Imagination prompts award-winning facility designs

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Brian S. Orban
  • 366th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office
MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho (ACCNS) --  Wait five years to raise a new facility?

For architects and facility design experts with the 366th Civil Engineer Squadron, it's business as usual.

Like other military installations around the world, base engineers here develop long-range plans spanning several years to demolish aging buildings and replace them with modern facilities that blend together the latest advances in architecture and technology. It involves plenty of imagination and a whole lot of patience to bring these ideas to life.

The drive to improve the quality of work areas here paid off this month when Air Combat Command officials presented the squadron's architects and design experts with two awards for design excellence. They earned ACC's facility design honor award for the 726th Air Control Squadron's new complex and the concept design merit award for the base operations and radar approach control facility currently under construction.
According to Scott Mayberry, 366th CES engineering flight chief, it takes constant planning and coordination between ACC engineers and building contractors to turn a set of blueprints into an award-winning facility.

"It's a great thing for the base in terms of how much real flexibility we do have in making sure that our buildings are unique and functional," said Mr. Mayberry. "Base [engineers] come up with some fantastic ideas and work extremely close with the users to come up with not only beautiful setting for the facilities and exteriors, but ... within the compliance of what the user needs to make these facilities extremely functional as well as energy efficient."

It also takes flexibility to turn plain-looking facilities into fantastic working environments and requires engineers to balance Air Force, major command, architectural and professional standards into the finished project.

Engineers here have the option to make changes to design specifications even after construction starts. It's this flexibility - what Mr. Mayberry calls a "palate of choices" - that helped the base earn this year's ACC honors. During the design and construction phases on most projects, the base has a variety of options available including building colors, landscaping, electrical distribution plans and heating, ventilation and air conditioning arrangements.

"[This] allows the architects and engineers to make certain decisions about those facilities that make them more functional," said Marty Ray, project manager on the 726th ACS and base operations construction programs.

Some projects, like the 391st Aircraft Maintenance Unit building currently under construction, gave engineers here a lot of say in terms of how the final building will look, Mr. Mayberry said. They dictated the exact location of the building's entry ways along with other design features to make it functional and pleasing to the eye.

The base operations project is another example, he added. The original design came in "pretty plain Jane" in terms of some of the architectural features, especially on the interior features.

Architects and officials with the local Army Corps of Engineers office worked with their CE counterparts to blend more features into the overall design, including a curved canopy on its east side to protect people from the weather. Inputs like these led to revolutionary additions to the project that helped conserve energy, improve functionality and greatly enhanced its overall appearance without driving up costs, Mr. Mayberry added.

The Army Corps of Engineers staff "took the nebulous base ideas and turned them into award winning designs," Mr. Mayberry said. "They are very good at what they do, and we treat them as an integral extension of our staff."

Mission needs drive military construction projects and need Congressional approval and funding before construction starts. It takes an average of five years before ground breaks on a project, but special cases can accelerate the process, Mr. Mayberry said. It took two years for Congress to approve the 726th ACS project following an Air Force-wide move to consolidate air control squadrons at places like Mountain Home. The move doubled the size of the unit here in terms of manning and equipment.

"In this particular case, we were able to convince [visiting Congressmen] that this was important enough building to move ahead of what that normal process would be," he said.

In contract, the base operations project remained in the proposal stage for eight years before it received Congressional funding.

However, the years of waiting pay off when people move into their new building, according to Mr. Ray.

The 726th ACS project, which opened in June 2006, includes an 11,200 square-foot supply building and a 29,000 square-foot vehicle maintenance bay, allowing the unit's people to move from four buildings scattered across the base into two co-located facilities. The $9.2 million program also included a vehicle parking area capable of holding the squadron's entire fleet of government vehicles and towed equipment.

"It allows them to get everybody under one roof or within walking distance of each other," Mr. Mayberry said.

When it's finished in September 2007, the new base operations facility will house the base operations and weather shops along with the radar approach controllers.

"What we're trying to achieve is 'one-stop' shopping for our pilots ... so they've got everybody they need to see right there at base ops," Mr. Mayberry said. "When they go in there ... they just drop off their paperwork and head off for their jets."

The new facility is a "step in the right direction," said Capt. Mark Zampogna, director of operations with the 366th Operations Support Squadron airfield operations flight. Having people from these agencies within arm's reach makes it easier for these organizations to coordinate on issues affecting flying operations here.

"There's no substitute for face-to-face contact," the captain said.