Nathan Tadhg Patrick

Building Statistics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General Building Data

Building Name:

Hilton Hotel at BWI Airport

Location and Site:

1739 West Nursery Road, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090

Building Occupant Name:

Hilton Hotels
http://www.hilton.com/

Occupancy or Function Types:

Unseparated mixed use

• R-1 - Guest room tower
• S-2 - Parking garage and storage
• A-2 - Ballroom and restaurant
• A-3 - Meeting rooms
• F-1 - Kitchen
• B - Office

Size:

• 203,281 sq ft (occupied)
• 277,000 sq ft (gross)

Number of Stories:

• Above grade: 11 stories and a penthouse (130 ft. above grade)
• Below grade: 1 story parking level

Primary Project Team:

Owner:

Buccini/Pollin Group, Inc.
http://www.bpgoup.net/

General Contractor:

Hitt Contracting, Inc.
http://www.hitt-gc.com/

Architect:

Brennan Beer Gorman Monk Architects/Interiors P.L.L.C.
http://www.bbg-bbgm.com/

Interior Designer:

PGAL
http://www.pgal.com/

Civil Engineer:

Century Engineering, Inc.
http://www.centuryeng.com/

Structural Engineer:

Holbert Apple Associates, Inc.
http://www.holbertapple.com/

MEP Engineer:

R.G. Vanderweil Engineers
http://www.vanderweil.com/

Elevator Consultant:

Lerch, Bates, and Associates
http://www.lerchbates.com/

Land Development:

Patton Consultants, Ltd.
http://www.pattonconsultants.com/

Kitchen and Laundry Consultant:

Food Strategy, Inc.
http://www.foodstrategy.com/

Lighting Consultant:

Architectural Lighting by Shugarman
(no website)

IT and Security Consultant:

Westshore Communications
http://westshorecommunications.com/

Dates of Construction:

• Start Date: June 1, 2005
• Finish Date: October 30, 2006

Estimated Cost Information:

$27 million for the overall project cost

Project Delivery Method:

Design-Build

Architecture

Architecture:

The Hilton Hotel at BWI Airport is a full-service hotel located less than two miles from the Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport. The hotel will have the largest conference space in the area near the airport, and it will be a strong tool to attract business to the hotel and Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

The architecture of the building is a modern design consisting of curtain wall systems, metal panel systems, and pre-cast concrete panels on the exterior. The interior of the hotel also has a modern feel with wood paneling on the walls and metal detailing throughout the building. Some of the high-tech features of the hotel include liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma screen televisions positioned in various key locations for the guests. These aspects cater well to the target group that the hotel focuses on, which is the frequent business traveler, that needs and uses technology for their way of life.

The hotel is primarily comprised of two different sectors - the public spaces and the private spaces. The public spaces include the lobby seating area, pre-function area, eating areas, egress/transportation areas, and the large and small meeting rooms. The eating areas include the restaurant, bar, coffee bar, and the bar lounge. The large meeting rooms are double-story height areas and have movable walls that can open up into one large ballroom. The means of egress in the building include the numerous corridors, two stairwells up through the guest room tower, and the four elevators.

The private spaces include the offices, employee rooms, kitchen, storage, laundry room, and the mechanical and electrical rooms. Some of the employee rooms are the offices, locker rooms, and cafeteria on the ground and second floors. There is also a concierge lounge on the eleventh floor. Other spaces in the building include the parking level below grade, exercise room, swimming pool, and the guest rooms. The guest rooms come in 15 different varieties, and there are a total of 280 guest rooms in the hotel.

The floor heights vary from the ground up. The parking level below grade is 12 ft - 8 in; the ground floor is the highest level at 18 ft tall; the second floor is 13 ft high; the third through the eleventh floors are all 9 ft; and the penthouse is 15 ft - 8 in tall. Therefore, the total building height is 130 ft above grade.

