FSB: AIACOC chapter’s firm of the year

Frankfurt-Short-Bruza Associates (FSB) was named the Soloman Andrew Layton, or Firm of the Year, award winner this week by the American Institute of Architects Central Oklahoma Chapter during an awards ceremony.

The award, named for the noted architect who designed the Skirvin Hotel and the Oklahoma Capitol, is presented once every two years to a firm that has distinguished itself over the past five years, to the betterment of the profession and community through leadership, vision and design, the firm said.

Over the years, FSB said it has played a major role in the growth and development of Oklahoma City, most notably in the last 10 years.

In 1994, then-Mayor Ron Norick turned to FSB to help create a master plan for the future of Oklahoma City that ultimately became the Metropolitan Area Projects, or MAPS, the firm said. The firm said its “creative concept designs for the nine projects of MAPS helped gain early momentum for the sales tax that eventually funded the projects.

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FSB also said it was the first to suggest and create a plan for state officials for the relocation of Interstate 40. That project, still in its early planning stages, has not resulted yet in construction.

“Because of FSB’s national reputation in aviation design and background in helping communities plan for the future, FSB was called upon again in 2002, this time to assist the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and Battelle-Oklahoma in their aviation growth plans for the city,” the firm said. “FSB rolled up their sleeves and began the process to help develop what has now become known as the Oklahoma MROTC project or Oklahoma Maintenance Repair Overhaul Technology Center.”

“This project will ultimately become the key to the metropolitan area’s future as an aviation leader.”

 

 

Matt Maile welcomes your comments and contributions. You may reach him by phone at 278-2838, by fax at 278-2890 or by e-mail at [email protected].

These Walls: Conoco Museum

PONCA CITY – From its similarities to an old-fashioned oil can, Carla O’Neill suspects some people may hesitate before stepping through the 35-foot-tall cylinder to enter Ponca City’s Conoco Museum. Their imaginations just don’t think big enough.

Conoco Museum, exterior photo of the front entrance at night“The entry was kind of an abstraction of the Conoco cylindrical petroleum tanks that are directly across the street to the south,” said FSB Senior Design Project Manager John Osborne, who oversaw the 9,000-square-foot museum project.Conoco Museum, interior photo

That $5 million effort put Osborne in a team with the honored British museum exhibit designers Bill Haley and Haley Sharpe, whose firm Haley Sharpe Design also worked on the Oklahoma History Center.  Together the designers used the Ponca City building structure for symbolic references to Conoco’s history. The shiny metal and glass entrance, lighted glass blocks in the corners, circular sidewalk and eye-popping interior graphics provide both a contemporary and futuristic atmosphere meant to convey Conoco’s long use of cutting-edge technologies. The traditional brick and stone walls parallel older surrounding structures, links to the company’s proud past as both Conoco and Marathon Oil.  Built over a utility easement, the Conoco Museum required a removable rear canopy that presented both regulatory and design challenges. But since the building is dominated by 7,000 square feet of open space, primarily meant for static exhibits, Frankfort Short Bruza’s role involved many technical elements dependent on Haley Sharpe’s product demands. Still, Osborne enjoyed the project.  “They came at it with a slightly different tack on design,” Osborne said of Haley Sharpe. “It was just a fun, unique experience.”

O’Neill, who manages the museum, said the design team did a remarkable job of maximizing their resources.  “The building does not look large from the outside, but because of the setup and the circular flow, we were able to cover so many areas,” she said. “There’s not very many 90-degree corners. It’s very curved. It’s not completely curved to make people dizzy, but there’s a definite flow to it so that when people come in they are pleasantly surprised at the depth of the displays.”

That starts once visitors step through that petroleum tank entryway to encounter a curved wall covered with graphics. “The first thing people see tells a story, and opens you up to the rest of the museum,” she said.  With 3,000 artifacts on display, O’Neill said many people find themselves needing a second visit to take it all in.  “All this was printed in England and had to be shipped over by boat because it was too heavy to ship any other way,” she said.

