Green Lake Conference Center

KBS was awarded this 43,807 SF new registration and dining facility addition.  Excel Engineering is the engineer for this project. The project was completed in May of 2005.

Address:
W2511 State Highway 23
Green Lake, WI

Challenges:
The project site was located at the logistical center of the facility and at the site of two existing parking lots. The facility lost about one-half of the available parking when the existing parking lots on the building site were removed. This created a challenge to direct construction, visitor and staff traffic as well as find alternate parking. Another challenge of the centrally located site was sorting out the numerous utilities uncovered during excavation which dated back to the early 1900s.

The project was to begin at the peak of the visitor season and was planned to be complete by the peak visitor season the following year. Keeping the visitors safe and happy was a high priority of the owner since the continued success of the Conference Center depended on it. Even with a fenced-in project site, the crew had to be alert for curios visitors interested in the new construction.

Another feature of the new building is the state of the art kitchen and dishwashing room. Before the equipment could be turned over to the cooking staff, the electrical, plumbing and ventilation requirements had to be coordinated between the contractors on-site and many different food service vendors. A couple of major last minute changes in order to take advantage of the latest cooking and washing technology proved to be difficult, but not impossible to incorporate into the project. The cooking staff can now more efficiently cook, serve and clean-up meals for the guests of the Conference Center.

After the project was nearly enclosed, it was decided that the residential gas fireplace would be out of place in the enormous dining hall. After many discussions on the type and size of fireplace to be installed, a local mason began to construct a much larger wood burning fireplace. Stone native to the area was selected for the fireplace and hearth. Temporary enclosures were required through a portion of the winter while the fireplace was being constructed. The fireplace eventually became the focal point of the dining hall.