By Facility Executive Staff
From the August 2021 Issue
Kalahari Resorts and Conventions in Round Rock, TX opened in November 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The newly constructed, all-inclusive resort is one of the four Kalahari resorts in the United States. In Round Rock, the facility’s traditional African tribal theme was achieved with a project team that collaborated throughout the process (including the challenges of building and completion during the pandemic). HKS Architects in Dallas, TX provided the architectural and interior design services on the project. And, this article recognizes the flooring installer, Intertech Flooring located in Austin, TX.
This flooring contractor was first highlighted earlier this year by Starnet Commercial Flooring, the world’s largest network of full-service commercial flooring contractors, in the 2021 Starnet Design Awards. Intertech Flooring’s work at the Kalahari project was entered by the contractor into the awards. (Now in its 23rd year, the annual Starnet competition honors the outstanding projects completed by the membership in partnership with the architects, designers, and Starnet-aligned manufacturing partners.)
This Kalahari Resorts & Conventions project features nearly 1,000 premium guestrooms and suites; multiple restaurants; 10,000 square feet of retail space; the nation’s largest indoor waterpark (223,000 square feet); an outdoor waterpark with three acres of outdoor pools; a 100,000 square foot indoor amusement park; and more. In addition, there is a 200,000 square foot convention center.
Billy W. Chrzan, Sr., project manager/safety and director of wood flooring for Intertech Flooring oversaw the flooring installation and explains the challenge as follows: There was an 11 month deadline to completely install all finished floors, with multiple delays, shutdowns, and quarantined workers due to COVID-19, all while working with the design and layout of specific, unique, and custom patterns. The Milliken carpet in the hotel corridors started out as broadloom carpet, but the challenges of cost, layout, storage, and short timeline provided us an opportunity to suggest and implement a change that required about half of the storage and layout previously needed. This improved the budget by about 25% for that type of floor and increased install speed by about 75%, but kept the intricate custom pattern.
Working closely with the general contractor (Hensel-Phelps), the owner of Kalahari, and Milliken, Intertech Flooring was able to keep the exact design the client wanted by breaking it down into multiple pattern-pieces that tied together in each direction and location of a turning and angling corridor. The pattern-pieces have (to the naked eye) an invisible mark on them denoting its proper location, but with the proper ultraviolet flashlight, the numbers are easily read to create an install-by-number type of pattern layout/design scenario. An example: There is a hatch mark that repeats every 16 feet on each left or right side of all corridors (Photo 1). At the 16-foot mark the hatch mark switches to the opposite side of the corridor, creating a different pattern group.
Explains Chrzan, “The carpet originally specified was a broadloom and carpet cushion installed under it. I suggested a change that would save time. Ultimately, we were able to direct the team to a similar pattern as the original, yet printed on carpet squares that were installed as a patterned layout and had carpet cushion attached.”
The result: Intertech Flooring met the timeline, as a team, two days early, with intricately designed carpeted corridors that bring to mind a safari on the African savannah.
Learn more about Kalahari Resorts & Conventions in Round Rock, TX here. Visit the Intertech Flooring website at www.intertechflooring.com. And, for more about Starnet Design Awards, visit designawards.starnetflooring.com.
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below, or send an e-mail to the Editor at acosgrove@groupc.com.
