MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL CLADDING

Photo courtesy of Acpexpress

Project: The VUE
Location: 295 Polifly Road, Hackensack, New Jersey
Developer: Petrone Building Corporation

The Project: Located in Hackensack, New Jersey, The VUE is Hackensack’s new premier apartment property. Developed by Petrone Building Corporation, this high-amenity building is within walking distance to nearby restaurants and shopping, and has easy access to the Lincoln Tunnel and the George Washington Bridge. The seven-story building contains 78 living units plus 155 stalls of below-ground parking. The VUE will showcase spacious one- and two-bedroom residences with condo-style finishes, superior features, and onsite services.

The Challenge: The building facade was designed with a mix of materials that spoke to high quality and durability as well as aesthetics. While brick masonry was selected for some portions of the facades, the areas above and below windows needed a different but durable treatment. The location close to the Hudson River and the salt marshes of New Jersey contributed to harsher than usual conditions. Further, the height of the building in a relatively flat and exposed area meant it would be directly subjected to wind, rain, and sun.

The Design Solution: Convex three-dimensional metal panels were used in this project to provide enhanced performance and durability of the panels. The 3-D panels are made from aluminum composite material (ACM), which provides excellent protection against wind, rain, and salt spray. They also add depth to the facade design, creating a rather unique design feature.

The Results: The 3-D Panels were fabricated in a rectangular footprint, making their installation just as simple as flat panels. The panels were fabricated in a local facility in North Bergen, New Jersey, and delivered to the job-site ready to install.

CONTROLLING AIR AND MOISTURE INFILTRATION

Images courtesy of Tremco Commercial Sealants & Waterproofing

Project: Naval Hospital Replacement at Camp Pendleton
Location: San Diego, California
Project Architect: HKS Architects Inc., Los Angeles
Master Architect: HDR Inc., San Diego
Design-Build Team: Clark/McCarthy Joint Venture

The Project: The Naval Hospital Replacement Project at Camp Pendleton, the largest military training facility on the West Coast, is a 500,000-square-foot, five-story hospital accommodating inpatient medical facilities, ancillary departments, emergency care, primary care, specialty care clinics, support spaces, and facilities for non-ambulatory patients who require stays in excess of 24 hours. The project also includes a 1,500-space, multilevel parking structure. The original hospital built between 1969 and 1974 with 600 beds had become functionally obsolete. Military medical practices had shifted over the years to an emphasis on outpatient care, treating an average of 1,850 patients daily by 2,100 staff personnel.

The Challenge: Being a medical facility, control of air and moisture infiltration to prevent environments prone to mold and mildew and protect fragile immune systems was imperative. The new state-of-the- art facility also needed to be in tune with California’s seismic safety standards, which were adopted following the 1994 Northridge earthquake that caused 23 hospitals to suspend all or part of their services in the wake of $3 billion in damages. The military does not have to comply with state standards, but patient vulnerability dictated design and construction standards that would ensure seismic protection. As a Department of Defense facility, a strong commitment to enhancing sustainability and making energy efficiency a critical initiative were behind the requirement to achieve LEED Gold certification. In addition, the government required very stringent air infiltration reduction levels in the entire building envelope.

The Design Solution: In order to meet energy requirements, continuity throughout the building enclosure was essential to achieve a truly tight system. Recognizing that most individual products or systems could not meet the total air infiltration requirements specified for this project, a single-source supplier was identified for a complete, coordinated system around the exterior walls and roof. Craig Winters, QC superintendent for the Clark/McCarthy Joint Venture, notes, “It is a great benefit for a complete product assembly to be provided by a sole source. It simplifies the procurement process and management of the system. It also provides accountability and the expertise that comes with it as well as a system warranty. There is less confusion, less ambiguity, and you avoid overlap of products or solutions.”

