The U.S. Air Force recently announced their 2012 Design Awards Program winners. Frankfurt Short Bruza (FSB), an Oklahoma City-based architecture and engineering firm, received a Citation Design Award in the (Facility) category for the Headquarters Air Reserve Personnel Center located at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, CO.
“The primary purpose of the facility is to accommodate the Air Reserve Promotion Board in their efforts to review and designate promotions for all Air Force Reserve Command and Air National Guard forces serving our country throughout the world,” said Rick Johnson, principal at FSB. “We collaborated with the base commanders and users to design a highly functional facility that accommodates their important work and complements the mountainous surroundings.”
In reviews for the award, one juror stated that the facility “reflects a Colorado design language and reflects a four-season approach to using a large office facility.” The design incorporates natural materials and large windows around the facility that offer mountain views.
“This project is an example of the reward for ‘fighting the good fight’ with respect to design quality,” said John Osborne, FSB architect. “In spite of the multiple challenges we faced, the design was a well-received success.”
Brig. Gen. Kevin Pottinger, ARPC commander, speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony for ARPC’s new building at Buckley Air Force Base on July 23. The ceremony marked the beginning of an estimated $17 million, two-year construction project to build a new facility for ARPC. (U.S. Air Force photo/Ellen Edwards)
Lt. Gen. Charles E. Stenner Jr., commander of Air Force Reserve Command, spoke to an audience of more than 200 ARPC employees and Air Force and community leaders during the groundbreaking ceremony.
“We are about to marry up a world-class facility with a world-class agency on a world-class installation,” General Stenner said.
The ceremony marked the beginning of an estimated $17 million, two-year construction project to build a new facility for ARPC. The building is part of ARPC’s scheduled move to Buckley. The Base Realignment and Closure committee mandated the move in 2005.
The Air Force established ARPC in 1953 at 3800 York Street in Denver. In 1976, the center relocated to its current site on what used to be Lowry AFB.
“ARPC has been through a history of change,” General Stenner said. “Throughout that history of change, you see a legacy of service at ARPC.”
The new headquarters will allow ARPC to continue providing personnel services to nearly 1 million Air Force reservists, Air National Guardsmen and retirees.
“What a good day for ARPC, AFRC, the Air National Guard, Buckley AFB and the city of Aurora,” said Brig. Gen. Kevin Pottinger, ARPC commander. “This is what we call Total Force.” (Air Force Reserve Command News Service)
Frankfurt-Short-Bruza Associates’ (FSB) corporate culture is a reflection of its philosophy that outstanding architecture and engineering is enhanced by good citizenship.
As a natural progression of its Leadership Development Program in 2008, FSB formalized its longtime outreach focus and created its Community Involvement Initiative. The company continued to focus on building and enhancing the program in 2009. The purpose of the initiative is to create a firm-wide community involvement program that is ongoing and encourages active participation by leaders of the firm as well as FSB employees.
With 20,138 volunteer hours and more than $1.3 million contributed and raised since the program’s inception, FSB has seen an immediate benefit through the continuation of programs that the company supports. FSB also foresees the long-term benefits of its Community Involvement Initiative to be a positive impact on the community, making it a better place to live, work and play. Internally the program has increased employee morale and involvement within the community.
“Community involvement is not just a passing fancy at FSB,” said Fred Schmidt, a principal of the firm. “It’s just as much of a commitment now as it was when I started with the firm 23 years ago, only stronger. The leaders of the firm made a decision to actively improve the quality of life in our city, through direct involvement, and this influences everyone throughout the organization.”
From its earliest beginnings 65 years ago, the firm has always supported multiple philanthropic endeavors with contributions in 2009 totaling more than $1.32 million in donated man-hours. A large percentage of employees are active in many area nonprofit organizations including Allied Arts, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Arthritis Foundation, City Rescue Mission, Habitat for Humanity, Junior League of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation and Prevent Blindness Oklahoma, just to name a few.
