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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Construction Completed at the Ochsner PT and Primary Care Clinic at Bellemeade

The Ochsner PT and Primary Care Clinic at Bellemeade has been substantially completed by Clement Building Company on September 1st, 2016, for  Ochsner Health Systems in Terrytown, Louisiana.

This former K&B, an existing tilt-up concrete and steel framed building building consists of 19,043 SF of built area, on one floor with a mechanical mezzanine, and contains both a primary care clinic and a separate physical therapy clinic under the same roof.

The physical therapy clinic consists of  a 5500 SF gymnasium, full of equipment and therapy tables, as well as five 100 SF treatment rooms.  The suite also includes a waiting area, which is able to see the activity in the gym, but is shielded from the noise by an interior storefront wall.  There is also a custom reception desk that opens to both the waiting room and to the gymnasium, through the glass wall.  There is also a pediatrics room to treat children.

Since the Primary Care clinic is so large, it is designed specifically to be easy to navigate for patients.  The 26 exam rooms of the overall clinic have been arranged into two color-coded sub-clinics, and the hallways have been opened up to the existing high roof deck above.  The subtly color-coded cores of these sub clinics are the nurse stations, which are clustered around the doctor pods, secluded areas where doctors can collaborate with the nurses and one another in relative privacy, with most of the supplies and service spaces that all the caregivers will need located nearby. These two color coded service pods are visible from all hallways within that large, open, simplified volume, which makes it incredibly easy for patients to orient themselves within the large clinic.

The primary care clinic includes an X-ray suite, 23 regular exam rooms, one bariatric exam room, 2 large exam rooms, a shared/E-visit room, a conference room that can double as an exam room, a two-seat blood draw room, a point-of-care testing facility, a medications room, several enclosed offices for supervisors and scheduling needs, and plenty of storage.  The waiting room is enclosed by interior storefront, allowing views and an open feel to both the other waiting room, as well as the activity and dynamism within the gymnasium.

Despite the large footprint of the overall project, there were difficulties during design in fitting the extensive program within the building.  Careful analysis of the contents and usage of each room with the users helped us to massage the layout until all of the desired features could be accommodated.  One innovative technique we used was to install several single-stall restrooms, instead of large multi-stall restrooms.   This allowed us to have a smaller overall square footage of restroom area, by reducing the interior circulation space within the restrooms.  Making the restrooms unisex also allowed us to have fewer fixtures overall, as anyone can use any restroom.

Construction took  5 Months, since March 31st, 2016.  Including the 5 Months of design, the entire length of the project has been 11 months.

The final building cost of the project was $2.7 million, or $144/SF.  Change orders were kept below 3% of the bid cost.

We thank Ochsner Health Systems  and Clement Building Company for working with us on the project, and wish them the best in the future.

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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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Construction Has Begun on the Ochsner Primary Care and Physical Therapy Clinic at Bellemeade

Clement Building Company began constriction on the Ochsner PT and Primary Care Clinic at Bellemeade on March 31st, 2016.    HMS had previously finished the drawings and specifications for the clinic for Ochsner Health Systems, on schedule after 5 months of design work.

This former K&B, an existing tilt-up concrete and steel framed building building consists of 19,043 SF of built area, on one floor with a mechanical mezzanine, and contains both a primary care clinic and a separate physical therapy clinic under the same roof.

The physical therapy clinic consists of a 5500 SF gymnasium, full of equipment and therapy tables, as well as five 100 SF treatment rooms.  The suite also includes a waiting area, which is able to see the activity in the gym, but is shielded from the noise by an interior storefront wall.  There is also a custom reception desk that opens to both the waiting room and to the gymnasium, through the glass wall.  There is also a pediatrics room to treat children.

The primary care clinic includes an X-ray suite, 23 regular exam rooms, one bariatric exam room, 2 large exam rooms, a shared/E-visit room, a conference room that can double as an exam room, a two-seat blood draw room, a point-of-care testing facility, a medications room, several enclosed offices for supervisors and scheduling needs, and plenty of storage.  The waiting room is enclosed by interior storefront, allowing views and an open feel to both the other waiting room, as well as the activity and dynamism within the gymnasium.

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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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Case Study: Rendering Comparisons at the JB Martin Gymnasium Renovations

The JB Martin Middle School had a older gymnasium building, that was starting to show its age, and also starting to no longer meet the needs of its occupants, and so the decision was made to renovate the space.

The pragmatic requests were easy enough to provide for, but the qualitative aspects were more difficult to show and predict.  In particular, the users had requested a light, open, lively, larger feeling space, though existing conditions precluded the possibility of actually enlarging many of the spaces.  As a result, our solution was to use finishes, and slight changes to make spaces feel more open and dynamic, as well as adding exterior/interior space to make the building "feel" bigger.  Since this project was done in Revit, we were able to use renderings to better get the feel of the spaces before work was done, to better verify that the proposed interventions would actually work.  See below for some examples of the proposals and their solutions.  Pay particular attention to how the renderings reflect the final product.   Some reflect it almost exactly, while others were adjusted and tweaked during construction.

