ittle Diomede—a tiny, rocky island with a population of less than 100—is located in the middle of the Bering Sea, only two miles from Big Diomede island, which is across the International Date Line and uninhabited, except by an occasional Russian military sortie.
Most of the island slopes 45 degrees to the water’s surface, and buildings on stilts cling to the side connected by walkways. Little Diomede has no harbor or airport and the weather in the Bering Strait is unpredictable, so traveling to the village can be tricky. For construction projects, it doesn’t get more rural—or more complicated.
Alaska companies are up to the task, and, with a great deal of planning and coordination, the remote village is getting a long-awaited health clinic.
In 2018, the Norton Sound Health Corporation awarded a bid to build the new clinic on Little Diomede. A lot of logistics then went into play. The clinic had to be designed specifically for the site, taking into account the villagers’ needs, the rigors of extreme cold, frequent high winds, and saltwater.
Then the materials had to get there. The main access to the island is by helicopter, with regularly scheduled flights—weather permitting. Sometimes weather conditions are so bad helicopters can’t land for days. Occasionally boats can land in the summer, and in the winter planes can land when an ice runway can be scraped out of sea ice.
The clinic’s location is about 1,000 feet from where the building materials were staged, so all supplies and equipment had to be hand-carried to the construction site. But despite these hurdles, and with the COVID-19 pandemic throwing in another wrench, the $6 million clinic is scheduled to be completed this year.
Construction in Alaska outside of the road system poses special challenges. But contractors, builders, and designers have learned to work together to overcome those challenges and in the process have created buildings that are practical, efficient, and often eye-catching.
Leah Boltz, marketing director for Bettisworth North Architects and Planners, says early communication between the designer and the contractor is important.
“The earlier the contractor can be engaged, the better, as it allows us to collaborate and allows for two-way feedback on costs, timelines, designer intent, and constructability, which can have significant impacts on a project,” she says.
Oftentimes, the original design is modified before or during construction, she says. Reasons include a change in direction or priorities from the owner, costs and budgets, input from user groups or the contractor, reallocation of resources, new technologies or innovations, outside economic and community factors, staff changes, and availability of materials.
“Particularly right now during the pandemic, we have seen significant impacts to the manufacturing and supply chain, which has resulted in the need to reselect some materials and furnishings and finishes to meet timelines and availability,” Boltz says.
Tracy Vanairsdale is an architect with Bettisworth North who has designed projects all over Alaska, both on and off the road system.
“We enjoy working with the contractors and typically have weekly coordination meetings to review progress and coordination issues,” she says. “We also regularly utilize cloud-based data exchange platforms specifically during the construction administration phase to expedite the review process, communications and coordination, discussing opportunities and challenges. Finding resolutions while documenting the process is invaluable.”
Another tool Bettisworth North has been using is virtual reality, Boltz says.
“The focus for VR is typically to help the client and user groups see a space to help them make design decisions,” she says. “However, we find this tool also comes in handy in the planning process to help the contractor envision the design intent when they are ordering materials and building out the space.”
On the contracting side, RT Lindner, owner of Johnson River Enterprises in Fairbanks, says submitting a bid and getting the procurement and the materials ordered is usually a several-month process.
“Overall, it’s about sixteen weeks to where we have the materials sitting in town,” he says. “Then, it depends on where it goes. If it’s off the road system or even a fly-in project, we go through a pretty rigorous packing and wrapping and shrink-wrap process. Inventorying, usually in our shop yard before we go to the site, takes another couple of weeks.”
As far as timing, Lindner says he generally aims to procure materials during the winter months for rural projects so they can be loaded on to a barge by the end of May, especially if he’s working on a project along one of the smaller river systems.
“You always want to catch the high water, which is first thing in the spring,” Lindner says. “You’ve got a very narrow, very narrow window.”
Coming up with creative methods to handle the short seasons and limited transportation options can be challenging, he says.
One such project was the construction of a new clinic in Allakaket, a village of about 100 on the south bank of the Koyukuk River, nearly 200 miles northwest of Fairbanks. The clinic was an important addition to the community, which at the time only had one building, the “washeteria”, with running water and flush toilets, he says.
“It’s a good thing to be part of,” Lindner says. “Sometimes you’ve got to think out of the box. I know on that one we even did some winter freighting where we used snowmachines and sleds just to get the foundation package out there so we could actually start first thing in the spring.”
Bettisworth North Architects
Bettisworth North Architects
By being creative, Lindner says, they managed to shave a significant amount of money off the project by barging the materials in instead of flying them. That was a risk, because the village sits well up the Koyukuk River and shallow water had kept barges from reaching it for several years before.
By being creative, Lindner says, they managed to shave a significant amount of money off the project by barging the materials in instead of flying them. That was a risk, because the village sits well up the Koyukuk River and shallow water had kept barges from reaching it for several years before.
Bettisworth North Architects
Weather plays a huge role in building function and design in Alaska. Boltz says the company’s challenge is to provide a facility that operates at optimal efficiency, is maintainable, and affordable.
Vanairsdale adds, “From a construction and project standpoint, weather can have a significant impact on logistics project schedules, which is why it is so important to use design and construction teams with Alaska knowledge and expertise. It’s definitely a different environment here where you may only have a few months out of the year to get materials and construct a project.”
Boltz says that for projects in rural Alaska, it’s essential to select materials and systems that, whenever possible, can be easily replaced or repaired with components or material available locally.
“It is also critical to select materials that can withstand the often harsh environments, and we try to select materials that work for each specific region and its conditions—whether it be the humidity of the coastal environment, the intense sun of the Interior, winds and silt from glacial and river regions, or cold and snow in Arctic areas,” Boltz says.
“To take materials selection a bit further,” she adds, “we consider the values, people, and environment of each community, and we prefer to make choices that reflect each unique place.”
Choosing materials that are sustainable and environmentally responsive is also important, Boltz says.
Permafrost, especially in an era of a warming climate, also must be considered. Lindner says Johnson River Enterprises has used a variety of foundation types, from post and beam to triodetic adjustable foundations.
“We’re trying to keep the permafrost frozen underneath with insulation and a gravel pad,” he says. “Even some of our new ones that are on post and pad have an adjustment on them. So far, we haven’t had any of them move. It all starts with the foundation. You can have the best design in the world, but if it’s sitting on junk it’s not going to hold up.”
“Our most successful solutions come from an understanding and appreciation for the client, their needs, their location, their culture, their values,” she says. “We spend as much time as possible with them, learning from them directly so that their voice, or ideas, concerns, goals, for example, are not only understood but woven into the design, from the exterior site elements to the smallest details in the interior.”
Vanairsdale says she works closely with the building occupants as well as community groups of all ages to make sure the buildings function according to their needs. She also integrates traditional language, recognizable images, or elements so the building works to connect the land and the people.
For example, she looks at the structure’s orientation to the sun and landscape, how it reflects the seasons, as well as other details that project strength, welcoming, and healing.
“It’s a process,” Lindner says. “Knowing the next step and understanding the whole thing is part of the challenge. Staging the materials: I find it fascinating. I love putting it together so it’s just your crews. You say ‘Hey, here’s your next pile,’ and they go through that one and the next one right behind it and they’ve got everything they need when they need it.”