Project Name: Al Moosa Medical Group Facility

Company Name: HDR

Project Location: Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia

Project Information/Details: The final design of the 60,000-square-meter facility, to be located in Al-Ahsa, recently was unveiled by Malek Al Moosa, the CEO of Al Moosa Medical Group as part of the group’s greater mission to expand their reach across the Kingdom to address a need for specialized rehabilitation and long-term care hospitals in the region. This new facility was designed within the virtual environment, employing virtual reality (VR) to design each major space as a means of design iteration, allowing for real-time feedback. The new facility will be a rehabilitation and long-term care oasis in the region, including rehabilitation programs for sports injuries, bone injuries for adults and children, spinal injuries, and neural and brain injuries. The state-of-the-art facility was designed by HDR, who consistently ranks among the best in global hospital design and fifth among the top 100 international design companies. HDR brought together design and planning experts to create a master plan for the new facility for Al Moosa that reflects the highest level of international medical and architectural design. The rehabilitation and long-term care hospital will be located in Eastern Al Ahsa. It is designed as a micro village that embraces nature and the surrounding landscape. The master plan take its inspiration from the Al-Ahsa region’s natural landform of an oasis, while the building des­­­ign fosters healing through its connection to nature. The new facility will stand as the northern gateway to Al-Ahsa that will leave a lasting impression as a striking landmark.­ “The new project is aligned with the Saudi 2030 Vision for the future of healthcare and empowering the private sector. It will transform Al Ahsa city from an agricultural oasis into a thoughtful healing oasis, where patients and their families are truly in the center of our care,” said Al Moosa. “It will be the healthcare destination for patients from all over the Kingdom and the GCC region. Patients and their families will feel welcome, respected and comfortable to make this place their home away from home.” All spaces were designed to create the most positive experience for patients, with the least amount of anxiety and stress possible. Patients and visitors will arrive through a five-star hotel-style lobby with ample waiting areas flanked by retail outlets, including a pharmacy and dining, as well as a hanging garden and water features. The double-height volume and clear layout will allow visitors to navigate the facility intuitively. Patient rooms are designed to enhance the patient and visitor experience, allowing space for families and loved ones to visit and connect socially, and with views to the local steppe landscape. “We are thrilled to be working with Al Moosa group to bring an answer to the increasing need for rehabilitation and long-term care services in Al Ahsa,” said Mohammed Ayoub, Vice President and Design Director at HDR. “The simple, yet elegant plan is based on an efficient model of world-class care, while it also embraces the local culture and values of the residents of the Kingdom.” The new facility takes into great consideration reducing energy consumption and preserving the surrounding environment. Key features of the master plan include: Tiered green steps originating on the ground level rise to the rehab center containing the gym and pool, shading the parking below and offering healing and visual engagement for patients and staff as part of the rehabilitation regimen. The gym and pool structure exhibits an expansive green roof. An enclosed garden within the lobby, supplemented by personalized gardens and rehabilitative green spaces at every inpatient floor of the bed tower, assures that everyone has access to nature, irrespective of mobility. A protective enclosure created by the seamless and continuous solar screen wraps both the taller inpatient bed tower, as well as the lower rehab gym and pool. Expressing the human instinct to care for our most vulnerable, the sinuous screen follows an undulating pattern and is designed to parametrically change from façade to façade to compensate for the solar heat gain of its specific location and function. On the inpatient tower, the screen opens up to the multi-level hanging gardens at the corners of each triangular floor plate. The 24-bed unit is efficient and functional, setting the framework for a universal model of care and allowing the facility to flex and change to accommodate the way particular units function, evolve, expand and contract. This flexibility further represents the dynamic changes in health delivery taking place in the Kingdom. The project team is slated to break ground on the project before the end of 2018. Its development will create more than 850 construction jobs, and, once complete, the building will employ at least 1,000 people. *To view VR-video footage of the new facility please see Twitter. About HDR’s Healthcare Experience At HDR, we blend our deep knowledge of healthcare delivery with our understanding of how environments can shape behaviors and outcomes to create solutions for clients that respect the human impact of their work. We seek to constantly champion human-centered design, solve real-life problems, and advance health and wellness. About HDR For more than a century, HDR has partnered with clients to shape communities and push the boundaries of what’s possible. Our expertise spans 10,000 employees, in more than 225 locations around the world — and counting. Our engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services bring an impressive breadth of knowledge to every project. Our optimistic approach to finding innovative solutions defined our past and drives our future

