USACE MOBILE DISTRICT, NASA CELEBRATE CONSTRUCTION COMPLETION

BY CHARLES WALKER, Mobile District

With a celebratory air on Earth Day 2019, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Mobile District and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center opened the doors to its latest successful joint venture: the completed Building 4221 – a $38 million major construction project built by USACE for its NASA partners at its Huntsville, Alabama, campus.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mobile District constructed Building 4221, a five-story facility that will serve as the Program Office Administration Building for NASA at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

NASA Photo ny Fred Deaton

The April 22, 2019, ceremony attended by numerous dignitaries, including U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and NASA senior leaders from Washington, D.C., highlighted the construction of the eco-friendly five-story facility, slated to become the Marshall Space Flight Center’s new Program Office Administration Building. The structure will house several programmatic offices, including Marshall’s Human Exploration Development and Operations Office, its Science and Technology Office, and the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, among others.

The state-of-the-art Building 4221 was built by USACE as part of its growing Interagency and International Services. Under the program, USACE is currently building new modern hospitals for the Department of Veterans Affairs across the nation, new border infrastructure for the Department of Homeland Security, as well as administrative and scientific facilities for the Department of Energy. Mobile District itself has enjoyed a results-driven interagency partnership with NASA since 2007, providing the aerospace agency with constructability reviews and construction management for earlier projects at the Marshall Space Flight Center, as well as for projects at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana.

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, USACE Mobile District Commander Col. Sebastien P. Joly praised Building 4221 as a significant milestone in Mobile District’s partnership with NASA and the Marshall Space Flight Center.

“Ensuring the success of our longtime partnership with the Marshall Space Flight Center is a matter of tremendous pride to Mobile District,” Joly said. “It’s clear from the fine results we see here today in Building 4221 that our teaming continues to be a major success story.”

Jody Singer, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center director, complimented USACE’s Mobile District team for its project execution, noting that USACE’s efforts will make it possible for NASA to continue its work in outer space.

“It’s great to have such a good partner as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers taking care of this work so we can do our mission, which is getting humans back to the moon,” Singer said. “We truly have a great partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and we appreciate them very much.”

Designed to rigorous federal guidelines on energy and water efficiency, the new NASA building spotlights the many and varied capabilities of USACE Mobile District’s engineering expertise. Building 4221 is currently undergoing certification by the U.S. Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®). The new structure will serve as the ninth LEED-certified facility at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

Building 4221 was designed by the Nashville, Tennessee-based architectural firm of Thomas Miller & Partners and constructed by Yates Construction of Philadelphia, Mississippi, under the construction management of Mobile District.

Jason Usery, project engineer at Redstone Arsenal Resident Office, who also oversaw the construction of Building 4221, said completion of the project shows what Mobile District can provide.

“The completion of Building 4221 marks another successful collaboration between NASA and the Mobile District,” Usery said. “Successful projects like this will further advance the opportunities for customers like NASA to choose the services that Mobile District can provide. Completing a project like this is a great honor, knowing that we had a hand in helping NASA achieve its mission goals of returning to the moon and human exploration of Mars.”

In his final remarks to the gathered celebrants, Joly tapped into the pride of partnership that USACE and NASA share, aptly referencing each agency’s motto with a unity of purpose: “… together we look forward to ‘Building Strong’ for our nation’s future, with our sights set on the stars ‘for the benefit of all.’”