The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District was looking to create a new, modern facility for the Command and General Staff College (CGSC) to meet its educational and operational needs. The goal was to create a state-of-the-art facility that matched the historic buildings already located on the CGSC campus in Ft. Leavenworth, Kan. Benham was hired to provide full architecture and engineering services and construction support for the 413,000-square-foot instruction facility.

The project was delivered using a whole building design process in which the construction contractor was on-board early in the design process. The integrated design approach asked the building stakeholder community and the technical design and construction team to look at the project objectives, materials, systems, and assemblies from many different perspectives. The Benham team provided innovation and creativity to the entire project, including application of advanced communication systems in classroom networks and audio-visual technology. The facility was also designed to meet the requirements for certification as a “sustainable project” using Sustainable Project Rating Tool (SPiRiT) Gold Level criteria.

Other services and technology included in the Lewis and Clark facility include:

•  Electronic areas control and intrusion detection systems
•  Antiterrorism/force protection requirements for 10-meter clear zone, 25-meter standoff, and 100-meter standoff incorporated into landscape and site design
•  Antiterrorism/force protection design with video surveillance systems
•  Insulated exterior glass with laminated tile complying with the antiterrorism/force protection design blast requirement
•  Data links to key post facilities
•  Structured cabling and wide area network, on-line service provider fiber
•  Ten gigabits per second backbone with centralized servers and network management
•  Nine conference rooms with presentation technology
•  Phone and intercom systems
•  Eighty percent of the facility with raised computer floors
•  Building information displays in circulation areas
•  Classified networks
•  Protected distribution systems
•  One thousand- ton air-conditioner system utilizing water source heat pump technology
•  Heating, ventilating, and cooling for a 2,000-seat auditorium, a 300-seat auditorium, cafeteria, and classrooms with raised flooring, fire protection, energy monitoring control systems, including supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), plumbing, and an engineered smoke evacuation system