STUDENT

fall 2011 D E S I G N

mississippi state university | college of architecture, art + design

BRASFIELD & GORRIE

competition

STUDENT
T
fall 2011 D E S I G N

mississippi state university | college of architecture, art + design

gn

BRASFIELD & GORRIE

competition
n

MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

The Brasfield and Gorrie Student Design/Construction Competition was established to encourage and promote architecture,
building construction, and interior design students and faculty to collaboratively work together on a building project. This twoweek collaborative project addresses issues related to integrated practice and project delivery within a studio setting.
The leadership at Brasfield and Gorrie General Contractors has been on the leading edge of project delivery innovation for
a number of years. The company has become actively engaged in assisting the College of Architecture, Art, and Design at
Mississippi State University to respond to these important issues. Shifts toward integrated practice and evolving design
delivery solutions are affecting architects, designers, and constructors; and, as educators, we are privileged to help
develop the individuals that will embody these changes. We have the imperative to prepare students to take on this critical
collaborative role successfully. The College has responded in part to this imperative by providing a focus on the development
of methodologies for implementing historically absent collaborative teaching/learning between architecture, interior design,
and construction. Brasfield and Gorries five-year commitment to fund a collaborative competition made up of teams of
architecture, interior design, and building construction students targets this focus. Faculty members from each of the three
disciplines team-teach throughout the competition. There is a singular project that all student teams engage and a panel of
industry professionals, including constructors from Brasfield and Gorrie, and faculty from the three disciplines review the
resultant building design, construction estimate, and schedule. The Brasfield and Gorrie Competition funds the operation of
the studio, field trips, and cash awards to the top three winning teams as selected by the jury panel.
There are several major benefits that accrue to the students involved in this collaborative work. Students have a focused
opportunity to learn and understand the complexity of collaborative interaction and to practice technical and social skills
required to successfully complete this type of work. The students gain first hand experience working with the cohorts outside
of their own professional discipline with the focus being delivery. The project scope helps develop students understanding
of their professional role in the design and construction process, as well as an awareness of what other professionals value in
a design build environment, and how they work. Finally, the projects expose students to the significant scope, importance, and
use of the technology necessary to support this type of integrated project delivery.
The College of Architecture, Art, and Design is pleased to partner with Brasfield and Gorrie General Contractors to provide our
students with this important learning opportunity.

Jim West, AIA

Dean, College of Architecture, Art, and Design

Table of Contents
Overview
competition information
guest reviewers
faculty advisors
student presentations
smithville story
Faculty Editors
John Poros
Suzanne Powney
Design
Suzanne Powney
Typeset in Aller & Calibri
Printed by Blurb Inc.
2011 College of Art, Architecture & Design
Mississippi State University
All rights reserved
All photographs and drawings are courtesy of the contributors and students unless otherwise noted. All efforts have been
made to obtain lawful permission to reprint copyright images. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
without written permission from the publisher except for copying permitted by sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law
and except reviewers for the public press. Every effort has been made to see that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinions
or statements appear in this portfolio. The data and analysis appearing in the content herein are the responsibility of the
contributors concerned.

11
12
13
14
18

Research
existing site conditions
regional site research
community research
project collaboration

22
24
26
28

Design
designs 32
top presenters
36

overview

competition information
project overview
guest reviewers
faculty advisors
student presentations
teams
smithville story

SMITHVILLE 9

Competition Information
Brasfield and Gorrie are a team of full-service general
contractors, construction managers, and community minded
people. B & G are ranked 28th among the nations top 400
contractors according to Engineering News-Record. Some of
their most recent achievements include being ranked No.1
among the nations Top Contractors in the Southeast,
ranked No. 3 in the nation for Top Green Contractor,
ranked No.16 among the nations Top 50 in Domestic
General Building Revenue, No. 28 among the nations
Top 100 Contractors by New Contracts, as well as No. 2
among the nations Top Healthcare General Contractors.
They employ 229 L.E.E.D. Accredited professionals and are
responsible for 46 green projects.
Their involvement with Mississippi State University in the
fall of 2011 was an unprecedented event for the College of
Architecture Art and Design as well as the Carl Small Town
Center. For two weeks, teams of students from the fourth
year Architecture studio, Building Construction Science,
and Interior Design were led through a series of lectures
and collaborative design methods to help enhance the
understanding and importance of teamwork, having clear
goals, and making contentious design and developmental
decisions from the very beginning of a project.

