What's in Your Dream Squadron Building?

[Dixie]

OK, so some friends of mine in a different squadron are going to be building their own building soon and they're trying to decide what all to put in it as far as number of classrooms, offices, meeting rooms, etc.  Aside from the following list, what would you want in your dream squadron building? (Keep it reasonable...I'd love to have a smoothie bar and jacauzi too but that's not happening) The squadron has between 30 and 50 people showing up for meetings depending on the season and would like to be able to comfortably host a 100+ person SAREX.

• Assembly Area
• Classrooms. (how many? what size?)
• Bathrooms
• Office Space (how many?)
• Comm Room
• Storage
• Meetings Room (how many? seating capacity?)/li]
  

[raivo]

As someone who's attended meetings in a decrepit trailer, a VFW basement, two high schools, and one church, my mind is having trouble comprehending this degree of luxury.

[AirDX]

An HC-130.

[BillB]

How about a large hanger area with attached office arreas. This inclded a Supply room with pipes hung from the ceiling with uniforms on hangers sorted by sex and uniform type (male blues, female blues, BDU's) Three class rooms, 2 with 35 chairs, 1 with 15. All classrooms had ceiling mounted LCD projectors connected to computer. Each also had a TV monitor connected to a cideo player. A closed circuit TV system showed the flight line to several monitors in the various offices. The main office had space for the Commander, file storage Test storage, and the Admin/Personnel officer (desks for each). A small mess hall with tables and chairs seating 20, refrig, microwave, coffee maker and a toaster. (a grill was located outside for some cooking) The classrooms and supply room could be converted to 3 barracks using sleeping bags. (capable of sleeping 65 cadets and seniors) But due to "problems" all was lost and most furniture computers and esuipment was taken to the county dump

[CAPTShaw]

CADETS

[Thom]

Just in case it didn't already make their list, they will definitely want a Wiring Closet/IT space.

A dedicated space, doesn't need to be much larger than a closet, maybe like a small walk-in closet, but air-conditioned.  Ideally located near the center of the occupied building space.

This allows all network and phone cabling to be pulled back to this central spot, with A/C to keep a router, switch, phone PBX, etc. cool and comfortable.

Any Alarm System components could also be placed in that room.

With our focus on online capabilities going forward, it is a cheap investment while drafting the floorplans.


Thom

[wuzafuzz]

Wow...a building.  That alone is almost more than I dare dream. 

My personal wish, would be to ensure Communications would have its own room.  Shut out the racket from IC's, AOBD's, GBD's, etc.  Put them in a neighboring room with a sliding window between them, or some such thing, so they can talk when needed and leave each other alone the rest of the time.  Forcing Comm to try hearing radios while everyone else is chatting away is the worst kind of MRO abuse 

Everything else has already been mentioned by others.

Have fun!

[Spike]

CADETS

+1,000,000,000

[arajca]

Locker rooms?
One big classroom (100) with folding dividers for four smaller rooms
Offices - CC, CDC/CDS, Admin/Pers/Fin, ES/OPS, CP/AE, General senior staff, Cadet CC/CD, general cadet staff
Figure out how much storage needed now and double it.
Separate uniform and equipment storage or al least an equipment cage.

[Pylon]

My squadron is fortune to have our own permanent buildings.  The main building we gutted to the studs and renovated about two years ago now and we formed a temporary squadron committee to decide what we wanted to do with the space, how to break down the floorplan, and where we could source materials and grants.

Things I'd love to have in an ideal (but still within realm of reality) squadron facility:
--One very large, open room with concrete floor.  This would good as a drill pad, auditorium/lecture hall, space for formations & ceremonies, staging area for gear or large classes, etc.
--A kitchen with stove and fridge.
--A main office with several desks in one room.  (I've found our squadron office like this lends itself nicely to collaboration & discussion amongst the seniors while we're doing admin work)
--A storage room with area for uniforms (we've found having metal lockers in our building worked well to secure things like radios, laptops, etc.).  As mentioned above, we've found separating uniforms and all other storage works well, too.
--A standard classroom (folding tables, whiteboards, plenty of outlets, overhead projector and pull-down screen, etc.)


Good luck.  Please share your progress with us

[Seabee219]

As someone who's attended meetings in a decrepit trailer, a VFW basement, two high schools, and one church, my mind is having trouble comprehending this degree of luxury.

Our trailer is leaking water, it leans to one side and it not square anymore. We got a new one but we are running into trouble about permits. We had to did deep for 3 years to find a new trailer, and got a new one given to us.  We had to pay $1400 to get it down to us here, but we did it.  Keep the faith, you can find one.

[NIN]

I used to joke that anybody who'd been in CAP longer than a couple years has probably scratched a few of these on a napkin or the back of an envelope at the "after meeting meeting" ...

