Allison Lenhart | Mechanical
Dr. Donghyun Rim, Advisor
Mid-Atlantic Region, United States
BUILDING STATISTICS
PART 1
Mid-Atlantic University, College of Engineering as it will be referred to throughout this project, due to owner confidentiality, opened in January 2017. This new building bridges from the existing College of Engineering building and allows for significant expansion of the student population, specifically in the Engineering department. The additional building allows for increased student enrollment and research due to a number of new laboratories, classrooms, and office space. Aesthetically, the building acts as a gateway for the university's campus.
GENERAL BUILDING DATA
Mid-Atlantic University, College of Engineering (fictitious name)
Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States
Cannot be disclosed
Classroom, wet/dry laboratory space, admin office
88,000 SF
41’
3 Above Grade, 3 Total Levels
August 2015 - January 2017
$70.6 million
Design-Bid-Build
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PROJECT TEAM
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OWNER
DESIGN ARCHITECT
LABORATORY PLANNER
ARCHITECT OF RECORD
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Cannot be disclosed
Ellenzweig
Ellenzweig
Clarke Caton Hintz
Clarke Caton Hintz
CONSTRUCTION MANAGER
GENERAL CONTRACTOR
SITE/CIVIL/ENVIRONMENTAL
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
MEP/FP ENGINEER
Stantec Consulting with LF Driscoll
TN Ward Company
Pennoni Associates
Harrison-Hamnett, P.C.
Vanderweil Engineers
ACOUSTIC DESIGN
LIGHTING DESIGN
IT/AV/SECURITY
AIR QUALITY/DISPERSION
Lewis S. Goodfriend &
Architectural Lighting Design
Metropolitan Technology Associates
Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin Inc.
ARCHITECTURE
Mid-Atlantic University, College of Engineering is a new construction bridging to the existing college of engineering building. This addition allows for larger class sizes and expanded research while also creating a prominent campus entrance in the Northwest corner of campus. This three story building adds many additional learning, research, and admin spaces to the university including:
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19 research and teaching labs
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4 classrooms
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Approximately 65 offices for administrators, faculty, and graduate students
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Dining/gathering space
Below illustrates the building program requirements and spacing within the new COE building.
As seen in the above diagram another main goal of this new construction was to create an individualized space for each department with their own, individual needs. Many of the lab spaces are designed to be used by all departments. The building was designed to be inviting for students and to serve as both a learning and gathering facility. By including the large dining/gathering space with access to the lawns outside, the project team was able to achieve this goal.
Large pieces of mechanical equipment (ie. AHUs and exhaust fans) are located on the roof which is concealed behind a parapet wall. The parapet wall continues the façade upward and succeeds in keeping the mechanical equipment from view.
APPLICABLE CODES
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International Building Code, 2009
International Mechanical Code, 2009
National Electrical Code, 2011
National Plumbing Code, 2009
International Fire Code, 2009
International Fuel Gas Code, 2009
International Energy Conservation Code, 2009
ZONING
Zoned P, public district. More information cannot be specified due to owner/location confidentiality.
This building does not have any historical requirements.
HISTORICAL REQUIREMENTS
BUILDING ENCLOSURE
FACADE
High efficiency glazing was a main energy conservation measure when designing this building. Compared to an ASHRAE baseline the U-value reduction is significant which increases the performance of the overall building. Silk screening was also applied to portions of the glass where visibility was not such a concern. This decision helped increase the energy savings by providing increased shading to portions of the glass façade.
The main façade materials used are metal panel and calcium silicate veneer on either CMU or metal stud walls. See the wall section to the right:
ROOFING
This project utilizes a single ply membrane or PVC as the main roofing material. The PVC membrane is used in conjunction with a concrete or metal deck structure. See roof detail to the left.
The portion of the roof that is used as a roof patio has a different construction, using a thermo plastic waterproofing on concrete deck.
Mid-Atlantic University College of Engineering is not pursuing any sustainable certifications but the building is designed and engineered to meet the requirements of LEED Silver, 2009. Three out of the five air handling units (AHUs) use a glycol run around loop as an energy recovery strategy. This method preconditions the outside air using the heat from the general exhaust. Additionally, all the air handling units have the ability to run in an airside economizer mode during times with optimal outside conditions. This building also includes a photovoltaic array on the roof of the connecting bridge which supplements the electric use by the new engineering facility.
SUSTAINABILITY
PART 2
MECHANICAL SYSTEMS
The Mid-Atlantic University College of Engineering building primarily uses all air to ventilate and condition the spaces. All the variable air volume terminal boxes (VAV) and constant volume boxes that serve the spaces are fitted with reheat coils that can provide additional heating to the ventilation air when required. In a few locations, additional heating or cooling is needed so finned tube radiators, air curtains, and a few fan coil units were implemented. The building has a total of 5 custom air handling units. Two of the five AHUs serve the West Wing (21,500 CFM each) and three serve the North Wing (25,000 CFM each). The majority of the lab spaces with strict air change rates are located in the North Wing which resulted in a design that uses an added energy recover unit (ERU) for each of the three North wing AHUs. These ERUs use a glycol run around loop that preheats outdoor air in the winter months using the exhaust air. The few rooms of the North wing and all of the West wing rooms that can recirculate air return it to the AHUs.
