Projects

Benthack Hall Renovation | Wayne State College

Contour Construction had the pleasure of working with Hausmann Construction on the Benthack Hall project in Wayne, Nebraska. The project was the remodel of the existing Benthack Hall on the Wayne State College campus. Our scope of work included architectural woodwork, doors and hardware, visual display surface, toilet compartments, bath accessories, casework, and wall protections.

Architectural Woodwork

The feature pieces of this project were the wood wall and ceiling features in the hallways. The walls have wood panels that run from floor to ceiling and have a three-fourths inch reveal between the panels. The panels had to be cut to fit around door openings and recessed television niches. The ceiling detail have wood planks that run at 45-degree angles off the wood panel wall. The wood plank also had three-fourths reveal between each piece. The outside perimeter of the ceiling feature was wrapped in eight-inch-tall trim.

Casework

We had to install multiple elevations of casework on this project. One of the renovated classrooms was the Foods Lab for teaching Culinary Arts. We had to set six islands of casework, each island consisting of eight base cabinets. At the front of the classroom is the instructor’s demonstration island, which had plastic laminate panels, wrapping a metal-framed wall with base cabinets attached to it.

Toilet Compartments, Bath Accessories

There is one pair of bathrooms on each floor and one unisex bathroom on the first floor. The toilet compartments are a solid-polymer that are mounted to the floor and overhead braced. There are fifteen standard stalls, four handicap stalls, and four urinal screens. We installed grab bars, toilet paper holders, sanitary napkin disposals, recessed paper towel/trash receptacles, and baby changing stations.

Classroom Accessories

The marker boards for the classrooms had three, four-foot-wide by seven-foot-tall boards that had to be assembled with splines and trims. The marker boards are also going to act as the projection screen for the projector, so we had to make sure our seams were flush and even. The tack boards were a custom size, so we had to cut them down to the size needed and then, had to wrap them in an aluminum trim.

Additional Reading: Benthack Hall Renovation Aims to Serve Regional Mental Health Needs

Architect – Leo A Daly

Contractor – Hausmann Construction, Inc.

Subcontractor – Contour Construction

Photos credit – Eric Lund of Contour Construction

St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church

St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Omaha, Nebraska, added a 41,398-square-foot addition to the church and a 6,755-square-foot support wing that consists of offices, a kitchen, workroom, and conference rooms.

The ceiling of the main entry featured tongue and groove paneling that would be used in five other ceilings throughout the project, as well as at some wall finishes. Throughout the corridors and narthex rooms, poplar box beams were installed at the ceiling to give it an exposed beam look. Nearly 1,400 lineal feet of varying size box beams were installed throughout the St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church corridors.

The cathedral ceiling stands over 60 feet above the ground and is constructed with a combination of structural steel and exposed Glu-lam beams, the underside of the cathedral ceiling is structural 2×6 tongue and groove roof decking that is exposed. The structural steel beams were clad and wrapped in 2x lumber that was installed in a staggered orientation to give it a detailed and layered appearance. Twenty-five arched openings leading into the ambulatories and feature custom arched trims to match the radius of the openings. Veneered wood paneling above each arch were trimmed out with hardwoods at the perimeters.

Devotional niches and an antiphonal chamber were constructed using veneered plywoods, 1x and 2x trims, and wood grilles to create both walls and ceilings. The reredos, 18 feet wide and 46 feet tall, are covered in a combination of wood paneling, trims, and grilles. The paneling was used to create vertical columns with either veneered paneling or wood grilles placed in between each column from the floor to the top of the reredos. The overall appearance of the reredos creates a wonderful wood feature that also serves as a decorative piece to help conceal some of the organ equipment, all while not compromising the acoustics or function of the organ.

In the News: Omaha’s St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church to unveil $30.2 million project (Omaha World-Herald)

Farnam Hotel

The Farnam Hotel was constructed in the existing Landmark building in downtown Omaha. It has 96 guestrooms and 24 suites split between four floors. The first and second floor consists of the ballroom, Dynamite restaurant, Catalyst bar, lobby, fitness, and meeting rooms. Contour was responsible for the installation of the rough carpentry and finish carpentry items for the project. We had to install wood backing for wood paneling, casework, bath accessories, and millwork. The finish carpentry scope consisted of wood paneling, bath accessories, bathroom partitions, millwork, casework, FRP, and doors and hardware. There was an extensive amount of wood paneling on this project totaling over 13,000 square feet. We also installed several hundred wood door frames and casings throughout the six floors of the Farnam Hotel.