Morrison-Maierle Selected as 2022 Intermountain Design Firm of the Year
Morrison-Maierle Selected as 2022 Intermountain Design Firm of the Year
May 24, 2022 Scott Dailey KEYWORDS Intermountain Design Firm of the Year / Morrison-Maierle / Native American Projects / Water Engineering Order Reprints No Comments .pullquote{ width: 250px; padding: 20px; } .pullquote a:link{ border-bottom: none; } .pullquote a:hover{ border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; } .pullquote a:visited{ border-bottom: none; } .pullquote h4{ font-family: ariel, helvetica, sans-serif; } .pqfloatleft{ float: left; margin: 0 15px 10px 0; border-right: 4px solid #d91920; text-align: right; } .pqfloatright{ float: right; margin: 0 0 10px 15px; border-left: 4px solid #d91920; } @media only screen and (max-width: 600px) { .pullquote{ margin: 20px auto 20px auto; width: 250px; display: block; } .pqfloatleft{ float: none; border-right: none; border-top: 2px solid #d91920; border-bottom: 2px solid #d91920; text-align: center; } .pqfloatright{ float: none; border-left: none; border-top: 2px solid #d91920; border-bottom: 2px solid #d91920; text-align: center; } } .cap { font-size: .85em; font-family: ariel, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 35px; color: #595959; } .line{ background-color: #d91218; height: 5px; margin-top: 5px; } .side ul{ padding-left: 20px; font-size: .85em; font-style: italic; margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px; } .side h3{ background-color: #135783; padding: 15px; color: #eeeeee; text-align: center; } .side h4{ color: #d91218; text-align: center; margin-top: 20px; } .side { color: #595959; width: 300px; display: inline-block; font-family: ariel, helvetica, sans-serif; } .side p { font-size: .85em; caption-side: bottom; padding: 10px 5px 0px 5px; } .floatleft{ float: left; margin: 0 15px 0px 0; } .floatright{ float: right; margin: 0 0 0px 15px; } @media only screen and (max-width: 600px) { .side{ margin: 20px auto 20px auto; width: 300px; display: block; } .floatleft{ float: none; } .floatright{ float: none; } } .sidebyside p { font-family: ariel, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: .85em; caption-side: bottom; padding: 10px 5px 0px 5px; color: #808080; } .sidebyside{ width: 50%; float: left; display: block; display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-right: 5px; } .clearfloat{ clear: both; } @media only screen and (max-width: 600px) { .sidebyside{ width: 100%; float: none; display: block; } } .bigside{ background-color: #eaf1f7; padding: 20px; margin: 20px auto 20px auto; border: 1px solid silver; border-radius: 10px; }
When was the last time somebody won a major design award and got excited talking about an RV park?
Make no mistake: Morrison Maierle, an employee-owned, full-service engineering firm headquartered in Helena, Mont., has created many spectacular structures over its 77-year history. Notable recent achievements include the soaring, $20-million American Indian Hall at Montana State University in Bozeman and the simple yet striking Kootenai Falls Swinging Bridge, a gracefully curving walkway suspended 35 ft above the swift waters of the Kootenai River in northwestern Montana.
But the engineers at Morrison-Maierle also know that notions of aesthetic beauty comprise just one aspect of design. Depending on the project, aesthetics may scarcely enter the picture. And if form indeed follows function, then the company has taken that concept to a new level.
Call it âmission follows vision.â And in the eyes of Scott Murphy, Morrison-Maierle president and CEO, the vision belongs mainly to the client.
Asked about the companyâs design philosophy, Murphy replies, âItâs not so much about our approach to design. Itâs our approach to our client relationships. In the end, thatâs going to help produce great design work.â
CFO Sonya Leckner takes it further. âWe push our employees to collaborate and innovate and to create a solution for the client that fits their unique situation,â she says. âWeâre not looking to work on projects that are just repeatable applications of the same solution over and over again. We are client-oriented and looking to apply a solution that fits their unique situation each time. I think innovation is required under that business model.âÂ
Suspended 35 ft above the rapids of Kootenai River, the 210-ft-long Kootenai Falls Swinging Bridge is a major tourist attraction in northwestern Montana.Image courtesy Morrison-Maierle
Parking Elephants
Take that RV parking lotâplenty of innovation came into play there. In this case, it was to make things easier for drivers of recreational vehicles in Yellowstone National Park. Originally laid out decades ago for cars pulling pop-up tents and small travel trailers, the facility now needs to accommodate todayâs mammoth-size RVs.Â
For Xanterra Travel Collection, the concessionaire of various services within Yellowstone, challenges included reconfiguring the parking area; designing water, sewer and electrical systems; creating accessibility for disabled visitors; and accounting for inexpert drivers and their rented RVsâall while retaining as many parking spaces as possible.
