AIH Montana state university

American Indian Hall Receives Best in Show Honors Montana State University’s American Indian Hall project recently received two prestigious awards from the Structural Insulated Panel Association (SIPA) Builder Excellence Award program. Working with Big Sky Insulations, the AIH project received awards for Best in Show (top overall award) and Best Commercial Structure over 10,000 sq. ft. The criteria included overall design, design creativity, energy performance, and overall impact. The project has been in the works since 2004 when MSU Alumni, Dennis Sun Rhodes and Jim Dolan, presented President Geoffrey Gamble with their idea to build an American Indian Hall on campus to support MSU’s growing populationRead More →

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american indian hall montana state university

American Indian Hall Morrison-Maierle worked with ThinkOne, a local Bozeman architect, to perform the structural design and site civil design for this unique building located on the Malone Centennial Mall at MSU. This $20M, 31,000 sq. ft. building was funded through donor gifts. It is the first in Montana to obtain LEED Platinum v4 status (video below), earning all three points in the structural materials category plus one additional point for exemplary structural performance. The building system is a combination of wood and steel, and there were several unique architectural features including a curved monumental staircase, curved canopies, a drum room, and a 140 ft.Read More →

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american indian hall montana state university

American Indian Hall Opens on MSU Campus A grand opening for the American Indian Hall at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, was held on October 16, 2021. Nearly 1,200 were on hand to celebrate this achievement, including Morrison-Maierle’s structural design team of Nate Menuez, Rebecca Scheetz, Austin Batson, and MaKayla Beckman, and the site civil designers Mike Hickman and Cody Farley. The ceremony had a full agenda that included traditional songs, prayers, dances, and drumming. Speakers included MSU President Waded Cruzado, MSU President Emeritus Geoffrey Gamble, head of the MSU Department of Native American Studies Walter Fleming, U.S. Senator Jon Tester, and the U.S.Read More →

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This drawing shows a structural thermal break section for the Bert Mooney Airport Terminal project.

Preventing Thermal Breaks in Building Envelopes By Nate Menuez, PE We face many challenges in the design and construction of a new building. From large, big-picture issues down to the finest details, one of the finer problems that consistently arises is thermal bridging in building envelopes. This bridging can cause a wide array of problems including unwanted, excessive heat flow and energy loss through the exterior envelope in a building. What is thermal bridging and how can it affect the performance of a new building? This occurs when a structural (or non-structural member) of thermal conductivity causes heat transfer through the building envelope. A wideRead More →

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Special Inspection and Material Testing Services Our Bozeman office offers our Buildings clients a full range of special inspection and material testing services. These are geared specifically toward Building projects and also include inspection and testing of site/civil components of the project. We have qualified individuals experienced in all types of Building materials and systems, an in-house testing lab, and a mobile lab to provide efficient solutions to meet code requirements for Special Inspection and Material Testing on your next project. Contact us here for more informationRead More →

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Cold Weather Concreting – It’s That Time of Year Again By Nate Menuez, PE, LEED APSenior Structural Engineer, Morrison-Maierle What exactly is Cold Weather Concreting? The subject rears its head this time of year on every project that has concrete foundations, slab-on-grades, and elevated slabs. As we all are aware, it is best to have these discussions with the contractor and sub-contractors well before concrete placement actually occurs. The contractor and sub-contractor should have a plan in place prior to the actual placement. However, many times there is a disconnect between general contractor, sub, and even supplier. All too often we hear questions like “Who willRead More →

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Morrison-Maierle receives three ACEC Engineering Excellence Awards The Montana Chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) recently awarded Morrison-Maierle with three 2019 Engineering Excellence Awards for projects in the transportation, structural systems, and building/technology categories. Design teams from the firm’s offices in Bozeman, Missoula, and Helena accepted the awards for their work on these projects. The firm’s Bert Mooney Airport Terminal project incorporated many cost-saving engineering measures that helped create a new terminal that now meets all security and safety measures while honoring Butte’s rich history with structural and architectural elements throughout the building. Morrison-Maierle worked with Butte-native, Paul Powers, who is theRead More →

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MSU Rendezvous Dining Pavilion Montana State University’s 2018 fall semester broke yet another enrollment record with 16,703 students, a two-percent increase over 2017 and one that marks 10 years of continuous growth. In order to keep up with this growth, the university has been continually adding and improving upon its campus infrastructure to not only meet the needs of its students, faculty, and staff but do it in a sustainable fashion. After review and consideration, the university announced plans to construct a new dining hall to serve its growing population. On the heels of the successful rehabilitation of the Miller Dining Commons, MSU’s newest facilityRead More →

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brian aschim

Brian Aschim named as new Market Group CAD Leader As a 15-year employee-owner, Brian Aschim has recently been promoted as Morrsion-Maierle’s new Market Group CAD Leader. He has been with Morrison-Maierle since he graduated from Montana State in civil engineering in 2003. He then earned his M.S. in structural engineering in 2005 and is a member of the Bozeman office. As a senior structural engineer, he specializes in the development of building information modes (BIM) and the generation of complex finite element analysis models. Some of his recent projects include the MSU Miller Dining Hall Renovations, Carroll College Student Housing, and Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church.Read More →

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travis eickman

Travis Eickman to oversee Morrison-Maierle Bozeman operations Morrison-Maierle is pleased to announce the promotion of Travis Eickman, PE, as its new Bozeman Operations Manager. He replaces Jack Schunke, PE, who will continue working on a wide variety of projects in the company’s Development Market Group as well as serving as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Travis is a project manager in Morrison-Maierle’s Airports Market Group and has been with the company since 1997.  Prior to Morrison-Maierle, he served in the Montana Army National Guard as a captain in the Fire Fighting Platoon and Chemical Company from 1997-2006. He has 20 years of airport planningRead More →

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Bozeman-Yellowstone International Airport Runway Projects Since 2010, the Bozeman, Montana, area has steadily grown by 16.75%, while the number of airport passengers at Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN) has increased by 40%, exceeding the 1.1-million mark. To accommodate growth and increased aircraft traffic, Morrison-Maierle assisted the Gallatin Airport Authority on the planning, funding, and construction of a much-needed capacity improvements that resulted in a new runway, 11-29, followed immediately by the resurfacing of the main runway, 12-30. Runway projects are complex enough by themselves, but these projects also included a major onsite testing issue that not only saved the client $2.5 million, but now sitsRead More →

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New school projects keep Buildings Market Group busy Morrison-Maierle’s Buildings Market Group has recently completed and has several upcoming school projects in the works. “These new schools across Montana are really great community projects,” said Arian Bloomfield, the firm’s Buildings Market Group Leader. “We always look forward to working on projects that move communities in a positive direction.” Morrison-Maierle has school projects almost completed and in the works in several of its office locations like Helena and Great Falls. However, the highest concentrations are in Kalispell, Missoula, and Bozeman. In Missoula, Lowell and Franklin elementary schools will be open in time for the 2017-18 academicRead More →

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MSU engineering alumni apply skills to make new engineering building a reality By Marshall Swearingen, MSU News Service BOZEMAN – As a backhoe filled around the foundation of the future Norm Asbjornson Hall at Montana State University recently, and construction workers prepped the ground floor for concrete, it was an ideal day for MSU civil engineering alumni to survey their handiwork in the building’s exposed, three-story steel structure. “A lot of innovation went into this building,” said Jay Fischer, the project manager at Morrison-Maierle, the Montana-based firm that engineered the beams, joints and other features to ensure that the structure stands up to its ownRead More →

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