Major National Model Codes:

• IBC 2003 with local amendments
• NFPA 101 Life Safety 2000
• International Mechanical Code 2003
• International Plumbing Code 2003
• Accessibility: COMAR 05.02.02, AADAG

Historical Requirements:

The site has no particular historic or archeological features. There are no special considerations, requirements, or restrictions for building on the site since its location falls outside of the Chesapeake Bay Critical Areas. The existing land use was the site of a structural steel fabrication and building support shop.

Zoning:

• W-1 Industrial
• R-1 Residential

Building Envelope:

Exterior Wall Systems:

The exterior wall systems are made of a couple different panel materials. The majority of the walls consist of 5-1/2 in pre-cast concrete panels, 3-5/8 in metal studs with semi-rigid insulation, and 1/2 in gypsum wall board. The exterior wall areas near the roof sun shades on the south-facing facades are comprised of metal panels to match the color of the outrigger sun shade wings. Where structural columns are located along the exterior edge of the building, metal column covers are used in lieu of the pre-cast concrete panels.

All along the pre-function area curved exterior wall is a large amount of store-front windows. Granite base panels on the first story and metal panels on the second story frame all this vision glass.

In the eight floors of the tower part of the hotel, every guest room has both casement windows and sliding windows made of either spandrel glass or vision glass. However, all these window sizes differ due to the varying and numerous sizes of the guest rooms.

Roofing System:

The roofing system is very similar in the fact that all the roofs consist of 3 in of R30 rigid roof insulation and fully-adhered EPDM roofing membrane. Conversely, there are a couple different types of structural supports beneath the membrane and insulation. Part of the roof is made of an 8 in thick concrete slab on the guest room tower and above the restaurant area. These areas with the concrete roof construction have a 4 hour fire rating. The sections of the roof above the lobby area and swimming pool area are built with 3 in metal roof decks spanning between the steel structure.

The roof areas above the pre-function area, porte cochere, and the penthouse specify 3 in minimum of R30 rigid insulation and fully-adhered single-ply EPDM roofing membrane. The pre-function area roof has a one hour fire rating, but the large meeting room area roof has no (zero hour) fire rating since it is made of non-combustible materials. Also, most of the roof areas slope at 1/4 in per ft to the roof drains. However, a few areas have slopes of 1/2 in per ft in order to achieve the proper drainage.

Primary Engineering Systems

Construction:

The interior and exterior walls have different construction types and materials. The interior wall partitions most typically use either 1-1/2 in or 3-5/8 in metal studs with fiberglass batt insulation and gypsum wall board. The exterior walls of the all the guest room floors are made of pre-cast concrete panels. Other parts of the facade are constructed with metal panels. The below-grade parking level is comprised of concrete masonry unit (CMU) block walls.

Concrete is the primary structural material used in the construction of the hotel. The ground and second floors are made of cast-in-place concrete with structural slabs. Post-tensioned concrete makes up the third through the eleventh floors of the guest room tower.

The only structural steel in the building is located above the double-story height spaces on the ground and second floors. The use of steel allows for longer spans to provide more open space in these areas.

There are two main types of roofing structure on the hotel: 8 in cast-in-place concrete slab or 3 in 18 gauge type-N galvanized metal roof deck. However, in both cases there is a minimum required layer of 3 in thick R30 rigid roof insulation and fully-adhered EPDM roofing membrane.

The shaft surrounding the bank of four elevators is comprised of concrete shear walls. These shear walls are used to resist the shear forces from the wind load transferred from the exterior walls through the floor slabs to the central core of the guest room tower.

Electrical:

The main electrical service comes in to the building on the north side from BGE. The main connects into the utility-owned 2500 kVA transformer. The delta primary side is 13,800V, 3 phase, 3 wire and that steps down to the 480Y/277V, 3 phase, 4 wire secondary side of the transformer. This 4000A feeder runs to the main 4000A - 480/277V, 3 phase, 4 wire switchboard in the main electrical room on the parking level.

