raised the deck level to be even with the pool level, vastly increasing the amount of that area that is usable. Due to its durability, Ipe wood slats and decking was the material around which the new deck was designed. The new deck was carefully detailed to work with the dimensions of the wood slats. The horizontal installation of the material on vertical surfaces aligns the slats cleanly with the stairs and deck level. The contractor selected for the project, Billbar Construction, is expected to begin work in late February, with the project to be complete by late May. We look forward to working with Park VII and Billbar Construction on this exciting project.

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Renovations to St. Joseph’s Hall at Notre Dame are Complete

St Joseph's Hall at Notre Dame Seminary has been substantially completed by FH Myers Construction on July 22nd, 2016 for the Archdiocese of New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana.


St Joseph's Hall is an existing historic 4-story, 63,300 SF masonry student housing building at Notre Dame Seminary, a repeat client for HMS. We had previously renovated the 4000 square-foot auditorium in this building and are continuing to do work on campus. In this project, HMS worked with the Archdiocese to rearrange the 36 student dormitories and 21 faculty dormitories into more contemporary suites. The design solution created adjoining rooms with a shared bathroom. The rooms can be utilized individually or paired together to create a suite for faculty full-time residence. Several suites are set aside for visiting priests to stay while in town. In addition, the renovation included 5 classrooms, including one computer lab and practicum space. The existing chapel was relocated from a central rotunda to a more secluded cathedral-ceiling space on the top floor, with the rotunda turned into an easily-accessed student lounge. Finally, we reconfigured the ad-hoc office area to a deliberately designed, 31 office administrative suite.

The historic nature of the building and its close proximity to the seminary building meant the design team had to approach our work with sensitivity to the character of the original design and compliment the existing materials and craftsmanship.  To that end, the decision was made to refurbish the existing wood windows, salvage much of the existing interior masonry partitions, and create a custom wood baseboard detail that seamlessly integrates new power and data to each dorm room.  In a similar way, we reconfigured the previously retrofitted air conditioning system to be able to raise the hallway ceiling almost back to its original height, while still accommodating the lighting, air conditioning, plumbing, and new sprinkler systems.

The entire project was completed in 27 months including 15 months of construction. The project was opened in Aptil 2015 only one day behind the original project schedule, and well in advance of arriving students for the fall semester.  The project was also completed well under budget.

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The Lakewood Elementary School Building A Renovations are Substantially Complete

The Lakewood Elementary School Building A Renovations were completed by Dynamic Constructors in late July, for St Charles Parish Public Schools, in Luling, Louisiana.

This existing steel-framed, concrete block building consists of 26,700 SF of renovated area, all on the first floor. The renovation modified a large shared classroom area, separated by temporary partitions, and split the area into 19 new classrooms and a teacher work area suite. Meeting the owner's desire for durable materials in this demanding education environment the design team used high-impact gypsum board on metal stud framing for the new walls.  This project also included new ceilings, and floor finishes, as well as adapting the existing mechanical and electrical equipment to the new layout with new light fixtures and ducts.  Overall, the project ended up costing $51/SF.

Working with the owner's desire to not lose any space during the school year the project was designed to have construction occur over the summer months when students would not be in class. Construction started after completion of the spring semester in May 2016 and was completed just ahead of schedule, allowing the owners ample time to re-occupy the space and prepare for the fall semester.

The final building cost of the project is more than 20% under the original budget, both due to a good bid at the outset, and by diligent construction administration, keeping the change orders well within 1% of the overall bid cost.

We thank St Charles Parish Public Schools and Dynamic Constructors for working with us on this successful project, and wish them the best in the future.

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The Allemands Elementary School Classroom Addition is Substantially Complete

The Allemands Elementary School Classroom Addition has been substantially completed by F. J. Arcement Construction Co. Inc. on May 2nd, 2016, for St Charles Parish Public Schools, in Des Allemands, Louisiana.

This brick-clad, steel-framed, metal stud building consists of 6230 SF of additional built area added onto a 27,000 SF existing building, both all on one floor.   The addition contains 4 additional classrooms, including an art classroom, as well as a work room, restrooms, and support spaces.  The building cost about $175 per square foot overall.

