Engineering the Future

UNM Embarks on a New School of Engineering

By Scott Blair

The $42 million Centennial Engineering Center at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque will replace several outdated existing buildings for the School of Engineering. The 147,445-sq-ft building will be the largest new structure ever built at the main campus.

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After idling on the drawing board for nearly 10 years, the Centennial Engineering Center finally broke ground in October at the main Albuquerque campus of the University of New Mexico.

The new center was needed to consolidate all engineering disciplines at the college which were scattered throughout the campus in aging buildings up to 60 years old.

Originally the building was slated to be done in two separate parts. "We thought it would be a $30 million project built in phases because it would be impossible to ask for that much in one piece," says Joe Cecchi, dean of the School of Engineering at UNM. The school began to be successful in raising funds through the state legislature and other sources.

That's when construction costs for materials and labor began escalating.

"It looked like with the rate of escalation, we were barely keeping up with it and we were marking time. UNM recognized this and decided we would bond for some part of the money for a capital project using student fees."

Right before the final appropriation at the legislature, hurricane Katrina hit, causing yet another materials price escalation.

Despite these challenges, Cecchi says: "The good part is we are now building the entire building, rather than constraining programs to fit into one half of the building. The end result is a fully-funded, $42 million project that is the largest ground-up building ever on the main campus."

The school retained Albuquerque design firm Van H. Gilbert Architect, which partnered with Boston-based architect Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbot, to design the 147,445-sq-ft structure. Albuquerque-based Bradbury Stamm Construction was selected as the general contractor.

The quadrangle-shaped building will provide students and faculty with modern classroom and research laboratories in four wings surrounding a central courtyard.

"Engineering is a contact sport," Cecchi says. "We've got to have the latest facility to teach engineering and computer science."

The design intent balances the 21st century biomedical and engineering concepts happening inside with the existing flavor of UNM. "We're trying to give a high-tech look to it, but is it very much a traditional UNM Building," says Michael Hill, project manager with Van H. Gilbert Architect. "To the greatest extent it picks up the UNM fabric of stucco and sloped, battered walls, but then there's glass and metal solar shades."

In October, the aging engineering buildings occupying the site were demolished, leaving just enough space in this high-density part of the campus for the new building.

"This is really an urban-type construction project with almost no access," Hill says. "Everything is staged offsite and will be brought to the site, lifted off the truck, put up into a place or a staging area in the building somewhere. Even the workers have to be bussed in."

The shoring and excavation was recently completed, removing 37,000 cu yds of material to roughly 18 ft below-grade. "Our shoring goes right up to where the site ends," says Dan Lyons, project manager with Bradbury Stamm.

The foundation system is auger-cast concrete piles with pile caps and concrete grade beams. The four-story, structural steel building features one story which sits below grade.

"When we erect the structural steel, we are going to have to do it from down inside the basement," Lyons says. "Usually you'd set up a crane and move around the building, but due to site restrictions, we're going to have the crane down inside the basement and work our way out."

The exterior will feature an EIFS system with the stucco finishing over the face, but one of the most striking elements will be the number of windows in the structure.

"Roughly half the windows face the internal courtyard," Cecchi says. "We didn't ask for that, but it was in Van Gilbert's concept from the start, and we obviously bought into it because we could see what a tremendous feature that is going to be."

The labs will be on the north and south wings of the buildings. While they share the building's mechanical systems, they will also have an added once-through exhaust system attached to fume hoods.

The school has taken advantage of some unique benefits as a result of the project. "The contractors are very open to having our civil engineering and construction classes visit onsite," Cecchi says. "We are starting a lecture series to educate the rest of the school of engineering on how a building like this is built - it is a great educational opportunity."


Key Players

Owner: University of New Mexico
Architect: Van H. Gilbert Architect
General Contractor: Bradbury Stamm
Electrical: Chaparral Electrical Contractors
Mechanical: Miller Bonded
Concrete: Noel Company; Materials Inc.
Steel: Structural Services; W & W Steel