Vandenberg Hall, one of two historic dormitories on the Air Force Academy campus in Colorado Springs, Colo., is getting a facelift. The $227 million renovation of the 950,000-square-foot facility is slated for completion in the third quarter of 2012, a spokesman for Denver-based Lantz-Boggio Architects told the Daily Report. The building houses 2,640 cadets. Construction activities in the six-level building will progress in phases so cadets living there will face minimal disruption. Once complete, the cadet rooms will feature a new “blast-resistant aluminum curtain” and tinted sliding glass windows made of recycled material, according to the spokesman. The rooftop will get photovoltaic panels for collecting the sun’s energy, consistent with the Air Force’s overall goal of utilizing renewable sources of energy and gaining more energy independence.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…