Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University Residence Halls
Location:
Bowling Green, Ohio
Architect:
DesignGroup
Construction Cost:
$33.15 million
Project Size:
336,588 SF
Capstone Development constructed two privatized housing complexes on campus to keep up with the demand for student housing at Bowling Green State University. The new community provides housing for 1,318 students in private and shared bedrooms. The development consists of two buildings, each with wings of varying heights and orientations. Large community spaces are placed at the “hub,” - providing more oversized lounges and study spaces, a game area, a community kitchen, a laundry, and multi-purpose rooms for group study. The structure combines light gauge bearing walls, light gauge joists, and structural steel.
Structural steel was included primarily to provide flexibility in the first-floor layout. Large public spaces provided at the central first-floor areas were located beneath light gauge bearing walls above, and, to make this floor plan work, steel beams were needed to support the bearing walls above and transfer these loads to columns.
To meet the needs of BGSU, the entire project was designed and constructed in 20 months. The accelerated schedule required collaboration and communication among the design and construction teams. It also required multiple early bid packages. This new community – Falcon Heights and Centennial Hall - opened in August 2011.
Bowling Green State University Carillon Place Dining Center
Location:
Bowling Green, Ohio
Architect:
DesignGroup
LEED Certification:
LEED Silver
Construction Cost:
$3.7 million
Project Size:
7,640 SF

At Bowling Green State University (BGSU), the future of on-campus dining is being realized now with the opening of the Carillon Place Dining Center. The 17,640-square-foot facility – located directly adjacent to the newly opened Centennial Residence Hall – was designed to achieve Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and set a standard for campus dining. BGSU’s desire to achieve this certification reflects the university’s commitment to the students, faculty, community, and environment.
The design of Carillon Place includes a steel joist and wide flange framed roof, a steel framed second floor, and reinforced masonry bearing walls. One unique feature of the dining center is an exterior second-story seating area with an open, steel-framed roof with an asymmetrically cantilevered structure. A series of long canopies and sweeping curves help integrate the two large cisterns to the structure's west. The cisterns are used to collect and store rainwater from the roof of the building. Recycled steel was used to contribute to the recycled material content in the building.
The high steel areas over the exterior seating area required some very substantial lateral bracing to provide stability. Providing a continuous load path for these lateral loads was a challenge due to the changing roof elevations that made the roof discontinuous. Masonry shear walls were also used to resist lateral loads.
The facility opened on time for the start of classes in the fall of 2011.
Bowling Green State University Falcon Health Center Wood County Hospital
Location:
Bowling Green, Ohio
Architect:
DesignGroup
Construction Cost:
$5 million
Project Size:
20,000 SF

BGSU Student Health Service provides accessible, caring, high-quality, confidential, cost-effective healthcare services to a diverse student population. The Student Health Service strives to be the health care provider of choice for all BGSU students and to be the nationwide model of a successful, quality student health service. Wood County Hospital collaborated with BGSU to build the Falcon Health Center. This project is a 20,000-square-foot, two-story Health Center that serves the medical needs of students.
To meet an abbreviated schedule, we quickly identified the critical path components in the building. Structural steel was identified as the main component that had to be on schedule for the building to open on time. The schedule required that structural steel design be done at the same time that the building was being designed. This required the team to make quick, decisive choices about the floor plan and locations of the main structural components so that the steel design could be completed. To meet the schedule, the steel was designed in two stages. The main building frame was issued five weeks after programming was completed. The foundation drawings were issued a week later, and the balance of the structural steel framing, which consists of items that required coordination with MEP and architectural design, was issued three weeks after the main frame was issued.