EwingCole Completes First Design-Build Project for the United States Military Academy
West Point, NY (March 2012) - EwingCole, one of the nation’s leading architecture, engineering and interior design firms, is the Designer of Record for the recently completed $98,000,000 relocation of the US Military Academy Preparatory School (USMAPS) from Fort Monmouth, NJ to the grounds of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point.
“The mission of USMAPS is to provide focused academic, military and physical instruction in a moral and ethical environment, and to prepare, motivate and inspire candidates for success at the USMA,” said John Capelli, AIA, principal and leader of EwingCole’s government practice. “The team developed design solutions that support this mission while leveraging the natural opportunities of the site.”
The 57-acre campus development includes the following:
- 73,000 sf classroom and administrative buildings
- 87,000 sf athletic and fitness space
- 14,000 sf dining and exchange facilities
- 246-bed student quarters
- 3 NCAA athletic fields
Site constraints led to the configuration of the building as a continuous ribbon stretched along the edge of a large, open plane on a steep hillside. This freed virtually the entire plane for athletic fields with little disturbance to the forested hillside, a primary amenity of the site. A gently curving drive leads to the center of the academic block – the heart of the school.
“The new campus seamlessly integrates comfortable dormitories and dining facility, modern classrooms, well-placed office space, and a state-of-the-art athletic complex into an extremely functional and aesthetically pleasing design,” said Col. Tyge Rugenstein, USMAPS Commandant, who took weekly walk-throughs of the site as construction progressed.
Phase I was completed in the summer of 2011, in time for Reception Day on July 18 when the institution welcomed 244 new cadet candidates, the first class to occupy the new facilities. The second phase of the project, which includes the academic buildings and the lacrosse and football fields, was completed in January 2012. The Athletic Building, which is the last phase of the project, will be complete this Spring.
“Although the USMA is a historic campus, it was my desire as Commandant and Dean to show a modern and progressive appearance,” Rugenstein said. “With the skillful use of brick, granite and a glass curtain wall, EwingCole created a campus with a clear connection to the history of West Point, but at the same time inspires and excites cadet candidates about their future as Army officers.”
Joseph Donahue, Director of Marketing
215-625-4119
jdonahue@ewingcole.com
In practice for over 50 years, EwingCole is an architecture, engineering, interior design, historic preservation and planning firm of more than 350 professionals. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the firm also has offices in Irvine, CA, New York, NY and Washington, DC. Visit www.ewingcole.com.
