Clyfford Still Museum Finalists Named/Pahl-Pahl-Pahl Rebranded as Pahl Architecture/Shoco Oil Completes ULSD Study

The list of firms vying to design the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver was narrowed to three earlier this fall. The finalists will publicly present their proposals on Nov. 6.

Museum Architects to Present Plans in November

Allied Works Architecture of Portland, Diller Scofidio + Renfro of New York, and Ohlhausen DuBois Architects of New York - the three finalists vying to design the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver - will present their proposals to the public on Nov. 6 at the Colorado Convention Center.

The approximately 30,000-sq-ft Clyfford Still Museum will be located within the Denver Civic Center cultural complex on the east side of Bannock Street south of 13th Avenue.
The area is already home to some of the city's most significant cultural amenities such as the Denver Art Museum (North Building, designed by Gio Ponti, 1971; Frederic C. Hamilton Building, designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind and Davis Partnership, 2006), Denver Public Library (designed by Michael Graves, 1995) and the Colorado History Museum.

The Still Museum will accommodate galleries for the artist's work, educational spaces, collection storage, a conservation laboratory, library/archive space and public areas.

Completion is estimated for 2009.

Pahl-Pahl-Pahl Rebrands Itself as Pahl Architecture

Pahl-Pahl-Pahl pc Architects/Planners has a new name: Pahl Architecture.

Founded in 1958 by Joseph W. Pahl, the firm became Pahl & Associates in 1963. The name was changed to Pahl-Pahl-Pahl pc Architects/Planners in 1981. When Joseph W. Pahl retired in 1984, sons Joseph and Robert took over the firm. In 2001 the brothers introduced a new generation of owners by bringing Bret Johnson, Bob Grubb and Laura Tafoya into the ownership group.

The firm is completing the design for the Ritz Carlton Hotel conversion in downtown Denver, working on a second office building for Douglas County and designing a new headquarters fire station for Copper Mountain Consolidated Fire Protection District.

CH2M Hill Wins Contract at Beale Air Force Base

CH2M Hill was awarded a multi-year, $21 million performance-based contract at Beale Air Force Base in California from the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence under the Worldwide Environmental Remediation and Construction Contract.

The Denver-based firm was selected through a competitive bid process.

This is the first time that AFCEE has used a cost-plus incentive, fee-based, performance-based contract for environmental cleanup. Under the terms of the contract, CH2M Hill will complete feasibility studies and decision documents as well as implement final remedial actions across the entire Beale AFB Environmental Restoration Program.

CH2M Hill will receive an incentive fee for early and economical achievement of project objectives. The project is scheduled to begin this month and run through November 2011.

SlaterPaull, Chicago Firm Help UCCS Prepare for Future Growth

SlaterPaull Architects in Denver and Loebl Schlossman & Hackl of Chicago will update the Facilities Strategic Plan for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
UCCS owns 521 acres in El Paso County. The current enrollment is 7,600 students, but the university anticipates nearly 9,000 students a year by 2012. The team will update the university's campus master plan, which was completed in 2000.

Responsibilities include planning for the development and sustainable use of approximately 200 acres of undeveloped campus property, as well as extending the current Facilities Strategic Plan onto undeveloped university-owned land in conjunction with the redevelopment of the North Nevada Street Corridor.

JVA Awarded Several New Engineering Contracts

JVA Inc.'s civil and structural engineering Departments are working with the town of Mead and its wastewater engineer, JB Wright & Associates, for the design of a new wastewater treatment facility. This facility, located on the east side of I-25, will replace the town's aging lagoon system with a sequencing batch reactor facility. This system can remove nitrogen to meet more stringent discharge permit limits and provide enough capacity to meet the town's growth.

The civil engineering group is also handling the new Brighton Middle School with Larson Architects, three prototype elementary schools for Douglas County with RB+B, and the replacement of Bear Creek High School with M+O+A and RTA.