Construction took 11 Months, since June 8, 2015, and has been substantially completed ahead of schedule.  Including the 9 Months of design, the entire length of the project has been 20 months.

The final building cost of the project was within 10% of the original budget, which was helped by finding about 1% of savings via change orders by careful construction administration.

We thank St Charles Parish Public Schools and F. J. Arcement for working with us on the project, and wish them the best in the future.

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Lakewood Elementary School Interior Renovation Construction Underway

St Charles Parish Public Schools received bids for Lakewood elementary school interior renovation on January 12, 2016.  HMS had previously finished the drawings and specifications for Building for St Charles Parish Public Schools, on schedule after 5 months of design work.

The Lakewood Elementary School Building A Renovations consist of 26,756 SF of renovated area, all on the first floor, and this renovation modifies a large shared classroom area, separated by temporary partitions, splitting the area into 19 new classrooms and a teacher work area suite, using high-impact gypsum board on metal stud framing, for durability in the demanding educational environment.

When including all alternates, the five bids ranged from $1.4M to $1.9M. within 35% of each other, reflecting the uncertainty of renovation projects.  The winning bid was for $1,401,000, or $51 per square foot, which is under budget by $399,000 or more than 20%.  This difference allowed all alternates to be accepted within the budget.

The winning Contractor, Dynamic Constructors ,  is expected to begin work in late May, for a contract length of 60 days, expecting to finish by the start of school.  We look forward to working with St Charles Parish Public Schools and Dynamic Constructors for the months ahead.

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Tulane Catholic Center is Substantially Complete

The Tulane Catholic Center has been completed on August 7th, 2015 by F. H. Meyers construction. This three-story, 8,400 square foot building is constructed with a rain screen siding system on structural metal studs. This building contains a social area, a chapel with a sacristy, a conference room, two classrooms, and a small library with a study room.

Construction took about a year, starting in August of 2014, and has been completed in August of 2015. The final building cost of the project was approximately two million dollars.

The grand opening will occur on Friday August 21st, 2015. We thank the Archdiocese of New Orleans and F. H. Meyers for working with us on the project, and wish them the best in the future.

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Lafayette Cemeteries No. One and Two Caretaker Cottages Construction Underway

Cottage Rendering

The City of New Orleans received bids for the Lafayette Cemetery No. One and Two Caretaker Cottages on January 27th 2015. HMS had previously finished the drawings and specifications for cottage replacement for the City of New Orleans Capital Projects Administration after months of design work.

These one story cottages consist of, one 162 SF cottage and another 250 SF cottage. Both with an exterior of cement lap board siding, which mimics the preexisting historic buildings.

The winning Contractor, MST Enterprises, began in June 2015, and is scheduled to be completed by November 2015.

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Allemands Elementary School Construction is Underway

On May 20, 2015, St Charles Parish Public Schools accepted a bid for the Allemands Elementary School Classroom Addition in Des Allemands, Louisiana.  HMS had previously finished the drawings and specifications on schedule for St Charles Parish Public Schools, in order to promptly bid the project, and start construction on time.

This brick-clad, steel-framed, metal stud building consists of 6230 SF of additional built area added onto a 27,000 SF existing building, both all on one floor.   The addition contains 4 additional classrooms, including an art classroom, and additionally a work room, restrooms, and support spaces.

The six bids ranged from $1.1M to $1.25M, within 15% of each other, a fairly tight grouping, signifying a relatively clear set of drawings.  The winning bid was for $1,106,000, or about $173 per square foot, after taking out $28,000 for sitework, which is within $40,000, or 4% of the previous estimate.

The winning contractor, F. J. Arcement Construction Co. Inc., began working in June, for a contract length of 1 year, expecting to finish by June of 2016.  We look forward to working with St Charles Parish Public Schools and F. J. Arcement for the months ahead.


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Notre Dame Seminary Bid

Notre Dame Seminary has recently gone to bid. The restoration of the Seminary project consists of renovations of the residential wing and administrative spaces and also a new chapel. Bringing the building up to life safety code and restoring it back to its original splendor was a priority, while also designing aesthetically pleasing spaces. HMS has done renovations to this historic building in the past, including an auditorium renovation.

