Texas School District Constructs Hurricane-Resistant Tech Center (Source: Civil Engineering)

By Robert Reid

The Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District (GCCISD), located in Baytown, Texas, just east of Houston, recently constructed a new technology center that features a hardened area for its computer servers that is designed to withstand wind forces associated with an 180 mph 3-second gust wind speeds, which roughly corresponds to the sustained wind speeds associated with a category 4 hurricane.

The two-story, 32,400 sq ft facility was designed to store student and teacher data for the district’s 16 elementary schools, 5 junior high schools, 3 high schools, and ancillary facilities. The new technology center also provides 3,900 sq ft of training rooms and nearly 3,500 sq ft of storage space. The 2,000 sq ft hardened section of the building can also serve as an emergency operations center for the district.

Houston-based Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. (LAN) served as the project’s program manager. Huckabee, also located in Houston, was the project’s architect and structural engineer. Raba Kistner Inc., of San Antonio, was the geotechnical engineer. Houston-based Durotech was the general contractor.

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