At the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Excellence in Construction Award Gala, Birmingham-based Robins & Morton won three 2020 National Excellence in Construction Awards in the healthcare and institutional categories on March 10.
The Chandler Center for Environmental Studies at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and the Miami Beach Convention Center Alternate Care Facility in Miami Beach, Florida, won Eagle awards – equivalent to first place. Cherokee Indian Hospital’s Phase II Behavioral Health and Crisis Stabilization Unit won a Pyramid Award, which is equivalent to second place.
Projects are eligible to compete for a national excellence designation after earning award-winning status in their respective regions.
The Chandler Center for Environmental Studies at Wofford College. The Chandler Center is a three-story, 17,535-square-foot higher education facility featuring laboratory, lecture and office spaces. The design goal was to create a building that reflected the ideals behind the subject matter it worked to teach. Several unique features include an exposed ceiling made of sustainably sourced cross-laminated timber; a cistern that captures rainwater from the roof to irrigate the landscape and a greenhouse; dashboards that monitor the building’s energy use; lightwells, glass and glazing to provide a profusion of natural light; and solar panels to supply the building’s energy needs, including HVAC systems, during the day.
Miami Beach Convention Center Alternate Care Facility. In Miami Beach, Florida, Robins & Morton completed the 450-bed Miami Beach Convention Center Alternate Care Facility, intended to support patient surge or overflow during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The design included 400 acute care patient rooms, 50 isolation rooms, nurses stations and support areas. To turn more than 250,000 square feet of exhibit hall into a functioning hospital, construction crews installed medical gas lines, duct work, plumbing, electrical and data wiring and patient-room headwalls with patient communication, equipment and oxygen connections. The team completed the work in just under two weeks.
Cherokee Indian Hospital Phase II: Behavioral Health and Crisis Stabilization Unit. Cherokee Indian Hospital is located in Cherokee, North Carolina, and its phase II addition included a two-story, nearly 77,000-square-foot addition. The addition provides community members with both inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment and behavioral health services. Primarily designed to support the unique needs of behavioral health patient care, the addition also incorporates nods to Cherokee tradition and heritage, including storytelling through a terrazzo floor, columns that resemble trees, and the exterior “wind” pattern, also found on the main hospital constructed by Robins & Morton in 2015.
In addition to these national awards, Robins & Morton also took home 28 Excellence and Merit Awards from the Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama, North Alabama, Florida East Coast, Greater Tennessee, Central Florida, South Texas and Carolinas chapters.
The Excellence in Construction Awards program was developed to honor innovative and high-quality merit shop construction projects. The Awards honor all construction team members, including the contractor, owner, architect and engineer. The winning projects are judged on complexity, attractiveness, unique challenges, completion time, quality, innovation, safety and cost.