Front Exterior

Dormitory

Lounge

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Construction Underway on Howard Ave. Apartments

Construction is underway for 822 Howard Ave. The renovations and additions include the renovation of three existing stories and a one-story penthouse addition. The design consists of fifteen units, including two penthouses. HMS has been working with the developer and contractor throughout the process as a design-build project.

822 Howard Ave. Front

Penthouse Unit

Loft Interior

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Mimosa Park Elementary School Celebrates 1 Year Past Substantial Completion

On Tuesday April 14th, Mimosa Park Elementary School celebrated 1 year since its new HMS-designed kindergarten wing was completed, ahead of schedule, by Percy J Matherne Contractor.  To commemorate this, we've completed and posted the final versions of the timelapse videos we took on our weekly visits, over the course of the construction of the project. Each image represents approximately 1 week of time elapsed, across a total of about 16 months, from December 2012 to April 2014.




We've also included our initial renderings at the beginning and the end, for comparison to the final product.   Note that the pictures have deliberately not been color-corrected until the final images, to see how the light changes as glass and electric lights are added and/or turned off.  Also, the building was too big to fit in the camera, so each of these pictures is an auto-stitched panorama, which sometimes leads to interesting artifacts at the seams.   These were deliberately left in to keep the images un-biased.

There are six timelapse videos of the same project in the playlist above.  Their individual links are:

Exterior View: http://youtu.be/8wOqRVIMgU4
Cafeteria from front door: http://youtu.be/ZCYMIY0GsYg
Cafeteria from front corner: http://youtu.be/cI1ncjmFF0w
Cafeteria from rear center: http://youtu.be/GSnedvUhvtE
Hallway from Cafeteria: http://youtu.be/U5qTnFEi4dg
Hallway towards Cafeteria: http://youtu.be/PYPQvtGGW_g

Thanks to St Charles Parish Public Schools and Percy J Matherne Contractor for working with us to make this building a reality.

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Check out our previous story about Mimosa Park Elementary, complete with fly-around, here.
Check out our previous story about Mimosa Park Elementary, complete with construction timelapse, here.
Check out all our previous stories about Mimosa Park Elementary, here.

Global Green Showcases Andrew Wilson Elementary's Green Impact.

Global Green has featured Andrew Wilson Elementary School in a new video and short case study.  These show the real-world impact of design decisions on students' learning and experiences, and how they feel about their new school:

Also, they have earlier written up a case study of Andrew Wilson, detailing many of its green features:

http://globalgreen.org/docs/publication-145-1.pdf

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Case Study: Rendering Comparison Mimosa Park Elementary New Kindergarten Wing

The new kindergarten wing at Mimosa Park Elementary was designed, drawn, detailed, and fully modeled in Autodesk Revit, the Building Information Modeling (BIM) program that HMS uses for nearly all projects done since about 2008.  As a result, we had a wealth of information available to us during the design phase, including the ability to create very accurate renderings before anything was remotely built on-site.  As a result, we were able to fix and adjust many potential issues before they became expensive issues on-site.

Due to the proven benefits of our methodology, we intend on learning from and re-using these techniques in the future.  So, here is a short comparison between the original renderings and the final product.  Most are extremely accurate, except for the glossiness of the floor tile and the colors of the doors and cabinets, changed at the owner's request during the submittal phase of construction.   Take a look and see what else is different.

 Typical Classroom towards the exterior.  Rendering is at the top. Beyond the previously mentioned floor tile and casework changes, and the owner-ordered furniture, only a few electrical elements are missing.

The same Typical Classroom, towards the hallway.  Rendering again at top.  Past the previously mentioned elements, the main difference is that the final photographs came out notably brighter.

Cafeteria, towards main hallway.  The cafeteria's design and coloring was actually extensively modified as a result of the renderings, experimenting heavily with different options of adding bright colors to a previously pure white room, to add some visual interest for the kindergartners.

View down main hallway towards west side.  Besides the floor, it is almost exactly right, except from a slight variation in the color of light, due to a owner-requested glass color change during construction.

Music Room, towards the west.  Other than the floor, cabinets, and owner-selected furniture, there isn't much difference.

