2017 Craftsmanship Awards Winners

A next to the project name indicates that the project was nominated for the special Star Award

Concrete

Cast-in-Place Concrete

Bernabe Diaz, Jose Majano-Cruz, Jose Monroy, Pablo Ocampo, Russel Reeder, Mauricio Villanueva - Clark Concrete, LLC

Project Name: West End Square 37, Washington, DC
Architect: WDG Architecture, PLLC
Engineer: Tadjer Cohen Edelson Associates
General Contractor: Clark Construction Group, LLC
There are 123 white and sloping architectural columns throughout the first and mezzanine levels of West End Square 37, a 325,000 square-foot, mixed-use residential building located in the West End neighborhood of Washington, DC. A majority of these columns stand over 20 feet high, almost every column has its own unique slope and direction Each sprouts from a single column on the PI level, branching out in groups of two or three, and sloping in different direction and angles. Clark Concrete's team created formwork solutions for the branches, including branches that did not fully separate until two feet off the ground; one cluster of columns did not fully split apart until 12 feet off the ground. Clark Concrete's engineering team used 3D modeling to cast columns, and to make sure that the column base formwork would slope in the correct direction and angle before the steel forms were sent into fabrication. Faced with a difficult process, the team worked to meet the expectations of the owner, the architect, and the structural engineer. In the end, they created an innovative, unprecedented concrete design.

Jesus Amaya, Leon Hann, Eric Lopez, Manuel Ramos Perez, Jay Schnarrs, Jose Trejo - Miller & Long Co., Inc.

Project Name: Reston Station Office Building 1, Reston, VA
Architect: JAHN
Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
General Contractor: DAVIS Construction
The concrete tree columns and exoskeleton columns at Reston Station are geometrically complex as well as aesthetically challenging. In addition to being key structural elements of the building, they are also the focal point of the architectural design. This provided many challenges that had to be overcome during the course of construction. Throughout the process, Miller & Long was active and engaged with the design team, the general contractor subcontractors. Coordination, design changes and logistics for the merging different project elements lasted a year and were executed without a problem; engineering and control for the construction of these features was critical. The uniqueness of this office building is a testament to the craftsmanship and technical skills of Miller & Long’s team.

Jose Benitez, Luis Chicas, Matias Garcia, Oman Eslava Garcia, James Jeffries, Placido Majano - Clark Concrete, LLC

Project Name: CSX Virginia Avenue Tunnel Reconstruction Project, Washington, DC
Architect/Engineer: Parsons Transportation Group
General Contractor: Clark/Parsons, a Joint Venture
Over the course of 52 weeks, Clark Concrete placed a total of 30,000 cubic yards of concrete at the CSX Virginia Avenue Tunnel Reconstruction Project, utilizing three formwork systems, two traveling form-work towers, and one single¬ sided gang system. The complexity of the concrete work lies within the limits of construction, project extents, and the sheer quantity of concrete placed in such a short amount of time. The Tunnel spans the length of 13 streets, over 5,200 feet, intersecting electrical lines, water and sewer, and various other abandoned utilities. In order to support the schedule over such a large project area, Clark Concrete utilized two or three pump trucks simultaneously nearly every day of the project. Additionally, in order to build this project the team needed a formwork system that allowed for a two-day pour cycle. Clark Concrete's innovative solution was to place six 48-foot-long by 24-foot-high wall panels tied to a support tower on wheels that could be mounted to rails and pulled through the tunnel after each wall pour.

Jose D. Cedillos, Jose R. Martinez, Eduardo A. Mejia, Jose S. Reyes, William Sewell, Michael D. Wines - Miller & Long DC, Inc.

Project Name: The Wharf - Phase I, Washington, DC
Architect: Perkins Eastman DC
Engineer: SK&A /Thornton Tomasetti, Joint Venture
General Contractor: Clark Construction Group, LLC
The Wharf, a multiphase project redesigning the waterfront of Southwest DC, is one of the city’s biggest developments underway. The project is split into five parcels and was originally supposed to start from the center, Parcel 3, and work outwards. However due to unforeseen conditions at the foundation, the project was delayed, forcing the buildings to all be constructed at once in order to make up for lost time. As a result, several of the buildings topped out within weeks of each other. This posed a very difficult situation with many trades, especially Miller & Long DC. The original plan would have allowed workers to flow from building to building in a domino effect. Instead there was an influx of workers all at once. Miller & Long DC alone had more than 450 workers at the peak of the project. Despite the many challenges this team faced, they did a remarkable job completing the project.

Keith Fultz, Angel Lopez, Francisco Martinez, Victor Melendez, Elmer Rivera, Jose Villanueva - Miller & Long Co., Inc.

Project Name: The Adaire, Vienna, VA
Architect: R2L Architects
Engineer: SK&A MD
General Contractor: John Moriarty & Associates of VA, LLC
Currently the tallest residential structure in Virginia, The Adaire is a 37-story building with 27 levels of residential over a nine-level parking garage (two levels below grade, and seven of above). Miller & Long creatively handled a complex job (none of the 37 stories has the exact same floorplan) within a rigorous schedule. Miller & Long utilized a series of unique systems to reduce the overall required labor on the project by 50%, beat the contract schedule by more than three weeks, and maintain a high level of quality and safety on this challenging and unique project. Their workmanship, technical abilities and willingness to think outside the box allowed this project to exceed expectations and should put them in consideration for a craftsmanship award.

Precast Concrete

Jose Ambriz, Walter Blair, David Burkhardt, Marcus Butler, Rolando Hernandez, Frank Orren - Arban & Carosi, Inc.

Project Name: MGM National Harbor, Oxon Hill, MD
Architect: SmithGroupJJR
Engineer: Cagley & Associates, Inc.
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
As if the scale of this project wasn't enough, the level of complication and complexity in the profiles and panels make MGM National Harbor one of the more difficult projects this team has faced. The project had over 300,000 square feet and 1,200 pieces of architectural precast concrete. The sloping nature of these profiles created many challenges not only in fabrication, but also in various constructability concerns including, but not limited to: handling, installation insert location, storage, and crane accessibility.
Star Awards Winner for Visual Excellence

Special Concrete Finishes

Leonides Avezalo, Manuel Ayala, Juan Lazo, Tyrone Lucas, Valerio Meldonado-Gomez, Jose Valle Pena - Clark Concrete, LLC

Project Name: University of Maryland A. James Clark Hall, College Park, MD
Architect: Ballinger
Engineer:
General Contractor: Clark Construction Group, LLC
During the project's structural phase, Clark Concrete placed 13,000 cubic yards of concrete, 2,000 tons of rebar, and constructed over 150 architectural concrete features in the span of just 35 weeks. The building features several unique cast-in-place concrete elements that the Clark Concrete team constructed. A specialty "Flex Lab" space is located on the first floor of the building and features 30-foot architectural columns, architectural concrete soffits, architectural concrete floors, and a 6-foot perimeter drop beam to support the exterior facade of the space. Extensive coordination and quality control measures were implemented to ensure the highest level of quality craftsmanship.

Doors and Windows

Exterior Glass

Roger Compton, Charles Mills, Carlos Quinteros, John Salguero, Joseph Shifflet, Joshua Tyeryar - Custom Glass Services, Inc.

Project Name: Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC
Architect: SmithGroupJJR
Engineer: Tadjer Cohen Edelson Associates
General Contractor: Clark Construction Group, LLC
The most iconic exterior element of the Museum of the Bible is a system of curved AESS steel, clad with aluminum, segmented low-iron, and fritted insulated glass units, totaling over 250 feet in length and 40 feet in height. Known as the "Galley," this system spans from the fifth floor of the museum to building’s roof. Through the Galley's glass on the fifth and sixth floors, visitors have stunning views of the Washington, DC skyline. Custom Glass Services joined the project as the Galley installer for Roschmann Group, a Germany-based contractor that was integral in the design process. The Roschmann Group fabricated and shipped all Galley materials to the jobsite from Germany. Field representatives from Custom Glass attended the installation and testing of the Galley performance mock up in Austria to work through issues ahead of time. Despite the complex nature of the project, Custom Glass did an admirable job of installing the Galley under very difficult working conditions, and provided an excellent finished product.
Star Award Nominee

Jaime Diaz, Mario Escobar Jr., Juan Navarro, Meesac Ruiz, Raymond Smith, Douglas Soriano - The Craftsmen Group, Inc.

Project Name: Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office, Washington, DC
Architect: WDG Architecture, PLLC
Engineer: Robert Silman Associates
General Contractor: Lendlease (US) Construction, Inc.
The Craftsmen Group, Inc. restored 1,100 historic window openings and approximately 10,000 square feet of historic wainscot. The Trump International Hotel at The Old Post Office Pavilion was neglected and its windows and wainscot were in awful condition. Around 100,000 man-hours were required to make the project what it is today. All employees showed skill and determination to complete the project; the six named employees were exceptional in their fields. These craftsmen demonstrated the skill necessary to rehabilitate a 120 year old window with care, precision and the ability to bring the window/sash and frame back to its original glory. Each window opening was in a different state of disrepair; however, this team was able to tailor their approach to the level of decay and wear. Upon completion, the final product exhibited only one trait: perfection. The historic restoration at The Trump International Hotel is a testament to hard work and the character, skill, and judgment of our crew.

Interior Glass

Jerry Burch, David Moore, Preston Penn, Vince Penn, Jim Rathbone, John Thurman - UGC/Kensington Glass Arts, Inc.

Project Name: National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC
Architects: Adjaye Associates / Davis Brody Bond / Freelon / SmithGroupJJR
Structural Engineers: Guy Nordenson and Associates / Robert Silman Associates
General Contractor: Clark/Smoot/Russell, a Joint Venture
The installation of the "free standing" glass box at the Orientation Theatre within the National Museum of African American History and Culture posed several significant coordination and engineering challenges. This architectural element creates a real presence when first entering the Museum. Also, a free floating glazing system on the museum’s second level creates the appearance of glass that simply "floats" through the design. Engineering and implementation of this element challenged all of the vendors, but in the end creates a visually unique and consistent view as you look from the lower floors up through the building to the upper floors. Finally, the design of two CAAMA rooms combined laminated vision glass panels that were a unique translucent color, with customized opaque panels that carried the same unique color. This changed from translucent to opaque multiple times throughout the room, and incorporated a sliding door and a swing door. Each of the translucent panels was back-painted to mask the ceiling transition. This took a considerable amount of coordination with the drywall and framing contractor as well as the door hardware vendors in order to properly create the illusion of this free floating room.

