AWCI’s Excellence in Construction Quality Awards recognize excellence in construction quality in the face of complicated and challenging projects, and is awarded to a team of AWCI members.
CEILINGS
Winning Project:
Denver Central Library
Denver, Colorado
AWCI Member Contractor
E&K of Denver
AWCI Team Member
Armstrong World Industries
The Denver Public Library, a historic landmark building, was renovated with many specialty materials that were sourced locally and from all over the world. For this job AWCI member E&K of Denver installed nearly 37,000 square feet of various ceiling types.
The large programming space, designed for public meetings and study halls, incorporates perforated wood ceilings and walls with integrated lighting, AV and MEP elements. Ceilings and walls were all installed on different planes with unique perforation patterns. This section used more than 400 ceiling panels, and none of them were identical in shape or perforation. The library’s children’s area is colorful and full of movement through the radiused walls, soffits, trims, baffles and art installations.
DRYWALL
Winning Project:
Sky River Casino
Elk Grove, California
AWCI Member Contractor
Component Assembly Systems / Component West
AWCI Team Members
Armstrong World Industries
ClarkDietrich
Foundation Building Materials
Georgia-Pacific Gypsum
Hilti, Inc.
Radius Track Corporation
Specified Technologies, Inc.
USG Corporation
USG Clinch-On Cornerbead Company
On this job, the expedited schedule meant that Component Assembly Systems / Component West had to commit to off-site fabrication to meet the install times. This resulted in modeling through BIM and fabricating more than 85% of the metal framing off-site. This included walls, complex soffits, many drywall lids, and pre-cut drywall shapes and GFRG were used to a large degree.
What became known as the “cracked ceiling” presented some never-before-seen conditions for the CAS crew, and in addition to coordinating the complexities of the project, there were four architectural firms hired to design various aspects of the casino, which only complicated the nature of the design. In the end, this project was delivered in near record time with minimal concerns.
EIFS
Winning Project:
Horton Plaza
San Diego, California
AWCI Member Contractor
Raymond – San Diego, Inc.
AWCI Team Members
Foundation Building Materials
Sto Corp.
The nation’s largest adaptive reuse project, Horton Plaza is a LEED Platinum live, work, play campus. AWCI’s Raymond – San Diego performed not just the EIFS work but also the fireproofing, prefabricated exterior panels, framing, drywall, insulation, plaster and decorative wood for Turner Construction.
Not just a remodel, six new floors were added on one of the largest buildings. And with streets being left open to traffic in downtown San Diego, contractors had only a very small area for flying panels.
This award-winning EIFS project required installing the new system over existing materials and involved nearly 351,000 square feet with 650 windows and involved three textures, five colors and 650 foam shapes.
INTERIOR PLASTER
Winning Project:
Summit Clubhouse
Las Vegas, Nevada
AWCI Member Contractor
George M. Raymond Co.
AWCI Team Members
CEMCO, LLC
Georgia-Pacific Gypsum
Hilti, Inc.
L&W Supply
The George M. Raymond Company used six different interior plaster special finishes on this project. The designer had an idea for each one with a picture or sample of what the wall or ceiling should look like. Many renditions were created during the submittal process to provide what the designer wanted.
But the hard part was getting the color and texture correct. Each layer of color or wax would react differently with the product applied before it, so the Raymond installers used trowels, sponges and brushes not meant for this type of work to bring the design’s intent to fruition. Nearly 250,000 man-hours later, the job was done with no callbacks and no need to redo any walls.
PREFAB: EXTERIOR
Winning Project:
Parker Water
Parker, Colorado
AWCI Member Contractor
KHS&S
AWCI Team Members
Action Gypsum Supply LP
Foundation Building Materials
Hilti, Inc.
Jones Heartz Drywall Supply
Pioneer Materials West, Inc.
Thanks to the exterior prefab work of KHS&S, construction on the new 52-million-dollar Parker Water & Sanitation District headquarters’ 139,000-square-foot facility was completed as scheduled, and the building opened on time in December 2023.
Once the capabilities and benefits of GFRC, as opposed to precast panels, were understood, the team settled on 30 panel molds for fabrication out of the total 380 GFRC panels on the building. KHS&S estimates that 10,000 hours were saved by using prefabrication versus traditional methods. It was also noted that using prefab panels provided efficiencies in transporting the panels, and much faster installation—about 30% faster.
PREFAB: INTERIOR/OTHER
Winning Project:
Food Processing Plant VP Offices
Chino, California
AWCI Member Contractor
PSI
AWCI Team Members
Hilti, Inc.
Simpson Strong-Tie
Materials sourced and delivered from Japan impacted timelines. Inconsistencies in wall construction. Uneven floors. Misaligned walls. These are just some of the demanding challenges faced by the team at Pacific Systems Interiors as they worked to install prefabricated wood veneer and MicroLite beams in the VP offices for this confidential client.
