Davis Barracks at USMA West Point Honored with Gold Award from ACEC New York for Engineering Excellence

Nov 22, 2017

Clark Nexsen has received a Gold Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York for the new Davis Barracks at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in the Building/Technology Systems category.

The first barracks to be built at West Point in 30 years, Davis Barracks sets the standard of excellence at West Point. The new facility respects the importance of its site in the Central Post, designated as a National Historic Landmark. Designed in a military gothic-style, Davis Barracks honors the Central Post’s designation as a National Historic Landmark while providing a modern, state-of-the-art building for Academy cadets.

Clark Nexsen served as the Architectural and Engineering (A/E) Designer of Record (DOR) for the project, which involved design development, construction documents, and construction phase services for architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, fixtures/furnishings/equipment (FFE), civil/site and structural Engineering, and plumbing, mechanical, electrical, and fire protection engineering. The engineering for the project stands out in the following ways:

The project design was significantly impacted by the 132-foot grade change on the building site.
The highly constrained site required blasting and drilling with more than 300,000 cubic yards of fill material removed from the site
The mechanical design includes accommodation for a future central utility plant (CUP).
Radiant floor heating and cooling at Davis Barracks – a first at West Point – enable easy management to maximize efficiency and minimize energy use.
The energy-consuming systems are integrated, metered, and monitored.
Clark Nexsen devised an innovative fire protection solution combining horizontal exits with specialty sprinkler heads to maintain fire protection integrity of glass-enclosed means of egress.
A solar collection system with more than 4,000 solar collector tubes provides 100% of domestic water heating. The energy-consuming systems are integrated, metered, and monitored.

The ACEC New York Engineering Excellence Awards are presented to honor member firms for design achievements of superior skill and ingenuity. Projects are judged on a rigorous set of criteria, which includes complexity, innovation and value to society. Winning projects will be honored at the 51st Annual Engineering Excellence Awards Gala, which will take place at the Hilton Midtown in New York City on April 7, 2018.

About ACEC New York
The American Council of Engineering Companies of New York is a proactive coalition of 270 firms representing every discipline of engineering related to the built environment—civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, environmental, geotechnical—and affiliated companies. Our shared goals are to further the business interests of our membership, enhance the quality and safety of the environment we live and work in, and help ensure the vitality of our communities.

About USMA West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known as West Point, Army, The Academy, or simply The Point, is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in West Point, New York, Founded in 1802, the academy develops cadets to live honorably, with uncompromising integrity, as U.S Army officers in service to the nation. The academy is an internationally recognized institution for academic, military and physical excellence, with an expectation that today’s cadets will become tomorrow’s military, public and private-sector leaders. The entire central campus is a national landmark and home to scores of historic sites, buildings, and monuments.