Nicholas Brunetti, Elena Da Re, Nick Kozer - Modulo 3 Corporation d/b/a Unifor

Project Name: Bracewell, Washington, DC
Architect: Gensler
General Contractor: Harvey-Cleary Builders
Bracewell was an aggressive 16-week schedule project. During the project’s base building design, the client requested that the 9th floor have elevated slab height to allow for 9' -5" ceiling heights (in non-critical areas). In addition, there were 11' ceiling heights in the offices and up to 11'-5" in the conference area. All of the finishes that were specified in the conference space, and all office fronts, were too large to bring up the freight elevator, so several craning operations took place in order to bring the material up and into the space. The sliding glass system in the MPR is the largest system Unifor has installed in the DC area. When the material arrived (3 different shipments from Italy) Unifor had an installer from Italy come to the job site to train and oversee the installation.

Specialty Features

Bob Beard, Anthony Drew, Jeff Farley, Elwood Gant, Tom Mulligan, Jim Strobel Sr. - Super Sky Products Enterprises, LLC

Project Name: Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office, Washington, DC
Architect: WDG Architecture, PLLC
Engineer: Robert Silman Associates
General Contractor: Lendlease (US) Construction, Inc.
Topping off the nine-story open atrium of the Trump International Hotel is a 97'-wide x 182'-long ridge skylight with hipped ends and triangular gable ends. The original 891 lights of ¼" clear monolithic glass (complete with the original interior stainless steel safety screens) no longer met overhead glazing codes. They were so dirty that they significantly reduced the amount of lite coming into the atrium, they were thermally inefficient and had many leaks. Due to the relatively shallow depth of the existing aluminum I-beam framing members, the replacement glass thickness was limited to 7/16" (laminated) in order to minimize the additional dead load on the existing aluminum and steel framing systems. New clear Low-E laminated glass, new extruded aluminum pressure plates and gaskets, new trim caps, new continuous silicone seals, new flashing and a thorough cleaning of the systems guttering and weepage system brought new life and much needed light to the atrium centerpiece of this magnificent hotel. In addition to the renovation of the large atrium skylight there were three new glazed first floor entrance canopies and a glazed connector walkway. Overall the project went very smoothly and turned out exceptional due to the coordination, abilities, expertise and efforts put forth by Super Sky's installation team.

Brian Ashcraft, Cody Kesler, Kevin Link, Peter Montanino, Mark Sanford, Casey Smith - Transwall Office Systems, Inc.

Project Name: MITRE 4, McLean, VA
Architect: SKA Studio
Engineer: Dewberry Engineers, Inc.
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Transwall installed over 10,000 linear feet of their glass wall system complete with a combination of sliding and wood doors. The project went through an intensive selection criteria complete with samples and complete office mock-ups before finally settling on the Transwall system. The sliding glass door system includes soft opening features while utilizing 1/2" clear tempered glass with a finish film installation. Each typical office included a 2' wingwall at office intersections.

Electrical

Lighting Systems

Leo P. Cook, Jr., William Despres, Cristian Bonilla Garcia, John Grambo, Ryan Kruckow, Brian Sutton - JE Richards Electric, Inc.

Project Name: MGM National Harbor Hotel, Oxon Hill, MD
Architect/Engineer: SmithGroupJJR
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
The 308-room MGM Hotel was a fast-paced project constructed within a year, and features many interesting details. These craftsmen had to pay attention to the fixture installations. Some of the notable features include: 102 various fixture types; seven various suites with independent control systems for lighting, dimming, sound, curtains and monitors; common rooms with an INCOMM control system that senses people or occupancy by heat and turns on lights and adjusts them to the appropriate level due to light levels in the room; 3rd and 4th floors equipped with men's and ladies spa's as well as couples spa, fitness area, men's women's and couples spa, hair salon, barbershop, nail salon and masseuse offices—all controlled by separate lighting control system; and many decorative features including several large multitude head fiber lights.

Cody Blair, Kris Hamilton, Scott Stone - Aarow Electrical Solutions

Project Name: National Museum of the Marine Corps Lighting Replacement Phase I, Triangle, VA
Architect: Aarow Electrical Solutions
This retrofit project included eleven phases of sophisticated LED theatre lighting, controls and programming. In the atrium a 138' lift was utilized over and within inches of suspended military artifacts which were being reconditioned during the project. The magnitude of detail required and level of protection was unmatched throughout the museum. Close coordination and attention to detail was required as all artifacts were protected by Aarow Electrical Solutions.

Dave Amador - Construction Helicopters, Inc. and Eric Harbour, Gerry Knight, Landon Milstead, Chris Schiro, Clinton Simpson - Singleton Electric Company, Inc.

Project Name: Secondary Treatment Facility Upgrades Enhanced Nitrogen Removal - North, Washington, DC
Architect: Black & Veatch
Engineer: Shah & Associates
General Contractor: Ulliman Schutte Construction, LLC
The site lighting for this project required installation of 49 two-piece 60' high mast light poles to be across the entire site near basins, tanks, and reactors. As we were developing our layout drawings, we realized there were accessibility issues, which required the use of a helicopter for installation. Multiple plans were submitted to the TSA, FAA, the DC Police and Fire Departments as well as the Coast Guard to get their approvals (due to the plant's locations in DC, adjacent to Bolling Air Force Base). Once the required approvals were received, the team coordinated/submitted road closures, flight paths, and shutdowns to prevent unauthorized personnel from entering the areas where the poles were being installed. This was the number one safety concern during the entire process. To install the required amount of poles, and to keep personnel from entering the areas, this work was performed on a Saturday. In the end, all poles were set in one day, without incident. The planning and execution of this installation is a credit the craftsman who made it happen.

Corey Beach, Timothy Harrigan, Kenneth Newton, John Pedrazas, Victor Lazarte Pena, Wilber Villeda - JE Richards Electric, Inc.

Project Name: MGM National Harbor Theatre, Oxon Hill, MD
Architect/Engineer: SmithGroupJJR
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
The MGM Theater project consisted of constructing a 3,000 seat theater within a nine month period. Construction was done to a state-of-the-art specification in an effort to accommodate the theater’s performers and acts from around the world. For this project JE Richards's strategy was to provide the customer significant money savings while maintaining the world class standards demanded by the user group and design team. Many of the space’s amenities are comprised of, or enhanced with, several thousand feet of inlaid LED lights. They surround mirrors and bottle displays, and are included within the millwork of bar rails, seating, walls and ceilings. The sound/video system was designed, coordinated and installed using four systems. Sceno Plus, Crestron, Four wall and Barbizon. J.E. Richards integrated these systems so that light levels were coordinated with sound and rigging to accompany all aspects of live performances. In addition, as the project neared completion, JE Richards was contracted to construct and install 18 chandeliers—which weighed between 2,400 and 4,200 lbs each—and design the rigging plan to get them in to position. The ceiling, seating and performance floor had already been completed and painted so our craftsman had to work carefully in an effort not to damage any of the finishes. The chandeliers were installed successfully in a 1 month time frame.

Bruce Clodfelter, Chad Jenkins, Troy Marshall, Brett Roper, Jose Sanabria, Matthew Wells - Dynalectric Company

Project Name: Sands Capital Management, Arlington, VA
Architect: OTJ Architects
Engineer: GPI Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.
General Contractor: DAVIS Construction
The client wanted to create this space with very high-end and authentic looking lighting package. Light fixtures suspend from exposed surfaces, recessed in copper, plaster, wood, gypsum board and ceiling tiles, and have dimming capabilities and controls. Lutron controls were used for daylight harvesting and lighting controls throughout the entire space. The light fixture package on this high-end included over 1,750 fixtures, of 60 different types, spread out over the five floors of build-out. One of our major hurdles was installing over 3,500' of custom recessed and surface mount custom slot fixtures which had to be conjoined in the field with a seamless appearance. Additionally, Dynalectric installed 760 square feet of luminous ceilings in the Multipurpose Room and Elevator Lobbies. Over 1,100 fixtures such as LED down lights, pendants and spot lights illuminate the showcase space.

John Carey, Ben Davis, Hans Grahek, Richard Lee, John Martin, Mike Mulligan - Freestate Electrical Construction Company

Project Name: Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office, Washington, DC
Architect: WDG Architecture, PLLC
Engineer: Robert Silman Associates
General Contractor: Lendlease (US) Construction, Inc.
Detailed mock ups were performed for every area and setting of both the interior and exterior of the Hotel to ensure perfect illumination and accent of all areas including the historical elements of the Hotel. This took careful field review and research of each existing conditions to determine the best means and methods for how systems would be installed. In many instances modifications to the design had to be made in order to meet requirements and satisfactions of project stakeholders, while minimizing damage to historical elements through providing quality installations and craftsmanship. Work required thorough research and coordination by all disciplines and to achieve approval granted by the Trump owners as well as the design team. The difficult installation process would begin for each system within the confines of an existing historical building that was completed at the end of the 19th century. There were many unforeseen obstacles and obstructions where all parties had to take part in discovering resolutions and modifications to complete their installations. Great care and consideration on every level had to be taken by each individual involved in the work that was performed.

Bill Eaton, Dave Nicholson, Jarrett Randall, Mike Robinson, Tom Shannon, Don White - Singleton Electric Company, Inc.

Project Name: International Monetary Fund Headquarters Renovation Sequence 1, Washington, DC
Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP
Engineer: WSP Flack & Kurtz
General Contractor: Grunley Construction Company
The IMF Sequence One lighting and lighting control systems were extensive and complex. The overall design included 85 different types of light fixtures (totaling over 15,000 individual light fixtures), as well as a state of the art DALI based control system. The system’s software platform provides advanced lighting control and management through a web based graphical software application. The lighting control system includes programmable preset lighting scenes, daylight harvesting detection, multi-function occupancy/vacancy detection and personal dimming controls which integrate to both the Building Management Control System and Audio/ Visual system. Each of the 15,000 plus light fixtures are equipped with DALI ballasts and LED drivers, which link together, via low voltage wiring, creating a robust digital network delivering a sophisticated system to aid in lighting quality, energy savings and facility management. Singleton Electric employees demonstrated the highest degree of quality craftsmanship and technical skills to perform an outstanding job under difficult conditions.

Daniel Breece, Michael Breece, Eric Cullens, Joseph Morgan, Mohamed Oubalhaj, Michael Shipyan - JE Richards Electric, Inc.

