KMCC Wins AF Award for Design Concept

  • Published
  • By Capt. Jonathan Friedman
  • USAFE News Service
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  The team building the Department of Defense's current largest construction project now have something else to boast about -- they are the recipients of one of the Air Force 2006 Design Awards for an outstanding design concept.

Currently under construction here, the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center -- more commonly referred to as the KMCC -- will be a first-of-its-kind facility. However, it was the KMCC design team that brought the KMCC to life when it was simply a concept. They created a detailed, lifelike representation of what the military community will soon experience.

"The concept design encompasses everything from the aesthetics of the structure to the operability and environmental facets," said Mr. Bassim Shebaro, U. S. Air Forces in Europe Installations and Mission Support engineering branch chief. "Our team of concept design professionals were all focused on a common goal and created this incredible design."

He explained that this design concept started with USAFE and the 435th Airlift Wing, Ramstein AB, Germany, outlined the initial facility requirements and drafted some internal designs.

Mr. Shebaro said that the initial designs were submit to Landesbetrieb Liegenschafts- und Baubetreuung (LBB) Kaiersersaltern, a construction management and contracting agency for the state of Rheinland-Phalz, Germany. LBB then contracted with JSK Internationale Architekten und Ingenieure GmbH, in Germany, who designed the actual renderings and concepts, which ultimately won the Air Force award.

"Nothing of this magnitude has ever been attempted on an Air Force base," said Brig. Gen. Danny Gardner, USAFE Installations and Mission Support director. "The seamless integration of an eight-story lodging facility and robust shopping center is an incredible design accomplishment in itself."

The general said that this recognition was a partnership win, and not an individual award.

"This accomplishment was really a shared effort between the 435th Airlift Wing, USAFE, JSK, LBB and countless others who were interregnal parts of the design while it was still an exciting idea being formed," said General Gardner.

As the designer of record for the KMCC, JSK Architecture created concept imagery and designs that were highlighted with an environmentally-friendly green roof, enormous glass domes and facades to allow maximum light into the facility, and countless amenities to bring a small piece of America to the KMC community.

"This award isn't about a design," said the general. "This award is about people and agencies working fluently together towards a common vision -- and the true winners are the people who will use the KMCC for generations to come."