Art Room, towards the east.  The furniture in the room was later cleaned up and organized.

 Resource Center, towards the south.

 Resource Center Storage, towards the south.   Rendering at top.

Conference room and Workroom, towards south.  The operable partition did not end up needing a floor track, and the selected carpet was different than the renderings, which only affected a few rooms.  Furniture was later added to these rooms.

In general, rendering this project so extensively has helped show the owner the end product long beforehand, so any changes can be addressed in plenty of time, and any misunderstandings are reduced.  We are continually refining our rendering and designing processes, but even at this time (Using Revit 2011 through 2014, and both local and cloud-based renderings) these deliverables show the final spaces fairly accurately.

The New Canal Basin Lighthouse Restoration Complete

The New Canal Basin Lighthouse renovation has been completed from being knocked off its existing foundation during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Since then, HMS was able to document the lighthouse and rebuild it to meet today's safety codes. The refurbished lighthouse will now sit higher than the previous, due to the modified flood elevation requirements. Striving to achieve LEED Certification, HMS saved and restored many pieces and parts from the original. Thank you to Jeld-wen for the windows and doors and thank you to the Save the Lake Foundation for involving HMS. The historic structure is now restored and converted into a museum and education center, focusing on its former use, and the lake ecology.

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HMS-designed Wisner dog park opened

The HMS-designed Wisner park playground has opened!    The final design was a result of several community meetings and incorporated significant community input deftly into a coherent scheme that meets several separate and wildly different needs at the same time.  This park provides a softball field for a nearby school and recreational leagues, a playground for neighborhood children, a basketball court, and notably, the first free official public dog run in New Orleans.

Read More about Wisner Park at the HMS Architects Website
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Read More about Wisner Park at the Times Picayune 

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Metairie Manor IV Independent Living Senior Housing Complete

Metairie Manor IV, managed by Christopher Homes in Metairie, Louisiana, was completed in the fall of 2014. The building is designed for much needed independent elderly housing for the New Orleans area. HMS was given the opportunity to design the project, with strict guidelines from FEMA. This new 82 unit building is now adjacent to the three existing buildings in the complex. The project budget of approximately 10 million stayed on track through the end.

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Ochsner Baptist Operating Rooms Renovations Complete

Due to the broad flooding and extensive damage to the emergency systems in the building, caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Ochsner Baptist Operating building lay vacant until the Laboratory and Pharmaceutical renovations in 2008. Patient use gradually increased every year until 2011 when Ochsner approached HMS Architects to help relocate the Lab and Pharmacy spaces back into the main building.  The renovations to the four operating rooms, consisted of new medical gases, new electrical and mechanical systems and bringing the infrastructure back up to current standards. 

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Hahnville High School New Classroom Wing Completed

The new Hahnville High School Classroom Wing Addition serves as an infill classroom building. It was completed in May 2014 with a total cost of $6,717,000, which was under the bidding budget of $7.3 million. It is the eighth building on the campus and the fourth classroom building. The 36,632 square foot facility contains 21 classrooms. The building projects over a retaining pond due to the building size needed to accommodate all of the programs. Several of the classrooms are specialty classrooms which include art, drama, drafting, a special education living suite, a sensory classroom and a computer lab. Thank you to Lamar Contractors for your time and energy!

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Ochsner Health Center Mid-City Opens

The Ochsner Health Center, located in the neighborhood development of the Mid-City Market, was completed with a total cost of $290,000. The approximately 4,000 square foot walk in clinic consists of seven exam rooms, a laboratory and a triage area.  Satellite clinics by Ochsner, are being established in the New Orleans community to aid the neighborhoods medical services.  This facility provides primary care for every member of the family.

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Construction underway for the Tulane Catholic Center

The Tulane Catholic Center is now under construction by F. H. Meyers construction. This three-story, 8,400 square foot building will be constructed with a rain screen siding system on structural metal studs. This building will contain a social area, a chapel with a sacristy, a conference room, two classrooms, and a small library with a study room.

Construction took about a year, starting in September of 2014, and is anticipated to take about a year to construct, for approximately 2 million dollars. 

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