Two ARRA Projects, Delivered On-Time & Under Budget
PRESCOTT, AZ- Construction continues on CATALYST ARCHITECTURE's two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Visitors Center projects.  Issued as part of CATALYST's ongoing Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with USFWS, both the San Luis and Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge projects were produced under the compressed delivery schedules required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) performance guidelines. Despite these unprecedented delivery pressures, CATALYST successfully directed and managed both projects simultaneously through the design, construction documentation, and bidding phases, on-time and under budget.

Utilizing CATALYTS's unique Value Optimization Process, wherein the design and engineering team focuses the same creative energies towards conserving the financial resources of the client, as they do conserving the material and energy needs of the building itself, qualified final bids for both jobs came in 3/4 of a million dollars under budget, between the two projects. 

Construction progress for both facilities are currently on-schedule– with both visitor centers expected to be completed early this fall.  

The San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center
Home to the Tule Elk, as well as huge populations of Pacific Flyway waterfowl, the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge has been recognized as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, an Audubon Important Bird Area, and a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site.

The LEED-Platinum seeking San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Visitor's Center and Administrative Headquarters located 5 miles north of Los Banos, California is the largest ARRA-funded USFWS project in the nation.  At nearly 17,000 sq.ft., this state-of-the-art facility will be the first Less-Than-Zero Energy design within the USFWS system.  Carefully integrated passive solar and mechanical systems will manage the indoor environment for occupant health, comfort and an optimized work setting.  Some of the ecologically-conscious features of the building include the use of recycled, reused, regional and low-emitting materials; water-conserving fixtures; LED lighting; natural daylighting; passive heating and cooling; high albedo roofing; and vanpool parking to encourage alternative energy transportation.

The design, by CATALYST Principal Matt Ackerman, incorporates references to the natural features of the site and greater environs of the San Joaquin Valley.  With towering, exposed posts and beams, the dramatic glass-enclosed lobby takes its cues from the vernacular architecture of the region's surrounding farming structures.  The seven roof monitors over the administration wing of the facility were designed to provide natural daylight and ventilation opportunities throughout the interior, as well as a providing a optimally oriented support structure for the bulk of the visitor center's 55kW photovoltaic array.  Careful siting of the building allows the structure to function as an integral part of the 700-acre elk enclosure itself, allowing visitors and staff alike to discreetly view the massive animals from within the building, without obstruction.

The CATALYST design and engineering team addressed significant geotechnical issues during the initial design phases of the project.  The building's close proximity to a substantial fault-line, combined with the wetlands-dominated nature of the Refuge's location, resulted in soil conditions prone to "liquefaction", wherein the relatively high water table can cause the supporting ground to become viscous (liquefy) during a major seismic event.  Extensive research by CATALYST's structural engineering and cost analysis team, resulted in the selection of an 18-inch thick, steel-reinforced 'raft slab' for the building's primary foundation system.  The raft is designed to function exactly as it sounds– allowing the structure to 'float' as a single unit over the liquefied soils, in the event of a major earthquake.

Despite the added mitigation costs associated with the structure's challenging soils and seismic conditions, the Refuge was still able to preserve the funding required to include the project's photovoltaic arrays, which will be needed to achieve the facility's Net-Zero-Energy goals.

The Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center
The LEED-seeking Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center project is intended to be a light and airy architectural representation of the waters and birds that make the Refuge memorable.  Established in 1946 on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma on the Red River between Oklahoma and Texas, and encompassing approximately 12,000 acres of marsh, upland and farmland, the Refuge is used extensively by a variety of waterfowl, deer, turkeys, bobcats and hawks.  Hagerman NWR's original visitor's center was built in 1984, but the structure was condemned the very next year due to the irreparable structural damage caused by extremely expansive clay soils in the area. The Refuge has been waiting since then for a new visitor's center, made possible now by ARRA funds.

CATALYST Principal Jeff Zucker's Hagerman NWR Visitors Center uses the language of flight to express a dramatic, wildlife-conscious design.  The gull-winged structure features canted glass to mitigate the possibility of bird-strikes in the protected wetland estuary.  Vertical fins rise the length of the building, offering protection to tall western windows, shading them from unneeded solar gain while maintaining a necessary view of the lake.  The climate-responsive design will integrate water harvesting to irrigate native grape vines that stretch over the Center's curving trellises, for greater shading and cooling of the building.  Local Texas limestone contributes mass and beauty to the structure.

For More Information:
San Luis National Wildlife Refuge
Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge

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CATALYST ARCHITECTURE is an award winning, full-service sustainable design firm with offices in Prescott, and Flagstaff Arizona. The firm specializes in master planning, public/tribal, commercial, and custom residential work, with an emphasis on high-performance, resource-efficient design and construction practices.  With both principals Jeffrey L. Zucker and Matthew B. Ackerman LEED accredited, Catalyst is committed to the thoughtful integration of our natural and built environments.