The new St. Ambrose University residence hall, going up at the corner of Harrison Street and West Lombard Street in Davenport, may look like a typical dormitory from the outside, but the plans that set construction in motion were anything but typical.

To accommodate a fall semester 2012 opening, Missman had to complete structural drawings for the building prior to the completion of any of the mechanical, plumbing, and architectural plans. It was an unusual challenge, but one that Missman was prepared to meet.

“Usually the architect works ahead of everyone else,” said Chad Carr, Structural Buildings Manager. “But for this project, we wanted to get the foundations in before the ground froze last winter, so we had to put out an early foundation package.”

Besides trying to accommodate the weather, the client also needed to order the steel early to meet construction deadlines. Both of these factors necessitated a shorter design schedule. Missman was able to fast-track the design process to meet those deadlines.

The new four-story residence hall is a 55,684-square-foot project, costing nearly 10 million dollars. It features large spread concrete footings for the foundations, a steel frame, precast concrete slab floors with a poured-in-place topping slab, brick exterior walls with cast stone around the base, and light-gauge steel trusses for the roof. Missman is both the civil engineer and structural engineer of record.

The new residence hall project is unique not only because of its drawing sequence and schedule, but also in terms of its size and prominence. “It’s a significant project with a lot of visibility in the community,” Carr said. “It’s a large building on the St. Ambrose campus, right on Harrison Street.”

Missman has worked with St. Ambrose University on prior projects using the same architect, a history which has proven beneficial to the engineering firm. “St. Ambrose was pleased with our work on the residence hall we did on Lombard,” said Carr, “so that’s probably the main reason we were selected for this project.”

Construction on this project began in Fall 2011, and is scheduled to be completed in time for students to move in at the start of the school year.

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