To address seismic concerns, deflection joints were incorporated into the design, allowing pronounced up-and-down and in-and-out movements at corners, as well as across the head of the windows positioned under the deflection joints. Conventional self-adhered flashing materials and metal flashing assemblies would not have been viable. Instead, a high-performance self-adhered air and vapor barrier membrane was selected for use on the wall. With a stand-off out to the exterior rainscreen system of stone, terra cotta, and metal panels, the air barrier membrane had to be self-gasketing around fasteners. A 3⁄4-inch deflection joint was positioned over the head of each window opening to accommodate a 3⁄8-inch movement at each floor level. Ribbed silicone extrusions were connected around each opening using three-dimensional molded corners, with silicone sealant forming a silicone “boot” where the window is set forward from the plane of the weather-barrier surface.

The Results: To ensure performance of this design, a mockup was built 50 feet in length and 30 feet tall. Rigorous testing was then conducted to determine air leakage under dynamic pressure conditions and its ability to withstand structural wind loads. A series of 10 tests were conducted with racking. The mockup passed all tests. Thorough testing was also conducted on the roofing systems to ensure watertight integrity and performance.

PROVIDING FIRE SAFETY FOR ACCLAIMED SCIENCE MUSEUM

Images courtesy of Inpro

Project: Exploratorium Science Museum
Location: Piers 15 and 17, San Francisco, California
Architect: EHDD, San Francisco

The Project: In 1969, noted physicist Frank Oppenheimer opened the doors to a radical new concept: an engine of curiosity dedicated to lifelong learning named the Exploratorium. Then, it was the only museum of its kind, while today, it is known for starting a movement that transformed education by serving as the prototype for more than 1,000 hands-on, participatory institutions that now exist around the world. The Exploratorium also pioneered the idea that science institutions are bona fide sources of teacher education, too. As a research and development laboratory for public learning, the Exploratorium receives more National Science Foundation (NSF) funding than any other non-university institution nationwide.

For most of its life, the Exploratorium has been located at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, which is far from the city center, on the western outskirts of town. In spring of 2013, after years of fundraising, design, and construction, it moved to a 9-acre campus in the center of the city, right between the Ferry Building and Fisherman’s Wharf. This new campus on San Francisco’s Embarcadero encompasses two historic waterfront structures: Pier 17, built in 1912, and Pier 15, built in 1915, with a major renovation in 1931. The stated design goal was not replacing these landmark buildings, but bringing them to life once again. The one new structure on the site—the glass-and-steel Bay Observatory—will provide a transparent lens on the waterfront, offering a contemporary counterpoint to the historic surroundings.

The Challenge: The buildings are large in this $220-million project, requiring it to be broken up into discreet fire separated sections. This is not unusual, but is compounded by the fact that the building juts out into and over the salt water of the San Francisco Bay. Further, this location is in a well-known active seismic zone, which meant that any joints between building sections needed to be flexible enough to move with seismic forces, maintain the fire rating, and continue to provide fire safety. In addition, the goal is to create a LEED Gold, net-zero-energy facility with features that push the envelope of green technology and environmental awareness.

The Design Solution: A single source was specified to provide the entire expansion joint and barrier package for the Exploratorium project. Almost 1,500 linear feet of interior and exterior seismic expansion joints are used throughout the building. Joint widths varied from 8 inches to as wide as 27 inches. Of that, nearly 95 percent of the joint systems were custom designed and built, including several joints incorporating 3⁄8-inch thick aluminum diamond plate. Where these joints bridged fire separation areas, waterproof fire barriers were specified and installed. The fire ratings were needed to maintain the safety of the walls, floors, and roof systems that made up the fire separations. The waterproof component was needed to withstand the moist and humid conditions of being over the water. Finally, designers specified coatings on many of the exposed joint systems to fight salt-water degradation and assure durability.

The Results: The hands-on exhibits of the finished project explore biology, physics, listening, cognition, visual perception, social behavior, and the environment. And in the spirit and style of the Exploratorium, there is a display dedicated to the expansion joints used. This display helps visitors and students understand a building’s constant battle with Mother Nature, and how expansion joints help a building withstand thermal and seismic movement. And in so doing, they protect the building and the people using it.