Haley Sharpe also sent their own installation team to make the audio-visual displays work just right.  “It’s fabulous,” she said. “This museum far exceeds the expectations of everybody who comes in. I can say that truly, without a doubt.”

The project started three years ago, when ConocoPhillips decided to celebrate Oklahoma’s centennial by giving the state two free museums, one telling the story of Conoco, the other detailing the history of Phillips Petroleum. Both opened in 2007, the Bartlesville gift taking up shop in a former Arvest Bank location, while the Ponca City depository opened in the structure built by hometown contractor Rick Scott Construction.

Jim Mulva, ConocoPhillips chairman and chief executive officer, said the museums reaffirmed the Houston company’s Oklahoma roots. With one full-time employee and a few part-times, the Conoco Museum recorded 15,000 visitors its first year, operating on a $500,000 budget. “The entire design is meant to showcase quality,” said O’Neill. “I think it’s a very inviting place. And with the landscaping, it makes it kind of pretty.”

ARPC moves to Buckley Air Force Base

The Headquarters Air Reserve Personnel Center is on the move!

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Tuesday, where Lt. Gen. Charles E. Stenner Jr., Air Force Reserve Command commander officiated. He was joined to cut the ribbon by Col. Patricia Blassie, Commander, ARPC; Col. Daniel Dant, Commander, 460th Space Wing, Mr. Robert Michaels, Chief of Construction Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Mr. John Sampson, president of Sampson Construction; Mr. Art Austin, Project Principal from Frankfurt Short Bruza Architects and Engineers; and Mr. Mark Ringenberg, Project Manager, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District.

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The ribbon is cut! Senior leadership and community partners participated in the official ribbon cutting for the new Air Reserve Personnel Center at Buckley Air Force Base July 19. (From left) Mark Ringenberg, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District project manager, John Sampson, president of Sampson Construction, Col. Pat Blassie, ARPC commander, Lt. Gen. Charles E. Stenner, commander of Air Force Reserve Command, Col. Dan Dant, 460th Space Wing commander, Robert Michaels, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers chief of Construction Division Omaha District, and Art Austin, Frankfurt Short Bruza Architects and Engineers project principal. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Quinn Jacobson, ARPC/PA)

The center will relocate to Buckley Air Force Base, Colo. and open its doors August 1, 2011. The new 80,000 square foot facility, estimated at $17 million will house personnel who provide administrative support to more than 980,000 Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard forces to ensure they are available in the event of a national emergency. The Center provides support throughout their military careers, from initial entry to retirement, including assignments, promotions and separations.

The mailing address for the new facility is HQ ARPC/(Office Symbol), 18420 E. Silver Creek Ave, Bldg 390, MS68, Buckley AFB CO 80011. Telephone numbers have also changed, contact us by calling 800-525-0102, option 3.

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Ribbon Cutting Lt. Gen. Charles E. Stenner, commander of Air Force Reserve Command, speaks during the Air Reserve Personnel Center Headquarters Building ribbon cutting July 19. The event officially opened the new 80,000 square-foot, headquarters building at Buckley Air Force Base. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Quinn Jacobson, ARPC/PA)
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Ceremonial cake cutting Following the ribbon cutting for the new Air Reserve Personnel Center at Buckley Air Force Base July 19, Lt. Gen. Charles E. Stenner, commander of Air Force Reserve Command, (left) and Col. Pat Blassie, ARPC commander, cut the cake that represents Air Reserve Personnel Center’s present time at Lowry Air Force Base, 1976-2011. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Quinn Jacobson, ARPC/PA)

Longtime Norman Resident Awarded Lifetime Achievement Award

Architect Fred Schmidt, FAIA and principal of FSB, recently was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

norman-transcript_fred-schmidt-lifetime-achievement-awardThe state award recognizes a lifetime of distinguished leadership and dedication in the architecture profession and in the community. The award is AIA Oklahoma’s highest honor, and only three such awards have been presented to date. Schmidt’s involvement in the architecture industry is most notable in his passion to advance the architecture profession through public awareness of quality architecture, through educational programs focused on architecture for K-12 students and by mentoring college architecture majors.