From the main 4000A switchboard, the 400A feeder runs to the electric panelboards in the building and the 800A - 480/277V, 3 phase, 4 wire distribution panel. There are numerous smaller transformers throughout the building that step down from 480/277V, 3 phase, 4 wire primary service to 208/120V, 3 phase, 4 wire secondary service.

A 1200A feeder runs from the main lugs only on the distribution panel to the 600 kW diesel standby generator on grade level just north of the building. Junction boxes for the battery charger, jacket water heater, controls, and lighting and receptacles are all mounted on the generator.

The penthouse contains the 2000A - 480/277V, 3 phase, 4 wire switchboard, transformer, and 4000A - 208/120V, 3 phase, 4 wire switchboard. The 2000A switchboard connects to a 2000A busduct that runs up from the main 2000A - 480/277V, 3 phase, 4 wire switchboard located in the main electrical room on the parking level. There are also four 4 inch conduits for stand-by power, two 3 in conduits for emergency power, and two 2 in conduits for controls that run between the penthouse and the ground floor electrical room.

The duplex receptacles in the building have 20A - 125V, 2 pole, 3 wire configurations.

Lighting:

The lighting system in the hotel consists of both 277V fixtures and 120V fixtures. The lighting fixtures in the parking areas are of the 277V type. Throughout the rest of the building, there is a mixture of lighting fixtures with the two different voltage levels.

Some of the most common types of lights are the incandescent downlights found above the large and small meeting rooms on the ground floor. Another common light is the 1 ft x 4 ft strip fixtures located in all the storage rooms, mechanical rooms, and electrical rooms, as well as in the penthouse.

Other types of lighting in the hotel include the following kinds of fixtures. The pre-function area has many compact fluorescent downlights. More compact fluorescent downlights and metal halide downlights are located in the lobby seating area. The kitchen and employee rooms use 2 ft x 4 ft recessed fluorescent troffers. The restaurant, bar, and coffee bar all have low-voltage incandescent downlights. Accent lighting in these areas is accomplished using compact fluorescent wall washers.

Many of the bathrooms have compact fluorescent downlights. Also, there is a series of compact fluorescent downlights found in the porte cochere area. The swimming pool area on the second floor is the only place to use compact fluorescent lensed downlights. Incandescent downlights and incandescent lensed wall washers are used in the small meeting rooms on second floor.

The hotel has several common types of lights found on all floors of the guest room tower. Compact fluorescent corridor ceiling lights are located in the elevator lobby areas and corridors on all floors. The corridors also have compact fluorescent wall sconces. The two stairwells in the guest room tower have 3 ft long wall mount fluorescent fixtures at all the landings.

There are six aircraft warning lights mounted on the roofs of the guest room tower and the penthouse.

Mechanical:

The primary air-side components of the mechanical system on the ground and second floors use a VAV system with reheat hot water coils at the boxes in the public and service spaces.

One air handling unit and one rooftop unit on the north side roof of the ground floor provide conditioned air to many of the spaces on the ground level. Also located on the same roof is a make-up air unit to provide adequate ventilation to the kitchen. A long string of linear slot diffusers provide the required amounts of supply air to the spaces from above the large areas of windows in the pre-function area, meeting rooms, coffee bar, and restaurant. Since the sidewall supply registers in the lobby seating area dispense the necessary quantity of supply air, a parallel system of fin tube radiators help to balance the heat loss from the large sections of windows located along the exterior walls.

The second floor mechanical room houses several pieces of large mechanical equipment. One air handling unit (AHU) conditions air for the large double-story height meeting rooms, smaller meeting rooms, and the pre-function area on the ground floor. A second AHU services many of the employee services rooms and offices on the ground floor. Also in the same mechanical room is a pool dehumidifier unit that conditions for the swimming pool area. A rooftop unit on the ground level roof conditions air for several of the laundry and service spaces that are on the second floor. From the mechanical room on the northeast corner of the second floor, another AHU provides air to the offices, meeting rooms, and exercise room/health club.