Project Name: Bracewell and Giuliani, Washington, DC
Architect: Gensler
Engineer: GHT Limited
General Contractor: Harvey-Cleary Builders
This project was an interior build out of a 43,000-square-foot space with a construction schedule of just 18 weeks. Bracewell and Giuliani is a high end law firm, and this is a luxurious office space with elaborate lighting controls and custom fixtures. All of the fixtures were on expedited schedules and careful consideration had to be made with regards to shipping/receiving and trade schedules that were impacted by the fixtures. These craftsmen were highly skilled with technical abilities to complete the controls, and equally skilled with the craftsmanship that was necessary to modify and install the fixtures.

Jason Murvin, Jeff Pawlak, Thomas St. John - Mona Electric Group, Inc.

Project Name: 1789 Massachusetts Avenue NW Renovation, Washington, DC
Architect: Hartman-Cox Architects
Engineer: Robert Silman Associates
General Contractor: Grunley Construction Company
The project involved complex lighting services, including a lighting package containing over 3,200 individual fixtures that comprised 120 different fixture types, with custom-made LED light panels, wall sconces and chandeliers. Exterior paver and building uplights and multiple runs of cove lights, including one with custom fabricated angles were installed as well as LED downlights, millwork downlights and under-cabinet lights, servery track and under-counter fixtures. The lighting controls system includes eight Crestron lighting controls and two dimming panels, with 62 individual dimming zones and 60 devices, including keypads with preset scene controls and wireless occupancy sensors and transmitters. One-hundred and forty local occupancy sensors and 195 local dimmers with fixture requirements were coordinated and the abated areas of plaster walls were opened and precisely measured for the layout. The craftsmen of Mona Electric excelled despite the technically complex nature of the project.

Yaw Awuah, John Canterbury, Allan Harrison, Bobby Knauss, Rob Martin, - VarcoMac Electrical Construction Co.

Project Name: Office Tenant Fitout – Undisclosed Client, Arlington, VA
Architect: Architecture Inc.
Engineer: Built Environment Engineers
General Contractor: DPR Construction
VarcoMac was contracted to perform this design/build electrical fit out of four floors within a tight three month schedule. This project included over a mile of linear LED fixtures installed in both concealed and exposed ceiling applications. The exposed ceilings required special attention as the owner restricted the use of conduit offsets wherever possible. The light fixture types ranged from pendant style to linear up-lights and cove lighting. This was a fast-paced project which only allowed two months of construction time per 22,000-square-foot floor.

Donnie Beach, Santos Hernandez, Jason Ketchel, Lazar Koytchev, Allan Potts, Usher Tanveer - Rosendin Electric, Inc.

Project Name: MGM National Harbor - Casino, Oxon Hill, MD
Architect/Engineer: SmithGroupJJR
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Rosendin employees put in over 500,000 hours as two shifts attacked the daunting 3-million-square-foot project. The final four months of the project required crews to be on site seven days a week. This was a high profile project with fixture packages split between two vendors due to the volume of materials needed. Nearly 100% of the lighting is LED and stringent color, temperature and lumen outputs were required and adjusted to actual building conditions. The Crestron Dimming System was utilized and expanded and many fixtures required extensive rigging and in place assembly. Extensive rigging was required due to the massive size of some of the lights, with some weighing thousands of pounds and having hundreds of parts.

Alexander Marion, Richard Rodriguez, Rafael Rosa, Juan Ruiz, Nicholas Sames, Ryan Seal - JE Richards Electric, Inc.

Project Name: U.S. Diplomacy Center, Washington, DC
Architect: Beyer Blinder Belle
Engineer: Vanderweil Engineers
General Contractor: Gilbane Building Company
The project began with a detailed coordination specification using BIM 360. The project team assumed that 90% of the clashes had been resolved and that they would coordinate the last 10% in the field. Once construction began on the structure they realized that the CAD did not account for steel and duct work. All feeders had to be moved and most of the branch piping was moved from overhead to under slab. In addition, the ceilings were lowered to accommodate light fixtures. This caused significant construction delays. Creating a further challenge, all equipment and light fixtures had to be stored off-site, and deliveries that came to the site had to pass thru a vehicle inspection. Finally, they were then sent to another area where equipment and materials were physically checked and x-rayed before staged in the work area. Despite these and many other challenges, the finished product is evidence of the skill and craftsmanship of this team.

Power Generation, Distribution and Switchgear

Tom Crown, Joe Fuentes, Chris Lawshe, Mark R. Miller, Nick Thompson, Daniel Vallandingham - Dynalectric Company

Project Name: Sabey Data Center Building C, Ashburn, VA
Architect/Engineer: Lane Coubern Associates
General Contractor: Sabey
Sabey Data Center, a 165,000-square-foot, tier 3 facility in Ashburn, Va.A, is broken into four quads, each consisting of 3-35 KV to 480 V substations. Each substation has an A circuit and B circuit. The critical IT load for each quad is 1.8 MW for a total of 7.2 MW of total load. The loads are backed up by six 2 MW generators. The IT load is supported by dual fed static switches and PDU's. The mechanical load is supported by two sources of power through integral automatic transfer switches that allow for the transfer from A circuit to B circuit upon loss of power. The project had a very aggressive schedule, which created challenging situations where overhead conduct, feeder cables, setting of gear, fire alarm, controls, and security, all took place concurrently while all other trades were getting their work (such as duct, drywall, sprinkler, and painting) installed at the same time. A large portion of the work took place the last eight weeks of the schedule. Dynalectric's crew of 65 craftsmen worked around the clock, seven days a week to get it complete. The job finished three weeks ahead of the substantial completion date, which allowed the level 5 commissioning to be completed per Sabey's schedule and gave the project an on time delivery.

Corey Beach, Justin Davis, Hector Guzman, Marty O'Neil, Chouaibou Pafouyouom, Isaiah Simmons - JE Richards Electric, Inc.

Project Name: MGM National Harbor Theatre, Oxon Hill, MD
Architect/Engineer: SmithGroupJJR
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
The MGM Theater project consisted of constructing a 3,000 seat theater within a nine month period. Construction was done to a state-of-the-art specification in an effort to accommodate the theater’s performers and acts from around the world. For this project JE Richards's strategy was to provide the customer significant money savings while maintaining the world class standards demanded by the user group and design team. One of the significant value engineering modifications designed, performed and coordinated by JE Richards was to conform and correlate a complete pipe and wire design to a cable tray and MC Cable installation. Within the switchgear room that supports the theatre, you will be able to observe JE Richards method of installing this work. Other points of interest include: 62-Panels ranging from 100amps to 1200amps; 1-500kva, 1-350kva, and 7 smaller transformers; 8- Company switches ranging 200amps to 400amps; 6- ETC dimmer racks 400amps, containing 96 switch legs each; 25,000 ft. aluminum MC feeder cable ranging from #1/0 to #500 with double neutral; and the installation of a 1,200' aluminum ladder tray.

Daniel Groht, Charles Johnson, Shaun Mooney, James K. O'Donnell, Andrew Rozewicz, Benjamin Vess - JE Richards Electric, Inc.

Project Name: MGM National Harbor, Central Utility Plant, Oxon Hill, MD
Architect/Engineer: SmithGroupJJR
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
The MGM Central Utility Plant was an extremely technical project that included seven medium voltage switch gear rooms, with each room containing eight switchgear lineups. The central plant consisted of a generator room, chiller plant and a boiler plant. This team of craftsmen set every piece of switchgear, installed every conduit and pulled every feeder. They installed all of the necessary control wiring, all of the branch circuitry, and all of the feeders. The team was committed to this project and worked countless hours during the night and day to ensure that the customer got the project they expected.

Robert Davis, Eric Figueroa, Juan Guillen, Terry Scott Metzgar, Ray Murphy, James Slattery, Jr. - JE Richards Electric, Inc.

Project Name: Providence Power Upgrade, Washington, DC
Engineer: TME Engineering
General Contractor: JE Richards Electric, Inc.
This project consisted of installing two new 2.5 Meg 15kv generators, a new emergency switchboard, and a new CAT/ISCO gear line up. The team had to Install new emergency feeders to the new switchboard, bring the new generators online while the existing remained online, and perform a cutover of the hospital's emergency load without losing power. Extensive logistical coordination was required for other aspects of the project to receive the generators while maintaining normal hospital traffic. Despite this and many, many other challenges faced by these craftsmen, their skill and ingenuity ensured that the finished project was a success.

Special Systems

Steve Delaney, Ali Lindsey, Bill Reed, Mike Vanduzer, Richard Yuracka, - Mona Electric Group, Inc.

Project Name: National Museum of African American History and Culture - Fire Alarm, Washington, DC
Architects: Adjaye Associates / Davis Brody Bond / Freelon / SmithGroupJJR
Engineer: WSP Flack & Kurtz
General Contractor: Clark/Smoot/Russell, a Joint Venture
Mona provided the Fire Alarm and Video Smoke and Flame Detection System installed in this monumental building, which is five stories above and five stories below grade. The footprint and space usage changes throughout the building—from the Mechanical Spaces, Exhibit Areas, Atrium, and Theater to Board and Meeting rooms. The Fire Alarm System is tied to other systems including the Audio Visual System for Alarm Notification in most areas of the building. Other detection devices provided include Smoke Detectors, Heat Detectors, Linear Heat Detection Tape in the Loading Dock and multiple Vesda systems serving protected areas. Integration of these systems in this unique building made it a very challenging and exciting project to be a part of.

Eric Harbour, Mike Kern, Emerson Rodriguez, Freddy Rodriguez, Ron Washabaugh, Mike Youmans - Singleton Electric Company, Inc.

Project Name: Secondary Treatment Facility Upgrades Enhanced Nitrogen Removal - North, Washington, DC
Architect: Black & Veatch
Engineer: Shah & Associates
General Contractor: Ulliman Schutte Construction, LLC
This project was an especially difficult job in regards to instrumentation and control. There are six Blower systems, six Reactor Basins, 32 Sedimentation Basins, 11 Scum Systems, and five Foam Systems which all contain motorized gates, motorized valves, flow instruments, level instruments, pressure instruments, Variable Frequency Drives, and other miscellaneous instruments. All of these are remotely controlled and/or monitored by a centralized Process Control System. The systems alone are difficult, but when you add the hazardous classification, space constraints, extensive coordination, and multiple design changes (resulting in over I00 change orders), it was an especially difficult installation. In addition, the project was performed under difficult working conditions all while maintaining plant operational requirements with DC Water to keep the facilities in continuous dependable operation during construction.

Taurus Carroll, Shane Galloway, Marty Lang, Zachary Raines, Robert C. Russell, Shawn Sperry - JE Richards Electric, Inc.