“We are so extremely proud of Fred,” Rick Johnson, FSB COO, said. “It is an honor at FSB for one of our principals to be recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by peers in the industry. Fred is most deserving for what he has done for the industry and for his body of work that has improved the quality of many communities.”

Schmidt also is highly involved in the community through the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce Board of Advisors. He is a Leadership Oklahoma City alumnus — Class XXII, a past president of the AIA Central Oklahoma and is active on many other community committees and boards. Much of his career has been devoted to youth in our community and his positive impact in many young lives through mentorship, guidance and leadership by example is immeasurable.

“As architects, we are stewards of the built environment and must be diligent in creating public awareness of the positive virtues of a quality built environment and of the value of the architect’s role and contribution to that environment, We must also lead by example and work with those young people that come behind us to inspire, mentor and help in any way we can,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt has 38 year’s experience providing leadership, management and business development services to the design industry. He is a distinguished author and guest lecturer. As a principal at FSB, he leads the market sector for the firm’s education division. Some of Schmidt’s notable project highlights include the state capitol dome, the Advanced Technology Center at Oklahoma State University, The Center for Transformative Learning at University of Central Oklahoma and the Chickasaw Visitor Center. His educational materials on architectural learning have found their way to schools and homes around the world through the students he has enlightened.

His published work includes “In Shape for Learning — Oklahoma Capitol Dome Curriculum,” “The Architectural Mentor Guidebook,” and “Oklahoma City by Design / Architecture by Alphabet,” among others.

Considered a thought leader in the architecture community, Schmidt created and maintains the Design Matters blog that educates numerous readers. Schmidt has single handedly published weekly posts for nearly three years. The blog has received more than 35,406 hits and has been viewed in more than 110 countries. Schmidt graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in architecture, where he also won the Outstanding Alumni award in 2010 from the College of Architecture.

He is active at the University of Oklahoma, having served eight years as an adjunct professor with the College, where he taught design and professional practice curriculum. His students recognized Schmidt as the most inspiring and among the best design instructors they had at OU. He served on the OU College of Architecture Board of Visitors and is currently the chair of the Professional Advisory Board of the Division of Architecture.

Schmidt is a Norman resident of 46 years. He and his wife, Kathleen, have three children.

Construction About to Begin on New Residence Halls at NOC

Frankfurt Short Bruza (FSB), an Oklahoma City architecture and engineering firm, announced construction is about to begin  for two new residence halls for Northern Oklahoma College (NOC) at their Enid and Tonkawa campuses.

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View of two new residence halls – one at the NOC Enid campus and one at the NOC Tonkawa campus

These 84 bed, 20,000 square feet dormitories are the first new residential construction for the college in 30 years. Students will be outfitted with modern semi-suite dorm rooms consisting of four beds and a shared bathroom, walk-in closets, and Wi-Fi available throughout the building.

The interior of the two residence halls will be very  similar, but building exteriors will vary to match the architectural style of each campus. There will also be a recreation room in each hall that doubles as a storm shelter. Designed to FEMA standards, the storm shelters are above ground with reinforced concrete walls.

The central lobbies will have informational screens about the campus’ activities and flat screen TVs. In order to provide students with a balance between communal and private space, study nooks were designed into the building, including space in the laundry facilities. Construction for both projects will continue simultaneously and is scheduled to open in July 2015.

FSB utilized Hollis & Miller Architects in Overland Park, Kan. as a design consultant and Nabholz Construction’s Tulsa office was selected as the construction manager. FSB competed against several other firms to have the opportunity to design these modern, up-to-date living environments for Northern Oklahoma College students.

