Thomasville City Schools' Roofing Project Bids Under Budget

Last week, the Thomasville City Board of Education awarded the construction contract for Aho-designed retrofit metal roofs on Thomasville High School and Thomasville Middle School. The project also includes HVAC replacement and upgrades. We are pleased to announce that the project came-in under budget and represents a very cost-effective solution for the school system. Once this project is complete, almost all "flat" low-slope roofs at the High School and Middle School will have been upgraded.

The Contractor with the lowest bid was Assurance Service Group. We look forward to working with them again, and appreciate all the contractors who expressed an interest in this project and put forth the effort to prepare a bid.

New Building for Northwest-Shoals Community College

Here are some images of the new building we have designed for Northwest-Shoals Community College. The facility will be the new home for NWSCC's Cosmetology Program. It is currently in the Contractor pre-qualification stage, and will be bidding later this month.

(click any thumbnail below for a larger image. Depending on your connection speed, the image may initially load as a low-resolution image, then clear-up as a high-resolution version loads.)

Helping Hoover City Schools with Community-Focused Strategic Planning

Aho Architects is proud to be helping Hoover City Schools and the Hoover Community in a community-focused strategic planning process. More details will follow, but the Birmingham News has a good summary of the process in an article about Tim Aho's presentation at the Hoover School Board meeting last night. Read it here: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2014/02/hoover_school_district_using_s.html

New Roofs, Shelton State Community College

Aho Architects, LLC and Dunn Building Company have put new sloped metal retrofit roofing systems on four buildings at Shelton State Community College's C. A. Fredd Campus in Tuscaloosa, AL. The $1,243,742 project included new roofs, replacement of rooftop HVAC equipment, and related work on Buildings 200, 300, 500, and 600.

Here are some before and after images of the campus (courtesy of Dunn Building Company):

click an image for a high-resolution view

NWSCC Hires Aho for New Cosmetology Building, Receives State Approval

Aho Architects is proud to now serve Northwest-Shoals Community College, having been selected to design their new Cosmetology Building on the Shoals Campus. The College received State Board of Education approval on 6/27/2013. We're looking forward to getting started!

You can read more about the program in this article from the Times Daily.

Bids Under Budget: WSCC Business Ed. Renovation

We're proud that our estimates vs. actual project budgeting track record continues to be strong. We received bids on 5/14/13 for this renovation of space for Wallace State Community College's Business Education program. The bids were all within a tight range, and were 1.9% under our estimate. Our historical cost estimating track record is approx. 2% under budget, so these results are very close to that.

Accurate cost estimating throughout the phases of project development is a very important service Aho Architects provides our clients. We have projects bidding all the time, and use the feedback from those results to fine-tune our estimating process. The results of this process speak for themselves, and we're very pleased to be able to help our clients budget accurately and plan effectively for their capital projects.

Campus Signage (Wallace State Community College)

Aho Architects designed a campus signage and way-finding program for Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Alabama. The $425,000 signage program included a variety of sign types around the campus to assist in way-finding, building identification, and communication. The project centerpiece was a large electronic readerboard sign pylon located along Highway 31 at the front of the campus.

Building Monument Sign  |  Wallace State Community College — **Building Monument Sign** | Wallace State Community College

The project included 57 signs throughout the campus of the following types: electronic readerboard pylon, building monument, pole-mounted "flag", building letters/dimensional characters, large and small directionals.

Key features of the electronic readerboard pylon sign:

Text, Photo, Animation, Live Video capabilities
Height: 30'
Electronic display: 24' x 10' , 16mm resolution (3670 pixels/square meter)
4.72 sextillion colors
60 frames per second video

A portion of the campus with signs highlighted

Not Afraid of Heights (WSCC Bevill Center)

It's a good thing we're not afraid of heights...

One of our current projects is replacing windows and exterior elements on the Bevill Center which was damaged in the 4/27/2011 tornado which struck Wallace State Community College in Hanceville. Part of our work involves investigating the existing conditions and observing the repair work. That becomes a challenge when the work is 7-8 stories up.

Our work on WSCC's Bevill Center is one of five packages of storm damage repair work on various structures across the campus.

Aerial View of the Bevill Center  |  The purple line in the bottom right corner of the image is the storm track of the EF-2 tornado which struck the campus on the morning of April 27, 2011. — **Aerial View of the Bevill Center |** The purple line in the bottom right corner of the image is the storm track of the EF-2 tornado which struck the campus on the morning of April 27, 2011.

TOP Trails Environmental Center Nears Completion

The City of Talladega's TOP Trails Environmental Center located at Brecon Springs is almost complete. We conducted our final inspection yesterday, and the Owner plans to start moving-in next week.

Front Porch  |  TOP Trails Environmental Center — **Front Porch** | TOP Trails Environmental Center

The facility is the welcome center for Talladega's TOP Trails outdoor recreation center and includes management offices, reception/check-in for the park and campground, an environmental education center, and public rest room and shower facilities. The building was designed by Aho Architects, in conjunction with InSite Engineering, which is designing the overall development.

Talladega's newspaper, The Daily Home, ran a story about the center which is available here: http://www.dailyhome.com/view/full_story/21913612/article-Work-is-complete-on-TOP-Trails-Environmental-Center?instance=home_news_bullet

Resources for Designing Safe Schools

Here are some resources for designing safe schools compiled by the Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE), a practice area of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Aho Architects, LLC is a member of both the CAE and the AIA.

Now, more than ever, it is extremely important to integrate safety and security design thinking in educational environments.

U.S. Department of Education presentation William Lassiter, Dir. Of Communication, NC Dept. of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention and Steven McElroy, Director of Security Safety & Security, Columbus Ohio Public Schools http://rems.ed.gov/docs/Training_CHIL07_SafetyPhysicalDesign.pdf
Architecture, Design and School Crime Prevention, Ken Trump http://www.schoolsecurity.org/resources/school-design.html
Florida Safe Schools Design Guidelines http://www.fldoe.org/edfacil/pdf/fl_ssg.pdf
California Department of Education http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/vp/safeschlplanning.asp
Singapore Guidelines http://www.ncpc.gov.sg/pdf/CPTED%20Guidebook.pdf
FEMA Primer to Design Safe School Projects in Case of Terrorist Attacks and School Shootings http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/st/bips07_428_schools.pdf
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design http://cptedsecurity.com/cpted_design_guidelines.htm
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, Robert A. Gardner http://www.crimewise.com/library/cpted.html
Safety by Design, Don Hensely http://asumag.com/mag/university_safety_design
Designing Safe Schools, Gary C. Prager, AIA http://asumag.com/mag/university_designing_safe_schools
National Clearing House for Educational Facilities http://www.ncef.org/rl/safety_security.cfm

Aho Architects is proud to now serve Northwest-Shoals Community College, having been selected to design their new Cosmetology Building on the Shoals Campus. The College received State Board of Education approval on 6/27/2013. We're looking forward to getting started!

Key features of the electronic readerboard pylon sign:​

​It's a good thing we're not afraid of heights...

The City of Talladega's TOP Trails Environmental Center ​located at Brecon Springs is almost complete. We conducted our final inspection yesterday, and the Owner plans to start moving-in next week.

​Here are some resources for designing safe schools compiled by the Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE), a practice area of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Key features of the electronic readerboard pylon sign:

It's a good thing we're not afraid of heights...

The City of Talladega's TOP Trails Environmental Center located at Brecon Springs is almost complete. We conducted our final inspection yesterday, and the Owner plans to start moving-in next week.

Here are some resources for designing safe schools compiled by the Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE), a practice area of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).