The Armed Forces Reserve Center is located on a 16-acre site at the southwest edge of Billings, MT. The site, once prime, irrigated farm land, lies in an area undergoing rapid development due to its proximity to Interstate 90 and the corresponding retail development. The facility is home to four units of the Montana National Guard and one Marine Reserve unit, all previously scattered about in multiple facilities throughout Billings. Designed to provide for the needs of approximately 30 full-time personnel, the use of the facility expands to accomodate up to 400 personnel for "drill weekends."

The building has 100,000 sf on the main level with 13,000 sf on an upper level. The functions include an Assembly Hall with an adjacent production kitchen and servery, supply rooms for each unit with direct access to the assembly hall, maintenance bays and a wash bay with a water recycling system, lockers and fitness rooms, parachute preparation and a drying tower, classrooms and training facilities, and offices for each unit, all on the main level, with additional classes and training facilities on the upper level. The lesser utilized functions were moved upstairs in order to consolidate functional relationships on the main level and also provide additional massing near the entry for emphasis. Each room had an exact prescribed size that had to be matched with very little variation allowed. Organizing these spaces locigally and exactly to size and wrapping the building in the most economical footprint proved to be a challenge.

With concrete or masonry as the only acceptable exterior and interior wall materials, A&E worked closely with a local precast concrete supplier to provide an insulated panel with a highly articulated, integrally-colored architectural face, with surface relief and textural variations. The repetitive and modular nature of the panel design created an economy in terms of cost as well as efficiency in terms of construction time due to the fact that the precast panels were cast, delivered, and set up during the same time the masonry interior walls were being erected. The result is an exterior wall system that is tough, thermally superior to masonry, yet handsome in appearance.

The project was completed in December 1999, on time and appoximately 10% below budget.