From CN employees
DALLAS – Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, KAI design firm used its extensive education, public safety and recreational experience to recently develop a new, state-of-the-art Dallas County Sheriff’s Academy.
The 27,000 square meter academy was completed in July 2021 and serves as the main training facility for both sworn peace officers and cadets in the district’s academy. The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, the Constables, and the Parkland Hospital System Police Department will all use this academy as a training facility for their initial and continuing education needs. It is at the southern end of a 12 acre campus on the corner of Wheatland Road and Polk Street, which is also home to the new KAI-designed South Dallas Government Center.
“Transparency and the development of the police force in the 21st century are in the foreground of the media and are in the direct focus of the public. Dallas County has carefully integrated its Sheriff’s Training Academy into the newly constructed campus of the South Dallas Government Center, ”said KAI Director Derwin Broughton, AIA, NCARB. “The architecture and the interplay between the two facilities are mutually exclusive, but serve two very different purposes that coexist harmoniously on a single location. The design team was vigilant and sensitive to the vulnerability of sworn peace officers and cadets in a public setting and implemented the necessary threat deterrence measures to create a safe environment. The flexible and versatile use of the classrooms enables the academy to offer its officers and the surrounding law enforcement authorities a wide range of training courses. “
The new, ultra-modern academy includes three terraced lecture halls with 50 seats with observation rooms for instructors and two flexible classrooms that are large enough for 50-100 cadets. The classrooms are equipped with digital technology to enable multi-sensory teaching. The Academy’s development of the Cadets is built into the design of the facility to produce well-trained, highly skilled, and ethical officials. It also houses an on-site computer lab that is designed to meet testing standards required by certification bodies. All administrative functions of the academy are housed in a dedicated office suite.
Separate toilet and shower / changing rooms are available as well as a 2,000 square meter fitness room with dumbbells, cardiovascular equipment and an open area for tactile training. The walls and floors are lined with shock-sensitive materials to absorb the physical maneuvers required for this type of exercise. Additional amenities include roller doors that lead to an open lawn for CrossFit training and a running and bike path that runs the entire perimeter of the building.
The old facility was in a remote area next to several district and state correctional facilities, housed in a windowless, prefabricated metal building that did not meet the academy’s short-term or long-term needs. The new facility also serves as a recruiting tool for new law enforcement cadets. Relocating the academy to the public offers a certain degree of natural presence and at the same time actively serves as an instrument for active contact for engagement, retention and recruitment.
The minority stake in the LEED Silver project exceeded all targets through the use of a 100 percent minority finance company (SIR Capital), an African American construction company (KAI) and a 50 percent minority general contractor joint venture (Source Building Group / Satterfield & Pontikes Construction .)). In addition, the construction of the building included a collaboration with the Regional Black Contractors Association and their “Second Chance” workforce program, which trained men and women who were part of the criminal justice system to learn new transferable professional skills provided by contractors be used in the project work side? ˅.
KAI Enterprises is a national planning and construction company that offers delivery-oriented construction solutions with a diverse portfolio of experience, in-house multi-discipline experts and expertise in both planning and construction. Established in 1980, KAI has grown to become one of the largest minority owned companies in the AEC industry. For more than 40 years, KAI has been instrumental in transforming communities through its expertise in residential, commercial, K-12, higher education, healthcare, science and technology, aviation, mobility, sports and entertainment, government, water and community-based projects. KAI Enterprises consists of four different business units – KAI Design, KAI Engineering, KAI Build and KAI 360 Construction Services. To learn more about KAI, visit www.kai-db.com.
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