I have some designs at home. I'll PDF and post here for everybody to laugh at. (28 years in CAP, I did more than 1-2 "clean sheet" HQ designs, including a Wing HQ.

[a2capt]

Yes, Cadets .. and senior members. If you don't have membership, membership that participates. All the connectivity, aircraft, drop down projector screens, tables and chairs .. don't do you a bit of good.

[Seabee219]

Yes, Cadets .. and senior members. If you don't have membership, membership that participates. All the connectivity, aircraft, drop down projector screens, tables and chairs .. don't do you a bit of good.

Nice addition to the topic, that makes good sense.   

[futura]

Image a CAP squadron with it's own 10 acre island, one bridge on or off.

Four heated buildings including two class rooms, an office for the senior staff with a supply room on the second floor, a separate building with a kitchen and dining area for the cadet staff plus a drill hall what we'd use space heaters to warm up during the winter months. Cost to rent, $1 per year.

This was my old cadet squadron which was housed in a former fireworks factory and for 10 years, it didn't get much better then this.

[PHall]

A squadron I used to be a member of has a "Triple-wide" modular building. This was the former Credit Union branch at a now closed Hughes Ground Defense Systems plant.
The only cost to CAP was the cost to move it, in three pieces, to the airport by a professional mobile home mover. They also set it up on the jacks, leveled it and installed the earthquake strapping (required in California).

[Kerrbie]

We had blue prints for our squadron building that we were in the planning stages at my old squadron.

It is a hanger design about 2 of them, both 2 stories high. In one of them a place to store our aircraft. The other with enough space for a drill pad. In the back of the drill pad, classrooms and offices. While upstairs is plenty of space for storage, like ground team gear, Communications equitment, aircraft parts, uniforms, etc...  But ofcourse there has to be heat for the winter months.

[CAPC/officer125]

I am from a composite squadron and our HQ is in the only surviving Stearman hangar, but we meet now off the AFB at a college med center. What I would like is a combination between the two buildings.

• Two levels, the top one being a quarter the size of the bottom and the open space below a drill pad (with a walk way about half through the space so you have a full view of the drill pad).
• 1 classroom on top level with a comm room (with storage of critical equipment locked up) and office for seniors (CC, DC, Safety, Chaplain, Admin, and other officers). 2 classrooms on bottom floor and office for cadet staff, bathroom and water fountain on bottom floor. Each classroom hold around 30 people
• The floor plan be 1/4 classroom and other rooms, the rest drill pad and supply. Supply would be the back 1/4 of the drill pad and have 2 "dressing" rooms for cadets to try on uniform pieces and have cabinets for each type of uniform piece (short/long sleeve m/f blues tops/bottoms, BDU tops/bottoms, BDU/Blues covers), belts, boots, shoes all being in their own area and enough of every type of ribbon and device.
• The drill pad needs to at least be big enough to NCC competition in.

If that makes any sense let me know. Right now we share both the buildings we are in so we wouldn't be able to do anything like this to it.

[tdepp]

Yes, Cadets .. and senior members. If you don't have membership, membership that participates. All the connectivity, aircraft, drop down projector screens, tables and chairs .. don't do you a bit of good.

Nice addition to the topic, that makes good sense.   

Indeed. 

Still, good facilities will also assist in recruitment, retention, and the ability to perform missions.  Being in someone else's space like a church, FBO, airport terminal meeting room, even a military facility on loan can be limiting.  (And we should be grateful to those who lend or cheaply rent us facilities.)

Our Sioux Falls squadron has an outstanding facility that meets the criteria stated above.  But it came about because of our former commander's hard work, networking with business and governmental leaders, and payment of monthly "sweat rent" to help maintain the facility we are in.  And we have a lease that our landlord doesn't have to renew at the end of the current lease term.  (We are on the second floor of a hangar owned by the FBO that is on the tarmac. We can literally have CAP planes taxi to the backdoor.)

Besides all that, we have a squadron room we use for meetings and training, an area with cubicles for some of our offices/officers/ a commander's office that we use for SM meetings and mission base, a logistics room, and additional rooms for flight training and mission use.  We have a good sized parking lot for use by our members and visitors and where we keep our two vans.  While we are in a very large hangar, we store our two aircraft at a different hangar on the other end of Foss Field.  One of our local hospitals uses most of the space in the hanagar at our HQ for their air ambulances.

We know we are very fortunate to have such a fine facility.  But to reiterate, luck didn't make this happen.  Dedicated members who were involved in their community who told our story to the movers and shakers of Sioux Falls made it happen.

[IceNine]

My ideal situation would be an overall 2 story structure w/ basement. 

2nd floor-
5 or 6 offices, 1 dedicated conference room, restrooms, small kitchenette (coffee, sink, microwave, small fridge) SEVERAL empty conduit runs from the basement to to a consolidated patch room, restricted access file storage room, copy room.