“FSB is honored to design these much needed modern residential halls for NOC,” said Jason Holuby, FSB senior associate and project manager.

“These students will be able to live and study in comfort with modern, new living quarters. Projects like these show the NOC administration’s commitment to providing a full college experience to students in smaller communities.”

NOC was established in 1901 in Tonkawa, Okla. In 1999, it added the former Phillips University to open the Enid campus. Enrollment has increased and NOC recognized the need for additional student housing due to their current housing being close to or at capacity and the current housing stock being dated.

 

Executive Q & A: FSB Principal found Architecture by Design

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Once Rick Johnson figured out he wanted to be an architect, various bents and events over his lifetime all added up. His father liked to tell a story of how Johnson, as a boy, would take things apart and put them back together. Johnson once did that with a toy of his sister’s, which his father couldn’t reassemble, but Johnson could. And then there were the times when he was a teenager living in Maryland and extended family would fly into Washington, D.C., for visits. Johnson always would volunteer to pick them up. Dulles International Airport was brand new, and he fell on every opportunity to check out the building. Ultimately, Johnson, who’s a principal with Frankfurt-Short-Bruza Associates, fortuitously found his career path as a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma.

From his fifth-floor offices at 5801 Broadway Extension, Johnson, 59, sat down with The Oklahoman on Tuesday to talk about his life and career. This is an edited transcript:

Q: Tell us about your roots.
A: My parents met at dental school at Temple University in Philadelphia. My father joined the U.S. Navy during the Korean War and served 20 years as a dentist. My mother worked as a dental hygienist until she had children; I’m the oldest of four, born over five and half years. I have a sister in Tulsa, a brother who’s a geologist with Sandridge Energy, and another outside Salt Lake City, where he works as a pilot for Delta Airlines.

Q: So you were a Navy brat and lived all over. How was that?
A: Mainly, we lived on the East and West Coasts. I loved experiencing a lot of different things. Because we moved every two to three years, I learned to be more outgoing and social than I’m sure I’d be otherwise. But I envied my friends who had roots.

Q: What do you remember of your various hometowns during your childhood?
A: When I was in the sixth grade, in 1966, we lived in Alameda, Calif. I don’t remember much about the counter-culture revolution, but I do remember the climate was great. When I was in the seventh and eighth grade, we lived in Naples, Italy, in an apartment up on a ridge on the bay, with a beautiful view of the active volcano Mount Vesuvius.

We’d take city buses down to the USO where the sailors shot pool, and there was a great hole-in-the-wall pizzeria across the street. I attended one of three American schools in Italy. From ’70 to ’73, we lived in Rockville, Md., where I played offensive and defensive line on the football team, rode my bike everywhere and fished off Virginia Beach.

Q: How did you settle in Oklahoma?
A: My father, who died of cancer this past August, had a second career as a dental professor at OU. After all that moving around, my mother has lived in the same house in Edmond since 1974. Oklahoma is home to me. I attended a small school in Maryland my freshman year in college, but transferred to OU my sophomore year.

Q: How did you decide upon a career in architecture?
A: My first semester at OU, my roommate was a construction science major in the architecture college. By the end of that semester, I was helping him with all his projects. It was like a light went off, and I realized I wanted to be an architect.

Q: What was your first professional job?
A: After graduation, I worked 10 years with Miles Associates, which then was a firm of about 10 and specialized in the building and remodeling of research labs on the health sciences center campus. But I always wanted to work with a large firm, and FSB is where I wanted to be.

I started as a project manager, and made partner in 2005. I’m one of five principals in the third generation of the firm’s ownership. We employ 120, and our firm is unique in that it has its own engineering department.