Addie Wickham, Xanterra project manager, says it helped that Randy Bomar, vice president of Morrison-Maierleâs office in Sheridan, Wyo., was an RV enthusiast.
Morrison-Maierle provided options for the upgrade of portions of the only campground in Yellowstone National Park with full RV service hookups.Image courtesy Morrison-Maierle
âHe has been driving with a fifth-wheeler and camping his whole life,â Wickham notes. âEven though he may be doing the design in a computer program, I wanted to make darn sure that we had plenty of turning radiuses because these are not experienced RV people who come here.â
That assignment came naturally to Bomar, who drove his RV to Yellowstone 14 times last year alone. Â
âThe first thing you have to do is understand how to drive a 60-ft-long pickup truck and camper combination, and the limitations you have,â Bomar explains. He started by making roads at least 4 ft wider than usual and designing gradual corners.Â
âI even laid out fire hydrants and light poles in areas where there were no turning motions because inexperienced people run over stuff,â Bomar says. âThey just make a turn like theyâre driving a regular pickup or a car. They donât realize they have wheels that are 40 feet behind them.
Morrison-Maierle performed mechanical, plumbing, electrical and site and civil engineering services for the 106,675-sq-ft Missoula Library. Image by Lara Swimmer Photography
âThe other thing when youâre driving a large RVâyou do not want to have to turn right,â Bomar continues. âThatâs your blind area. So every entry road and every entry and exit spot for the RV spaces is a left-hand turn.â
Additional considerations included campersâ needs to make their motor homes level once parked. RVs contain up to a half-dozen leveling jacksâhydraulic posts that can be adjusted higher, lower and sideways. Anyone who knows a little about asphalt recognizes that on a hot day, the blacktop will soften and be depressed by the weight of the RV, which may be concentrated on a single jack.
For that reason, Bomar specified thick concrete for all the parking spaces. As his client Wickham likes to say, âYellowstoneââand, by extension, Wickhamâs employer, Xanterraââis in the forever business.â Every structure is built to last for decades. In this case, forever applies to a parking surface that will stay consistently flat under the narrowly focused weight of 10,000-lb vehicles. Â
Morrison-Maierle prepared planning, design and construction documents for reconstruction of 2,700 ft of runway at the Helena Airport. Image courtesy of Morrison-Maierle
Connected to the Work
Jason Mercer, Morrison-Maierleâs water-wastewater market lead, says Bomarâs deep personal involvement in Xanterraâs Yellowstone project reflects the attitude each person in the firm tries to take toward every endeavor.
âWe feel a real connection to the work weâre doing,â Mercer says. That connection, he adds, is linked to the companyâs value for relationships with both clients and communities.
âAs a firm, weâve had clients that go back 30 to 40 years,â Mercer says. âMy longest-standing client relationship (with the municipality of Bullhead City, Ariz.) is about 15 years. Weâve been through ups and downs; weâve been through births of children and graduations, and weâve also done some great water and wastewater work together.â
Like nearly all of Morrison-Maierleâs executives, Kurt Keith, chief client service officer, still practices his original profession (heâs a structural engineer). He sees a strong association between designing projects and creating vibrant communitiesâone of the companyâs principal goals.
âI think itâs really creative to have something in mind and draw things that eventually take real form,â Keith says. âAnd when youâre done, you can go out in your community and say, âI remember working on that school or that business over there.â And you feel like youâve contributedâmaking your community better.â
Morrison-Maierle planned, designed and constructed a larger wastewater reclamation facility west of Bozeman, Mont., for the Four Corners County Water and Sewer District.Image courtesy of Morrison-Maierle
Craig Workman, another Morrison-Maierle client, might well sign off on that. Workman, public works director for the city of Whitefish, Mont., says the firm has completed numerous projects for the town since at least as far back as the 1970s. In just the past few years, he says, Morrison-Maierle has constructed water-main systems, wastewater systems, roadway improvements and various other infrastructure as well as performing the structural and electrical engineering for a new city hall. Â
He adds that the companyâs innovative solutions have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars and improved the lives of the cityâs 8,032 residents. In particular, Workman says, Morrison-Maierleâs work on the cityâs cast-iron water mains has reduced lead in the townâs water distribution system, and the firmâs contributions to roadway design have helped to increase safety.
For Morrison-Maierle CEO Murphy, such improvements begin with that tight connection to the client.
âTo build a better community, you need to understand what the community needs,â he says. âAnd then to understand that, you have to get close to your clients and understand what their vision is. Whether itâs an airport or itâs a municipality or itâs an industry, theyâve got a vision for what they want to achieve, and weâre there to help them make that a reality.âÂ