Project Name: MGM National Harbor Fire Alarm, Oxon Hill, MD
Architect/Engineer: SmithGroupJJR
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
These craftsmen were responsible for installing a Fire Alarm System for the entire MGM Campus. This required one Main Fire Alarm Control Panel; three Fire Alarm Annunciator Panels; three pre-action panels; one Network Command Center; one Post Smoke Control System; 129 NAC Panels; 22 Transponder Panels; 3,200 Addressable Points, and 4,600 notification devices. The team was also responsible for 2 million feet of wire and cable, all of the conduit and all of the connections that were installed to ensure that MGM received the state-of-the-art system that was designed. Fire Alarm Inspections were completed at the end of November. While Fire Alarm is almost always the last function of construction, at the MGM it was the first function to be completed.

Ramchand Deonarine, Randy Donahue, Mark Fuhrmann, Matthew Grady, Rick Lee, Charles Williams - Mona Electric Group, Inc.

Project Name: National Museum of African American History and Culture - Exhibits, Washington, DC
Architect: Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Inc.
Engineer: WSP Flack & Kurtz
General Contractor: Design and Production Company
The coordination between the base building power, lighting and security systems within the vast quantity of exhibits throughout this project took a tremendous amount of craftsmanship. The multiple exhibit contractors, which came from all across the globe, each needed a level of detail in order to ensure the electrical components were not seen, and provided the required systems to each individual exhibit. Mona maintained a dedicated crew which was responsible for this exhibit electrical scope of work. These craftsmen deserve the recognition of such a prestigious award due to the technical excellence shown in the face of such a challenging schedule—but one that ultimately delivered this museum to the public as planned.

Finishes

Drywall

Fredy Claure, Johnny Esquivel, Raul Ferrufino, Martin Marin, Edgar Olivera, Jose G. Reyes - Tricon Construction, Inc.

Project Name: John R. Thompson Jr. Intercollegiate Athletic Center, Washington, DC
Architects: Populous / Bowie Bridley Architects
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
The drywall package handled by Tricon was very difficult for multiple reasons. The first is because there was a large graphics package on this project, requiring a level five finish on the majority of the walls, and all drywall ceilings. Having a level five finish requires a keen eye, concentration, and a high level of craftsmanship. The second reason is because there are two rotundas located in the main "Hall of Fame Hallway" with very intricate drywall ceilings. These ceilings were very tough to frame and hang drywall due to the various shapes in the ceiling. Since these rotundas are used as a gallery to showcase Georgetown University's historic athletic history, it was key to having these ceilings look perfect.

Flooring

Patrick Joy, Colin Wintermeyer - Master Care Flooring, Inc.

Project Name: The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Architect: Hartman-Cox Architects
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Each piece of these custom made, engineered wood floors was handpicked by the National Gallery for its grain, color, pattern, width, and over-all character. Master Care's talented employees temporarily set each gallery for review, so the gallery's design team would be able to approve of acceptable boards prior to installation, and mark the ones not to be installed. The selection of boards ranged from 4” to 10” in width at seven different widths and lengths as long as 12’ which added to the complexity of this very detailed four-step review and installation process. Master Care's team of outstanding hardwood flooring specialists not only succeeded at installing another masterpiece but also managed to finish this project under budget and on time.

Plaster

Ivaylo Borisov, Sonny Lechoco, Maribel Loza Rodriguez, Meliton Soto, Yuce Cesar Soto, Elmer Zurita - ATS Studios, LLC

Project Name: National Museum of Natural History Renovation - Halls 2 & 6, Washington, DC
Architect: EwingCole
General Contractor: Grunley Construction Company
Each piece of these custom made, engineered wood floors was handpicked by the National Gallery for its grain, color, pattern, width, and over-all character. Master Care's talented employees temporarily set each gallery for review, so the gallery's design team would be able to approve of acceptable boards prior to installation, and mark the ones not to be installed. The selection of boards ranged from 4” to 10” in width at seven different widths and lengths as long as 12’ which added to the complexity of this very detailed four-step review and installation process. Master Care's team of outstanding hardwood flooring specialists not only succeeded at installing another masterpiece but also managed to finish this project under budget and on time.

Windsor Arebalo, Carlos Escobar, Moises Hernandez, Jorge Quezada, Orlando Rivera, Zandro Villarroel - C.J. Coakley Co., Inc.

Project Name: 1789 Massachusetts Avenue NW Renovation, Washington, DC
Architect: Hartman-Cox Architects
Engineer: Robert Silman Associates
General Contractor: Grunley Construction Company
This complex project involved extensive demolition of the plaster throughout the building. Selective demolition was performed and portions of the existing plaster reliefs cornice and medallions, made in traditional plaster, were removed. Because the plaster systems only partially removed from all areas of the building they had to marry the new plaster to the original 1917 plaster seamlessly. Molds of all of the existing reliefs, cornices and medallions were created from the existing plaster to ensure that the new plaster would match the existing plaster. The grand staircase was a particularly complex project. They removed most of the existing stairwell and used combinations of traditional three-coat plaster and veneer plaster to return the stairway to its original appearance. The elevator lobbies were completely removed, replaced, and restored to their original appearance using a combination of new fire-rated construction and traditional plaster. Throughout these and several other areas of the building, C.J. Coakley's work was exceptional on this technically complex project.

Johnathan Castro, Julian Davis, Amadeo Gonzales, Roger Marquez, Jose Romero, Marlon Salmeron - Hayles and Howe, Inc.

Project Name: Union Station, Washington, DC
Architect: John Bowie Associates
Engineer: McMullan & Associates, Inc.
Construction Manager Jones Lang LaSalle Americas
Hayles and Howe's exceptional work was in the execution of solutions used to restore and stabilize the damaged ceiling in the main hall of Union Station. The supporting structured of the glorious coffered ceiling was weakened by the 2011 earthquake. Pieces of the ceiling began to break and fall into the main hall of the train station. Technical excellence was represented by the way the Hayles and Howe craftsmen worked with structural engineers and architects to create seismic bracing to protect the ceiling from future earthquake damage. The difficulty of execution in this project was to repair the enormous ceiling in the main hall without shutting the station down. In order to keep the patrons safe from the work going on above them, Hayles and Howe built an enclosure around the scaffolding. Quality of craftsmanship was found in the precision applied to the repair of each damaged coffer. With these techniques the historic ceiling was returned to its original splendor.
Star Awards Winner for Excellence in the Face of Adversity

Christian Huatay, Ivo Koytechv, Christian Pardo, Yuce Cesar Soto, Vladimir Tapia, Anna Torre-Smith - ATS Studios, LLC

Project Name: The Watergate Hotel, Washington, DC
Architect: Ron Arad
General Contractor: Grunley Construction Company
Two other companies tried to execute this finish but gave up after six months. The craftsmen on this project had 4-1/2 tons of plaster to trowel overhead, two major water leaks during the project, nearly unattainable deadlines, around the clock shifts, and had to create a mirror-like finish on the 2,600-square-foot ceiling. The job finished with eight layers of finish, but was done exceptionally well.

Masonry

Exterior Stone

Francisco Abundez, William Angel, Victor Castro, Jose Escamilla, Jose Mejia, Nelson Portillo - Lorton Stone, LLC

Project Name: U.S. Capitol Building North Exterior Renovation, Washington, DC
Architect: Architect of the Capitol
General Contractor: Grunley Construction Company
The project involved intricate masonry repairs to the historic marble and granite exterior of the building, including removing all of the water; hand carving dozens of masonry features; carving and installing a scroll; and cleaning 100% of the North and East elevations. Lorton Stone also repaired cracks, removed abandoned anchors and non-historic elements, repointed, installed sealant, provided Dutchman repairs and mortar patch repairs. They installed anchors to stabilize masonry, cleaned pediment sculptures, and fabricated and installed over 50 brackets and rosettes. Lorton Stone's work was exceptional given the significant coordination between subcontractors involved and difficult access to the work.

Jose Alvarez, Mauricio Bonilla, William Figueroa, Jose R. Lopez, Washington Martinez, Nelson Umana - Lorton Stone, LLC

Project Name: The National Gallery of Art - Work Area 9.1 & East Building Expansion, Washington, DC
Architect: Hartman-Cox Architects
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Lorton furnished and installed 8,000 square feet of Lac Du Bonnet granite thermal finish, and rub and sand finish stairs, walls, caps, planters and pavers, as well as extensive precast that included large entry lintels and 500 custom paver pedestals. Key members of the project team visited the Coldspring Granite Factory to select blocks, discuss fabrication details, and review sample slabs to establish color range, fabrication tolerances and crating sequence. The project had a tight installation schedule requiring considerable coordination with the general contractor and other trades regarding stone deliveries, storage, distribution, protection, installation, cleaning and punch list. The finished product displays some of the highest levels of quality craftsmanship and skill.
Star Award Nominee

Interior Stone & Marble

Fernando A. Barbosa, Howard S. Campbell, David C. Jonke, Christian B. Lancsa, Hector N. Mazariego, Santos V. Lopez - Rugo Stone, LLC

Project Name: U.S. Diplomacy Center, Washington, DC
Architect: Beyer Blinder Belle
General Contractor: Gilbane Building Company
The United States Diplomacy Center is located at the east entrance of the Harry S Truman building, and features a glass enclosed Pavilion which is the home to 14,000 square feet of Tennessee Rose marble. All projects had unique challenges during its construction. This project, being both occupied and a secured site, presented a handful of sequential challenges for installation and delivery of materials. One of the many challenges of the project was unexpected work that disrupted the plans for laying out the Center's marble floor tiles. The entire design team flew down to the quarry in Tennessee, picked out the marble, which had a 12-month lead time, for the 2.5 by 5-foot tiles, and then returned to the quarry several months later to do a dry lay of the floor so that it would be easy to place. The pieces were laid, marked, and crated by numbers so it would be similar to putting a puzzle back together as the stones were laid. But the unexpected slab reinforcement work forced a change in those plans. The additional structural upgrades required the team to re-sequence stone installation that was planned during the dry lay at the quarry. Therefore, the team had to uncrate the stones that were crated in sequence at the dry lay and separate them for the spaces that were not impacted by the additional structural upgrades.