overview

BRASFIELD & GORRIE STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION

The project presented was a civic complex for the town of

Smithville Mississippi. Included in this complex would be a
city hall, a police station, a volunteer based fire station, as
well as a public library. Prior to this project the architecture
students had been working with the town and residents
proposing various master plans. These proposals focused
on new ways of approaching the idea of rural downtown
centers. There were four total master plans. Each group
had to work within one of these plans. Zoning,
infrastructure, and commercial business were considered
when locating the Civic Complex within the master plans.
There was nervous and excited energy in the Giles Hall
Harrison auditorium on the first day of the Brasfield and
Gorrie competition, from students and faculty alike.
Students from the Architecture, Interior Design, and
Building Construction majors were about to meet and be
teamed up for the first time in their college careers. Not
sure of how to approach a project of this scale and
collaboration, the students sat and waited eagerly for
guidance. Once the students were paired off into ten
different teams made up of 2 to 3 Interior Design seniors,
2 to 3 Building Construction seniors, and 2 to 3 fourth year
Architecture students, they split off to find their workspaces
for the next two weeks.

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BRASFIELD & GORRIE STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION

Guest Reviewers
Sam Hardie
LEED AP of Brasfield and Gorrie
Sam Hardie lectured on a review of Building Information Modeling (BIM).

Faculty Advisors
Michele Herrmann
Michele M. Herrmann, Esq. is an instructor in Building Construction Science at Mississippi State University
focusing on construction law. She earned her Bachelor of Science Design from Clemson University and her
Juris Doctor from New York Law School, where she worked at the Center for New York City Law. She is a
member of the New York State Bar. Prior to joining the BCS faculty, she taught beginning design studios at
the State University of New York at Delhi and has experience in real estate and land use law.

Douglas Lee
Chief Estimator of Brasfield and Gorrie
As Vice President/Regional Preconstruction Director, Douglas works directly with the project manager
to develop cost-effective, realistic budgets and schedules. He leads our estimating teams on negotiated,
hard-bid, healthcare and commercial projects for construction and construction management work.
Douglass responsibilities include conceptual estimating, quantity surveys, final pricing, scheduling and
buyout. Throughout preconstruction, he leads the estimating team to develop effective scheduling and
value engineering strategies. After preconstruction, Douglas involvement in the construction phase helps
our team ensure that the customer receives the highest level of cost efficiency possible. He has a proven
track record for using his construction knowledge and skills to bring cost savings to all of Brasfield &
Gorries clients.

Beth Miller
Beth R. Miller is a certified interior designer, associate professor and Director of Interior Design at
Mississippi State University. She has completed all of her doctoral course at Mississippi State University
and is currently working on her dissertation. She earned her Masters in Education with a concentration in
interior design from Mississippi University for Women and her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design from
Louisiana Tech University. Her professional experience includes working for various firms in Mississippi
and Atlanta, Georgia as well as having her own firm in Natchez, Mississippi where she specialized in
historic renovation and restoration. Her primary research area has focused on improving and developing
the profession of interior design through education, accreditation and legislation.

John T. Wood, AIA

John Poros

LEED AP, Vice President of CMH Architects, Inc.

John Wood joined CMH Architects, Inc. in 2005 continuing a career as project architect. He has led the
design of a wide variety of project types both foreign and domestic. Included in his resume are Class-A
office buildings, high-end retail centers, educational facilities (primary, secondary and post-secondary),
manufacturing facilities and mixed-use projects. He has extensive experience in all components of
the building process including initial programming, design development, preparation of construction
documents and construction administration. Wood has administered architectural services for federal
and corporate clients as well as for financial institutions. Wood became a shareholder in the firm & Vice
President in 2011.

Germany. Before joining the faculty at Mississippi State fifteen years ago, Prof. Poros worked with the
internationally known architecture firm of Kieran Timberlake Associates in Philadelphia for seven years.
Prof. Poros received his Masters of Architecture degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and
his Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University.

John Poros is an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at Mississippi State University. He is
currently the director of the Carl Small Town Center, a community design and outreach component of the
School of Architecture. The Carl Small Town Center is a nationally recognized community design center
with awards from the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Architects. Work of
the Center has been shown at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. and as far away as Berlin,

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BRASFIELD & GORRIE STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION

Student Presentations

SMITHVILLE 15

Teams
Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Team 1:

Team 2:

Team 4:

1. Katelyn Bennett (ARC)

2. Caitlin Wong (ARC)
3. Younju Choi (ARC)
4. David Morrow (BCS)
5. Nathan Boddie (BCS)
6. Rachel Taylor (ID)
7. Adrienne Glover (ID)

1. Nick Jackson, nkj11 (ARC)

2. Brennan Plunkett, bbp30 (ARC)
3. Brian Funchess, blf91 (ARC)
4. Amy Bragg, aeb283 (ARC)
5. Jordan Perry, jtp120 (BCS)
6. Ben Bennett, bgb46 (BCS)
7. Annie Bryan, alb518 (ID)
8. Aimee Grimes, amg282 (ID)