Project Name: Boardwalk Café Building and East Games Area

Company Name: The LiRo Group

Project Location: Wantagh, New York United States

Project Information/Details: The LiRo Group served as construction manager for the new, $20 million Boardwalk Café building and Phase II of the East Games Area at Jones Beach State Park, New York State’s second-most visited park, trailing only Niagara Falls. In 2017, Jones Beach drew 5.95 million visitors. The project is part of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s NY Parks 2020 initiative. The Cafe was designed by Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners (BBB) and Studio Rhodeside Harwell Landscape Architecture designed the East Games Area. “The project encompassed the construction of a new one-story concessions building and a games area with separate sections for children and adults. The LiRo Group also managed the construction of the new decking on the adjacent section of the boardwalk,” said LiRo Vice President Frank S. Franco, AIA. New York State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey said, “The Boardwalk Café will be the place to relax and take in all the action along the boardwalk and beach. I’m grateful for Governor Cuomo’s leadership in revitalizing the public spaces at Jones Beach and providing the very best recreation and tourism opportunities to residents and visitors all across New York.” The new Boardwalk Cafe honors the architecture of the original, Moses-era restaurant building and seamlessly fits into its surroundings, while accommodating Jones Beach Park’s need for a modern, functional facility that can efficiently serve tens of thousands of visitors every year. Photo by Jenna Trotta According to BBB Managing Partner Frederick A. Bland, FAIA, AICP, “The design team wanted the utilitarian food service structure to make an architectural statement at a pivotal location where the Central Mall intersects with the boardwalk and the beach. We wanted to honor the architecture of the former restaurant and seamlessly embed the new structure into its surroundings, while accommodating the client’s need for a modern, functional facility that would efficiently serve tens of thousands of visitors every year.” The East Games Area’s children’s section features a new 2,000-square foot splash pad Adventure Course with an 85 gallons-per-minute water flow Vortex Splashpad system consisting of 20 spray features; sculptural, dune-shaped concrete features with a partial rubber pellet finish in earth tones and blues; decorative side walls of cast-in-place concrete with natural sandstone facing; water-resistant Brazilian ipe wood and stainless steel benches with embedded electrical illumination; and four steel shade structures with PVC roofs anchored in concrete footings, with uplights illuminating them at night. The adult games area features shuffleboard courts, concrete table tennis tables, a bocce ball court with shade structures, a bean bag toss area, teak lounges, and ipe tables and benches with umbrellas. In addition to the open central dining area, called the Market Hall, the new Boardwalk Café building houses offices of the concessionaire Centerplate and the zipline operator WildPlay, a kitchen, storage rooms, and public restrooms. Centerplate operates the restaurant and offers a variety of healthy and traditional summer foods. Photo by Peter Wilk/Wilk Marketing Communications The Boardwalk Café’s history dates back to the 1930s. A fire destroyed the original café in 1964, and its replacement restaurant, opened in 1968, was closed in 2004 due to structural failures. Due to the low-bearing, sandy soil, the new building is erected on the foundation system of 52 12-inch steel H-piles driven 45 feet deep into the ground and 32 16-inch steel pipe piles driven 31 feet into the ground. The poured-in-place concrete floor of the building is elevated 20 feet above sea level to protect the structure from potential natural disasters. The building features a steel structural frame with brick front and side exterior walls and a siding-covered rear wall. To maintain visual consistency of the park, the new structure’s architecture is an updated interpretation of the original Jones Beach buildings, erected in the 1930s. The 1.7-acre East Games Area features a 2,000-square foot splash Adventure Course with 20 oversized, grass-like spray elements; sculptural, dune-shaped concrete features with a partial rubber pellet finish in earth tones and blues; decorative side walls of cast-in-place concrete with natural sandstone facing; water-resistant Brazilian ipe wood and stainless steel benches; four steel shade structures with PVC roofs; shuffleboard courts; concrete table tennis tables; a bocce ball court with shade structures; a bean bag toss area; teak lounges; and ipe tables and benches with umbrellas. Photo by Peter Wilk/Wilk Marketing Communications In addition to the open central dining area, called the Market Hall, the new building houses offices of the concessionaire Centerplate and the zipline operator WildPlay, a kitchen, storage rooms, and public restrooms. Centerplate operates the restaurant and offers a variety of healthy and traditional summer foods. The LiRo Group and other members of the construction team completed the project within a challenging, accelerated schedule of only ten months, despite the inclement weather conditions during the previous winter. “Several extreme cold periods would have typically prevented the pouring of concrete, which cannot cure in low temperature, delaying the completion schedule,” explained LiRo’s Project Manager Sal Grasso. “However, we addressed this issue by erecting temporary tents and using space heaters to allow the concrete pouring to continue. When the weather improved, we also extended work to 10 hours per day to further accelerate the construction schedule.” During the excavation phase, the team faced a high water table due to the site’s proximity to the ocean. To counteract this, the crews erected cofferdams and used high-capacity pumps to allow the excavation to proceed on schedule. “Beyer Blinder Belle, along with landscape architecture firm Studio Rhodeside Harwell, led a multi-disciplinary team to develop a conceptual revitalization master plan for the future of Jones Beach Park. The new Boardwalk Café was a part of the overall plan for the Park,” explained BBB Associate Noerah F. Alvi, AIA, LEED AP. “The Café features an expansive outdoor area, including two levels of ipe wood terraces with tables, so that visitors can enjoy views of the beach and the ocean while having a meal or refreshments. Meanwhile, the new structure’s architecture recalls the vocabulary of the earlier Moses-era building. For example, the exterior features bricks of similar size and color as other original structures within the Park, as well as traditional brick piers, awnings, and a colonnade,” she added. One of the design challenges was FEMA’s requirement that the building is elevated 20-ft above the water level. “We camouflaged the pile system that supports the building with cascading outdoor dining terraces as well as landscaped berms,” said Bland. The most interesting – and dramatic – architectural feature of the new Boardwalk Café is the 2,050-square foot tensile fabric roof of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) Teflon®-coated woven fiberglass membrane stretched over the centrally located main dining and service area. BBB specified this system to visually connect the Café to the nearby games area, which features similarly shaped shade structures. The tensile roof system includes two metal poles and a structural metal frame on the perimeter. The remainder of the building features a standard flat roof. “To increase the building’s visibility at night, we installed a lighting system that illuminates the semi-translucent fabric roof from inside. To make it even more visually prominent, the colors of these lights change, creating a strong, playful presence visible from a great distance,” said Alvi. Another interesting element of the lighting system is the LED light strip hidden underneath the handrails of the exterior stairs.

