The Armed Forces Joint Readiness Center in Muscatine, Iowa, serves as a state-of-the-art home and training facility for both the Iowa National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserves, both of which house a detachment in the facility. Hanson led the design team for the 37,000-square-foot, $7.1 million facility, a design-build project, providing project management, architectural and structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering.

The facility accommodates administrative, assembly, training, classroom, kitchen, toilet and shower, storage, locker, vehicle maintenance and support spaces. Site work included site preparation and improvement, utilities, roadways, parking, sidewalks, storm drainage, security lighting, landscaping and fencing. The project incorporated current anti-terrorism force protection requirements, and Hanson designed a small arms simulator space within the readiness center. The building’s fire protection systems include a wet pipe fire sprinkler system and a complete, addressable, microprocessor-based voice evacuation type fire-detection and alarm system with manual and automatic alarm initiation.

Project highlights

  • LEED® Silver rating
  • energy savings exceeding 40 percent and energy cost savings exceeding 37 percent versus the code baseline building
  • energy savings despite improved indoor air quality with increased ventilation and high-efficiency filtration
  • water-use reduction of 33% using low-flow plumbing fixtures

Resolving challenges

The project was on a fast-track timeframe, so the design team analyzed materials and methods to help meet the owner’s operational start date. Hanson provided design packages for the foundations, structural steel and superstructure to allow the contract team to meet the owner’s operational start date.

 

Efficient and sustainable design features 

  • high R-value thermal envelope
  • spray foam insulation for lowering air infiltration in walls
  • condensing boilers
  • energy recovery wheels
  • condensing water heater
  • high-efficiency rooftop variable air volume mechanical units
  • variable speed heating water pumps
  • heating, ventilation and air-conditioning control system resets and energy efficient optimizations
  • low-flow toilets, urinals, lavatory and shower fixtures
  • occupancy sensors for lighting
  • demand control ventilation (carbon dioxide control and monitoring)
  • native species landscaping
  • low-emitting materials
  • white thermoplastic olefin roof