Thomas Caldwell

Construction Management
The Rockville Library
Rockville, Maryland

This is a student-generated Capstone Project e-Portfolio (CPEP) produced in conjunction with the AE Senior Thesis e-Studio.

Welcome The Rockville Library AE Senior Thesis E-Portfolio

Building Name-

The Rockville Library

Location + Site-

99 Maryland Avenue , Rockville, Maryland. The new Rockville Library is one of the centerpieces of the new town center project located following the curvature of the main town road of Maryland Avenue.

Building Occupant Name-

The Montgomery County Department of Public Works and Transportation

Occupancy Types-

Public Library, retail space, administrative offices

Building Size-

Total - 102,400 ft^2
1st + 2nd Floor Library Spaces - 71,500 ft^2
3rd Floor Office Spaces - 27,400 ft^2
Retail Space - 3,500 ft^2

Stories-

3 Total Floors
1st Floor - Library, Retail Areas
2nd Floor - Library, Conference Rooms, Computer Labs
3rd Floor - Library Administration, County Agency Office Space

Primary Project Team

Owner-

The Montgomery County Department of Public Works And Transportation, Division of Operations, Capital Projects, and Development

Architect-

Grimm & Parker Architects, Steve Parker

Civil Engineer-

A. Morton Thomas + Associates Inc., Vasyl Mytsak

Structural Engineer-

CEI Engineering, Randy Heist

MEP Engineer-

Gipe Associates, Scott/Dixon/James Wright

Interiors-

Hodkinson Associates, Inc., Dayle Bentley

General Contractor-

Forrester Construction Company

Project Executive - Gary Dean
Project Manager - Tom Willerton
Assistant Project Manager - Danny Muttamara

Dates Of Construction-

January 2005 ---> June 2006

Actual Cost Information -

26.3 Million Dollar estiamated project cost before any changes occur

Project Delivery Method-

A Design-Bid-Build with a competitive bid made to hire a General Contractor to manage the construction process

Architecture

In the design of the new Rockville Library, the group of Grimm + Parker Architects wanted to make a building that would be a living commemoration to the major scientific studies that occurred locally. The building is one large representation of a double helix, which subtly pays homage to the mapping of the human genome that occurred in Rockville, Maryland. Overall, the building will follow the curvature of Maryland Avenue, while the exterior wall will surge along the curve; a subtle reference to one half of a double helix. The landscaping along the Maryland Avenue facade will complete the other side the double helix. This signature element of the library's design will give a unique physical expression that will make a memorable, inviting impression on visitors to the New Town Center. There are towers at two prominent corners. The one at the corner of Beall and Maryland Avenues will mark the gateway to the New Town Center and also will be highly visible to motorists on Rockville Pike. The second tower, at the corner of Maryland Avenue and the center, will serve as a marquee for the library and will attract the eye from Maryland Avenue to the south facing plaza facade to the main entrance. A glass roofed canopy will extend out to the plaza to invite entry. A tall portico element expresses entrance at a large scale and will be visible from beyond the plaza area.

Major National Codes-

IBC 2003, NFTA 101, Life Safety Code 2000

Zoning/Historical Requirements-

N/A

Building Envelope

The building envelope makes use of both aesthetic and functional elements to create an inviting atmosphere and a centerpiece for the New Town Center. The envelope consists of an exterior curtain wall system that is made of mostly glass, cast stone, and brick wall panels. The shape of the envelope includes several bows and curves that lead to the rounded corner towers of the two prominent sides of the building. These coves and bends create paths to the several entryways into the library, retail, and public spaces, the main entrance being a 3 story canopy on the south end of the building. The western wall specifically curves to follow the main road in town, Maryland Avenue, which creates a gateway into the New Town Center. The envelope itself is made of primarily glass to allow natural sunlight to pass into the building to create an easy reading environment for the library space. The cast stone and brick wall panels match the neighboring building to create the uniform look of the plaza. Aluminum storefront and metal panels are also present on the exterior to line the windows and emphasize the retail spaces. The roofing system is built-up with aluminum trim and steel decking with areas of concrete slab to hold rooftop mechanical units.

