Fort Morgan Middle School

Provided structural engineering services for a new middle school campus consisting of three 2-story classroom pods connected via “links," a two-story open media center wing, a one-story office/admin space, a new gymnasium, and a “cafetorium” (cafeteria/auditorium).

Location: Fort Morgan, CO
Client: Wold Architects and Engineers
Services: Structural
Square Feet: 115,000
Construction Costs: $32,000,000
Construction Materials: Masonry, Cast-in-Place Concrete, Light Gauge, Composite Metal Deck, Precast Concrete, Structural Steel
 
The roof of the media center cantilevers out to form a “nook” surrounded by glazing, which required what we called the “nose cone” to support the exterior metal panel finish.  The “Cafetorium” has unique recessed glazing along with framing to support a quasi-stage area.  The classrooms also had lengthy punched and corner openings in the exterior veneer which required supplementary steel framing to achieve the required spans.  Architecturally Exposed Structural Steel (AESS) was used extensively throughout the project.
 
The classroom framing consisted of composite structural steel construction with braced and moment frames.  The media center consisted of steel framing with braced and moment frames, many of which were AESS, including the connections.  The office/admin area consisted of steel roof joist framing with CMU shear walls and some braced frames.  The gymnasium was built with precast wall panels and long-span steel roof joists.  The cafeteria/auditorium area consisted of AESS structural steel, long span steel joists, and CMU shear walls.