JVA is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Schmueser Gordon Meyer Celebrating 20th Anniversary

Schmueser Gordon Meyer, an engineering and surveying firm founded and headquartered in Glenwood Springs, is celebrating its 20th year in business.

The firm began when former Schmueser & Associates employees Dean Gordon and Louis Meyer bought S&A's engineering and surveying division in 1986. Since then, SGM has grown from two original shareholders to 10 and has more than 70 employees in offices in Glenwood Springs, Aspen, Crested Butte, Meeker and Alaska.

Shoco Oil Helps Evaluate ULSD

Shoco Oil Inc. of Commerce City and Brighton completed an evaluation earlier this year of BP's ultra-low sulphur diesel in Caterpillar's 2007 low-emission engines.
Shoco was chosen to supply the ULSD for a lengthy field test involving thousands of miles with diverse driving and climate conditions.

The evaluation began in Omaha and ended in Yellowknife, in Canada's Northwest Territory. Shoco Oil provided a fuel tanker with a full load of ULSD that followed the test vehicle and provided fuel for the entire trip. The company also provided a local storage and dispensing system, made available 24 hours, seven days a week, for all high-altitude testing done in Colorado.

A.G. Wassnenaar Opens Colorado Springs Office

A.G. Wassnenaar Inc., a geotechnical, environmental engineering and construction materials testing firm, has opened an office in Colorado Springs.

The Colorado Springs office will be headed by Bob Branson, PE, who has 28 years of experience, including seven years in the Colorado Springs area.

Civitas Wins St. Louis Streetscape Project

Civitas was selected to design a $3 million streetscape project on Euclid Street in St. Louis for the Central West End-Midtown Development.

The design goal for these three blocks will be to energize the street by accommodating multi-modal transit, sustainable planting and water treatment and sidewalk cafes.

Denver-based Civitas is familiar with the area, having recently completed the St. Louis Centennial Greenway master plan. The 14-mi.-long bike, pedestrian trail and linear park links two major regional parks and passes through five municipalities.

Civitas designers are also working on a master plan to revitalize 32 mi. of the Los Angeles River into a green amenity, a transit-oriented development and light-rail station in Denver, a new neighborhood in Kansas City, which includes a 20-acre park along the Missouri River, and the 40-acre Museum Park in Miami on Biscayne Bay.

Flatiron Wins $131M Worth of California Highway Contracts

Flatiron Construction's California subsidiary has been awarded two new contracts totaling $131 million. The largest contract is a $91 million California Department of Transportation project to improve the Interstate 238/I-560 and I-880 highways in San Leandro and Hayward, about 10 miles south of Oakland.

The firm also won a $40 million contract to widen 1.5 miles of I-15 in San Diego by constructing managed lanes within the existing freeway median. This project - known as Unit 5 - is part of a larger scheme by California's transportation department to construct managed lanes along approximately 20 miles of the interstate.

MW GOLDEN Lands Lodge Casino Project

MW GOLDEN CONSTRUCTORS was awarded another project for The Lodge Casino in Black Hawk. The $4.1 million project upgrades the south entry off Richman Street with a revolving door leading into expanded gaming space.

The expanded gaming space off the street level will also feature refreshments. The project also adds 50 new games to what used to be a parking area.

River Studio Architects provided the design. Architectural Resource Consultants Inc. in Boulder is handling the contract administration.

RNL Increases Number of LEED AP Staff

Denver's RNL announced has purchased wind power to run its offices in support of the firm's commitment to sustainable design practices.

RNL bought 252,685 kwh from Renewable Choice Energy in the form of green e-certified Renewable Energy Certificates. The program makes it possible for any project or building, anywhere in the country to purchase green power.

The firm's purchase equates to preventing 351,738 lbs of CO2 pollution - effectively taking 31 cars off the road.

Two more RNL employees have also passed the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED exam - Ann Baker, specifications writer; and Curtis Scharfenaker, principal. They join the firm's other 32 LEED-accredited professionals. More than 35 percent of RNL's total design staff is now LEED accredited.