| Location | Construction Information | Site Photographs | Project Background |

David Skaggs Research Center

The new home for NOAA-Boulder

The building is now finished and NOAA has completed the move. The photo above was taken in March, 1999 after the construction was complete.

The computer generated image that used to be shown above, made from the architectural drawings back in 1996, is still available in both a low resolution, and a sharpened image (260K) form. Check out this combined image to directly see how well the computer generated image compares with the actual construction photo.

On October 18, 1996, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to mark the beginning of the construction process for the new NOAA science and research facility in Boulder being constructed by the General Services Administration (GSA). The new building will house several NOAA entities including six Environmental Research Laboratories (ERL), the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), the local office of the National Weather Service (NWS), and the Mountain Administrative Support Center (MASC).

Location of the Building Site

• The City of Boulder Open Space Management Program provided NOAA with some digital maps of the Dept. of Commerce (DOC) Campus area. NOAA has updated these maps to show various details of the campus surrounding this new construction.
  • City view.
  • Area surrounding DOC Campus.
  • Close-up of DOC Campus.
• Pre-construction aerial view of site (224KB).
• Aerial views of the site taken by Richard Fritz of NOAA/ETL:
  • Taken on 7/15/98 (221KB).
  • Taken on 1/29/98 (143KB).
  • Taken on 9/18/97 (152KB).
  • Taken on 2/19/97 (172KB).
• Interesting satellite view (~300K) of site taken on Jul 25, 1987 from 213 Km up by a Russian mapping satellite.

Construction Information

• June 98 Construction Site Update
• Past Construction Site Updates
• The Project Fact Sheet has various dimensions and statistics.
• The architect of record for the project is Fentress Bradburn Architects of Denver, Colorado.
• The project Construction Management firm is CRSS Constructors, Inc. of Denver, Colorado.
• The General Contractor for the project is Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of Greeley, Colorado.
• The Electrical Subcontractor is Ludvik Electric of Englewood, Colorado.
• The laboratory design consultant for the project is Research Facilities Design of San Diego, CA
• Much of the interior finish work is being done by the Phase 2 Company of Ft. Collins, Colorado.
• Construction submittals for NOAA review.

Construction Site Photographs

• Current detailed weather conditions from nearby NCAR Mesa Lab.

The building is made up of four major blocks, three core areas, and the Solar Observatory. The blocks are labeled A through D, with D being the southernmost. Work in general is progressing from the south side of the site.

The archived construction photographs are organized into the following categories.

• Aerial photographs of the site.
• Site Excavation.
• Main Building Structure.
• Exterior Building Surfaces.
• Interior Building Work.
• Data Communication Systems.
• Utilities.
• Site Landscaping.
• The Solar Observatory.
• The building data network.
• Site overviews and material details.

Project Background

• Brief Project History
• Photographs of the groundbreaking ceremony held on Oct. 18, 1996.
• Consultations with the Native American Tribes including some photographs of Tribal members during meetings at the site.
• A discussion of some issues regarding this project was published in the Boulder Daily Camera on January 25, 1997.