Background
Since the Visitor Center first opened approximately 25 years ago, the differential settlement of the building has caused a considerable amount of concern. To address extremely poor soil conditions, the Visitor Center was constructed upon a foundation system that allows the structure to be periodically re-leveled as differential settlement occurs. Over the years, the building has been re-leveled on three separate occasions. Consequently, portions of the structure have exhausted the capacity for any further adjustment due to larger than anticipated settlements. For this reason, the building required extensive geotechnical and structural analyses.

Specialized Knowledge
These geotechnical and structural studies basically concluded that replacing the Visitor Center is far more cost effective than to continuing to repair and maintain the existing buildings.

Given the USS Arizona Memorial’s invaluable national significance, it has also been identified by the United States Navy as a potential target for terrorism, such that antiterrorism concerns became a primary consideration for both the site layout and building design.

To design the new Visitor Center, Baldridge & Associates implemented the Department of Defense Antiterrorism Standards as outlined in the Unified Facilities Criteria. Preliminary work for the potential new facility consisted of: preliminary design documents; outline specifications, Class B cost estimates; comparability cost analysis and a preliminary project design summary report.

Client Benefits
“BASE has performed very well, giving the National Park Service design team the critical information to make informed decisions about the future of the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center. They have adapted well to a shifting set of programmatic criteria on the part of the agency and have responded in the highest professional manner.”
-William W. Hacker, The Portico Group