1st floor 1 LARGE classroom seating for 75, 1 room suited as a computer lab w/ flight planning space, hangar/garage space with drains and wall treatment suitable for washing vehicles and airplanes. Capable of storing 2 vans and 2 aircraft overnight.  2 briefing/ counselling fishbowl's, copy room

Basement-
Supply closet, utilities, Server Room, Locker rooms, full Kitchen.

This is by no means comprehensive but is certainly my first impression of a perfect space.

[jimmydeanno]

...copy room...

...copy room...

You must love paper...

[Fuzzy]

[1LtNurseOfficer]

I've been inside that 'dream building!'  It's too cool!!

[raivo]

Creepy. I'm watching Wargames on my other screen as I write this.

[AlphaSigOU]

I've been inside that 'dream building!'  It's too cool!!

And the operations center doesn't look anywhere like what's depicted in the movie 'WarGames'!  It's actually quite small and furnished in GI-issue.

In one of my previous jobs some years ago I helped redraw the floor plans for the Alternate Joint Communications Center (AJCC) inside Raven Rock Mountain, Pennsylvania. The Alternate National Military Command Center is located within the mountain. Very interesting place... which I'm not at liberty to discuss.

[Spike]

^ Too late......please pack a bag and be ready for transportation to GITMO. 

[NIN]

My Wing had a HQ design that had been submitted to the city, and we were told "make it smaller.."

The architect, a CAP member, had no really good idea how to "make it smaller." He hadn't been in CAP long enough to really get a good feel for what went on *really* at Wing.

I proposed the attached.  This was not quite what I had envisioned (there were a number of things "not quite right" that would have to be slightly redesigned and adjusted since I'm not a professional architect), but it did benefit from different (smaller) footprint and what I thought was a more versatile layout.  You could use this HQ for your HQ staff *and* on a weekend it would serve several training events concurrently, plus, you could run missions out of the entire HQ building.  It was designed to be built in several phases.  Phase I was basically the right side of the building (but in a pinch, it could have been the right side and the left front), and Phase II was the addition of a hangar.

The office labels were essentially nominal assignments, but the back section of the right side was designed to be "Ops" with a flight planning & briefing room opening onto the flight line, and then the OPSO, ES, Comm, Safety, etc, all within easy reach.

All of this was on one floor. Our current Wing HQ had logistics in the basement.  Let me tell you straight up: that really, really, really sucks.   Plus, you have to consider ADA accommodations, and two floors is just asking for an elevator!

[davidsinn]

My Wing had a HQ design that had been submitted to the city, and we were told "make it smaller.."

The architect, a CAP member, had no really good idea how to "make it smaller." He hadn't been in CAP long enough to really get a good feel for what went on *really* at Wing.

I proposed the attached.  This was not quite what I had envisioned (there were a number of things "not quite right" that would have to be slightly redesigned and adjusted since I'm not a professional architect), but it did benefit from different (smaller) footprint and what I thought was a more versatile layout.  You could use this HQ for your HQ staff *and* on a weekend it would serve several training events concurrently, plus, you could run missions out of the entire HQ building.  It was designed to be built in several phases.  Phase I was basically the right side of the building (but in a pinch, it could have been the right side and the left front), and Phase II was the addition of a hangar.

The office labels were essentially nominal assignments, but the back section of the right side was designed to be "Ops" with a flight planning & briefing room opening onto the flight line, and then the OPSO, ES, Comm, Safety, etc, all within easy reach.

All of this was on one floor. Our current Wing HQ had logistics in the basement.  Let me tell you straight up: that really, really, really sucks.   Plus, you have to consider ADA accommodations, and two floors is just asking for an elevator!

I have training for this and...that's hot. That is a very well laid out plan. The only changes I'd make would be delete a couple of exterior doors. Other than that it's perfect.

[SarDragon]

Which doors would you delete? As I see it, the current configuration provides two different exits for each area, in case of fire. Just asking the Q to  learn here.

[davidsinn]

Which doors would you delete? As I see it, the current configuration provides two different exits for each area, in case of fire. Just asking the Q to  learn here.

One man door on the hangar and reduce most double to single doors. You are correct about the exits. I worked for a glazing company so I know the cost differentials in single vs double plus the insulation advantage to a single door. You also want to insure that the interior hangar door is a two hour fire door not that it will make a difference with 80 gallons of 100LL on the other side. It also looks like you have a lot of windows. Major cost center right there. If this is something that's going to happen I might be interested in taking the design a bit further for you guys. I have better resources than you'll find in a home cad program from staples. PM if you're interested.

[SarDragon]

Understand completely. Will file that for future reference. Thanks.

[coudano]

All the usual stuff that you might imagine but especially:

A giant /dry/ walk-in closet in which to hang uniform issue items (organized for size).
A changing room in or near this would be handy as well.