The lab spaces use constant volume, two-positive valves on the supply and exhaust to maintain precise air change and pressurization requirements. The other spaces use VAV boxes on the supply and return. Campus steam and campus chilled water supply the building with hot and chilled water which is then pumped throughout the building using variable speed pumps. The campus produces high pressure steam which is stepped down to medium and then low-pressure steam upon entering the building. Low pressure steam passes through a shell and tube heat exchanger to transfer heat to the returned hot water.
The existing campus distribution system is a dual primary, medium voltage system providing the College of Engineering building with 12.47kV power. As an interface between the campus system and the building, a primary loop switch will be added. A new transformer will be provided outside the building to step the 12.47kV power down to 480Y/277V which will be fed to the building’s main switchboard. The main switchboard is located in the main electrical room and distributes power to electrical rooms located on each floor. A dedicated emergency generator and 12 hour fuel storage tank will be installed to provide standby power to code required and university requested spaces.
ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
Figure 1 - Campus Distribution to Transformer
LIGHTING SYSTEMS
Electrical engineers, architects and lighting designers worked in conjunction to select light fixtures and lighting controls. High efficiency LED fixtures are used for nearly all light sources within the building. A combination of vacancy, occupancy, and daylight sensors are used throughout the building to control the operation of light fixtures in various rooms. Individual rooms, such as offices use vacancy sensors while corridors will use occupancy sensors to control 50% of the lighting in the corridor. Continuously occupied spaces will take advantage of daylight sensors to automatically dim lights based on the available natural light.
STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS
The new College of Engineering building uses piles with a finished concrete topping slab as the foundation. The pile size is standard throughout the building at 12”. The various pile cap sizes range from two to fifteen piles per cap and 3 to 4 feet deep. Concrete piers rest on the pile caps and support the building columns above. The foundation floor slab is 4” concrete which rests on a vapor barrier with a minimum of 6” of drainage fill. The two floors above the ground level, including the bridge, consist of a 4-1/2” concrete slab on 2” composite metal deck. Above the typical building levels, the roof slab is 6” concrete on 2” composite metal deck. The building is steel framed meaning steel columns, beams and girders which use mostly pin connections with that exception that bearing walls use moment connections. The maximum beam and girder depth is 18” while the smallest used is 12”. Cast-in-place concrete must attain full compressive strength within 28 days to be acceptable for use in the building. Pile caps must reach 4000 psi, slab on grade concrete must reach 3500 psi and all other concrete must meet a minimum of 3000 psi compressive strength.
CONSTRUCTION METHODS
Before construction began on the College of Engineering building parking lots and sports fields surrounded the site (Figure 2). A new parking lot was added in place of the practice field prior to construction (Figure 3). The new building took the place of the existing parking lot that would be the site of construction during the construction period from August 2015 to January 2017. The new parking lot is crucial for uninterrupted student and faculty parking as well as construction worker parking. The open area seen in Figure 3 also provides space required for material lay-down area as well as equipment. Additionally, the road that the bridge passes over is infrequently used with other roadways proving access to all parking lots around the site and the construction area itself. Blocking this road during construction had little impact to traffic patterns. After the piles were in place and the slab was poured, the steel frame was erected. The bridge, which was framed before being put in place, was moved into place in June of 2016, once the steel framing was completed for the new construction.
Figure 2 - Before Construction Zone
Figure 3 - During Construction Zone
FIRE PROTECTION
Most of the building sprinkler system is served by automatic wet-pipe type systems but First Floor North wing spaces that open to the outside use a dry-pipe system. The laboratory and cleanroom type spaces are served by a dry-pipe, pre-action sprinkler system with fume hoods using a dry chemical, in hood, fire suppression system. At the bridge connecting the new construction to existing a water curtain is required as part of the existing building system for fire separation.
Automatic area-coverage smoke detection is not required for the entire building but based on the space area-coverage smoke detection is provided. In all spaces, HVAC system detection is provided via duct mounted smoke detections which will activate smoke control dampers and door release. Manual fire alarm pull stations are located at each exit doorway on every floor. In all areas of the College of Engineering building fire alarms are provided as audible and visual device notification.
TRANSPORTATION
The College of Engineering building at Mid-Atlantic University has three stairways and one elevator. Spaces requiring large equipment, such as Civil Labs/Workshops, occupy the ground floor.
Due to the diverse programming of the College of Engineering building many of the rooms have different Audio-Visual treatment. Most of the lab, teaching lab, classroom and conference room spaces have ceiling mounted speakers. Additionally, conference rooms have a data, power, and AV hookup as part of the conference table with a wall mounted display at the front of the room. In addition to the previously mentioned ceiling mounted speakers, classrooms occasionally have a wall mounted display but more frequently, projectors with screens. All classrooms and teaching labs have a “teachers landing station” (Figure 4) which consists of AV hookups, Blu-ray player, a touch panel and a few additional tools for controlling the classroom. For the lab spaces in this building, dedicated AV racks are provided.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Figure 4 - TLS Detail
PLUMBING SYSTEMS
Similar to other building utilities, the campus has existing potable water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, and natural gas, so all the previously mentioned utilities will be brought into the new construction. The potable water will serve as the domestic water and will require a new valved tap with a meter as well as a backflow preventer. Sanitary sewer and storm water will drain separately from the building using gravity pipes. Adding the natural gas tap from the existing gas network will require an additional metering station. Potable hot water is provided by duplex steam-fired hot water generator. Eye wash and shower stations are required in the mechanical and laboratory spaces so tempered water will be supplied to the precautionary safety equipment.