Capturing the Olympic Spirit
U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum | Colorado Springs, Colorado
Completed as GE Johnson Construction Company
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum, located in Colorado Springs – America’s Olympic City – is recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the official showcase of Team USA, and features memorabilia, interactive displays, and much more.
About
The Project
The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum includes a 20,000-sq.-ft. exhibition hall, a broadcast studio, an outdoor gathering place and amphitheater, and additional flexible space for special events and Olympic gatherings.
In addition to the enthralling interior, the museum boasts an exterior unlike any other in the world. Its spectacular, art-inspired architecture is covered in more than 9,000 interlocking diamond-shaped, anodized aluminum petals. These panels form a single beveled surface of integrated drainage channels and create a beautiful texture that is unique to this building.
The unique structure and enclosure required weekly design coordination meetings for more than a year so as design details were developed, materials were selected, and system constructability was verified. More than 10,000 hours of collaborative building information modeling (BIM) with the contractor, numerous subcontractors, and design team partners, verified that all panels would fit seamlessly onto the substrate and meet the design intent.
Awards
GE Johnson has been collaborative, easy to work with, open and transparent. GE Johnson recognized early on that this project is much larger than a construction project. The amount of time and effort they put in to get this right will make the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum project successful forever.
William J. Hybl Jr.
Board Member - United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum
Construction Overview
Fast Facts
- A 20-foot tall mock-up was erected onsite to test exterior skin installation sequences.
- A low-speed, high-volume air handler was installed in the basement before structural steel and weather protection could be placed.
- Visitors are greeted by a magnificent view of Pikes Peak when they exit the elevator on the 4th floor.
Ingenuity
In Action
Installing 9,000 Petals
the museum is covered in more than 9,000 individual diamond-shaped anodized aluminum petals that interlock to form a single, beveled surface with integrated drainage channels. As each petal is unique, the specific details of every panel were independently analyzed within the model in order to ensure proper installation and performance.
Following the construction of a full-scale mockup on site, our project team and all subcontractors developed a plan that allowed for off-site prefabrication to expedite the schedule and improve quality control. After delivery, each petal was checked against the point cloud to verify accurate installation.
Collaboration through Technology
A collaborative process was developed whereby each phase of exterior enclosure construction was as-built using laser scan and point cloud technology. Laser scanning is a fast, accurate, and non-intrusive way to collect as-built construction data and eliminates the need to return to the site for additional measurements. At each critical phase of construction surveyors, and virtual design and construction (VDC) team members developed a process to as-built the construction of each elevation within an 1/8-inch tolerance.
The team then developed a pass/fail process to verify installation was within tolerance. At the end of every day the team surveyed each piece and used the process to confirm the framing installed was within the acceptable tolerance, correcting any issues as they arose. This prevented issues from compounding and provided the team daily assurance that everything was installed correctly.
Innovations in Quality Control
To achieve the designed 3/8” joint on all sides of each diamond panel, the team developed a process using the latest laser scan technology to as-built survey every component of the enclosure system within an 1/8”. The as-built survey of the Drake William Steel and LPR’s structural steel was provided to Spacecon / Radius Track for fabrication and installation of their prefabricated radius framing, the survey of that system was provided to MG McGrath for fabrication and installation of the diamond metal panels. Only through this process were we able to ensure that the enclosure system would fit, end-to-end and top-to-bottom on each elevation, with the proper spacing and location for roughly 2,250 diamond panels, curtain wall and ACM panels.
To replace the punchlist, the architect sent observation reports with anything that needed to be addressed as the exterior metal panels were installed on the museum. This strategy allowed for real-time corrections and prevented delays to the completion of the enclosure.
Ingenuity
In Action
Installing 9,000 Petals
the museum is covered in more than 9,000 individual diamond-shaped anodized aluminum petals that interlock to form a single, beveled surface with integrated drainage channels. As each petal is unique, the specific details of every panel were independently analyzed within the model in order to ensure proper installation and performance.
Following the construction of a full-scale mockup on site, our project team and all subcontractors developed a plan that allowed for off-site prefabrication to expedite the schedule and improve quality control. After delivery, each petal was checked against the point cloud to verify accurate installation.
Collaboration through Technology
A collaborative process was developed whereby each phase of exterior enclosure construction was as-built using laser scan and point cloud technology. Laser scanning is a fast, accurate, and non-intrusive way to collect as-built construction data and eliminates the need to return to the site for additional measurements. At each critical phase of construction surveyors, and virtual design and construction (VDC) team members developed a process to as-built the construction of each elevation within an 1/8-inch tolerance.
The team then developed a pass/fail process to verify installation was within tolerance. At the end of every day the team surveyed each piece and used the process to confirm the framing installed was within the acceptable tolerance, correcting any issues as they arose. This prevented issues from compounding and provided the team daily assurance that everything was installed correctly.
Innovations in Quality Control
To achieve the designed 3/8” joint on all sides of each diamond panel, the team developed a process using the latest laser scan technology to as-built survey every component of the enclosure system within an 1/8”. The as-built survey of the Drake William Steel and LPR’s structural steel was provided to Spacecon / Radius Track for fabrication and installation of their prefabricated radius framing, the survey of that system was provided to MG McGrath for fabrication and installation of the diamond metal panels. Only through this process were we able to ensure that the enclosure system would fit, end-to-end and top-to-bottom on each elevation, with the proper spacing and location for roughly 2,250 diamond panels, curtain wall and ACM panels.
To replace the punchlist, the architect sent observation reports with anything that needed to be addressed as the exterior metal panels were installed on the museum. This strategy allowed for real-time corrections and prevented delays to the completion of the enclosure.