Frederick Community College is repurposing an underused 1980s-era library space into a flexible learning resource center (above) tailored to students’ and educators’ specific needs (and adaptable enough to evolve to meet future ones). Bialek Environments, a full-service provider of contract office furniture and design services, and Intellistruct, Bialek’s prefabricated construction firm, were engaged to bring Proffitt & Associates Architects' design vision to fruition, creating a collaborative environment for Frederick Community College.
FCC’s new center offers private and open study rooms, an instructional area, and a more relaxed spot for students and faculty. The center, with walls and other surfaces imbued with DIRTT technology like AV interfacing, has quickly become a favorite spot on campus, and the waiting list for the coveted group meeting spaces is a testament to the facility’s popularity and value.
With clients in diverse industries—like education, healthcare and a variety of governmental organizations—Bialek’s Intellistruct brand leverages prefabricated DIRTT power and technology to transform the interiors it's enlisted to renovate.
DIRTT—Doing It Right This Time—provided FCC with customizable, eco-friendly interiors shipped directly from the factory to the job site, prefabricated and ready to be popped into place. The innovative ICE software (a screenshot is pictured here) uses an interface based on video game technology that lets users preview its array of options before selecting one, complete with associated costs.
DIRTT has benefits that extend beyond convenience. It boasts tremendous compatibility with AV equipment and computers, which can be embedded into the walls of conference centers.
The sophisticated manufacturing methods DIRTT employs yield a product that can reduce the risk of infection while improving productivity in clinics, reduce need for floor leveling and reduce construction waste by 65%, among other advantages. Once the team finalizes a design in DIRTT, the building information model is sent to the factory floor, where the extrusions and construction components are built with CNC machines and a variety of advanced machinery, taking instructions directly from the ICE model.
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