FSB employees donated an estimated 10,614 volunteer hours in 2009, including providing design services for a new chapel built at the Dr. Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in Taft, Okla. In support of Habitat for Humanity, 16 FSB employees donated more than 75 hours bringing dreams to life by helping build two new homes for grateful Oklahoma families. In addition, employees adopted multiple military families in need through Operation Holiday Spirit, a program aimed at improving the holidays for many of the nation’s armed forces personnel. To mark its 65th year of business, FSB also made a $50,000 donation to the Myriad Gardens Foundation to buy 65 trees that will line the lawn and performance pavilion lawn of the Myriad Botanical Gardens.
“The leadership of FSB fully understands our company must rely on the local, regional and national communities to support its business activities. This inspires FSB to support the communities that in turn support our business,” said Laure Majors, director of business development.
AT A GLANCE Name of company: Frankfurt-Short-Bruza Associates PC Headquarters location: Oklahoma City Year established: 1945 Type of business: Architectural and Engineering firm No. of employees (statewide): 110 No. of employees (total): 110 Amount of philanthropic contributions in 2009: $1.32 million (donated man-hours and contributions) No. of volunteer hours in 2009: 10,614 Website: www.fsb-ae.com
Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton said he focuses on tribal culture. But it’s hard for him to demonstrate that when the tribe’s cultural services office is housed in a double-wide trailer.
That location will change by early 2018, when the tribe opens a five-story, 500,000-square-foot headquarters building. Senior Executive of Commerce T.R. Kanuch said the project will cost $219 million. The building will be on Durant’s south side, west of the tribe’s casino and close to the Big Lots distribution center.
The tribe leases space in 32 locations across Durant, meaning employees often have to drive for meetings. For Choctaw citizens, having to visit multiple offices means spending time driving around the city. Batton said the new headquarters will address those issues and help move the tribe forward.
Kanuch said he thinks having everyone under one roof will produce many positives for the tribe.
artist’s conception of the planned Choctaw Nation headquarters in Durant. COURTESY RENDERINGS
“It’s a lot easier to share ideas,” he said. “It creates some synergies. Being the business guy – productivity – it has to go up. We won’t spend as much time traveling around.”
But getting people from several places into one building wouldn’t be an easy task. Oklahoma City-based Frankfurt-Short-Bruza Associates designed the building; however, they had a lot of steps before they put pen to paper and planned the facility.
The first step was learning who needed to be neighbors, said Jason Holuby, project principal architect. He and a team from FSB went to Durant and met with every office, talking to the employees about their needs and with whom they often work. FSB talked to tribal leadership about future needs.
Holuby said the building has space to accommodate expansion for the next 10 years, but the site has room for additional buildings as needed for the next 50 years. The entire third floor is empty, with other spaces and rooms that can be converted into offices.
When the headquarters opens, about 900 employees will occupy it.
The office layout was only one part of the pre-design work. The FSB team also had the nation host a cultural immersion workshop so it could learn the tribe’s story and what symbols were important to it.
The building’s exterior features red brick, an element in the existing headquarters. It also has a light stone diamond-shape accent. The figure is an important Choctaw symbol and is seen on traditional attire. The large windows have feather-shaped line designs. The windows allow for natural light and create a modern, contemporary look. Since the tribe’s exiting headquarters is a 100-year old building, Holuby thought more people would want something historic-looking, but that wasn’t the case.
“There was a lot of tribal leadership that really wanted a more modern, contemporary design,” he said.
When people enter the building, they will see a two-story rotunda, as well as plenty of seating space. The round lobby was important to the tribe, as a circle associates with family, the tribe and the circle of life, said Toni Brungard, interior designer with FSB.
The first floor has more than 20 offices, all of which are highly sought by citizens. First-floor departments include education services, career development and language.
Batton and Assistant Chief Jack Austin Jr.’s offices will be directly behind the reception area.