Project Name: Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge

Company Name: Fluor Corporation

Project Location: New York City, New York United States

Project Information/Details: Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) announced today that the final span of the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, which replaced the Tappan Zee Bridge, will open to drivers beginning Saturday, September 8, 2018, when all four lanes of eastbound traffic will shift to the new second span. The eastbound span will consist of four general purpose traffic lanes, two emergency shoulders, space for a dedicated bus lane and an advanced traffic monitoring system. The westbound bridge will remain in a temporary configuration while crews complete the bridge’s shared-use path connecting Westchester (New York) and Rockland (New York) counties for pedestrians and cyclists. “Fluor is honored to have been the lead design-builder for this project,” said Terence Easton, president of Fluor’s infrastructure business line. “We are proud of the team that delivered the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge to New York. This is a landmark project that provides a vital link to the region and improves daily commerce.” The New York State Thruway Authority, in partnership with the Fluor-led joint venture of Tappan Zee Constructors, LLC – comprised of American Bridge Company, Granite Construction Northeast, Inc. and Taylor Bros., Inc. – replaced the old bridge with a new 3.1-mile state-of-the-art, twin-span, cable-stayed bridge crossing the Hudson River between Westchester and Rockland counties. The cable-stayed main span is supported by eight 419-foot towers, which stand at five-degree angles and feature a sleek, chamfered design. The iconic towers support 192 stay cables, which are made up of roughly 4,900 miles of steel strands. The Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is one of the largest single design-build contracts for a transportation project in the United States and is the largest bridge project in New York state history.