Texas designers see future in Alaska.(Architectural services)(Brief Article)

There are billions of dollars worth of architecture projects going on throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but three of the Lone Star State's largest firms have their Texas eyes and design teams firmly focused on Alaska.

Ascension Group Architects LLP, based in Arlington, Texas, is overseeing the approximately $100 million construction of Mat-Su Regional Medical Center near Palmer. The more than 70-bed hospital is a jointly owned project between Valley Hospital Association of Alaska and the Texas-based hospital company Triad Hospitals Inc. Ascension also is overseeing work on the construction of an accompanying medical office building, which will break ground this summer. The $8 million building will include a 12,000-square-foot ambulatory surgery center and a 5,000-square-foot oncology center.

Meanwhile, Dallas-based HKS Inc. is answering to the Army as it oversees work on Bassett Army Community Hospital in Fairbanks. The contractor on HKS' Alaska project is HMS Inc. out of Anchorage. Designed for the Arctic climate, the three-story facility consists of 260,000 square feet (23,560 square meters) and contains ala emergency room, imaging center, LDRP, and surgery suites for inpatients and outpatients.

Dallas-based Omniplan Inc. is designing a 25,800-square-foot shoppette for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. The $7.8 million facility will contain a retail store, liquor store, laundry and dry cleaners, as well as a 10-bay car care center. Omniplan is associating with the local Anchorage architectural firm of Kumin Associates and is also using other local engineering firms for the civil engineering as well as the structural, mechanical and electrical engineering design.

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