Monday, October 31, 2016

Another Remarkable Building Project Opens in Washington D.C.




Along with the several iconic construction projects that The Conco Companies have been involved with in California during the last couple of years, the rest of the country has also seen some pretty incredible projects completed.  One example is the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington D.C. that just had its opening dedication ceremony on September 24th.   

The design for the building was awarded to lead designer David Adjaye and lead architect Philip Freelon and their architectural firm of Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup.  The firm was selected after winning an international competition that took place in April 2009 with a design that “synthesized a variety of distinctive elements from Africa and the Americas into the building’s design and structure.”   Construction on the five-acre site began in February of 2012.

The Clark Construction Group, Smoot Construction, and H.J. Russell & Company were joint general contractors on the project.  The first African American-owned architectural firm in the U.S., McKissack & McKissack, worked on behalf of the Smithsonian and provided the project with management services. 

The 350,000 square feet museum has a total of ten floors with five above ground and five below and is the deepest building on the National Mall.  Site work included digging an 80-foot deep foundation for the building.  The first concrete was ready to be poured in November of 2012, and during work on the lower levels, a crane was used to install a segregated railroad passenger car as well as a prison tower.  Both pieces would have been too large to bring as more of the building was completed. 

The NMAAHC was topped out in October 2014 and the steel superstructure and above-ground concrete was completed in January 2015.  An architectural highlight of the museum includes 3,600 bronze-colored panels that wrap around the entire building in homage to the lattice ironwork crafted by many enslaved African Americans throughout the South.   
  
Conco’s mission is to be the best supplier of concrete services in the Western United States and to bring expertise, experience and quality to each project.  We continue to upgrade and expand facilities to better serve the growing market for public works projects, commercial, parking structures, educational, and other construction development. We serve California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada.

Sources: nmaahc.si.edu/explore/building
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_African_American_History_and_Culture



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