Mercury News
WATSONVILLE, California - Nordic Naturals' new 89,384-square-foot headquarters and national distribution center in Watsonville has won a national award for innovative construction.
The builder, Ausonio Incorporated of Castroville, used concrete tilt-up construction to achieve the look of a Norwegian fishing village for Nordic Naturals, which makes fish oil supplements.
The award was one of nine office projects in six states recognized by the Tilt-Up Concrete Association. It was the only one in California to be honored.
"We were in pretty amazing company," said Ausonio project manager Jim Staniec, of Santa Cruz, who accepted the award at an Oct. 1 ceremony in Irvine.
Other winners included an entertainment center in Fredericksburg, Va., a high school in Round Rock, Texas and the Lauderhill, Fla., municipal complex.
The Watsonville building contains 41,402 square feet of office space at 111 Jennings Drive. It's 340 feet long with walls that are 45 feet high.
"I've been a California concrete contractor here for 30 years and this is one of the biggest ones I've seen built," said Staniec, comparing it to the 121,000-square foot Costco warehouse store in Santa Cruz. "The challenge was how to get as much light into the building as possible."
Staniec said he sketched a preliminary design using skills he learned in high school, with the final design executed by Carl Pelke, Ausonio's in-house architect. Capitola interior designer Vivian Gunnerengen selected the interior finishes and acted as the owner's representative during design and construction.
The colors for the building exterior - rust red, mustard yellow and sage green, were chosen by Gunnerengen and Joar Opheim, founder and chief executive officer of Nordic Naturals, to match those in Norway.
"They approached us because we do design-build," Staniec said. "This makes it so much simpler."
To create a wood siding look, Ausonio used liners with a wood grain pattern in the concrete panel forms, and then added cementitious boards, about eight inches wide, to the face of the panels.
"It looks like wood," said Staniec, noting 20,000 screws were needed to hold those boards in place. "It was tedious but it looks good."
The building project took 11 months. Though construction is complete, only the warehouse portion is in use.
Last winter was so rainy that moisture got into the floor slab, requiring a special drying out process, according to Staniec, who expects office workers to move in by the end of the year.
Tiffany Diehl, Nordic Naturals' strategic project manager, said she is not sure of the relocation timetable.
Ausonio is aiming for Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the project.
Last month, the builder earned LEED Platinum for the Monterey College of Law, its second LEED project at the former Fort Ord in Seaside. The first was Chartwell School.
Ausonio has 11 other projects registered for LEED certification in various stages from design to concrete construction, none in Santa Cruz County.
The economy is "a bit of a struggle," Staniec said. "People want to build stuff but the financing is so difficult."
The builder, Ausonio Incorporated of Castroville, used concrete tilt-up construction to achieve the look of a Norwegian fishing village for Nordic Naturals, which makes fish oil supplements.
The award was one of nine office projects in six states recognized by the Tilt-Up Concrete Association. It was the only one in California to be honored.
"We were in pretty amazing company," said Ausonio project manager Jim Staniec, of Santa Cruz, who accepted the award at an Oct. 1 ceremony in Irvine.
Other winners included an entertainment center in Fredericksburg, Va., a high school in Round Rock, Texas and the Lauderhill, Fla., municipal complex.
The Watsonville building contains 41,402 square feet of office space at 111 Jennings Drive. It's 340 feet long with walls that are 45 feet high.
"I've been a California concrete contractor here for 30 years and this is one of the biggest ones I've seen built," said Staniec, comparing it to the 121,000-square foot Costco warehouse store in Santa Cruz. "The challenge was how to get as much light into the building as possible."
Staniec said he sketched a preliminary design using skills he learned in high school, with the final design executed by Carl Pelke, Ausonio's in-house architect. Capitola interior designer Vivian Gunnerengen selected the interior finishes and acted as the owner's representative during design and construction.
The colors for the building exterior - rust red, mustard yellow and sage green, were chosen by Gunnerengen and Joar Opheim, founder and chief executive officer of Nordic Naturals, to match those in Norway.
"They approached us because we do design-build," Staniec said. "This makes it so much simpler."
To create a wood siding look, Ausonio used liners with a wood grain pattern in the concrete panel forms, and then added cementitious boards, about eight inches wide, to the face of the panels.
"It looks like wood," said Staniec, noting 20,000 screws were needed to hold those boards in place. "It was tedious but it looks good."
The building project took 11 months. Though construction is complete, only the warehouse portion is in use.
Last winter was so rainy that moisture got into the floor slab, requiring a special drying out process, according to Staniec, who expects office workers to move in by the end of the year.
Tiffany Diehl, Nordic Naturals' strategic project manager, said she is not sure of the relocation timetable.
Ausonio is aiming for Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the project.
Last month, the builder earned LEED Platinum for the Monterey College of Law, its second LEED project at the former Fort Ord in Seaside. The first was Chartwell School.
Ausonio has 11 other projects registered for LEED certification in various stages from design to concrete construction, none in Santa Cruz County.
The economy is "a bit of a struggle," Staniec said. "People want to build stuff but the financing is so difficult."
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