On the third through eleventh floors, all the guest rooms are equipped with individual water source heat pumps, master thermostats, and control valves in each room. Through the process of value engineering, two air conditioning units located in the penthouse, which were originally scheduled to supply each guest room with 60 cfm of outside air, and all the related ductwork and fire dampers were eliminated.

The positive pressure in both stairwells is maintained by two stair pressurization fans that deliver 11,700 cfm to each stairway. The pressurization required in the corridors on the third through eleventh floors is maintained by three rooftop units located in the penthouse. These rooftop units also provide supply air to the housekeeping areas on all the guest room floors.

Exhaust registers in each of the guest room bathrooms are ducted to sub-ducts and then tapped into the exhaust stacks. There are a total of 17 main toilet exhaust riser stacks connected to toilet exhaust fans mounted on either the eleventh floor roof or the penthouse roof. This sub-duct method, which received a variance prior to design and installation, aims to prevent the spread of smoke to the other guest room floors in the hotel without the use of smoke dampers in each of the ducts.

The primary water-side components of the mechanical system include the condenser water system and the hot water system. Due to initial budget constraints, the originally designed chilled water system was eliminated along with two water cooled chillers and two chilled water pumps. Two open-cell cooling towers are located on the north side of the building on grade with the ground floor level. These cooling towers provide condenser water to the air handling units and guest room water source heat pumps. Each heat pump is tapped off 1-1/2 inch supply and return piping, and it also has 1 inch drain piping. The condenser water is then looped back to the cooling towers through a reverse return system through 8 inch piping.

Three fossil-fuel boilers in the parking level mechanical room provide hot water for all the reheat coils in the VAV boxes, the freeze protection pumps for the air handling units, and the pool dehumidifier unit. Other pieces of equipment served by the hot water are the unit heaters, finned tube radiators, and hot air curtains located in the vestibules.

To achieve adequate ventilation of the automotive exhaust fumes in the parking level, two large outside air louvers located on the west side of the parking area draw 20,000 cfm. The mixed air is drawn out of the parking area through garage exhaust fans located on the east side of the building.

The large mechanical room located on the north side of the parking level contains much of the water-side equipment used in the hotel. This includes three boilers and their corresponding pumps, two condenser water pumps, one sedimentation separator filter, two plate and frame heat exchangers, two hot water pumps with variable frequency drives, two diaphragm expansion tanks, and some other pieces of equipment.

All sequences of controls for the entire building are performed by direct digital controls (DDC). This DDC system monitors all the sensors, and it is able to adjust all the set points and time delays for the equipment. The DDC system also provides start/stop, speed control, monitoring, and alarms for the variable frequency drives.

Plumbing:

The main plumbing design for the hotel consists of several components. This includes sanitary, storm water, domestic hot water, cold water, and natural gas piping.

The sanitary system involves a Sovent system for the sanitary and vent piping. The Sovent system uses only one stack with the soil material and vented air in the same piping. This is accomplished using both a de-aerator and an aerator connected in with the sanitary piping. The Sovent system pushes the soil waste along the edges of the piping and allows the vented air to be in the center of the same piping.

The main sanitary waste lines coming from the kitchen and laundry rooms leave the north side of the building. The 4 inch grease waste piping from the kitchen runs to a 400 gal fluid/625 lb grease capacity grease interceptor. The 6 in waste lines from the laundry room washers run to a 200 gpm lint interceptor nearby.

The 4 in domestic water service main enters the building through the parking level. The piping then goes through a 250 gpm water softener system and a 270 gpm triplex domestic booster pump system. Also on the parking level are two hot water heat exchangers, two thermostatic mixing valves, and a 158 gal thermal expansion tank. A 4 inch cold water line runs up to the penthouse to two 900 gal duplex gas-fired domestic water heaters with a 77 gal thermal expansion tank and two thermostatic mixing valves.