1. Taylor Stewart, dts88 (ARC)

2. Drew Ridinger, dr330 (ARC)
3. Walter King, wk75 (ARC)
4. Michael Jeremy Kelley, mjk119 (BCS)
5. Jeremy Ryan Doler, jrd239 (BCS)
6. Hettie Brewer, hlb128 (ID)
7. Britney Buie, bmb261 (ID)

1. Melissa Sessums (ARC)

2. Byron Belle (ARC)
3. Chris Rivera (ARC)
4. William Murray Poole (BCS)
5. Austin Holder (BCS)

Team 5:

Team 6:

1. Jonathan Hooker, jlh961 (ARC)

2. Michael Moore, mm881 (ARC)
3. Kaila Pope, kmp203 (BCS)
4. Jonathan Horton, jmh600 (BCS)

1. Will Randolph, whr46 (ARC)

2. Zachary James, znj4 (ARC)
3. Robert Durham Jordan, rdj56 (BCS)
4. Wesley Rayner, whr45 (BCS)

6. Allison Evans (ID)

7. Lorin Chancellor (ID)

5. Kristina White, kdw163 (ID)

6. Elizabeth Goodnite, aeg136 (ID)

5. Emily Ford, ecf55 (ID)

6. Caroline Cummins, clc503 (ID)

Team 3:

Team 11:
1. Carolyn Ludermo (ARC)
2. Vanessa Robinson (ARC)
3. Philip Patrick McManus (BCS)
4. Michael Thomas (BCS)
5. Chris Ratzlaff (BCS)
6. Holly Davis (ID)
7. Jennifer Gates (ID)

Team 9:
1. Andrew Robertson, ar320 (ARC)
2. Cody Millican, scm159 (ARC)
3. Chris Newton, crn60 (BCS)
4. Trenton Cole Walker, tcw96 (BCS)
5. Janay Jones, jmj303 (ID)
6. Lindsey Leggett, lbe33 (ID)

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BRASFIELD & GORRIE STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION

Smithville Story
On April 27,2011 an EF5 rated tornado touched down
along Mississippi Highway 25 and damaged or destroyed a
3 mile long by 1/2 mile wide area of the Town of Smithville.
An estimated 25 percent of the towns total housing stock
was destroyed.The Town Hall, Police Station, and Post
Office were destroyed.The largest employer, a furniture
manufacturer, was destroyed and temporarily relocated.
The Smithville School and the towns only grocery store
were heavily damaged.TheTown of Smithville was listed
in a Federal Disaster Declaration on April 29, 2011.

Site 1
In Master Plan 1, the civic center is located at the intersection of Elm St. and Highway 25. The east-west
rail line that leads to the industrial area also passes to the west of the site. This site was chosen by the
teams and the town of Smithville because passing the rail intersection marks the beginning of the town
center. This plot of land was also advantageous because it is already owned by the town. The teams that
worked with this site emphasized not only the gateway nature of the site, but tried to create an urban
pattern that would be the model for redevelopment for the rest of the downtown.

Site 2
In the second master plan developed by the students, a new downtown area was conceived parallel to
Highway 25 to allow for faster through traffic on Highway 25 and a better pedestrian experience in the
new downtown area. Site 2 is located in this new downtown area. With the new downtown area, three
larger public green spaces, amenities lacking in Smithville before the tornado are proposed. The new civic
center is on one of these public green spaces, taking advantage of this larger space for festivals and events
in Smithville.

Site 3
In Master Plan 3, Highway 25 is divided by a green median meant to slow traffic down and allow for easier
pedestrian crossing over this busy road. The civic center just as in Master Plan 1 is located at the western
end of the downtown area. The civic center for Site 3 is meant to be a literal gateway into the town by
spanning across Highway 25 on two sites to the north and south of the highway. The groups that worked
with this site used this split site to change the character of Highway 25 from a fast, through road to a
slower, moving boulevard.

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research

existing site conditions

regional site research
community research
project collaboration

BRASFIELD & GORRIE STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION

Existing Site Conditions

SMITHVILLE 23

BRASFIELD & GORRIE STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION

Regional Site Research

The teams immediately got to work, discussing each others
strengths and weaknesses and learning how to rely on one
another. Instantly ,certain contributions to the project
were made clear. Building Construction could offer up more
realistic and fiscal approaches to a design conception, being
knowledgeable in regards to material costs, feasibility and
time lines for ground up proposals. Building Construction
students helped their teams realize how important it is to
design a building system that local vendors and construction
workers can understand, build, repair, and maintain. The
Interior Design students had an entirely different set of
skills. They immediately set up standards of lighting and
workspace needs. Interior Design students were able to
create spaces that are defined not by walls or partitions,
but materials, lights, and textures. The Architecture
students provided design concepts, positions relevant to
the community, city planning and life style of the people in
Smithville. Guidelines and expectations of one another, and
knowledge of code structure, space, and atmosphere were
combined to achieve a complete project. The architecture
students would be spending the entire semester on this
project and shared their regional studies with their groups.

