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UVA Contemplative Commons

Helping Students Flourish

UVA Contemplative Commons
HouriganPortfolioUVA Contemplative Commons

Overview

This new 55,000-SF multi-use building includes academic classrooms for multidisciplinary use; co-curricular spaces supporting student personal growth, skills development, well-being, and community building; a living laboratory supporting contextual research on learning in natural social encounters.

Project Partners

Our partners who make it all possible.

  • ARCHITECT: VMDO
  • VIRTUAL DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION: Structr

Blog Post

Engaging the Community on Active Construction Sites

Written by: Ryan Byrd

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Collaboration & Communication

OpenSpace

We use OpenSpace’s reality capture software to document and connect site information to project teams. With individual teams located across the country, members can “walk” the site from wherever they want. It’s a consolidated space for photos and project documentation used for understanding the project at a higher level. Reality capture lets us track change over time while confirming the accuracy of field installations. The coordinated BIM models can be compared to the field work to verify and highlight early, compliance and modifications that may need to be addressed. The project team walks the site as normal, but with a camera, to passively capture the space. From there, the project is brought to life on the OpenSpace platform with minimal user input. We also use the software to track key items and provide accurate data for scheduling and billing. Users can logon to the project and quickly assess the status of the job. This project has captured more than 10 hours of footage and over 75,000 photos throughout its life.

Below is an OpenSpace comparison video.

Community Engagement

We are just as passionate about giving back to the community as we are about delivering exceptional buildings. We believe in paying forward the experience and best practices we have acquired to benefit emerging leaders in the industry. Involving the community in our projects is very important to us and one way we are doing that is by partnering with the Construction Engineering and Management Concentration (CEM) in the UVA Civil Engineering Program. Those in the CEM program have been on countless site tours and have experience shadowing some of our team members. Our Vice President of Preconstruction Services, Todd Bagwell, also schedules lectures for the students in the program.

Timeline

Month by month photos documenting construction progress.

DECEMBER 2021

JANUARY 2022

MARCH 2022

APRIL 2022

MAY 2022

JUNE 2022

JULY 2022

AUGUST 2022

SEPTEMBER 2022

OCTOBER 2022

NOVEMBER 2022

DECEMBER 2022

JANUARY 2023

FEBRUARY 2023

MARCH 2023

NOVEMBER 2023

15.12.2021
The Before
The site where Contemplative Commons will reside.
The Before
05.01.2022
Groundbreaking
The client and partners marking the official start of the project at a groundbreaking ceremony.
Groundbreaking
16.03.2022
Site Work
Initial site work grading and utilities.
Site Work
20.04.2022
Foundation
Start of building foundation walls.
Foundation
27.05.2022
Demo
Ridley Plaza demolition
Demo
24.06.2022
Glulam
First glulam column install.
Glulam
26.07.2022
Site Work
Ridley site work and progress on level 2 walls.
Site Work
23.08.2022
Final Concrete Pour
Final concrete pour for Ridley Plaza.
Final Concrete Pour
23.09.2022
Level 3
Building walls reach level 3.
Level 3
22.10.2022
Level 4
Glulam and steel reach level 4.
Level 4
08.11.2022
Topping Out Ceremony
Final beam being placed.
Topping Out Ceremony
08.11.2022
Beam Signing
Ryan Byrd, Director, Operations, signing the beam.
Beam Signing
20.12.2022
Roof Build
Building roof deck out.
Roof Build
26.01.2023
Emmet Street Bridge
Emmet Street bridge concrete pour out.
Emmet Street Bridge
24.02.2023
Stone Facade
Stone façade completes on the East side and work begins on interior lobby.
Stone Facade
14.03.2023
Glass Install
Glass install begins.
Glass Install
30.11.2023
Completion
Completion is scheduled for November 2023.
Completion

Project Videos

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