Small Arms Training Facility

Duvall Decker was commissioned by the Mississippi Air National Guard, 172d Airlift Wing, at the Jackson International Airport, Jackson, Mississippi to design a new Small Arms Training Facility.

About the Facility

The 13,557-square-foot facility includes 14 lanes and classroom training spaces, as well as control and support spaces. Key design and structural features include:

• 8” thick tilt-up concrete load-bearing wall panels connected and bridged by a steel truss structure.
• Steel truss structure supporting an angled steel plate ceiling system to direct the trajectory of spent ammunition to the rear catchment system.
• Ventilation system with fans located on a mechanical platform above support spaces, moving air across lanes to filter smoke, dust, and lead particles away from personnel.
• Spent ammunition collection and recycling system.
• Acoustic-dampening insulation covering all ballistic-safe surfaces.
• Environmentally separated and conditioned classroom and training spaces at the front of the range.

Building Envelope and Energy Efficiency

The facility is designed to minimize interior heat gain and moisture intrusion through the following strategies:

• East and west walls feature brick veneer vented rainscreens over insulation, allowing constant convection to reduce heat transfer into the tilt-up concrete structure.
• Floating standing seam metal roof system over insulation to limit heat gain.
• Southern-facing classroom glazing screened by a perforated metal sunshade to allow natural light without solar gain.

These strategies maintain comfortable temperatures in the unconditioned range space and minimize energy consumption in conditioned education and support spaces, mitigating the effects of the southern hot and humid climate.

Aesthetic and Structural Design

The masonry work features dark, iridescent brick, creating an optical transformation of the building’s presence depending on season, weather, and approach. Additional design elements include:

• Two long, solid east and west walls with pilasters casting deep shadows, where range function restricts window use.
• Pilasters transitioning from wider to narrower spacing toward the shorter end of the building’s long, low-sloping sides.
• Horizontal brick insets placed at increasing increments as they move up the wall, creating a study of perceptual stability and challenging the resolution of the building’s dimensions.

The Air National Guard has identified this project as a national model for other units to learn from.

Project Team

Duvall Decker was assisted by the following firms:

• Scott Woods Mechanical Engineers
• Jon D. Rice & Associates
• Spencer-Engineers Inc.
• Waggoner Engineering
• Terracon Consultants