Air Force Academy chapel restoration hits a snag as construction issues abound

2021-11-30T12:33:00-05:00

The more than $150 million renovation of the Cadet Chapel at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs is going to take months — or perhaps more than a year, longer than originally expected; contractors are contending with more asbestos than they expected, as well as other unforeseen challenges.

The project began in 2019 and is now expected to be pushed back a yet-to-be-determined amount of time away from its original 2023 completion date owing to an unexpected amount of asbestos in addition to other “unforeseen” challenges. The long-overdue restoration is necessary to fix faulty caulking underneath its signature aluminum panels that was hastily installed in the original 1963 design from SOM’s Walter Netsch Jr., leading to water damage.

The entire structure is now encased in a temporary protective metal building. The caulking has been replaced several times over the years at considerable cost to the Academy.

“We had 32 miles of caulking on this building, which is kind of ridiculous when you start thinking about that,” AFA architect Duane Boyle told Colorado Public Radio. “I think it would compete as one of the most complicated and intensive historic preservation projects of all time.”

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Air Force Academy chapel restoration hits a snag as construction issues abound