A 'Green' Use for an Old Gym
by K. Robert Wendel

When Albuquerque High School shut down in the early 1970s, the cheers in its gymnasium gave way to silence - and occasional vandalism.

Now, there's something to cheer about again in the old gym. The structure is being redeveloped under "Green Building" guidelines into upscale condominiums part of a larger project that is creating a rebirth in the once- rundown area.

"The nature of historic preservation certainly lends itself to green building. The idea of reuse one of the key principals in green building," said Amber Kennington, chief operating officer of developer Paradigm and Company.

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"Along those lines, we felt like going ahead and upholding the intent of green construction. A L.E.E.D. certified building was something whose time as has come."

Albuquerque's Paradigm and Company and Richardson and Richardson Construction completed the restoration of the old Albuquerque High Classroom building in February into apartments, and a slew of new live/work units on Arno Street are adding critical mass to the area's redevelopment.

Paradigm and Richardson and Richardson are teaming up again, along with local architect Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, to renovate the 64,000-sq.-ft. gymnasium under Leadership in Environmental Engineering and Design guidelines.

"Quite a bit of the efforts in L.E.E.D. certification are in the materials and resources and that includes building reuse," said architect Ashley Burkholder of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini. "We are getting the bulk of our points in materials and resources, with a heavy component of indoor environmental quality."

Burkholder said that in addition to high- efficiency mechanical systems, the condo's homeowner association contract calls for no smoking in the building, even in individually owned units.

Fifty-four condominium units are being created in the old gym, ranging in size from 650 to 1,300 sq. ft. Unit prices have not been set. The project's construction value is $6 million, and the job should be completed in February.

Designers employed a cooling tower to keep the units cool, along with high- efficiency heat pumps controlled individually from the units. Existing clerestory windows will be operable, allowing cross ventilation. The windows also provide a large percentage of natural day lighting, another L.E.E.D. design component.

A continuous- pump boiler provides hot water directly to the plumbing fixtures, which are all low flow. The continuous pump cuts down water wasted while waiting for the hot water to flow.

Other "green building" techniques included recycling demolished concrete and steel, and recycling construction waste on site. The contractor said the efforts didn't result in much extra cost.

Contractors are also refurbishing and reusing as much of the original building as possible, including the old windows.

"A big point was the reuse of existing parts of the building," said project manager Mark Carroll of Richardson and Richardson Construction. "We are refurbishing all the old windows and putting double-pane, low E glass. It gives the same properties as triple- pane windows, but in a double- pane assembly."

The main gym area will see 20 new units in two levels and 10 units in the former cafeteria. Other units are tucked into the wrestling room, music room and girls gym. In the gym, a 30-ft.- wide corridor runs down the center of the basketball court, flanked by units on both sides.

The original wood bleachers are being retained in the gym's bleacher section, with split-level units flanking them. The second- floor units also feature interior mezzanines with the original exposed steel trusses.

"We are going with the spirit of the area in rebuilding downtown, and that's why we left the bleachers,""We are going to keep the bleacher intact, so it looks like it always did and gives you a pretty good feel for what this once was," said architect Joe Boehning of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini. A steel frame riding on footings below the cafeteria supports the new units in the gym and creates a difficult erection situation. Contractors must somehow slide the steel beams through holes in the gym floor without the use of cranes or heavy machinery.

"We are going to cut holes through the floors, drop the steel columns and get them brace framed, but we have to miss all those concrete beams in the cafeteria," Carroll said. "There is no opportunity to get any equipment into the building, so we are going to have to use block and tackle, king falls and hoists. No cranes."

Ninety tons of new structural steel will be used in the project.

As with any renovation, there are always surprises awaiting. Crews hoped they could keep the old original gypsum plank underneath the roof sheathing, but they found years of moisture damage to the roof, so the gypsum had to be replaced with steel sheathing. The building will be capped with an insulated, standing- seam metal roof.

"The gypsum is so porous it just sucks the moisture in there," Carroll said. "There was a tremendous amount of water damage on the perimeter or those planks, and the center mesh was completely rotted out. It really caught us with our pants down."

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