Best Of 2006 - McGraw Hill Construction

General contractor Swinerton
Builders worked collaboratively with
Pritzker Prize-winning architects
Herzog & de Meuron of Basel,
Switzerland, local architects Fong &
Chan of San Francisco, and the client,
The Corporation of Fine Arts Museums
of San Francisco.
With the architect’s bold design calling
for such never before seen items as
the twisting tower and the copper skin,
it was apparent that preconstruction,
engineering and constructability were
going to be key to its success.
“A lot of innovation came during pre-
Judges’ Comments
construction in constructability analysis
and cost issues to make the design
work,” said Swinerton’s Project
Executive Mike Strong. “Everything was
special, so it was new and state of the
art and it took extensive attention to
detail and above normal communication
within the team.”
The de Young Museum is a 293,000sq.-ft.
building with a three-level main
structure and a twisting nine-story
tower featuring panoramic views of the
city, ocean and bay. The main building
features world-class exhibit spaces, a
café, two-level store, theater, conservation
labs and administrative offices. The
tower houses educational classroom
spaces, a library and an observation
level.
“Stellar design destined to be an international treasure.”
This steel and concrete structure features
a base isolation system, vertically
post-tensioned tower and roof trusses
cantilevered over 50 ft.; a custom cop-
11 California Construction 12/2006
Northern California—Best of 2006
Project Team
Owner
The Corporation of Fine Arts Museums
of San Francisco
Architects
Herzog & de Meuron, Basel,
Switzerland, and Fong & Chan, San
Francisco
General Contractor
Swinerton Builders, San Francisco
Key subcontractors
The Herrick Corp. (structural steel),
Pleasanton; Critchfield Mechanical
(HVAC & controls), Menlo Park; Harris
Salinas Rebar (foundation reinforcing
steel), Livermore; Cupertino Electric,
San Francisco; Dolan Concrete
Construction (place and finish concrete/site
concrete), San Jose; Condon
Johnson & Associates (shoring & underpinning),
Oakland; Consolidated
Engineering Laboratories (testing &
inspection), Pleasanton; Bode Gravel
Co. (concrete ready-mix), San
Francisco; Architectural Glass &
Aluminum, Oakland; BDL Mill (millwork),
San Francisco; A&B Construction
Inc. (site utilities), San Francisco
per exterior comprised of more than
7,000 embossed and perforated panels;
and is surrounding by several acres of
lavish gardens, some of which sit over a
below-grade underground parking
garage, also built by Swinerton.
The de Young Museum has welcomed
thousands of visitors since its
October 2005 opening and it has firmly
established itself as one of the premier
art museums in the world. The building,
as it fades to green, will blend in
with its environment.
The complexities of this project and
how Swinerton managed some of these
specialized processes, which are not
typically done on one single building,
were truly extraordinary.