Mario D. Bardini, Keen Hoffman, David C. Jonke, Santos V. Lopez, Filipe P. Madureira, Franz R. Rojas - Rugo Stone, LLC

Project Name: Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office, Washington, DC
Architect: WDG Architecture, PLLC
General Contractor: Lendlease (US) Construction, Inc.
Creating a modern 5-star hotel in an historical structure such as the Old Post Office, with the intent of preserving the historic value of the exterior and interior was a challenge that the architect and the designer have successfully overcome. Rugo Stone was contracted to furnish and install all of the new natural stone intended for the Hotel by the designer. Rugo’s team was led by an exceptional craftsman who has more than 30 years' experience, and is meticulous in his work. The team took their installation to a level of artistry, and their attention to detail demonstrated the pride they took in their work—and it showed in the final product. From initial uncrating of the stone, and examination of the surfaces for fissures, and possible breakage while in transit, to the final setting in place, every step of the installation was handled with care and with pride. It is Rugo’s passion for what they do that makes what they create truly special. This job was built well, and it was built to last. A premium was placed on schedule, but it was never at the price of quality.

Michael Graves, David C. Jonke, Christian B. Lancsa, Santos V. Lopez, Zenon Moya, Matteo Randi - Rugo Stone, LLC

Project Name: 1800 K Street, Washington, DC
Architect: VOA Architects
General Contractor: Forrester Construction
The 1800 K Street project included extensive interior renovations. Italian travertine is featured throughout the main lobby, B1 Lobby and Fitness Center. Rugo Stone installed intricate stone mosaic walls outside the entrances to each of the locker rooms of the Fitness Center. These stone mosaics were made up of approximately 48,000 individual stones. Throughout the projects Rugo Stone had to employ creative sequencing within the elevator lobbies, as the building remained occupied during construction. Due to tight schedule constraints, the materials were fabricated abroad and the new concrete deck, stairs and ramp were constructed to match. Rugo Stone not only met the challenges of working in an occupied building, they worked diligently to provide the building with beautiful interior stone features that required true trade expertise and a high level of attention to detail.

Unit Masonry

Pedro Cerrentino, Carols Cruz, Glenn Feldstein, Douglas Joya, Michael Pappas, Tranquilino Villegas - Telligent Masonry, LLC

Project Name: Parc Meridian at Eisenhower Station, Alexandria, VA
Architect: Architects Collaborative, Inc.
Engineer: Cagley & Associates, Inc.
General Contractor: Paradigm Contractors, LLC
Alexandria, Virginia has exploded over the past few years; yet one development exists that dwarfs the masonry among all local projects—the Pare Meridian. Covering an entire block the 25-story behemoth contains over 350,000 brick, 150 tons of natural stone and 100,000 CMU. The sheer size and intricate façades speak for themselves. Brickwork starts and stops at various heights throughout the building roughly 25 stories high, making construction extremely difficult. Along with interchanging brick locations and extraordinary architectural details, onsite logistics proved to be a challenge during the construction of this project. Accessing this building proved to be a major challenge due to the height, multiple step backs and plane changes, and the abstract locations of brick. Most of the building scaffolding had to be swung with heavy weight masonry swings, along with Fraco and even a putlogged system was used to build scaffold in high areas where masonry was just beginning. With the many systems located in various areas around the project, feeding this monster was a difficult challenge to stay on top of the tight schedule. Furthermore, multiple crews were needed to work in all these locations simultaneously. Nonetheless, Telligent Masonry was able to finish their work ahead of schedule with a bulk of the masonry completed in under five months.

Dave Baker, Jose Gonzalez, Oscar Hernandez, Juan Lara, Carlos Moreno, Armando Pineda - Calvert Masonry, Inc.

Project Name: Metropolitan Park Phases 4/5 (The Bartlett), Arlington, VA
Architect: Torti Gallas & Partners
General Contractor: Balfour Beatty Construction
Calvert Masonry, Inc. performed exceptionally well on this project. Four different brick colors, in two different sizes, along with Arriscraft architectural masonry units, cast stone, and four mortar colors were used to create contrast and differentiate areas on the exterior façade. In addition to color and material contrast, each elevation encompasses piers, insets, and setbacks to create shadow lines and give the façade depth. On the upper floors, machine-set precast bands, in conjunction with cast stone bands and copings, add an additional dimension to the overall appearance of the building. In total, Calvert Masonry installed over 800,000 face bricks, over 11,000 pieces of cast stone, and over 3,000 architectural masonry units in the veneer of the building. In addition to the veneer, over 100,000 interior concrete masonry units were installed in the parking garage, first floor, penthouses, and the elevator/ stair shafts extending up through the building.

Alex Campos, Celestino Campos, Edwin Cuadra, Miguel Cuadra, Robert McDuffie, Luis Rios - JPN Masonry, LLC

Project Name: Lafayette Elementary School Design/Build Services, Washington, DC
Architect: Hartman-Cox Architects
General Contractor: Skanska USA Building, Inc.
JPN Masonry did an exceptional job, facing countless challenges and still managing to complete the exterior façade with an exceptional commitment to craftsmanship, and well within the schedule required by the client. From the beginning, the design of the building proved to be challenging to execute. The proactive actions of the foreman prevented many set-backs from becoming delays to the project. The unexpected snow storm at the end of January pushed the schedule to begin brick work back over a month. Rain in May and countless other obstacles, such as broken pipes, design changes, and material delays, should have made the schedule impossible; however, JPN was able to install 239,156 bricks well before teachers and students returned to school.

Mechanical

HVAC-Piping

Chris Bowker, Bruce Parker - Joseph J. Magnolia, Inc.

Project Name: Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office, Washington, DC
Architect: WDG Architecture, PLLC
Engineer: Robert Silman Associates
General Contractor: Lendlease (US) Construction, Inc.
This team demonstrated true craftsmanship on this project for a variety of reasons, including: the ability to maintain the architects' conceptual plan for finishes while dealing with a full MEP design in a historical building; having the ability to take a historic building with inaccurate building model back grounds and go through the process of onsite field measuring/confirmation of existing historical finishes to remain; and the "design assist" of the sovent sanitary system due to in slab steel beam conflicts with bathroom layout and other historical finishes existing to remain. Other outstanding achievements include: overall installation of the mechanical systems; zero accidents; scheduling/coordinating equipment installation into an existing building; and organizing the efforts of the installation of sectional pad mounted air handlers to ceiling hung sectional air handlers. Throughout this challenging project, the team maintained a professional attitude during coordination of the MEP systems that were designed into an existing historic building.

Jason Baker, Jason Coleman, Javier Hernandez, Anthony Holmes, Benjamin Turner, Robert Wilson - Dominion Mechanical Contractors, Inc.

Project Name: George Washington University Science and Engineering Hall - 7th and 8th Floors Fit Out, Washington, DC
Architect/Engineer: Ballinger
General Contractor: Clark Construction Group, LLC
This project and team of craftsmen deserve recognition for the successful completion of a complex, state of the art laboratory within an extremely aggressive schedule.

Jamie Daymude, Andy Greenleaf, Scott Horstkamp, Shuron Kearney, Abu Mansaray, Raul Ramirez - Shapiro and Duncan, Inc.

Project Name: American University Washington College of Law, Washington, DC
Architect/Engineer: SmithGroupJJR
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Shapiro & Duncan’s building information modeling (BIM) team was responsible for coordinating the huge cobwebs of piping that were required for this project’s radiant heating panel installation. Because of the sheer size of this project, the coordination process to identify and eliminate clashes with other trades took one full calendar year. Additionally, their standard operating procedure is to coordinate, spool and fabricate as much of every installation as possible to make it easier on our field teams. Shapiro & Duncan’s Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) Department came up with the finished piping solutions for the very congested ceiling spaces on this project. Spooling and prefabbing the piping by specific system helped to expedite installation in the field. On a job of this magnitude, success often depends on taking a massive amount of material and staging it properly for installation. Therefore a dedicated installation team was established for each of the three buildings in the complex: Nebraska Hall, Yuma Hall and Capital Hall. To ensure proper supervision and delegation of responsibilities, a team leader was assigned in each building to oversee construction.

Paul Chappelle, Paul Miller, Jason O'Brien, Michael See, Brady Strain, Joseph Wilson - Limbach Company LLC

Project Name: Cannon House Office Building Renewal Phase O, Washington, DC
Architect: Shalom Baranes Associates
Engineer: James Posey Associates
General Contractor: Clark/Christman, A Joint Venture
The mechanical scope of work involved with the Cannon House Office Building Renewal Phase 0 was executed to the highest level of quality in the face of adverse circumstances. The work was performed in a secure, fully occupied government Congress building, with a high level of specification and quality control. The work consisted of new mechanical rooms, service chase utility piping, parking garage renewal, and existing system tie-in’s throughout the building interior. The mechanical systems included: Chilled Water, Heating Hot Water, Heating Hot Water Perimeter, High Pressure Steam and Condensate, Low Pressure Steam and Condensate, and Fuel Oil systems.

Jeff Baxter, John Carter, Nick Lowe, Markus Lukas, Donnie Matthews, Chris Ott - Shapiro and Duncan, Inc.

Project Name: Confidential Client: Northern Virginia Data Center, Sterling, VA
Architect: Corgan
Engineer: KW Mission Critical Engineering
General Contractor: HITT Contracting Inc.
The biggest challenge facing Shapiro & Duncan's project team was a very aggressive schedule that allowed only five months from preconstruction to completion of functional systems. In order to accommodate the project schedule, all personnel and other resources provided by Shapiro & Duncan and its subcontractors had to be structured for a 24/7 work schedule. Shapiro & Duncan's team swiftly implemented a strategic plan that assembled personnel in teams to tackle the project in a building block approach. This approach was essential in order to facilitate coordination, design, fabrication, delivery and placement of approximately 18,000 feet of welded steel HVAC piping ranging in sizes from 10" to 3" diameter. In addition, jobsite logistics was a tremendous hurdle due to the limited amount of area around the footprint of the building. All deliveries had to be pre-planned and coordinated through the general contractor to avoid congestion, delays and safety issues while off-loading materials. This data center project demonstrates how Shapiro & Duncan’s dedication to customer satisfaction, hard work, innovation, technology and a structured team approach can deliver outstanding results in the construction of a multi-faceted mechanical construction solution - even under the most challenging schedule and difficult conditions.

HVAC-Sheet Metal

Robert Brinkley, Jovan Dendy, William Forney, Reginald Jackson, Nicholas Marfizo, Vernon Norman - Norwood Environmental Systems

Project Name: Washington Union Station Earthquake Remediation - Bay 5 Ductwork Replacement, Washington, DC
Architects: Gensler / John Bowie Associates
Engineer: GHT Limited
General Contractor:
This project required extremely complex coordination of ductwork in constrained spaces within the ceiling of the historic Washington Union Station, which was constructed in 1907. This 109-year-old structure's ceiling in the Main Hall is one of Washington, DC's most prized architectural features. To repair and replace the necessary ductwork in this space required the utmost care, attention to detail and quality of craftsmanship; over 730 individual pieces of ductwork were created, requiring 45,000 sheet metal screws and over 4,000 bolts to assemble. The ductwork, which was sealed with over 150 gallons of mastic, was then covered by 24,000 square feet of fiberglass insulation and hand-hoisted into place by the named workers. Over 25,000 linear feet of duct tape completed the installation, which covers more than five miles in distance.

