Sustainable Design Award: Gulf Power Douglas A. McCrary Training and Storm Center, Pensacola, Fla.

摘要

The owner of the new Douglas L. McCrary Training Center on the Gulf Power Pine Forest Road campus in Pensacola, Fla, wanted a structure that offered open flexible spaces but was also durable enough to serve as an emergency operations center for the utility when high-powered hurricanes and other storms blow through town. To meet the emergency operations center requirements, the building does not just have to withstand the impact of 200 mph (322 km/hr) hurricane wind loads. It needs to remain functional and usable immediately following the weather event. That's one of the many reasons the team chose precast concrete, says Bob Cordes, facility manager for Gulf Power. "We liked the strength and the sustainability attributes that precast concrete brought to the project," Cordes says.