“It really speaks to how important it is to (Batton) to be accessible to the citizens,” Holuby said.
The lobby’s east wall will have a video board displaying a sun shape made of diamonds that, when touched, tell the story of a Choctaw citizen. The eastern direction is important to the tribe, as that’s the way they traveled to Mississippi. The lobby’s western wall will have a video board telling the tribe’s western migration to Oklahoma.
When people walk by the chief’s office, they will walk through either the Community Hall or the Hall of Chiefs to get to the cafe and conference center, a one-floor facility. Brungard said Batton wanted to emphasize family in the cafe, so a family tree came to mind. There will be a wooden tree on the wall, with diamond and feather-shaped leaves. The cafe is called Roots.
There will be natural finishes throughout the building, such as a wooden tile and stonework. Each floor will be accented with colors to reflect earthly elements, such as fire and the water. The first through fifth floors will be fire, sun, earth, water and wind. For example, the fire floor will have red accents, and the sun level will have yellow. Brungard said this will help with way-finding.
As the floors progress from the second to fifth levels, the service departments typically have fewer interactions with citizens. The fifth floor will house the agriculture, government relations, public relations and risk management offices. There will also be a large space – where the rotunda ends on the second floor – that was designed for tribal dancing.
“We had the structural guys make sure that area can hold dancing,” Brungard said.
Bratton requested a storm shelter underneath the building.
Manhattan Construction Group will build the facility. Barker Engineering did the civil engineering work. Howard-Fairbairn Site Design Inc. designed the landscaping. Holuby said the project will break ground in late February.
“This is a legacy project,” Batton said. “This is very important to us as a tribe. When I think about all the adversities we’ve faced – like the Trail of Tears – this project really shows that we have arrived as a tribe. This won’t be just a building. It matters so much more to us than that.”
Frankfurt Short Bruza participates in online design charrette
Renderings of design ideas for the Core to Shore development on the banks of the Oklahoma River. COURTESY PHOTOS
A conference room at Frankfurt Short Bruza was transformed into a war room of sorts on Wednesday, with the walls covered with rough sketches and color-coded maps. Designers and engineers huddled around laptops at a long conference table worked on 3-D models of their ideas for a new development on the banks of the Oklahoma River.
The daylong session was streamed live over the Internet for viewers to get a sneak peek of the design. Frankfurt Short Bruza has been preparing for weeks for its design for BIMStorm OKC, an international online design charrette for architects, engineers and students to share their ideas for Oklahoma City’s Core to Shore area. Designers from around the United States and several foreign countries use 3-D building modeling software to come up with new designs. BIMStorms have also been held for Boston, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Oslo. Frankfurt Short Bruza was the only Oklahoma City architecture firm to participate in the Oklahoma charrette, but several other firms both nationally and internationally also came up with designs for the project, as well as students at the University of Oklahoma College of Architecture.
The FSB design for the BIMStorm consists of a crescent-shaped development that radiates out from a manmade cove on the north bank of the Oklahoma River. The lofty plans include a wakeboarding course on the river, as well as a theater, housing and a grocery store. The idea for the wakeboarding course came from a designer at FSB who is a wakeboard enthusiast. Designer Chris Reiter even brought in his wakeboard to the office on Wednesday for inspiration. “We really wanted things to tap into that excitement around the riverfront and make it something active,” Fred Schmidt, principal at FSB, said. Participation in the BIMStorm is an exercise in team building for FSB, as well as a way to generate new, creative ideas, Schmidt said. Shane Thompson, an engineer for FSB, said the project allowed the team’s ideas to run wild. “It’s really been interesting to get started from scratch, because usually we’re working for a client who has some ideas,” Thompson said. “It’s also been fun to think about the future of Oklahoma City and what that might hold.”
The Oklahoma City University School of Law in Oklahoma City. COUTRESY PHOTO
The award will be presented to the law school and its contractor, the Frankfurt Short Bruza architecture and engineering firm, during the annual Statewide Preservation Conference on June 2 in Enid.