Todd Cooper, Fred Davis, Don Milam, Frank Roberts, Tony Stewart, Marcus Tongue - I&B / Southland Industries

Metals

Miscellaneous Metal Fabrication

Craftsmen - American Iron Works, Inc.

Ornamental Metal

Bill Bondura, Chris Bondura, Anthony Collicchio, Adam Kacperski, Jesse Marks, Anthony Orlando - Crescent Designed Metals

Project Name: The National Gallery of Art - Work Area 9.1 & East Building Expansion, Washington, DC
Architect: Hartman-Cox Architects
Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
General Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Project scope included diamond-shaped stairs (One spanning seven levels and one spanning five) with ¾" low iron tempered glass guardrails and lighted polished SS handrails. Tolerances were stricter than AESS. The design includes a tremendously complex geometry, specifically at the side points of the diamond shape where stringer plate assemblies meet at a sloping, mitered & twisted ("kinked") joint - it is extremely rare for a stair to change direction in mid-flight without a level landing. The project required extraordinarily precise engineering and exceptionally detailed fabrication.
The stair stringers were fabricated from 1" thick steel plates with machined, beveled edges to accommodate the stair geometry. The plates were shop-fit and welded to form a pocket into which the ¾" glass was set. Ornamental tolerances of+- 1/16" were kept on the kinked stringer joints despite the heavy structural welding of the stringer plates. Glass fabrication and installation tolerances were also +-1/16" adding to the complexity of the kinked joints and the 9' long and 350 lb sloping glass panels with beveled vertical edges. Additionally, the mirror polished handrail could not be field modified, compounding the challenge of fitting the handrail to the kinked diamond-shaped design.

Ruben Cano, Alexander Mendoz, Jose Muniz, Joel Perdomo, Darrell White, Scorpion's Welding - Big D Metalworks

Project Name: Sands Capital Management, Arlington, VA
Architect: OTJ Architects
Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
General Contractor: DAVIS Construction
This high-end headquarters space features a new stainless steel and walnut monumental stair that connects the four tenant floors. Beginning with fabrication and delivery, through installation and close coordination with surrounding trades to avoid damage, this team overcame a number of extraordinary challenges. Protection was installed, moved and reinstalled at every step of the process to ensure no damage occurred. Despite the challenges, the finished work is an exceptional example of true craftsmanship.

Lauren Pellerito, Jason Tucker, Allen Ward, Lawrence Welker III, Lawrence Welker IV, Randy Welker - Laran Bronze, Inc.

Project Name: Holodomor Memorial, Washington, DC
Architect: Hartman-Cox Architects
Designer: The Kurylas Studio
General Contractor: Forrester Construction
The Holodomor Memorial sculpture was designed to commemorate the Ukrainian famine of 1932-1933. The designer, Larysa Kurylas of The Kurylas Studios, won an international design competition for the Holodomor Project. Larysa used the concept of projecting wheat from positive to negative space to reflect the starvation that occurred in that period of Ukrainian history. Laran Bronze used wheat selected by the artist to help create the molds for the sculpture. The bronze wall was created using a sand mold, a process which is when the milled patterns are encased in resin-bonded sand; the Holodomor Project required 32 sand molds. The case is then split open and the pattern is taken out, then the case is closed again but now has a void in the mold where the pattern once was. Molten bronze is then poured into this void to produce a casting. The mold is then split open again to get to the casting. Finally Laran welded the pieces together to create the final sculpture assembly. This intricate process required patience and skill to ensure that the bronze sculpture would achieve the desired result envisioned by the artist.

Structural Steel Framing

Travis Burdett, Charles Crockett, Robert Harris, Michael Wilkinson - Congressional Ironworks

Project Name: 1000 Wilson Boulevard - Rooftop Addition, Arlington, VA
Architect: OTJ Architects
Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
General Contractor: DAVIS Construction
The project included construction of a new penthouse and roof deck for exclusive use by the Sands Capital tenant. Construction of the roof deck on top of the existing 330' building with no elevator access proved to be a challenge from day one. Access to the roof was limited to a freight elevator and then two sets of fire stairs to a roof hatch. Congressional Iron worked with DAVIS and Crane Services to develop a lift plan to meet the budget and schedule. A 500 ton crane with a 410' boom height was used for two weeks to erect the structure. A special permit with the FAA was obtained to maintain work safely with the close proximity to Regan Airport. Due to the height and angle of the pick, the crane was limited to 10,000 pounds and could reach 55' past the building edge, but only covered 25' of the new building addition. The crane could not be used in winds higher that 10 mph, nor in low visibility. The building is curved along the face and has minimal columns to allow panoramic views of Washington, DC. The complex geometry of the building steel and existing structure made the shop drawing and field verification process challenging. Congressional Iron used laser scans provided by DAVIS to verify the actual beam locations and elevations below the roof level. All of the columns were installed at different elevations - some at the existing deck and other on the beams below. This work was all done prior to the concrete pour and prior to the crane arriving onsite. The 500-lb columns were delivered and set by hand. High strength concrete mix was used so the slab could be loaded 48 hours later. The majority of the building steel was stocked and set by hand or duct lifts. The crane was used to set five beams along the building perimeter including the 3,500 pound beam than spans the conference room. Congressional Iron's preplanning and execution allowed the steel work to stay on schedule and within the two week window the crane was onsite. Installation of the canopy and exterior finishes was considered construction as usual due to the quality of the steel erection.

Sitework

Landscaping

Brad Matthews - Ruppert Landscape

Project Name: National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC
Architects: Adjaye Associates / Davis Brody Bond / Freelon / SmithGroupJJR
Landscape Architect: Gustafson Guthrie Nichol
Civil Engineer: RK&K
Structural Engineers: Guy Nordenson and Associates / Robert Silman Associates
General Contractor: Clark/Smoot/Russell, a Joint Venture
Occupying the last available space on the National Mall, the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) was completed in the spring of 2016. Ruppert Landscape's scope of work included landscape, irrigation, soils, site amenities, stone curb, concrete flatwork, concrete walls, pavers and water features. The landscape plays an integral part of the overall design and links the five-acre site into the larger composition of the National Mall, serving as a critical component of the museum experience. Ruppert was contracted to install Live Oaks, Magnolias and American Beeches, all of which are that are native to the Southeast, and to plant over 400,000 crocus bulbs which will bloom annually during Black History Month. These and many other features of the site reinforce the overall theme of the museum and will encourage visitors to extend their experience outside. Although Ruppert faced many challenges, they were able to overcome these obstacles through communication and teamwork. Overall, there was a synergy and proactive effort from all parties involved which led to the successful execution and construction of this historic landmark.

Underpinning, Foundations and Excavations

Hugh Campbell, Robert Mann, Ryan Noell, Robert Pashkevich, Scott Pashkevich, Kevin Randall - Clark Foundations, LLC

Project Name: CSX Virginia Avenue Tunnel Reconstruction Project, Washington, DC
Architect: Parsons Transportation Group
General Contractor: Clark/Parsons, a Joint Venture
Located in the heart of Washington, DC, the Virginia Avenue Tunnel Reconstruction project is one of the most complex and sensitive infrastructure projects currently underway in the greater Mid-Atlantic Region, with a footprint stretching more than 10 city blocks from South Capitol Street to 14th Street. Clark Foundations, LLC was responsible for design and installation of the Phase I support of excavation system as well as installation of permanent elements of the project including a secant pile wall system, soldier pile retaining walls, caissons, and bearing piles. In total, Clark Foundations installed 68,000 linear feet of piles (approximately 13 miles), over 1,000 tons of bracing, 27 temporary utility supports, and six temporary bridges. Clark's value engineering and skilled craftsmanship allowed for an aggressive schedule while providing a cost effective solution for the owner.

Ray Brady, Art Rhodes, Billy Rhodes, Jr., Ray Rhodes, Cornell Scott, Derek Shields - Berkel & Company Contractors, Inc.

Project Name: Uline Arena / REI, Washington, DC
Architect: Antunovich Associates
Engineer: Tadjer Cohen Edelson Associates
General Contractor: DAVIS Construction
Phase II of the Uline Arena, located at the intersection of Delaware Avenue NE, M Street NE and 3rd Street NE converts the existing space and neighboring Ice House into mixed-use retail, office and above-grade garage space. Berkel was responsible for temporary bracing below and above grade. Prior to the concrete work beginning, Berkel had to install solider pile and lagging pits for each new foundation and interconnecting grade beam. Prior to the removal of the existing stadium seating, the exterior walls and columns needed to be temporarily braced at the top and bottom. Over 80 temporary rakers and wales were installed beneath and throughout the existing seating. Berkel completed this complicated work, which was crucial to the success of the project and specifically the new concrete work being done.

Marc Esser, Jr., Tim George, Orlando Guacheta, Melvin Maldonado, Patrick O'Dell, Brian Osbourn - Clark Foundations, LLC

Project Name: National Law Enforcement Museum, Washington, DC
Architect: Davis Buckley Architects and Planners
Engineer: Speigel, Zamecnik & Shah Inc.
General Contractor: Clark Construction Group, LLC
The National Law Enforcement Museum will be a primarily underground structure typically consisting of two below-grade levels, as well as a third below-grade level in the eastern portion of the building footprint serving as the central utility plant level. Located in Judiciary Square, south of the existing National Law Enforcement Officers' Memorial, the museum site is bordered by three historical court buildings: the U.S. Court of Appeals to the west, the DC Court of Appeals (Court Building D) to the south, and DC Court Building C to the east. The Judiciary Square metro station lies northeast of the site. Despite the issues and challenges encountered with preservation of the surrounding historical structures, test pitting for known utilities (and uncovering previously unmarked utilities), and limited site access, the Clark Foundations field crew was able to maintain budgeted production rates, while most importantly completing the work without a single first-aid, recordable, or lost time injury on site.

