Commerce City’s new civic center is a state-of-the-art, energy-efficient home for the city’s government operations, justice center and police department. Located just south of the Prairie Gateway open space, the building also serves as an entryway to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, which also influenced the project’s design.

The building design emphasizes the importance of civic and environmental responsibility, energy efficiency and the beauty found in both natural and urban environments.

The exterior design weaves together a natural and urban palette with the use of manufactured stone and a zinc metal wall panels. Both materials were selected for their beauty, longevity and ease of maintenance. The cool, white roof reduces the demand on the building’s cooling system and lessens the “heat-island effect.”

The project is projected to save 40% on water through the use of ultra-low-flow plumbing fixtures and landscaping alternatives such as a native, drought-tolerant prairie grass seed mix for the large open areas, accented with other native drought-tolerant species.

Most of the center’s 90,000 sq ft uses access-floor and under-floor air distribution, which enhances energy efficiency, occupant comfort and indoor air quality. Low-emitting materials were used throughout the interior, also enhancing environmental quality. The project is pursuing LEED silver certification.

Commerce City Civic Center
Commerce City

Bronze Hard Hat Award (tie)

Located at 7,815 ft above sea level, Aspen Airport’s single, dilapidated runway was in need of renovation. With only a 60-day airport closure period and no extra days allowed for inclement weather, the $12.7-million project called for intense management of schedule and resources.

Kiewit’s scope of work included:
 • Milling and paving a 7,100-ft asphalt runway, taxiways and shoulders;
 • Replacing deep drainage pipe;
 • Paving the concrete and asphalt terminal areas;
 • Installing future runway sensor system conduit;
 • Constructing an airport-perimeter service road;
 • Setting pavement markings, seeding, lighting and signage.

Before the winter shutdown, crews stockpiled asphalt aggregates, made drainage improvements, screened topsoil and completed electrical line work.

When the airport closed on April 9, Kiewit had 125 employees, a temporary asphalt plant and 87 pieces of equipment onsite. Monitoring the scheduling milestones was critical, especially with liquidated damages of $12,500 per day and a construction pace totaling $300,000 per day.

While the airport’s original plan allowed three taxiways to be closed until Aug. 1, Kiewit incorporated the work into the June 7 opening milestone to minimize impacts. Kiewit worked 24/7, logging more than 50,000 manhours without a recordable incident. Major quantities included 45,000 tons of asphalt, 3,800 ln ft of drainage pipe, 60,000 cu yd of excavation, and 25,000 cu yd of top soil.

Aspen/Pitkin County Airport
Aspen

Bronze Hard Hat Award (tie)

The new Falcon High School in Colorado Springs is a $32-million, 176,000-sq-ft precast, masonry and steel structure that includes a finished auditorium, auxiliary gymnasium and a two-story classroom wing. The school is located on 70 acres, which consists of new baseball, softball, soccer, football fields, a running track, four tennis courts, student and staff parking lots, bus parking with an access road, as well as a water retention pond. Work began on the school in May 2006 and finished in September 2007.

The school is designed to accommodate 1,200 students (grades 9-12) at full capacity. The design encompasses a future two-story classroom wing expansion, future portable classrooms, two tennis courts and additional soccer fields.

The project team collaborated on the auditorium’s mechanical, electrical and fire protection systems using a three-dimensional computer model of the space and inserting 3D-systems models from subcontractors into the virtual environment. As a result of the process, nearly every duct in the auditorium had to be redesigned to coordinate with the steel truss structure. The fire protection system also required numerous revisions to accommodate the revised mechanical ductwork.

This project was designed for LEED-Silver certification, including the use of sunshade canopies along the exterior portion of the walls, interior light shelves to reflect direct sunlight and tubular skylights.

Falcon High School
Colorado Springs

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