The university purchased the former Central High School building at 800 N. Harvey Ave. in 2012 and renovated the structure in time for classes to begin in fall 2014. The building was designed by architect Solomon Andrew Layton, who also designed the Oklahoma state Capitol and the Skirvin Hilton Hotel.
The historic Gothic-style building was constructed in 1910 and is on the National Register of Historic Buildings. It has 177,000 square feet.
The Citation of Merit is awarded annually to individuals, organizations, agencies and firms that have made important contributions to the preservation of Oklahoma’s heritage.
Oklahoma City University selected Anderson & House Inc. as the commercial contractor for the renovation. The project preserved a small museum in the building’s original lobby that includes photographs and artifacts from its time as the city’s first high school. The museum also features two large murals by Oklahoma artist Olinka Hrdy, which were restored and returned to their original location.
Frankfurt Short Bruza, an Oklahoma City architectural and engineering firm, recently received the highest rating available, Exceptional, for three completed federal projects across the country.
The ratings are recorded in the Architecture-Engineer Contract Administration Support System (ACASS). The scoring system is used by nearly all federal agencies for evaluating the performance of firms on federal projects.
“An CPARS Exceptional rating reflects the pride we take in providing outstanding work on projects everywhere,” said Rick Johnson, principal at Frankfurt Short Bruza. “In our firm’s 67 year history, we have always been committed to delivering the highest quality architectural design and engineering services.”
The projects reviewed for the ACASS rating include:
• North Island Naval Air Station Helicopter Hangar, San Diego, Cali.
• North and South Gate Entrances, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Cascade County, Mont.
• Drug Enforcement Agency – Alliance BCA/BER Report, Fort Worth, Texas
Oklahoma City University has selected Frankfurt Short Bruza (FSB), an Oklahoma City-based architecture and engineering firm, to redevelop the former Oklahoma High School into a usable educational facility for its School of Law.
“Oklahoma City University is committed to providing premier facilities for its students – both in design and functionality,” said Fred Schmidt, principal at FSB. “Our team will collaborate with university officials to ensure generations of future Oklahoma City University law students experience a first-class educational environment.”
Built in 1910, the former high school was purchased by Southwestern Bell in the 1980s and converted to office space. FSB is charged with returning the building to its educational purpose while keeping true to the building’s original design.
“Oklahoma High School was originally designed by Solomon Andrew Layton, who also designed the Oklahoma State Capitol,” said Jason Holuby, project manager at FSB. “We want to make the renovations necessary to provide Oklahoma City University with a top-notch law school while preserving the overall design of the current building. The function, layout and technology will change, but the look will stay consistent with the current style.”
Renovation plans include converting office space to classroom space and adding a courtroom, faculty, staff and administrative offices, space for Admissions, Student Services, Academic Achievement, Career Services, Law Centers, Law Clinics, Law Review, International Programs and Student Bar Association, a venue for meetings and events and a two-story library with café and collaboration rooms.
Oklahoma City University’s School of Law currently occupies 110,000 square feet in four buildings on the university’s campus. Moving the school downtown will increase space to more than 140,000 square feet. The move puts students and faculty within walking distance of a large legal community, including the Oklahoma County Courthouse, the Oklahoma City U.S. Federal Building and Courthouse and several law firms.
“FSB is highly professional and a pleasure to work with,” said Eric Laity, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at Oklahoma City University. “The firm’s wide range of engineering services is a plus. FSB is very committed to long-term relationships with their clients…and Oklahoma City University has been working with FSB for more than ten years.”
OKLAHOMA CITY – Will Rogers was not the only exceedingly talented and widely popular writer in Oklahoma. Ralph Waldo Ellison also made a giant mark on literary history. And for doing so, the Ralph Ellison Library, at 2000 NE 23rd St. in Oklahoma City, was constructed in the mid-1970s in his honor.