The strategic choice to use lightweight materials for the prefabricate beams achieved multiple goals. The beams not only replicate the grandeur of substantial wood beams, but also offer an ingenious solution to reduce structural demands. This translates to diminished material needs, streamlined labor efforts and compressed project timelines.
SMALL PROJECTS
Winning Project
Chanel Flagship Boutique
Beverly Hills, California
AWCI Member Contractor
Raymond – Southern California, Inc.
AWCI Team Members
CEMCO, LLC
CertainTeed Gypsum
Foundation Building Materials
Georgia-Pacific Gypsum
Hilti, Inc.
Sto Corp.
This is a small project with a large scope for Raymond – Southern California: fireproofing, load-bearing framing and non-load-bearing framing, sheer wall and shaft wall framing, insulated panels, rainscreen systems, exterior glass-mat sheathing, interior gypsum board, tile backer, RFID foil and door frames.
The north elevation sat approximately 18 inches from the neighboring building. This created a challenge because the north exterior partition was required to carry a 2-hour fire rating, which typically would require a shaft wall assembly to be built from the building’s interior. The City of Beverly Hills required this partition to be finished on the outward facing elevation, so the Raymond team developed an exterior 2-hour fire rated system that could finish without having access to the face of the wall (installed in the 18-inch gap between buildings). Raymond found a panel system with an insulated 2-hour fire rating that they were able to lower between the builds and roll into place—they made a cart to sit the panel on and wheeled the panel in to place over the bottom track.
STEEL FRAMING
Winning Project
Block 216
Portland, Oregon
AWCI Member Contractor
Western Partitions, Inc.
AWCI Team Members
Armstrong World Industries
L&W Supply
This 35-story project is mixed use with 5 levels of underground parking, six levels of commercial space, 15 floors of 5-star hotel guest room and amenity spaces, one mechanical level at the roof and 15 floors of residential living.
No exotic or new framing materials were used on this job awarded to Western Partitions Incorporated, but the project team overcame unique difficulties like minimal lay-down areas and the crushing demands of just-in-time procurement for the extremely complex orders, and scattered work areas that at times were spread over 15 floors. WPI foremen had to manage design changes, MEP errors in layout, and considerable and persistent schedule slides to coordinate with suppliers to maintain a seamless procurement of framing materials.
STUCCO
Winning Project
Disney P28
Anaheim, California
AWCI Member Contractor
Raymond – Southern California, Inc.
AWCI Team Members
Action Gypsum Supply LP
National Gypsum Company
Most people have happy, magical thoughts when they hear the Disney name, but not all specialty contractors may think that way. Walt Disney Imagineering provided little direction for Disney P28, a new buildout at Toontown in Disneyland, so AWCI’s Raymond – Southern California took the lead on exterior finishes. Raymond also took the time to explain how the balloon look of the buildings and special framing would affect the look and finish of the exterior plaster.
Ten different plaster textures all tied into each other along with the GFRP, GFRC and metal panels. In the end, the interior and exterior of this project exceeded Disney’s expectations, which was made possible only because Raymond went above and beyond to make sure the finishes and desired look was achieved.
HONORABLE MENTION: CEILINGS
Project
Lanier Theological Library
Houston, Texas
AWCI Member Contractor
Marek
AWCI Team Member
Armstrong World Industries
Lanier Theological Library Conference Center was inspired by the Church of Christ in Oxford, England. From the moment visitors step into the room, their gaze is immediately captivated by the awe-inspiring magnificence of the Euro-style Gothic ceiling.
The Marek team of skilled craftspeople overcame formidable challenges presented by this ambitious project, elevating it to unprecedented heights of architectural brilliance and perfection. The skilled craftspeople behind this project seamlessly blended form and function, incorporating stunning architectural elements and intricate patterns. The project’s flawless execution, combined with the creative use of materials, transformed a simple ceiling into a captivating focal point that enhances the overall aesthetic and ambiance of the space.
HONORABLE MENTION: Prefab: Interior/Other
US Bank
Seattle, Washington
AWCI Member Contractor
KHS&S
AWCI Team Members
Ames Taping Tools
Foundation Building Materials
GTS Interior Supply, Inc.
Hilti, Inc.
L&W Supply
The US Bank’s project design included incredibly diverse metal stud framing with very little repetitive designs. Walls and ceilings incorporated curves, arches and portals that integrated with specialized, imported finishes.
The greatest challenge for KHS&S was the configuration of the main lobby—the centerpiece of the project. This area consisted of 40-foot sloped walls at a 17-degree angle that curved and bent to flow into a 50-foot-high sloped drywall ceiling.
Because tenants occupied the space below, the entire area had to be built from the top down. A scaffold system was put in place so that the work could be completed at the upper area first. The team would not see how the upper area would mesh with the lower area until months later, when the final product connected perfectly once the scaffold was removed.