Q: What are some of FSB’s noteworthy projects, built recently or in design?
A: The OSU alumni center, the Capitol dome, the Myriad Gardens renovation, the Edmond Safety Center, the renovation of Central High School for the OCU Law School and the Maps 3 exhibit hall at the Oklahoma State Fair Park. Some 45 percent of our projects are outside Oklahoma. Because of our expertise in aviation and strong customer satisfaction levels, we successfully compete with firms nationwide that are as much as 50 times bigger. We’ve got ongoing projects in San Diego and Rhode Island, and four in Connecticut for the National Guard.

Q: Your focus is marketing and client management in the federal market, including aviation and the federal defense department. Tell us about that.
A: FSB has a long history in the aviation business, starting with American Airlines in the ’50s. For United Airlines, we built eight hangars and supporting shops in Indianapolis, after the city in ’91 won the bid over Oklahoma City for a new maintenance complex. The construction value of that project alone was $530 million.

Our aviation projects grew significantly throughout the ’90s. We’ve built hangars nationwide, including in Alaska and Hawaii. At our own Will Rogers World Airport, we designed a baggage handling project currently under construction, and we’re currently designing an emergency generator terminal.

Secure the perimeter: Designing structures for the worst-case scenarios

How can architects and engineers prevent an intruder from gaining access to an office building and injuring employees? How can they stop a thief from stealing equipment at a laboratory? FSB has a long track record of implementing security measures to protect clients against these and other threats. The firm helps clients identify and mitigate their facilities’ vulnerabilities and worst-case scenarios.

“Security has always been a key consideration for federal and military buildings, but more commercial companies are becoming interested in physical security,” FSB’s Director of Electrical Engineering J.T. Little said. “It’s a growing market – owners want to do everything they can to protect their employees and property.”

From video monitoring systems, to blast protection, to access control, FSB considers the entire facility, and brings the right combination of physical security strategies to every project. The art lies in understanding each tool and applying the appropriate, most cost effective combination of options for every project.

“It’s important to think about the worst-case scenarios to provide the best security recommendations possible,” Little said.

Holistic security requires cross-discipline expertise

Little is one of several at FSB who has developed an expertise within his field in designing secure facilities. A cross-discipline design team facilitates coordination between FSB architects, electrical and structural engineers. This holistic approach to physical security can influence design choices, so embedded security expertise is ideal for clients from a budgetary standpoint as well as aesthetically.

When the entire building is considered in designing for physical security, many design elements and decisions can contribute to a safer environment, Little said.

 “A cross-discipline environment helps us to design these buildings so that any security features blend in and look like they are supposed to be there,” Little said. “We can make people feel like security systems are part of the landscape. We keep employees safe without putting a cage around them.”

Vulnerability assessments make for smarter security strategies

Often, before a security system can be recommended, clients need FSB’s help to identify their vulnerabilities to make sure they are protecting their employees and facilities against the appropriate threats. A high-profile public building might be more likely to encounter a bomb threat or biological attack, while a corporate chemical facility could be a target for break-ins and theft. FSB can conduct vulnerability assessments of both planned and existing structures to determine a building’s security pitfalls based on a range of factors such as current levels of security, crime statistics, weather, geographical location and more.

single-install-with-ada-gateNew technology, same goal

FSB prioritizes continuing education. Architects and engineers who are designing for security must keep up with changing threats as well as technological advancements to bring clients the latest protection.

Now, if needed, clients have the option to equip their facilities with intelligent security systems that can “think” by analyzing video feeds in real time.

For example, FSB can implement video monitoring systems that ignore everything that’s moving away from a building, but detect people or vehicles moving toward it after hours. The firm can incorporate comparative access control systems at an entrance, where an employee’s badge or ID number is compared against an intelligent video feed, and if the photo on file doesn’t match, the person will not be allowed in.

Still, whether the security measure is as simple as a concrete planter or as complex as facial recognition technology, FSB’s priority is that the tool is correctly applied as part of a larger security strategy, designed to address a client’s vulnerabilities.

“Our goal is not to make every project an impenetrable fortress because that’s not cost effective and not always necessary,” Little said. “To give a client a real solution you have to look at what they are trying to do in their facility and give them the infrastructure that they need to do their jobs without being restricted.”