Eric Henmueller, James Mathews, Noe Meza, Albert Pisaneschi, Joshua Raper, Sims (Bo) Rodden - Schnabel Foundation Company

Project Name: 99 M Street (Ballpark Square), Washington, DC
Architect: Gensler
Engineer: SK&A Structural Engineers, PLLC
General Contractor: Skanska USA Building
The 99 M Street project is a new eleven story core and shell office building with a four level below-grade parking garage, totaling 324,000 gross square feet. The site is located on the corner of 1st Street and M Street, one block from the Nationals Ballpark in Southeast Washington, DC. Due to the close proximity of the adjacent WMATA metro tunnel under M Street, approximately 12 feet from the North face of the building, additional design and safety measures were required by WMATA. In conjunction with the tunnel, an existing building on the West side and new construction on the South side required a multifaceted support of excavation design. This resulted in a complex combination of traditional tensioned tie-back bracing on the South and East sides of the excavation and an internal bracing system with the use of 35 tiered steel pipe rakers on the North and West sides. The top of the rakers were braced against two tiers of wales spanning the entire North and West SOE walls, while the bottom of the rakers were braced against the concrete mat slab foundation for the building. The lowest tier, consisting of 39 steel beam rakers, were braced against each soldier pile and embedded into the mat slab with a welded brace plate. As a result, the mat slab was poured in four phases and designed with additional reinforcement to withstand the loads of the SOE system and the new eleven story building. Schnabel Foundation Company designed and installed the SOE system.

Hunter Dunn, Mark Dunn, Tony Franklin, Adam Pashkevich, Chris Pashkevich, Thomas Snowden - Clark Foundations, LLC

Project Name: 655 New York Avenue, Washington, DC
Architect: Shalom Baranes Associates
Engineer: KCE Structural Engineers
General Contractor: DAVIS Construction
Located in Mount Vernon Square's historic district, at the corner of 7th St and New York Ave, NW this project encompasses the full city block and incorporates 19 historic buildings. The project scope involved moving two existing historic buildings. The scope of the support of excavation systems on the 655 New York Ave project was immense. The project consisted of 147 soldier piles, approximately 45,000 square feet of lagging, 29 underpinning pits, 10 drilled piers, and 44 micro-piles. Despite the inordinate amount of work, Clark Foundations managed to finish the support of excavation scope more than one month ahead of schedule.
Star Awards Winner for Technical Excellence

Utilities

Raul Lucero, Tim Paugh, Randy Schultz, Tito Vasquez, Adonis Villatoro, Mario Villatoro - Anchor Construction Corporation

Project Name: DC United Soccer Stadium Infrastructure, Washington, DC
Engineer of Record: McKissack & McKissack
General Contractor: WM Schlosser Company
Anchor Construction installed: 2,100 linear feet of 15 - 36" storm drain 15'-18' deep, with 200 linear feet of tunneling and 35 structures; 1100 linear feet of 12" sewer main with 11 manholes 12' deep; and 3,600 linear feet of 12" and 16" water main with Cathodic Protection. After receiving the approved construction drawing, the team had three months to complete the work, and had as many as nine crews working onsite to meet the scheduled completion date.

Haze Buchanan, Hector Duarte, Pedro Henriquez, Jose Motto, Nelson Romero - Clark Civil and Doug Koenig - Ferguson Enterprises, Inc.

Project Name: CSX Virginia Avenue Tunnel Reconstruction Project, Washington, DC
Engineers: Wiles Mensch Corporation / Parsons Transportation Group, Inc
General Contractor: Clark/Parsons, a Joint Venture
Clark's self-perform civil division was responsible for building a complex sanitary siphon structure under the tunnel, known as the 6th Street Siphon. After excavation and jack and bore activities were completed, Clark Civil's water/ wastewater crews completed the following activities installed sewer pipes inside the jack-and-bore casings and installed riser pipes on the up-stream side of the structure, and Partially constructed up-stream and down-stream structures (85% complete), working approximately 50 feet below grade. In addition the team placed by-pass pipes on the upstream side, partially demolished the existing sewer and storm drain pipes, installed plugs inside the existing sewer and storm drain pipes on the up-stream side while flow was live, diverted the flow to the by-pass pipes and through the recently installed pipes under the tunnel and down-stream structure, demolished the exiting sewer on the down-stream side and connected the downstream structure to the existing sewer, and finally allowed the flow go through the by-pass. Bulkheads were constructed for the existing sewer on both sides of the existing tunnel. Finally, the team completed the construction of both up-stream and down-stream structures, removed the temporary by-pass pipe inside the upstream structure, and allowed the flow to go through the upstream structure. All work was completed in the midst of a busy, urban environment.

Ruben Antonio Garcia, Rudis Melgar, Noe Alexander Salinas Padilla, Marlon Guillen Ruiz, Franquis Villatoro, Martin Villatoro - Anchor Construction Corporation

Project Name: Pepco Waterfront Substation Conduit Phase 1, Washington, DC
Architect/Engineer: Pepco Holdings, Inc.
General Contractor: Anchor Construction Corporation
The craftsmen working on this job did exceptional work completing the installation of ten electric manholes and 4,600 TF of 5-inch, 8-way fiberglass conduit ductbank. There were numerous utility conflicts in this area and much work had to be done by hand digging. This work was phase one of a three-phase plan which will upgrade Pepco's Buzzard Point Substation in advance of the planned development in the Southwest Waterfront area. The work was completed on time, and no rework or major punch list items were required.

Special Construction

Demolition

Clint Filges, Chuck Grabner, Mike Orth, Ricky Shawley, Dave Thompson - Fay, an i+iconUSA Company

Project Name: CSX Virginia Avenue Tunnel Reconstruction Project, Washington, DC
Architect/Engineer: Parsons Transportation Group
General Contractor: Clark/Parsons, a Joint Venture
This project is broken up into two phases. Phase 1 consists of building a new tunnel structure South of the existing structure while train traffic is maintained in the existing structure. Once the Phase 1 structure is complete, train traffic will be switched into the new tunnel structure. Phase 2 consists of demolishing the old tunnel structure and building the new tunnel structure in the same alignment. To complete the Phase 1 structure on the West end of project, approximately 375 linear feet of the existing tunnel's South wall and roof structure had to be demolished while protecting the rails and still maintaining live train traffic. To protect the rails during demolition, the track was flooded with ballast up to the top of rail to allow articulating dump trucks and track excavators to drive on the tracks. The articulating dump trucks were positioned side-by-side inside the tunnel and were modified with "wings" on the beds of the trucks so debris would not fall directly onto the tracks. Hoe rams were positioned above the tunnel to demolish the tunnel roof and at track grade to demolish the tunnel wall. This work was originally scheduled to take about two and a half months, but with the innovative ideas to protect the existing track while maintaining live traffic, the team was able to complete this work two weeks ahead of schedule.
Star Award Nominee

GFRC Exterior Trim

Jose Aguilar, Abraham Arevalo, Mario Escobar, Israel Miranda, Octavio Ortega, Juan Tobias - P & D Contractors, LLC

Project Name: Lafayette Elementary School Design/Build Services, Washington, DC
Architect: Hartman-Cox Architects
Engineer: BEI Structural Engineers
General Contractor: Skanska USA Building, Inc.
The GFRC project manager and job foremen were required to rearrange schedules sequences in work scopes to help accommodate the work of other trades. The GFRC manufacturing plants were not meeting their committed schedules; therefore P and D craftsman had to continuously remobilize teams to complete GFRC framing in un-sequenced locations to allow for completion of the exterior wall. The entire team was composed of thoughtful artisans who showed a great respect for each other, for the design process, and for the final product. It was clear from the first meeting that they were excited and committed to making it a successful project. This pride and commitment shows in their work, and the building is better because they were involved.

GFRC and Wood Grills

Ruben Buenidas, Robert Troiano - Component Assembly Systems, Inc. James McCormack, Vincent Nitopi - Drake Incorporated

Historic Facade Reconstruction

Benji Coffey, Greg Meyers, Paul Richardson, Bill Suhrhoff, Greg Viccharelli, Dennis Wilson - Scaffold Resource, LLC

Project Name: Revitalization of St. Elizabeth's Center Building, Washington, DC
Architect: Shalom Baranes Associates
Engineer: Patuxent Engineering Group, LLC
General Contractor: Grunley Construction Company
Scaffold Resource, LLC designed, furnished, installed and removed a façade bracing system for the historic façade of the Center Building at the St. Elizabeth's Campus. This bracing system was designed to accommodate the underpinning operation, exterior excavation and waterproofing, demolition of the existing roof structure and floors, and re-construction of the new interior structure while maintaining the existing historic fa9ade in its original condition. The extent of the façade that was braced is over a mile long and ranges in elevation from two to five stories tall. Typical tilt-up wall braces were used on the two and three story conditions. Custom four story braces approximately 60' long were fabricated on site to brace the four story conditions. On the five story conditions custom fabricated towers were designed and fabricated off site. Upon delivery, it was craned into place onto temporary footings. All systems were designed to meet the lateral loading requirements provided by the EOR. In total, our bracing system engaged the façade in approximately 400 points at multiple elevations around the 1 mile+ linear footage of the façade. During the renovations all walls were being monitored for movement so adjustment points were incorporated into the bracing design with the ability to make fine adjustments to each of the braces as needed in the event of any settlement.
Star Award Nominee

Scaffolding & Rigging

Faustino Alvarado, Lisandro Arriola, Robert Born, Tom McGonegal, Julio Vasquez, - Safway Services

Project Name: The Capitol Dome Restoration, Washington, DC
Architect: Architect of the Capitol
Engineer: Safway Services
General Contractor: Turner/Smoot, JV
When does 2 million pounds of scaffold become an architectural work of art? When it wraps around the world-renowned US Capitol dome and is lit by 720 LED construction task lights. The 29-story cast iron dome, the tallest of its kind in the world, is currently wrapped in over 52 miles of piping, creating the web-like appearance, which will altered the view of the Washington DC skyline until the end of 2016. To ensure that all of the structural requirements were met, Safway's Engineering Team spent over 2,500 man-hours designing the scaffold structure. Thanks to the dedication of these engineers, the entire dome is safely enclosed without damaging the aged cast iron. After crew members were cleared through an FBI background check, and the rotunda canopy was in place, Safway's skilled laborers were able to begin building the outer dome scaffold. The use of motorized equipment to get the 75,000 pieces of material erected around the dome was prohibited. Split between two shifts, over a five-month timeframe, Safway crews built the entire scaffold structure by hand. This was accomplished by passing scaffold pieces up via daisy-chain, where tradesmen stand on each level of the scaffold and pass equipment up one piece at a time.

