Prior Convocation Center, UVa-Wise

The David J. Prior Convocation Center is a 70,000 SF arena and a multi-functioning facility to accommodate volleyball, basketball, convocation, Chancellor’s suite, dressing rooms, coaches’ offices, catering kitchen, local arts, and other building functions. Notable design features of this building include the use of driven H piles and the incorporation of lightweight cellular concrete for backfill to address the issues with the foundation subgrade due to the location of the facility on a previous mine spoil site. Other notable design features include a spray foam air barrier integrated into the building envelope and a decorative radiused wood paneled wall at the entry that aids in sound attenuation. Quesenberry’s Construction’s role as a Construction Manager helped to take the project from Preliminary Design to an ontime and on-budget final completion as originally scheduled. The final site improvement package was completed in 2013, and the project achieved LEED Silver certification.