Design Architect:

Gretchen Johnson - Jacobs

Associate Architect or Firm:

Landscape Architect:

Jacobs

Owner / Developer:

NAVFAC Southwest

Project Data:

Completion Date:     2/12/2019

Square Footage:      27553

Building Use:           F-35C engine repair and pilot flight suit and helmet fitting

Project Description:

BACKGROUND
Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore is not a place that stands out for its architecture. Most of the facilities here are 1960's hangars and training facilities supporting strike fighter jet squadrons. Located in California’s central valley, this base has far more notoriety as the US Navy’s largest Strike Fighter Base and home of the first operational F-35C squadron. The most advanced fighter jets in the world live here, along with all the pilots and maintainers that fly and support them. This is a place that stands out for its esprit de corps, for Honor / Courage / Commitment.

This project is our response to their need for new facilities to serve those pilots and maintainers: a Centralized Engine Repair Facility (CERF), for specialized care of the F-35 engines; and a Pilot Fit Facility (PFF), a place full of high-tech equipment and technicians who fabricate and tailor F-35 pilot flight suits and custom-milled helmets. This was an immense opportunity to design the first new ground-up building representing the F-35 program at NAS Lemoore.

CHALLENGES
The available project site was a brownfield site with underground volatile organic compound (VOC) plumes requiring hazardous soil abatement, soil monitoring, and VOC vapor mitigation to establish a site suitable for construction and safe occupancy.

The original scope of work was for two buildings on separate sites for these different user groups, whose only commonality was the jet itself. The standard approach on this base has been to house each function in its own facility, which led to a very spread-out and uninspiring character and operational inefficiency. We knew that there was a heart beating here- an opportunity to give life and form to the intense dedication and passion these pilots and maintainers have for their mission.

SOLUTIONS
Given a site that should be not disturbed as much as possible, we optimized the building by combining the CERF and PFF functions into one structure on one end of the site. This benefitted the environment through a reduction in carbon dioxide emmissions, energy usage, construction traffic, heat-island effect, and an increase in physical interaction and mental health of the users. Being able to reduce the carbon footprint by 2,802 metric tons and reduce the building footprint by 24% with a smaller, more integrated building was a big win for the project. An estimated $4M in construction cost savings ensured that these two functions could be programmed in the same budget year and delivered on time for the F-35 mission.

On a more human scale, by co-locating these two programs in the same building and allowing them to share common spaces we fostered interaction, team work and camaraderie among the two users groups that share a bond: the pilots see the maintainers working on the engines that will later power their jets, and the maintainers get to know the pilots who depend on them to keep their jets safe and flight-worthy. Designing passages and portals that physically and visually connect these two groups with the jet they share enhances their commitment to mission readiness. The architecture reflects the technology of the F-35 while still fitting into the landscape of the base.