This design-build project is a $65M, 230,000 SF聽five-story Class A office building that houses聽800 employees and features a 200-seat auditorium,聽meeting spaces, public counters, loft-like聽open offices with high ceilings and lots of natural聽lighting. Designed for a LEED Silver rating,聽the project offers employees work spaces that聽are never more than 37 feet from the building聽perimeter or the four-story interior “canyon”聽which brings in natural light from south facing聽clerestory windows.
Project delivery for the state project was a聽stipulated sum design-build competition. The聽successful team invited the precaster to join its聽team early on to help develop the most costeffective聽solution available: a total precast system.聽At the end of the day, the total precast聽solution beat the two competing steel structures聽and was the only one of the three designs聽to meet the stipulated sum mandated by the
state while delivering the program laid out by聽the state.
The “All-in-One” total precast approach which聽applies high-quality architectural finishes to聽exterior exposed precast structural frames was聽decisive in the design-build team鈥檚 win. This聽cost-effective approach eliminated the need聽for fireproofing and a secondary facade system,聽sped up the construction schedule and,聽through the additional application of the structurally聽resilient Precast Hybrid Moment Frame
(PHMF), helped deliver the wide open and well-lit聽interior spaces that are the hallmarks of this聽showcase project.
Large Open Space Allows for Light and Air to Filter Throughout the Facility
The genesis for this building鈥檚 design stems from three basic聽ideas articulated by client/tenant and the surrounding聽community: the facility should be user-friendly, sustainable, and聽respond to the community-at-large. The client/tenant specifically聽wanted a healthy building filled with light and air that cultivates聽collegiality between departments. The building was aligned to聽take advantage of its east-west long axis, ensuring that every聽workspace is within 37 feet of natural light. Another unique feature
is its 4-story interior 鈥淐anyon鈥� which harvests natural light from聽south facing clerestory skylights.
The HVAC system features a nightly air purge that exchanges聽warm interior air with fresh evening air, cooling the interior聽and concrete structure. The electric lighting is controlled by聽occupancy sensors and dimmers at perimeter zones adjacent to聽the building’s exterior which features clear, high-performance
glass, further reducing heat gain/loss. Other sustainable design聽strategies include: access to public transit, building massing,聽building orientation, reduced water consumption, use of 聽“right”聽materials, recycling construction waste, and acoustical control.