Thermal and Moisture Protection

Nang Kim, Fernando Mendez, Phirum Mey, Sambath Suon, Sotha Tim, Kim Ung - Prospect Waterproofing Company

Project Name: Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office, Washington, DC
Architect: WDG Architecture, PLLC
Engineer: Trump International Hotel Washington
General Contractor: Lendlease (US) Construction, Inc.
Prospect Waterproofing Company's craftsmen overcame the challenges of an aggressive project schedule while protecting the building's interior from inclement weather during the roof replacement of the historic Old Post Office Pavilion, Old Post Office Tower, mansard slate roofs and new hot rubberized asphalt waterproofing membrane at the Annex roof. From the start of the project, our crew recognized the importance and welcomed the opportunity to work on this historic building for a high-profile client. Prior to the start of work each day, our craftsmen reviewed the AHA and completed a safety checklist to ensure everyone on site could work together in a safe and productive manner. The crew installed 80,000 square feet of hot rubberized asphalt membrane, 2.4 miles of vertical wall waterproofing, new skylights, new replacement slate and a green roof to provide the client with a quality installation to enhance and protect this historic building.

Water Feature

Ryan Coxey, Chris Roy, Kristina Solomon - WESCO Fountains, Inc.

Project Name: National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC
Architects: Adjaye Associates / Davis Brody Bond / Freelon / SmithGroupJJR
Structural Engineers: Guy Nordenson and Associates / Robert Silman Associates
General Contractor: Clark/Smoot/Russell, a Joint Venture
feature—one of the two fountains that was installed by WESCO Fountains Inc. WESCO worked closely with the general contractor and the MEP trades to coordinate the plumbing runs for the water feature pipes through corridors and spaces tightly packed with other plumbing, electrical, and HVAC service, and began installation of the water feature's stainless steel plumbing. Fountain plumbing for the South Fountain includes over 2000' of schedule 10 type 304 stainless steel pipe with a combination of grooved fittings and welded joints, mostly in 8" and 12" sizes, while the Oculus plumbing includes over 4000' of 4" stainless plumbing. WESCO did encounter an issue during installation of the plumbing where it was found that a lower tier subcontractor hired for pipe installation had some quality control issues; WESCO took action to correct the issue by removing that contractor from the project and hiring our own team of highly skilled pipe-fitters working extended hours to remove and replace non-conforming work and get the project back on track with a very high level of craftsmanship. Ensuring specifications were met and quality was of the highest caliber was paramount on this project, as WESCO knows how important it is to protect the artifacts within the museum for future generations.
When it came time to start up the fountains, all mechanical systems worked flawlessly. WESCO staff has been on hand to aid CSR and other trades in operating the fountains during testing of the other trades' work, such as waterproofing and finishes, and have also been able to operate the fountain during several of the museum's opening events.
Star Award Nominee

Wood/Metal Staircase

Ryan Carver, Alex Grace, Benjamin Graham-Putter, David Miller, Chris Pumphrey, Andrew Walker - Gutierrez Studios

Project Name: Alarm.com Headquarters, McLean, VA
Architect: OTJ Architects
General Contractor: DPR Construction
An inter-connecting staircase links all four floors of this space together, and is the focal point of design. The stair integrated hot rolled-steel, glass, and reclaimed wood staircase utilized timber wood reclaimed from an 1800s barn from Gettysburg, PA to give an industrial appeal to the space. Due to the nature of the install, prefabrication was a key component in the design and execution of this stair. Accurate field measurements were made by Gutierrez and all components, even the glass, were preordered prior to installation of the steel. Typically glass would be an item one would not order prior to install, as the slightest modification would require glass to have to be re-ordered. Due to the accuracy of the field measurements and precision of the steel fabrication, no glass had to be reordered, saving the project a few weeks of possible delay. Finer details can be found in the welding of the steel and finishing of those welds to blend in with the steel frame. Another detail that was incorporated was the use of kerf cutting for the railing handrails that adds an element of this work being handcrafted and as many smaller cuts were made and the steel was bent to a radius to accommodate the needs of the railing. The use of wood and steel is not something that is commonplace for steel contractors and the incorporation of both into one unified structure truly represents the skills of true craftsmen.

Woods & Plastics

Architectural Millwork

Keith Anderson, Paul Catena, Rodney Ferrifino, Andrew King, David Maldonado, Chuong Van Tran - Washington Woodworking Company

Project Name: Bracewell, Washington, DC
Architect: Gensler
General Contractor: Harvey-Cleary Builders
Bracewell was an aggressive 16-week schedule project. During the project’s base building design, the client requested that the 9th floor have elevated slab height to allow for 9' -5" ceiling heights (in non-critical areas). In addition, there were 11' ceiling heights in the offices and up to 11'-5" in the conference area. All of the finishes that were specified in the conference space, and all office fronts, were too large to bring up the freight elevator, so several craning operations took place in order to bring the material up and into the space. Washington Woodworking took on the challenge of stitching each piece of wood flitch that was used on the 9th floor because the flitch was not long enough for the panel lengths.

Michael Do, Eduardo Howell-Gaskin, Eric Russell, Andre' Scott, Shane Seremet, Samuel Taliaferro - Baker & Kerr, Inc.

Project Name: Sands Capital Management, Arlington, VA
Architect: OTJ Architects
General Contractor: DAVIS Construction
This high-end headquarters space features a new stainless steel and walnut monumental stair that connects the four tenant floors. The project included custom office fronts with sequenced veneered doors, wall panels and glass infills, and over 20,000 square feet of wide-plank character grade walnut floors. The millwork scope included exotic veneer, paneling and door features, leather panels, copper ceilings, and unique pocket doors—exceptional installation skills were required to achieve the precision fit and finish.

Mike Guthridge, Tuan Mai, Charles Neal, Richard Seliga, Paul Stidham, Paul Tessandori - ibs Millwork Corporation

Project Name: LiUNA Tenant Improvement, Washington, DC
Architect: Gensler
Engineer: GHT Limited
General Contractor: DAVIS Construction
The LiUNA tenant improvement project included a full renovation of floors 1 and 6-9 of their existing space. The ninth floor includes the addition of five pantries accented with wood baffle ceilings, stone tile floors, and high-end industrial appliances. The eighth floor features two high-end executive suites, each with White Maple and Sapele stained millwork wainscot, Rift White Oak wood floors, custom in-lay rugs and a personalized gym. A blackened steel interconnecting stair was added from sixth to ninth floors, and a dumbwaiter was installed from the first to second floor. Each office front partitions are American Cherry stained wood casing finished with glazing. Floor nine includes an executive board room and three multipurpose rooms with PK-30 demountable partitions, skyfold folding partitions, and stained American Cherry millwork throughout. The high-end architectural millwork features were made possible by IBS' skill and coordination with other trades. The quantity of millwork scope—from bid-day to the final set of drawings—changed drastically, and, IBS adapted quickly by scheduling field and owner meetings and going above and beyond with execution.

Eric Eatman, Don Jackson, Hanh Nguyen, Dave Popish, Mike Pullen, Randy Tusing - Jefferson Millwork & Design, Inc.

Project Name: Metropolitan Park Phases 4/5 (The Bartlett), Arlington, VA
Architect: Torti Gallas & Partners
General Contractor: Balfour Beatty Construction
Jefferson Millwork & Design, Inc. performed exceptionally well on this project. The project included the combination of various types of materials ranging from walnut wood to custom shaped painted metal and acrylic panels. The ability to incorporate and build with all types of material and achieve the desired appearance was a feat in itself. Jefferson's work encompasses over 40,000 square feet of custom finished amenity spaces. The Bartlett was a challenging project that entailed a significant amount of engineering, pre-planning and creative development to ultimately execute several custom spaces for the buildings tenants and owners. Jefferson, as team player, worked with other trades and vendors in clarifying all the intricate details to resolve field issues, and provided a turn-key, customer service experience that plans ahead, provides suggestion, and saves time and money along the way. Jefferson used foresight and communication to alleviate potential set-backs, which made the execution of millwork at The Bartlett a success.

Donald Castro, Gary Gilbert, Mark Miller - Mortensen Woodwork

Project Name: Hogan Lovells, Washington, DC
Architect: Gensler
General Contractor: DAVIS Construction
This significantly complete project required careful coordination and layout with tile, ornamental metal and ceiling trades to ensure that paneling reveals aligned to marble and ceiling joints and careful aligned with a very complex eight-story hanging staircase. Mortensen assumed almost exclusive responsibility to layout for all trades. This resulted in six months of onsite layout and coordination before the work was actually installed. The extensive amount of veneer work required approximately 80,000 square feet of figured Paldao, a species hand selected for each elevation of the work. The completed product shows the meticulous effort put into quality control, an outcome that was highly praised by the owner and architectural team.

Archie Dodson, Carlos Gomez, Ray Holmes, Mahdi Norozi, Mark Sutphin, Hung Vo - Gaithersburg Cabinetry & Millwork

Project Name: Pentagon Federal Credit Union, McLean, VA
Architect: Gensler
General Contractor: HITT Contracting Inc.
Gaithersburg Cabinetry used incredible precision and attention to detail in executing the millwork package on the Pentagon Federal Credit Union Headquarters project. The highlighted work begins with the monumental stair, featuring quartered walnut connecting stairs with solid walnut treads, inlaid stainless steel accents, a solid quartered walnut landing, and walnut veneered wrapped stair stringers. The project also features over 1,100 square feet of quartered walnut floor-to-ceiling end-matched wall panels with integral reveals and base, 960 square feet of high gloss, floor-to-ceiling wall panels with integral reveals and base, and two uniquely designed cabinet elevations that incorporated sliding back painted glass sliding doors, sliding walnut doors, high gloss lacquer, and stone.

Mike Dziedzic, Luis Martinez, Wesley Morris, Marco Orgaz, Victor Quiorga, Vicente Rosales - Imperial Woodworking Company

Project Name: Sidley Austin LLP, Washington, DC
Architect: Gensler
General Contractor: rand* construction corporation
The scope of work for Sidley Austin was the build-out of law firm space on the concourse level as well as the 3rd through 10th floors. This team reconfigured the majority of the internal workspaces, reception, an expanded state-of-the art conference center, and all perimeter offices. The project features several high-end, custom finishes which demanded thoughtful procurement strategies and coordinated efforts in the field for the installation of critical elements. Sidley Austin features 10,350 square feet of high gloss, white lacquer paneling, which accomplishes a sleek, polished finish. Other exceptional pieces include the reception desk featuring an elevation made out of Corian Solid Surface with the Sidley Austin logo carved out and backlit, as well as sound absorbing micro-perf panels for noise control. Adjacent to the fireplace is a custom interlaid woven panel in a diffuser pattern made from white washed rift white oak.