The Fairchild Air Force Base Fitness Center received the 2012 Air Force Facility Design Merit Award. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, awarded the design-build contract to Lydig Construction teamed with design firm ALSC architects, both out of Spokane, Wash. Judging was based on aesthetic merits, cost control, energy efficiency, functionality and sustainability. The $19.7 million project was necessary because the original fitness center was constructed as an unheated, wood warehouse in 1943; it wasted energy and was very costly to maintain.