Dimensions - November/December 2009 - 6

Consolidating the Brigs As part of the Base Realignment and Closure Act, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) was tasked with consolidating three regional correctional facilities or “brigs,” located at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; and Norfolk and Quantico, Virginia. To meet this challenge, NAVFAC approached Dewberry through an indefinite quantity contract about designing the new facility. The 210,000-square-foot, 400-bed correctional facility is on a 25acre wooded site in Chesapeake, Virginia, and is scheduled for completion in 2011. Tight Site, Tight Timeframe Organized around a landscaped activity quadrangle, the facility has five, two-level housing units on one side with programs and major Correctional Facility Design Meets Timeframe, Assists Operations service elements—kitchen, laundry, warehouse, industry vocations, and the power plant—on the other. Under a fast-paced design schedule, Dewberry and NAVFAC identified ways to optimize the tight 25-acre site while maintaining separate staff, prisoner, public, and service access requirements. By arranging the quadrangle between the housing and service areas, this design element also provides a clear exercise zone and visual link between the services and the housing spaces. As one of only two brigs in the nation housing both male and female inmates, NAVFAC also needed to serve both populations while maximizing efficiency. By including decentralized programs such as counseling and training within the housing units, NAVFAC is able to reduce inmate traffic, increase security, and improve quality of life. Training and Operational Assistance Dewberry has also been tasked with developing detailed facility training and operational documents. Once the facility is constructed, Dewberry will assist with an added level of commissioning to check proper facility operation. Dewberry has also designed the facility to expand by two additional 80-bed housing units, and the dayrooms and cells are sized for limited double bunking to allow for maximum flexibility. NAVFAC has targeted a LEED®-Silver rating, and the brig design uses a green roof, gray water, and geothermal and daylighting technology. The facility is currently under construction by Balfour Beatty, using Dewberry’s design-build bridging documents. “We’ve worked with numerous firms on many projects and Dewberry will always rank very high in my mind for their commitment to teamwork, for delivering what we really wanted, and for consistently watching out for our best interests,” says William Peck, director of U.S. Navy Corrections. “They brought a great team, and they worked hard to create another great team made up of all of us. We developed great confidence in them.” The new brig has received an American Institute of Architects publication award certificate and will be published in the 2009 Justice Facilities Review.

http://www.aia.org/practicing/groups/kc/AIAS075359

Dimensions - November/December 2009

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