FLOOR SYSTEM CASE STUDY

Photos: Richard Jarvis; courtesy of New Millennium Building Systems

Project: Aloft Hotel
Location: Ocean City, Maryland
Architect and Engineer: Iott Architecture and Engineering

The Project: The five-story, 78,000-square-foot Aloft Hotel in Ocean City, Maryland, provides a variety of short- and long-term residential options. Iott Architecture and Engineering was the all-in-one firm that designed and engineered the hotel, taking a holistic view of building design, the construction timeline, total project costs, and the ways in which the structural floor design could impact all of these objectives.

The Challenge: Like many such projects, maximizing space, controlling costs, and expediting construction schedules were high priorities here. In particular, focusing on details such as head-of-wall construction to meet code requirements while streamlining the construction were topics of attention. The design concept called for an open-air-style common space uninterrupted by columns plus rooms/units with maximum floor-to-ceiling heights.

The Solution: To achieve the project objectives, Iott designed the building to include a steel podium frame for the ground floor. The floors above feature load-bearing cold-formed steel (CFS) demising walls with a 3.5-inch dovetail long-span composite floor deck and a 2-inch lightweight concrete cover, which was chosen over the more regionally common post-tensioned concrete. The A&E firm’s president Keith Iott says the thinner dovetail composite floors enabled a 2.5-inch increase in ceiling heights along with UL head-of-wall construction for faster construction. This provided an overall project cost savings due to reductions in floor-related materials, weight, size, and labor. Looking back on the decision, Keith Iott says the project might not have proceeded without the cost and time savings made possible by the dovetail composite floor deck and CFS approach. He estimates that the timeline from foundation to certificate of occupancy was cut by 2.5 to 3 months. Further, the savings in total construction costs ranged from $1.5 million to $2.5 million.

The Results: This significant project was completed in just 14 months. According to Keith Iott, “The dovetail composite floor deck in the upper floors was a game changer in terms of being able to accommodate what we wanted to do structurally, what we wanted to do from a fire-protection standpoint, and, more importantly, what we wanted to do in terms of driving the schedule.”

FACADE CASE STUDY

Photos courtesy of TAMLYN

Project: Law Harrington Senior Affordable Housing
Location: Houston
Architect: Smith and Company Architects
Contractor: Camden Construction

The Project: The Law Harrington Senior Living project is a 159,778-square-foot, four-level wood-frame housing development for seniors over 62 years of age. The project is located in the Third Ward area of Houston and includes 112 Living Units that consist of one- and two-bedroom units with full kitchens and washers and dryers. A 17,196-square-foot Club House building is also provided in the front of the facility housing a Social Workers Suite, a Leasing Office, a clinic, and multiuse and public spaces for residents.

The Challenge: The facade design for this project needed to reflect and respect the architecture and culture of the vastly changing historic Third Ward area in which the property sits. However, there was also a need for the design to be consistent with the modern movement currently taking place with new and proposed developments in the area. There were also the usual requirements for longevity, low maintenance, and quality for the very visible exterior facades of this project.

The Solution: The design team created a varied facade for this large multifamily complex to break up the mass and give it appropriate scale. In so doing, it decided to use a mixed palette of exterior materials, which required a variety of trim, accessories, and transition strips. Extruded aluminum and fabricated metal trim were the selected materials of choice for their ease of use, low maintenance, longevity, and cost-effectiveness compared to some other more traditional materials.

On the lap siding sections, an extruded aluminum “W-style inside corner” replaced a 1 x 2 wood corner board that would commonly be susceptible to rot and require replacement. The lap siding sections used higher-quality extruded aluminum reveals to create a visual break and section highlight, replacing vertical wood trim between sections. For the panel sections of the facade, two different types of vertical aluminum trim were incorporated, allowing the designers to create larger formats for the panels. In some cases, they painted some of the trim the same color as the panel to contrast with a bolder, clear anodized profile for the edging of the now larger visual panels.

To transition between different materials, “XOCR” and “XOCLP” profiles of extruded aluminum allowed the designers to create complex shapes sized for two different panel thicknesses and make it a seamless transition—in this case from ³⁄₈ inch to ³⁄₄ inch. Similarly, an “XICLP” profile of extruded aluminum was used with traditional wood grain fiber cement siding. Such trim does not need to be restricted to use on projects with smooth finished siding.

The Results: According to Midtown TIRZ Executive Director Matt Thibodaux, “Affordable housing is imperative to developing and providing a vibrant community to Houston’s most vulnerable populations.” This multifamily project will offer 112 independent living apartments for low-income seniors ages 62 and older, a social services office managed by the Montrose Center, a geriatric primary care clinic provided by Legacy Community Health, a fitness center, a dog park, a vegetable garden, and other amenities.