There are three different temperature ratings for the hot water piping in the building. They include supply and return lines at 120oF, 140 oF, and 160 oF running to various plumbing equipment throughout the hotel. All plumbing fixtures including the lavatories, sinks, showers, bathtubs, water closets, and urinals are vented through 4 inch vents through the roof.

The natural gas service main is 6 inch piping with 22,905 MBH heating capacity. The main pipe branches off and splits before entering the building in the parking level through water-tight sleeves with a 4 inch pipe at 12,105 MBH and a 8 in pipe at 10,800 MBH. The 4 inch pipe has a pressure of 2 psi, and it runs to the three fossil-fuel boilers in the parking level mechanical room. The 8 in pipe is at 10 in wc and runs through the hotel to all the rooftop units and the laundry room equipment.

The storm water system roof drains located on the guest room tower and penthouse roofs. These run down to the ground floor and parking levels through 4 in drain pipes. The lower roofs above the ground and second floors primarily drain into 4 inch roof drains. All the roof drains tie in together around the perimeter of the hotel and exit out through 8 in, 10 in, or 12 in drains. The parking garage level floor drains and the roof drains from above the restaurant and kitchen run through a 320 gpm sump pump prior to exiting the building.

Structural:

The parking level floor is made of 5 in thick slab-on-grade concrete, reinforced with 6x6 W2.0x2.0 welded wire fabric. The ground floor concrete framed slab is mostly 9 in thick and is reinforced with #5 rebar at 12 in on-center each way. The concrete columns for the parking level and ground floor vary in size and shape. Typical shapes are square and rectangular, and sizes range from 12 in x 12 in to 18 in x 18 in and 14 in x 26 in to 18 in x 26. These columns all have different amounts of rebar reinforcing depending on location and loading. There are a total of 93 different concrete beam sizes ranging in sizes from 14 in x 8 in all the way up to 14 in x 75 in and 42 in x 42 in. Other non-typical concrete floor slabs vary in size from 5 in to 12 in thick.

The second floor is primarily 9 in concrete framed slab, reinforced with #5 rebar at 12 in on-center each way. This is the flooring under the mechanical room, exercise room, laundry room, offices, and meeting rooms. The rest of the second floor is the double-story height area above the meeting rooms. Here the main structural steel supports are W8x31 beams, framed around the perimeter by W16x26 beams and several HSS 8x8x1/2 columns along the exterior wall. The adjacent pre-function area is framed by W16x45 beams and W16x40 girders along the perimeter and is spanned by 20LH4 open-web joists and diagonal bracing. The porte cochere also has a structural steel frame with varying sizes of W18 beams and 28LH11, 28LH09, and 28LH07 open-web joists.

The third floor is mostly 9 in concrete framed slab, reinforced with #5 rebar at 12 in on-center each way, under the guest room areas. The roof above the large meeting rooms is composed of 52DLH13 joists, framed by W12x26 and W16x50 beams and W10x33 and W10x39 columns along the exterior walls. The swimming pool roof has W27x94 and W14x30 beams, W24x55 girders, and W10x33 columns. The double-story height lobby area has 24LH11 joists, framed by W18x50 beams.

The fourth through eleventh floors and the penthouse are made of 7-1/2 in post-tensioned concrete slabs, reinforced with #4 rebar at 30 in on-center each way. The penthouse floor and eleventh floor roof is made of 9 in post-tensioned concrete slab, reinforced with #5 rebar at 24 in on-center each way.

Additional Engineering and Engineering Support Systems

Fire Protection:

The fire protection system consists of many components. Many of these can be found in the water service/pump room on the parking level, including the fire pump control panel, automatic transfer switch, the 75 hp fire pump, and the jockey pump and controller. Communication fire protection equipment is located at elsewhere in the hotel. The fire command center, fireman's override panel, and fire alarm system control panel are all stationed just inside the main entrance vestibule on the ground floor near the lobby seating area. The 4 in x 2-1/2 in x 2-1/2 in fire department Siamese connection with two-way inlet is located on the southern side of the hotel just outside of the pre-function area.