To learn more about security engineering design for your next project, contact J.T. Little, FSB’s Director of Electrical Engineering, at [email protected] or 405.840.2931.

YWCA Breaks Ground On Emergency Shelter

Future Thelma Gaylord Emergency Shelterywca-booklet-01

Twenty years ago, Christy Baker was a terrified mother with a small child when someone gave her a phone number to call after her estranged second husband ignored a protective order, broke into her house and hid in a closet with a 6-inch hunting knife.

“It was a very long and intense situation, but I was able to get away after 11½ hours,” Baker said. “I had selected a man who at one point tried to take my life … they later found he had sheets and a shovel in his trunk. When I called the phone number, I didn’t even know who I was calling.”

Fortunately, she had called the YWCA Oklahoma City and they allowed her to stay for nine weeks in the nonprofit’s women’s shelter. Her ex-husband later served nine years in prison.

Baker — now a successful businesswoman with a long background in technology and an adult daughter — said she had felt ashamed, tried to hide her pain and blamed herself until she learned at the shelter that she wasn’t alone. And that’s one of many reasons she decided more than three years ago to become a member of the board of directors of the YWCA Oklahoma City.

“I know they saved my life,” she said Wednesday afternoon, shortly after arriving to attend the YWCA Oklahoma City’s groundbreaking celebration for the future Thelma Gaylord Emergency Shelter in Oklahoma City. “Coming here really did start my journey and now we’re building a new shelter.”

Before a large bulldozer began scooping up the parking lot in Oklahoma City where the future Thelma Gaylord Emergency Shelter is now being built, the YWCA Oklahoma City celebrated the groundbreaking event. The Harding Charter School Prep Band (which raised $10,000 for the new shelter) played holiday music, Santa mingled and the OKC Thunder’s mascot, Rumble the Bison — as well as a host of Oklahoma dignitaries including Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett — joined in the event.

After the Rev. Canon Susan Joplin from St. Paul’s Cathedral gave a heartfelt invocation, YWCA Oklahoma City CEO Janet L. Peery donned a white hard hat, thanked Cornett for ordering such beautiful weather and thanked the many donors who raised $15 million in less than two years, including YWCA Capital Campaign Chairs Kris Frankfurt, David Hudiburg, Rita Moore, Charlotte Richels, Lela Sullivan and Tricia Everest.

“They are amazing and they made this campaign happen. Because of their efforts, we will be able to serve many more women and children.”

Peery thanked the Gaylord family and announced the official name of the emergency shelter — the “Thelma Gaylord Emergency Shelter” — to applause.

Designed by Frankfurt-Short-Bruza Associates, the state-of-the-art secure housing facility will have between 100 to 150 beds, create a warm and inviting atmosphere and will be 27,000 square feet. After the women staying in the current YWCA shelter are moved into the new emergency shelter in about a year, phase II of the project will repurpose the building into transitional housing for women and children who need more time to stay in a safe and secure environment.

For more information about the Oklahoma City YWCA and their services, visit: YWCA Oklahoma City

Putting out fires: Engineering fire protection systems for aircraft hangars

When an aircraft hangar catches fire things begin happening very quickly. Heat or flame sensors are triggered, the building is evacuated, and within seconds, many thousands of gallons of fire-fighting foam spreads throughout the structure to extinguish the flames. Designing systems capable of moving this amount of foam everywhere it needs to be across structures wider than the length of a football field is no small feat of engineering. FSB Senior Fire Protection Engineer Liane Ozmun said the first priority is always the safety of anyone inside, followed by protecting the hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of aviation equipment typically housed within.

dscn0420“The hangar may be worth $50 million, but the plane inside might be worth many times more than that,” Ozmun said. “Owners would prefer we do not spray water or foam into the open cockpits and compartments of these expensive aircraft.”

