SPACE SAVERS

The building can be torn down, leaving an empty lot to sell and more waste sent to landfills. The owner can attempt to find tenants for the existing structure, although that could be prove to be difficult with the economy down and an abundance of commercial space available. A third choice would be to rezone the property and design an adaptive alternative reuse plan for the building.

It’s this last option that intrigued Shellie Gardner, a senior at the International Academy of Design & Technology in Henderson.

Gardner, who is interested in historical buildings, wanted to get involved with historical preservation outside of the school when she was made aware of the Bridger Building during her politics class at IADT. She researched the building but found few facts other than it was built in 1968 for Bank of Nevada before Clark County purchased it in 1980. It was used for government offices until the county moved into its new facility in 1995. And, aside from its location at 225 E. Bridger Ave., she could find no definitive records found explaining why it was named the Bridger Building.

Then, during her thereoretical concepts class, Gardner approached the instructor, Paul Martin, about a class project using the Bridger Building to create a possible alternative reuse study for existing space with pre-existing limits and parameters. Martin approved and Gardner, as lead designer, asked for volunteers. Five other students, Michelle Magby, Bree Parks, Andrew Biondo Jr., Lea Pfondevida, Lisa Gyuran and Blanca Laurean, signed up to participate.

The purpose of the project was to demonstrate that with the right design plan, the value of an existing building can be greater than tearing down the old structure and building a new one. The students’ motivation was to show environmental gain in reusing existing material (such as glass) and structure instead of new material from limited resources.

“With our alternative use plan, we were looking for the best use of the space — what would bring more people to the downtown area. We collaborated as a team as far as the commercial, residential and nightclub space together since this is the trend nationwide,” Parks said.

The first step was to secure the blueprints and study the structural design. Then new uses were found for the spaces.

Magby and Parks, who designed the first floor, kept the existing walls and added additional walls for a café and retail space. The café was placed at the north side of the building (Third Street and Bridger Avenue) since that side is glass from ceiling to floor and faces the Bank of America building. They specified flooring for the café to be vinyl for easy cleaning and slip-resistance. Also, the existing restrooms and elevators were remodeled instead of moved.

A lobby for residents and guests was created at the front entrance, and gym and conference rooms were added along with a shipping room for residents’ mailboxes. The freight elevator was converted to a resident-only elevator and a courtyard was created outside of the building leading into the lobby.

Gyuran designed a lounge and dance club as a possible alternative use of space on the first floor.

The second and third floors were designated for parking.

Pfondevida designed living spaces on the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh floors that could be used as either apartments or condominiums with the idea of providing more affordable housing in the downtown area.

Gardner designed the eighth, ninth and 10th floors working with the existing structure “as an empty shell, a blank palette waiting to be created.” Since there has been a surge in marketing downtown high-rises to young professionals or those looking for a second home in Las Vegas, Gardner strived to create “luxury spaces with a green design.

“We wanted to use existing material. For example, if you have this great table, why throw it out for a bamboo table and fill up the landfill? You’ve just negated the idea of being green by throwing the great table into the landfill. I always say that the first step for being green is preservation,” she said.

“All hard surfaces, including the flooring, were designed so residents can live in a luxury space but know that all the products used were environmentally responsible and contribute to LEED certification,” Gardner said. “For example, paperless fiberglass panels were used. The flooring was treated with epoxy resin Terrazzo (faux marble). The carpeting was 25 percent recycled content and the wall finishes were authentic Italian lime plaster, which is low VOC since it’s a natural product. Everything that could be post-consumer recycled was used.”

Laurean worked on creating luxury apartments on the eighth, ninth and 10th floors with alternative designs and concepts, and Biondo designed a restaurant as an alternative use for the 10th floor instead of luxury condominiums.

The students incorporated a Spanish influence in color, fabric and furniture to keep an outdoor feel, according to Magby.

“We loved the shops on the streets of Spain so we wanted to it to feel like an outdoor area on the inside of the building,” she said.

“We wanted a real-life place to get ideas and we chose Spain for all of our designs,” added Parks.

Throughout the project, Gardner kept in touch with county officials, who became interested in their plans from the start, especially Deborah J. (DJ) Currie, a senior office specialist in the Department of Real Property Management at Clark County.

“A couple of students and I went down to get the original blueprints for building so we could bring it back to the class and share it with the rest of the team members. At the time we chose the Bridger Building, we didn’t expect it to go very far except in class.

“DJ mentioned to us that she would really love to see what we would do with the building. We spoke with her constantly for the next 11 weeks about our project. She facilitated us getting into the building and taking a tour with Michael Green (construction project specialist, Design & Construction Administrators Office for Clark County). Roger Richardson, (maintenance and operations supervisor for Clark County) was also a big help. We worked with them and when we finished up with the project, they helped us to bring the people in so we could set up for a professional presentation outside of our small-knit academic community.”

The students presented their plans to more than 12 county employees on July 29 for both the experience and the possibility that the county would consider implementing it.

“They did a wonderful job and worked very hard. Looking at the Bridger Building from a different angle is a wonderful option. I know when I was in school, it was extremely difficult to make those first few presentations, even though it is a requirement of the job. This was a valuable lesson not only for the students, but for us as well in seeing things in a different perspective,” said Carel Carter, director of Real Property Management of Clark County.