NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center has awarded an $11.2 million contract to Comfort & Hays Electric, Inc. of Long Beach, Calif., for construction of a 38,000-square-foot Facilities Support Center at its main campus on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
The single-story building will provide office and technical spaces for NASA Dryden’s Facilities Engineering and the Asset Management department as well as the Safety, Health and Environmental Office, combining in one structure functions that are currently performed in several obsolete and inefficient facilities on the Dryden campus. The building plan includes office space, conference rooms, restrooms and shower/changing facilities, workshops, storage mezzanine, laundry and laboratories.
The building has been designed with environmental sensitivity and resource efficiency in mind, and Dryden will be seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum certification, the highest level or certification issued by the Green Building Certification Institute.
Among environmental and energy saving features of the new structure are building-mounted photovoltaic systems, enhanced ventilation systems designed to take advantage of ambient conditions for improved heating and cooling, automatic interior lighting controls that increase or decrease lighting levels based on outside lighting, use of a combination of transparent and translucent siding materials. In addition, the Facilities Support Center will feature at least 20 percent recycled content in its construction and drought-tolerant xeriscaping around its perimeter.
Based on building energy consumption simulations, NASA Dryden facilities engineers forecast that energy consumption will be reduced about 36 percent over conventional construction.
The Facilities Support Center is the second new structure at Dryden for which the center is seeking LEED certification. The first, the Consolidated Information Technology Center, is nearing completion and Dryden will be seeking LEED silver certification for that building.
The firm fixed-price contract calls for the new structure to be completed within 540 calendar days, with an estimated completion date in April 2013, barring unforeseen delays. Comfort & Hays’ primary construction subcontractor on the project is AMG & Associates, Inc., of Upland, Calif.
For more about NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden
The rear of the new Facilities Support Center at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center is illustrated in this artist’s concept.
A light and airy office environment will be featured in the new Facilities Support Center to be built at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards.
by Alan Brown, Public Affairs
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Original article: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/NewsReleases/2011/11-35.html