Exterior of Building, showing the gymnasium seating and storage addition, and the canopy to help add a focal point to the school's courtyard.  The top image is existing conditions, the second is the Pre-construction rendering (note bumped-out portion for additional seating), bottom is the final post-construction photograph.  Other than some colors being off, and the omitted landscaping, the pre-construction rendering looks accurate to the final product, down to the framing of the canopy.

Exterior of building, showing lobby addition

Lobby of building, showing new ceiling and finishes.  The top image was the existing conditions, the second was the pre-construction rendering, raising the ceiling as much as possible to the roof above.  During construction, additional above-ceiling elements were discovered and the ceiling was re-designed to accommodate them, as shown in the 3rd image.   The final image is the completed construction, matching the revised rendering almost exactly.

Main Gymnasium, towards addition at end.  The top image is the existing conditions, and the second is the pre-construction rendering, re-painting in lighter colors, reducing the school colors to a stripe.  During construction, the colors were re-tweaked to add school colors at the structure and ducts, as shown & checked in the third image.   The fourth image is the final photograph.  Nearly everything is similar to the rendering, except the light fixtures show up differently, the structural bracing shows up, as well as additional framing for the goal posts.

Girls' locker Room.  The first image shows the existing conditions, particularly the shower-turned storage. Note the high lockers.  There was a specific owner request for the coach to be able to have visual control of the whole locker room from her office. The second image shows the pre-construction design, as seen form the coach's office, with the room painted a bright white, with limited splashes of school colors.  Note how the lower locker banks allow for visual control.  The third shows the final product.   The red elements were eliminated during construction.

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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The St Bernard Multipurpose Building is Substantially Complete

The Archdiocese of New Orleans received bids for the St. Bernard Archbishop Hannan Multipurpose Building on May 21st 2015. This metal building consists of 3,450 SF of enclosed area and 550 SF of covered area.

The winning Contractor, Boasso Construction, began work in August, with a contract time of about a year, and is expecting to finish by June 2016.  We look forward to working with Archdiocese of New Orleans and Boasso Construction 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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Case Study: Renderings vs Reality at Casper College School of Music

In the course of designing the new School of Music building at Casper College, in 2011, we created several renderings to aid in our design decisions for the major spaces, to make sure they look & feel right.  These were also used to show the owner what they could expect as a final product, and also distributed to them to use as promotional materials to drum up support.

The program we used (the then-cutting edge Autodesk Revit 2011&2012,) allowed us (and our consultants) to model the entire building in the computer before anything was built, allowing us to more accurately visualize how the finished product will generally look.  There are several schools of thought in terms of renderings, but we generally strive towards accuracy, minimizing the amount of embellishment.   There are, of course, levels of detail that are not always present.  For example, often we don't need to spend time modeling the light switches and exit signs to get a good sense of the space, but in general, with a more accurate rendering, the client is made aware of the final appearance of the space, and if any problems are found early on, they can be addressed before they become expensive change orders during construction.

When the project was completed, HMS hired a photographer to document the same spaces.  See below for the comparison, to show how closely the renderings (created entirely in the computer while the site was a grass field) compared to the real world building, more than a year later.

Concert hall from back rear.  Rendering is on top, final picture below.  This rendering is from relatively early in the process, and there has been some subtle tweaking of the design during the final CD stage and construction, notably in the upper ceiling and wall panels, and the lower railings.

Concert hall from center.  This rendering has been updated, showing the revised railings, wall panels, and ceiling panels, changed during value engineering.

Instrumental Rehearsal hall.  Rendering is on top, final picture below.   Both views are from the back of the room towards the front, but are from opposite corners - the whiteboard is the same.  For reference, the room is more or less symmetrical, except for the window.  The curtain is adjustable, and can be opened or closed to suit the acoustics of the room.

Choir Room.  Rendering on top, final picture below.  Rendering is fairly accurate, other than missing furniture and curtains, and some slight material inaccuracies with the wooden slats at the top, the ceiling tile material, and the wall diffuser material.

Percussion Suite.  Rough rendering on top, final photo on bottom.   Views are from opposite corners of the same room, facing the same windows.  All the acoustic panels and casework is modeled correctly, although the same ceiling and wall diffuser material issues are present, and the carpet tile was laid in a slightly different pattern.  Notably, the curved acoustic hanging panels needed to be shifted slightly during construction.

Front Lobby.  Rendering at top, final image below.  All the elements are in place, minus the owner-supplied furniture.  The color balance differs slightly, with reality feeling brighter and fresher than the warm and dark rendering.

Main Stair.  Rendering at top, final photo below.  Note how the stair, railing, lights, and benches are all built more or less as drawn, except for a few finishes, selected later.

Upstairs Lobby  Rendering is on the top, with final photo on the bottom.  Geometry is essentially identical, along with colors.   There are only a few  special system and owner-supplied elements missing from the renderings, and the room in general "feels" darker than reality.

For reference, this building was modeled in then-cutting edge Autodesk Revit 2011 and 2012, and rendered in the same program, on our local computers.  Since then, we have continually improved our rendering technology and skills to create better and more-accurate renderings.

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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