My squadron's uniform supply is not where we meet, which is horribly inconvenient, and it's a storage room at the end of a row of T-Hangars, which is not exactly 'clean' for clothing storage.  Everything is sealed in plastic, or taped up in boxes, and it's a giant inconvenience to try to use it to outfit cadets; as well as to return items to it when cadets trade in, or even quit.

[jimmydeanno]

...reduce most double to single doors...
...a lot of windows...

Just askin' to ask, but at what point do you take the working environment into consideration?  We've all been to the CAP meeting places that are in the basement of some church/community center and they're not very appealing or welcoming. 

If I were a staffer who was going to have some say into a building I certainly would prefer to have a window in my office as opposed to working in a closet.  Additionally, as a user, I find double doors to be much more welcoming than a single door (or a single door with a door sized window next to it).  They allow for two way traffic a grander entrance and feels more professional.

Additionally, windows add to the architectural detail of a building and can be used as an egress in case of fire.  I realize that windows *can* be expensive, but nothing says that they have to be.  I just moved into a new house that has some really nice windows.  I have the pricing for the windows as part of the package from the builder.  My living room windows, which there are three, are 2'6" X 8', double-pane, low-e glazed windows with an aluminum frame and double hung.  Each one of those was $375.00.  All the windows for my entire house (there are 14) were less than 6K. 

If I were building, I would probably sacrifice some other things in order to have adequate windows and doors, if only for asethetics...

[davidsinn]

...reduce most double to single doors...
...a lot of windows...

Just askin' to ask, but at what point do you take the working environment into consideration?  We've all been to the CAP meeting places that are in the basement of some church/community center and they're not very appealing or welcoming. 

If I were a staffer who was going to have some say into a building I certainly would prefer to have a window in my office as opposed to working in a closet.  Additionally, as a user, I find double doors to be much more welcoming than a single door (or a single door with a door sized window next to it).  They allow for two way traffic a grander entrance and feels more professional.

Additionally, windows add to the architectural detail of a building and can be used as an egress in case of fire.  I realize that windows *can* be expensive, but nothing says that they have to be.  I just moved into a new house that has some really nice windows.  I have the pricing for the windows as part of the package from the builder.  My living room windows, which there are three, are 2'6" X 8', double-pane, low-e glazed windows with an aluminum frame and double hung.  Each one of those was $375.00.  All the windows for my entire house (there are 14) were less than 6K. 

If I were building, I would probably sacrifice some other things in order to have adequate windows and doors, if only for asethetics...

All valid points...for a workplace. How often are your staffers going to be at HQ? Couple of times a month at most? I didn't say remove the windows but if I read the plan right the whole wall is glass like a storefront. Make them smaller. Glass is stupid expensive for a commercial building plus it reduces your usable wall space. I know. I designed it for a couple of years. I agree with the double doors in front. But you only need single doors on the side and back of the building though. The layout of the building itself is very good as a matter of fact I can't think of a single fault with the plan itself. I'm just looking at cost cutting measures for a cash strapped 501c3.

[NIN]

I can't type long, have to head out of this boring meeting, thankfully..

1) The double doors were intended to allow flexibility. Would stink trying to move things from the hangar to the offices that doesn't fit thru the doors. Yeah, they're not cheap.  Make 'em those school-style doors that have a 8" x 24" vertical window or something.

2) This building may not be CAP's building forever.  Whats the resale like and who is likely to buy a hangar/office on an airport?  Would double-doors be beneficial to them?  Industrial/commercial/insitutional buildings benefit from good-sized doorways (I'm reminded of my old National Guard aviation support facility, which had LOTS of double doors throughout)

3) The windows can be much smaller, but its nice to have natural light.  I just got "window happy" with the software.

4) Missing from this plan
   --  Since its a wing HQ, not a squadron HQ, it has no "locker" area for your ES teams.   
   --  A shower in each latrine (for those long missions).
   --  Any kind of a kitchen facility.

I think I mentioned it before, but the "work area" was intended for sort of "open air" work stations for your "part time" staff. The room might have file cabinets along the perimeter, but there would be desks.  This plan doesn't have a good space sketched out for that, but a prior version did.  The briefing room could serve that way too. In another version, it had storage for chairs, etc (ie. VFW hall-style)

Also, the idea was that the conference room/offices could be setup to use as mission staff offices when they're not being used for wing staff functions.   So on a weekend during a mission, someone might be setup in the cadet programs office doing ground team breifings.

the Logistics area has an overhead door that leads to the hangar (in phase I, thats not the hangar, that's "outside").

And depending on your site footprint, the hangar could be larger than depicted.

[Daryl Morning]

An HC-130 & HH-3F Pelican, both in CAP livery.  When you need em you NEED em.

But, seriously, a VoIP system to help coordinate the data flow with an in-house email/instant messenger server.