Frankfurt Short Bruza completed a library renovation project. COURTESY FSB
Ellison was born in Oklahoma City on March 1, 1914. He attended Lowell School, later named Douglass High School, at 900 N. Martin Luther King Ave., a street that also certainly had a different name back in the days when Ellison attended and Lowell was segregated.
Ellison is best known for his novel Invisible Man, a National Book Award winner that was published in 1952. In 1936, he moved away, became a writer and never returned to live in Oklahoma City.
Widely reported literary encouragement came from the likes of Langston Hughes and Richard Wright. In addition to his famous novel, he was also a noted scholar, literary and social critic who gained international fame for his artistic and intellectual prowess.
It is no surprise that Oklahoma City chose to honor Ellison with a memorial library, and in doing so, the city is able keep the memory of this great thinker alive while also claiming Ellison as a true local intellectual inspiration.
“It was a vintage ’70s building that we added onto with new color and forms,” said Allen Brown, principal at Frankfurt Short Bruza, of the three-decade-later renovation of the library. “A lot of the addition was in public space.”
The original building, designed by architecture firm Howard Samis Porch, was dedicated in 1975. Primarily made a brick masonry with a steel roof structure, large expanses of glass are also utilized on the northeast face and upper clerestory over the reading and stacks area.
“We utilized brick masonry for our addition; however, we added to the palette of exterior materials,” said FSB Director of Architecture Jack Morgan. “Our goal was to create a design solution that was respectful to the original design … while also satisfying the current needs of the MLS and the community and providing a solution that was honest about being an addition to the facility.”
He said the original building form was very dynamic and appeared to spring upward from the building’s entrance.
Morgan explained that a large portion of the renovated and new space is “on top of” the original building’s footprint. The original library was about 13,800 square feet. The renovated library is now about 16,600 square feet.
“The key feature of this addition is a new 2,350-square-foot community meeting room that can be divided into two separate rooms,” said Morgan.
He added that as they studied the original construction documents, they noted underlying site geometries that ultimately served as the spring points for the new design. This analysis led to the rounded form for the meeting room addition and main library entrance.
“Since we were not able to acquire the exact same masonry that was used in the original building, Morgan said, “we utilized other masonry colors and materials to further enhance the delineation between the existing library and the new addition.”
Started in July 2007, the finished renovation reopened in December 2009.
“Our approach was to be sensitive to the building, its site and the patrons’ memories associated with the library and to not create a solution that would detract from those recollections,” Morgan said.
2008 Marks the Third Time Oklahoma-Based FSB Receives National Award
OKLAHOMA CITY (November 2008) – The U.S. Air Force bestowed its top Honor Award to Frankfurt Short Bruza Associates (FSB) for its design of the Aircraft Maintenance Operations Center at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.
With 2008 being the most recent year, FSB was awarded a third national top Honor Award from the U.S. Air Force in recognition of superior facility design for USAF installations throughout the United States and abroad.
According to FSB’s Chief Executive Office, Bill Frankfurt, this is a remarkable achievement for the firm.
“To be recognized once is outstanding, but three times over the last few years is exceptional and a tremendous accomplishment in our profession,” said Frankfurt. “We work hard to provide our clients with creative design and sustainable facilities.”
The $8 million Aircraft Maintenance Operations Center is a new two-story facility that brings together wing-flying operations support, aircraft maintenance operations, supervision and training for all flying squadrons at Laughlin Air Force Base in one facility. The distinctive character of the exterior architecture and the functionality of the interior spaces is indicative of FSB’s commitment to achieving customer satisfaction.
“FSB did a fantastic job of addressing our wants and needs on the design. Their thorough investigation resulted in a design that not only replaces the three buildings being demolished, it surpasses them,” said USAF Project Manager, Ben Graf. “It fits into the base’s architecture scheme while managing to stand out as a future focal point along the flight line. The windowed cab revolutionizes maintenance operations, giving controllers a view of the aircraft and crews they are directing for the first time.”