Some other components of the fire protection system include the following items. Smoke detectors are located in all interior spaces for complete detection coverage. Heat detectors can be found in the elevator shafts. A firefighter's telephone jack and announcement speaker are positioned in each elevator car, in case of an emergency. Also, an automatic sprinkler system helps to prevent the spread of smoke and flames throughout the hotel.

The 6 in main pipe for the fire protection service comes in to the service/pump room in the parking level. In addition to several standpipes up from the parking level into the ground and second floors, there are two main standpipe risers in the stairwells from the parking garage level up through the guest room tower to the eleventh floor and penthouse. These 6 inch fire standpipes/sprinkler risers and 2 in sprinkler drain discharges branch off with 4 in branch wet pipes for the sprinkler systems on every floor.

The parking garage level is split into two dry sprinkler systems above all open parking spaces. On the ground floor, there are dry pipe sprinklers above loading dock and porte cochere areas. The wet pipe sprinkler systems are installed everywhere else on the parking level, ground floor, and all of the second through eleventh floors and the penthouse.

All the common areas, offices, and guest suites are designated with a "light" hazard classification. The mechanical rooms, storage rooms, kitchen, restaurant, laundry, swimming pool, and housekeeping areas are all listed as having an "ordinary" hazard classification.

Transportation:

Pedestrian transportation in the hotel occurs in several areas. The main passageways for people to walk are through the many corridors located in the building, most notably on all the guest room floors, which are the third through eleventh levels. The hotel has two main staircases in the guest room tower located at opposite ends of those corridors.

The four elevators serving the hotel are the main mode of vertical transportation for guests and employees. Two elevators are located on either side of the elevator lobby area. Three of the elevators have a 3500 lb capacity, and the fourth has a 4000 lb capacity. The three elevators make 11 stops at 11 openings for 103 ft of total travel distance. The fourth makes 12 stops at 12 openings for almost 116 ft of total travel distance. This is because it also travels down to the parking level, and the other three only service the ground floor and up.

Telecommunication:

All 280 of the guest rooms in the tower of the hotel are provided with phone and data jacks, as well as cable television service. Most of the guest room suites are also wired with internet connections to accomodate the frequent business traveler.

Each guest room floor, which is levels three through eleven, also has a communication room where all the services are distributed from a telephone/communication grounding busbar. The busbars from all nine floors are connected to a primary telephone/communication main grounding busbar located in the telephone/communication room on the parking level.

Special Systems:

Acoustics:

Several locations under the third floor slab require 2 in of rigid sound insulation to inhibit the transfer of sound from the mechanical rooms and laundry rooms on the second floor to the guest room areas above.

For the numerous wall constructions used in the hotel, only several of the wall types had a minimum STC (sound transmission class) value specified in the drawings. These STC values range between 35 and 55, depending on the wall construction materials and the location of the wall in the building. Also, it is important to point out that many of the walls have no minimum STC value assigned to them since noise considerations are not a major concern in those areas.

Shading:

On the south-facing walls of the hotel, a high majority of the windows have some protection from direct summer solar radiation with the placement of sun shades above many of them. These ornamental sun shades are located above the porte cochere and restaurant areas. Additional roof sun shades can be found on top of all the windows in the guest room tower.

The basis of design for these sun shade devices follows that of the C/S Group "Motorola" model. The outrigger sun shade metal wings with 8 in wide airfoil-shaped holes cut in them are attached to pieces of structural pipe and then fixed to the exterior of the building.

Security:

The main security office is located on the ground floor level away from the public spaces near the employee office area. Some equipment found in this room that serves the entire building includes the remote generator alarm panel, security panel, alarm identification panel, and closed-circuit television monitoring panel.