Airport Locations

Public Bus Routes

Community Stitches

Regional Proposal
SMITHVILLE 25

BRASFIELD & GORRIE STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION

Community Research
Prior to the tornado, there were little to no sidewalks
found in the town, making walking unsafe for pedestrians
and especially for children. Many of the proposed master
plans include an extensive networks of sidewalks as well
as bike trails in an attempt to promote a more active and
healthy lifestyle for the towns residents. These trails are
intended not only for youth, but also for all members of
the community. The bike trails and sidewalks encourage
connections not thought of before in Smithville. These paths
cross through various key points in the streets of Smithville,
lead directly to Smithvilles schools, and to points along the
waterway and throughout the downtown. Ease of navigation
and the safety of these paths will encourage use and
ultimately result in a healthy and sustainable way of life in
Smithville. Much like road way systems have intersections,
the points in which these paths meet and join various parts
of the town can help to encourage walking and discourage
the use of vehicles as a primary means of travel within the
immediate downtown area.
In one proposal the students designed a pedestrian walkway connecting residences to Main Street.

In another proposal, the students proposed a grid system of the new Main Street. Walking is encouraged with various
outdoor public spaces.

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BRASFIELD & GORRIE STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION

Project Collaboration
During the first week of the collaboration, Brasfield and
Gorrie also participated in Mississippi State Universitys
School of Architectures Harrison Lecture Series. These
lectures included a review of Building Information Modeling
(BIM), given by Sam Hardie, L.E.E.D. AP of Brasfield
and Gorrie. A presentation of Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (L.E.E.D.) was given by John T. Wood,
AIA, L.E.E.D. AP, Vice President of CMH Architects, Inc. A
lecture on Integrated Project Delivery, (IPD) was presented
by Douglas Lee, Chief Estimator of Brasfield and Gorrie.
IPD is a contract system that involves all parties, designers,
owners, and builders, and urges a collaboration of these
disciplines early on in the design process. These lectures
were beneficial to the students by showing not only the
means of working within the three different disciplines, but
also in using real world examples and expectations.

There are a few key points to note when embarking

on a collaboration of this degree. It is important that
expectations and goals are made at the very beginning so
that a clear direction and end goal is evident. There should
be no hesitation with a collaboration of this nature. Each
field is proficient in their own nature and knowledge. It is
perfectly acceptable to ask what someones strengths and
weaknesses are and what their opinion is. There is always
something someone can contribute to in a collaborative
method of this nature. Communication is key and being able
to rely on one another is important. If you expect everyone
else in the group to contribute what you need of them, you
too must put forth the effort and enthusiasm necessary. The
strengths in working in these means are that decisions are
made quicker, correlations are lined up earlier in the process
and expectations are made clear. The end result will prove to
be a whole project, physically, and as a conscious collective.

The collaboration culminated in a day long event and

presentation to the CAAD faculty as well as the Dean of
the college, Kristin Murray from the Seattle architecture
firm Olson Kundig, and to members of the Brasfield and
Gorrie team including Sam Hardie. The ten student teams
stood together and proudly presented proposals for ten
very different and innovative civic complexes for Smithville.
Examples of project time lines, budgets, square footage
costs, material choices, lighting features, floor plans,
structural systems, building form and elevations, L.E.E.D.
objectives, as well as a multitude of other information was
presented.

SMITHVILLE 29

design

designs
top presenters

Library and Town Center Design

Fire Station Design

Top Presenters
Here are some of the ways the
Brasfield and Gorrie exploration
impacted some of the involved
students.

Each team was asked to prepare a presentation with

the following products: a schematic design with plans,
elevations, sections, interior and exterior rendered images,
a construction schedule with takeoffs and estimates, a lean
construction / constructability analysis and a LEED checklist

Three teams showed that they could accomplish these

objectives as well as working well together as a team. The
teams were Team 6, Team 7 and Team 11.

The collaborative project gave

each field of study the opportunity
to communicate and share ideas,
which encouraged the critical
thinking process needed to
have a successful group. The
idea of partnering the three
industry related majors allowed
each group to openly discuss
project differences and possible
solutions that surround real
world applications.
- Michael Thomas, Building
Construction Science senior
The Brasfield and Gorrie
competition stimulated
collaboration across our
departments, created vital
partnerships within our college,
and provided us with the
opportunity to gain practical
experience in preparation for
the professional world.
-Jennifer Gates,
Interior Design senior

SMITHVILLE 37