The Verona Family Dental building project is being recognized as one of the most impressive and unique construction projects completed by a Wisconsin contractor in 2024. Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) of Wisconsin will be honoring Keller, Inc. with a GOLD Projects of Distinction Excellence in Construction Award for the ground-up dental clinic located in Verona, Wisconsin.
OVERVIEW
Prior to Keller, Inc. being chosen as the design-build general contractor for their new facility, Verona Family Dental (VFD) had initially been working with an out-of-state design-builder. Preliminary drawings for both the site layout and building design had been completed, costs estimated and approved by the local plan commission. Around this time however, the owners of VFD (Dr. Matt and Dr. Kelsey), were having doubts regarding the accuracy of the project’s estimated costs, asked the Keller Project Manager for his thoughts on their project’s estimated costs. Due to information lacking in their current design (such as specific exterior materials) the Keller architect provided suggestions as to what those materials could be in order to achieve the intended exterior design. Simultaneously, the Keller interior designer met with VFD for an interior design discovery, to ensure that Keller was pricing the types of materials and finishes they wanted in their new facility and that would meet the durability required for this type of project. It was after these discussions with Keller, having asked a lot of detailed questions regarding their design, that VFD had decided Keller would be a better fit to ask all the right questions and bring their new facility to fruition.
RE-DISCOVERY: FLOOR PLAN
Once the decision had been made to work with Keller, this became an opportunity for VFD to revisit their current design and seek improvements. The Keller architect sat down with VFD to review the floor plan thoroughly, asking for their thoughts on the overall flow of the layout as well as any room-by-room issues. Through this brief, but analytical process, it became clear that there were several aspects to their previous floor plan which VFD had considered to be compromises, and yet had felt compelled to accept. Nonetheless, the Keller Architect made several suggestions to improve the floor plan (much to VFD’s liking), but without making drastic changes to the overall concept nor the building footprint (which again was already approved by the local plan commission).
A few examples of these improvements include:
- Adding much needed space to the lobby seating areas: this was achieved by slight adjustments made to the building footprint (both lengthening and narrowing the building by a few feet). The narrowing of the building did not affect the operatories on either side of the building, due to the fact that those rooms had previously been designed deeper than necessary anyway. As such, the overall building square footage remained the same.
- Re-working the central core spaces (such as Sterilization, Lab, Dental Supply, Dental Equipment, Mechanicals, Restrooms, Staff Lockers/Laundry) in various ways simply to consolidate and/or minimize unnecessarily wide circulation paths so as to maximize actual functional space within those rooms.
- Finally, and perhaps the best example: swapping the locations of the Staff Break/Training room with the two Doctors Office/Shared Restroom suite, such that the offices would face the street and the break room would be closer to the parking lot. VFD said that the previous firm had told them they could not swap the rooms because it would impact the symmetry of windows on the street-facing façade. The Keller response to this was to find a way to swap the room locations as desired and re-design the exterior facades to be aesthetically pleasing without having to rely on symmetry.
RE-DISCOVERY: EXTERIOR DESIGN
Regarding the Exterior Design, again this was an opportunity for VFD to revisit their current design and seek improvements. Again, Keller understood that any re-design proposed would have to 1) be an improvement on the previously approved exterior design version, and 2) not to increase the cost of the project. As such the Keller Architect was able to come up with an exterior design that was similar enough to the previous design, and yet which exhibited a more refined, cohesive arrangement of materials, utilizing principals such as layering, rhythm, scale and proportion. The final exterior material selections include: ledgestone veneer with smooth-honed limestone sills, two colors of Vesta horizontal lap siding, e.i.f.s., aluminum clad casement windows and dimensional asphalt shingled roof.
RE-DISCOVERY: INTERIOR DESIGN
Finally, the Keller Interior Designer met with VFD once more, to finalize interior finishes, based on the previously established project budget. The doctors wanted to change a few things and add some accent materials, especially in their lobby, to elevate the design. The Keller project team was able to add in these accent features, such as wood cladding around the fireplace and wood beams above the reception desk, with only minor budget adjustments. The end result was a comfortable and welcoming design to the lobby, fitting with VFD’s vision for the space.
The Projects of Distinction Awards recognizes construction projects that are built on merit and are judged by a panel of construction experts based on several criteria, including quality, owner satisfaction, unusual challenges, and safety. The awards will be presented at a January banquet in Wisconsin Dells.
Projects are recognized in a number of different types and sizes of general construction and specialty trades. Projects are all completed between October 2023 and September 2024.
“Projects of Distinction demonstrate the excellence in construction services by ABC of Wisconsin members,” said Kelly Tourdot, president of ABC of Wisconsin. “These unique projects are evaluated by a panel of experts in the field, including architects, engineers and educators in the construction industry and allow Wisconsin’s merit contractors to demonstrate their professionalism, craftsmanship and safety.”
A list of the award winners can be found at abcwi.org/POD.
