Newington, CT – Nosal Builders, Inc. announced it won Best in Show at the Associated Builders and Contractors of Connecticut (CT ABC) Excellence in Construction Awards, held on Oct. 20, for the CT DOT Highway Operations Center Expansion and Renovation.
Atrium skylight
Prior to the start of the work, the Department of Transportation at the Newington Headquarters was operating with antiquated technology dating back to the building’s original construction in the early 1990s. This included outdated forward convexed monitors similar to TV screens of the 20th century, along with a 9 x 9 video “Cube” display. The single conference room adjacent to the existing Highway Operations Center housed a single monitor with nothing more than telephone conferencing capabilities. The total footprint of the existing operations center was no more than 1,200sf allowing for four operators and supervisor. The department needed space and modern technology to keep up with the State of Connecticut’s critical transportation response infrastructure. At the roof level, the facility had experienced ongoing issues with water leaks related to settling of the insulated and fritted glazing panels caused by deterioration of the caulking and gasketing. Glares and lack of adequate light diffusion were causing discomfort to DOT personnel working on the upper floors, close to the atrium curtain wall.
Office entrance
With the new construction now complete, the department can seamlessly stream directly from their over 400 cameras distributed state wide. The high-resolution 11×3 and 4×3 video walls in the Highway Operations and Storm Centers consist of Mitsubishi 70-inch DLP rear projection “Cubes” designed to deliver outstanding performance and image quality with long-life operation and sustainability. Video Visions paired all displays with a Jupiter Catalyst XL processor that can display sources from other content types such as local cable TV and numerous 4K local computers. This design allows for layouts to be created and modified at the basic operator level without time-intensive system coding. This approach allows the users to always have the exact layout required for any given scenario, even if it is happening for the first time.
In the adjacent Highway Operations Center conference room, a large screen NEC display along with an independent Jupiter CSR4K processor allows participants to view various cameras from the Highway Operations Center and partake in state-of-the-art teleconferencing activities. The room has dual Crestron touch panels for one button control of the lighting and a Crestron processor for remote access to the Highway Operations Center video sources.
Office entrance
During the course of the Highway Operations Center project, Nosal Builders was asked to provide a design-build proposal for the replacement of three existing 25 foot x 25 foot pyramidal shaped structural skylights located in the DOT Headquarters open air atrium. The existing structures, original to the building, were deteriorating resulting in leaks and ongoing maintenance issues. Their inability to effectively diffuse light was the cause of much discomfort to the department’s upper floor occupants. Nosal Builders, in conjunction with Silver Petrucelli and Associates, Silktown Roofing and Cherry Hill Glass, designed replacement structures that maintained the aesthetics of the existing building promoting a more comfortable environment for the staff.