Clients appreciate the expertise Ozmun has developed in her 29 years at FSB — she has designed, modified and studied the fire protection systems for more than 100 hangars in that time, making her one of the nation’s foremost experts in her field. Beyond her design experience, Ozmun has played a major role in shaping the industry regionally and nationwide. For the past five years she has been a part of a national committee for the National Fire Protection Association, a group that helps set educational and professional codes and standards. She was also instrumental in the founding of the Oklahoma Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers.

Ozmun’s experience and involvement within her industry benefits her clients. Whether the task calls for familiarity with detailed design criteria set by a United States Department of Defense agency, or an outside-of the-box solution for a major aircraft manufacturer like Airbus, Ozmun’s expertise and understanding of constantly changing design standards and requirements regularly saves FSB clients time and money.

A high expansion foam system to save the maintenance hangar, but spare the C5
The Tennessee Air National Guard needed a maintenance hangar and fire protection for the largest plane in the Air Force. The C5 is a transport aircraft big enough to move tanks, troops or helicopters. Hangars for large aircraft like the C5 can be particularly challenging because their wings are so massive that they prevent large portions of the floor from being reached by the fire-suppressing high expansion foam distributed from overhead, especially when surrounded by massive work platforms. In fact, a fire protection system for this type of maintenance hangar had never worked fast enough to satisfy the requirements to cover 90 percent of the floor in under 60 seconds.

“The hangar was so big that the foam needed to travel a long way through the piping system before it was released into the aircraft bay,” Ozmun said.

tn-ang_c-5-fccc-mx-hangars_interior-with-plane_memphis-tnTo move the foam as quickly as possible, FSB worked with the contractor, who positioned the pipe diagonally across the hangar, the shortest possible distance. The fire protection system utilized high expansion foam which, once released, would swell horizontally beneath the plane, its wings and the maintenance platforms. Even the building materials were selected with fire protection in mind — Ozmun worked with the architect to select a very smooth concrete flooring within the hangar to help the high expansion foam move with less resistance across the floor.

When tested, the fire protection system worked exactly as designed, filling the entire space with an expanding, fire suppressant foam faster than in any hangar of its kind. Ideally, the Air National Guard won’t need to use the system to extinguish a fire, Ozmun said. But, should an accident happen the hangar is equipped to save lives, and in this case, save a C5 transport aircraft worth hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

“Monsoons” in Indianapolis
In the world of fire protection systems, all aircraft hangars are considered large-scale specialized engineering projects. The United Airlines Indianapolis Maintenance Center is in a class of its own, however. The site consists of seven separate hangars, totaling 1.7 million square feet.

“You can probably see it from outer space,” Ozmun said. “When we began the project, it was wheat field. There was no infrastructure.”

Ozmun said this “green field” site allowed the team to take a blank sheet of paper to sit down with the code authorities and insurance companies and start from scratch to design the ideal system for United Airlines. The sheer scale of the complex created an opportunity for some efficiencies in the fire protection system. The seven hangar structures shared one central water and foam supply, with tanks that stored two million gallons of water connected to each hangar via a 30” distribution loop. Each hangar was equipped with heat sensors that, when tripped, would signal the central supply to send foam to the affected hangar. Fire walls were constructed between some of the hangars to contain the fire and allow personnel from surrounding structures enough time to evacuate.

“We went with a low expansion foam deluge system, which means that all the foam is released at once,” Ozmun said. “It looks like the worst monsoon you’ve ever seen.”

It’s unusual for an architecture and engineering firm to have a strong fire protection team in-house. FSB has always considered fire protection systems an integral part of its hangar design capabilities, and with experience on more than 100 hangars, Ozmun and FSB’s other fire protection engineers have quite a bit of practice.

“During a test, nothing beats watching a full foam discharge fall in exactly the way we calculated,” Ozmun said. “I get excited about this work every day of the week.”

Interested in learning more from the hangar fire protection experts, contact Laure Majors at [email protected] or call her direct at 405.840.2931.