Construction

The construction process on the Rockville Library is pretty straightforward as far as major building projects are concerned. The project was bid out already designed and to be managed by a general contractor. The general contractor chosen was The Forrester Construction Company. Due to the rather small scale of the building the scheduling process was no too strenuous. The main concern was in understanding and creating a plan to construct all the intricate details that the architects created in this project. Specialty subcontractors had to be brought in so that the unique atmosphere the architects intended would be brought to form. Especially in the masonry, interior, and lighting areas due to the abundance of curves on the exterior and interior of the building and the need to suitably light the entire library space. With proper subcontractors in place that understand these systems, the project has run very smoothly.

Construction timetables were coordinated very well on this project in relation to the seasons as well. Demolition of the previous building and excavation of the new site begins in the winter and completes in time to begin working on the concrete foundation as the weather gets warmer. Construction continues through the warm weather and when the winter and cold weather begins again the building is scheduled to be entirely enclosed so that workers are sheltered from the elements. Interior construction continues and finishes in the summer of 2006. Also the site is located in an open area that is prepared for construction already due to the surrounding renovation to the plaza. A lot of headaches from creating a manageable site in a crowded area are taken away due to the location being previously prepared for construction. The only concern is coordination with other crews that are renovating nearby so that paths are not crossed.

Electrical

The electrical system for the new Rockville Library is suitable for a state-of-the-art learning center. The system is set up to support several lighting and power needs from all the computer labs running through the building. The main transformer is 960 kVa and there are 8 transformers located throughout the building. The power is a mostly 480/277 V with a 3 phase 4 wire system. The lighting voltage primarily being 480/277 V and the receptacles being 208/120 V. In general a lot of power is needed to ensure the lighting and computer loads of this facility are taken care of. Main panelboards are located on every floor in central and isolated utility closets for easy maintenance.

Lighting

With the necessity to create an environment totally conducive to reading and working, lighting was a very important feature to the library's design. Lighting systems will typically utilize fluorescent T-8 thick-coated 4-foot linear lamps and electronic ballasts. The lobby and entrance corridor utilize downlights and are provided 13 W twin tube compact fluorescent lamps to illuminate the space. The lighting system in offices, meeting rooms, and corridors are comprised of recessed parabolic louver fluorescent troffers. In library stack areas, where no ceiling grid is present, pendant mounted direct/indirect fluorescent fixtures will be used. In general, lighting will not be centrally monitored by a control system; local switches will mainly manage it. Motion sensors and time-controlled shutdowns are the only exceptions to local switching which manage the lighting in office spaces and corridors to conserve energy. The main focus of the lighting system was to reach target illumination levels in order to create a highly visible atmosphere. In reading and working areas such as offices, meeting rooms, computer labs, and active stack areas the goal was to reach 50 footcandles of lighting so that visibility would be clear and work unhampered.

Mechanical

The mechanical systems of the Rockville Library are designed to create spaces that are flexible, functional, energy efficient, and respond to the needs of the facility. This system will be controlled by an Automatic Temperature Control/Energy Management System, which will create the appropriate thermal environment for all building spaces. The HVAC system consists of 3 different types of distribution methods selected based on the size and desired noise levels of each building space. In the stack area a constant volume terminal reheating system is used, office areas use a variable air volume system, while in the meeting rooms conditioning units circulate airflow. The building will be heated by means of a Central Heating Water Plant with a heating water circulating system serving hot water heating coils located in air handling units, unit heaters, convectors, and other parts of the HVAC system. The library will be cooled through the use of a central chilled water plant with a chilled water circulating system serving chilled water coils located in air handling units. In total the HVAC system uses 7 air handling units; 2 on the roof with another 5 located around the building. Ductwork is mainly made of galvanized steel rectangular duct that is concealed by a ceiling grid. In general the mechanical system is concealed from view yet is made easily accessible for maintenance through their centralized locations. The majority of mechanical equipment is stored in mechanical closets on the 2nd and 3rd floors including the boilers, hot water generators, pumps, air handling units, and the Automatic Temperature Control/Energy Management System. The remainder of major mechanical units is located on the roof including cooling towers, air handling units, and circulating fans.

Structural

The Rockville Library is supported by a system of structural steel columns, beams, and girders. This steel skeleton consists of beams sizes mainly being W 16x26, 18x35, and 12x16, while girder sizes are mostly W 21x57 and 24x62. This support system is the backbone to the library and allows for the concrete slabs and foundation to not bear a lot of weight. The building foundation is concrete footings while the floors are also made out of concrete slabs. The floor slabs are only 5” thick in most areas of the library not only due to the steel supports, but the lack of dead and live loads in most of the areas building space because of open reading areas and conference rooms. The only dead loads that the structure is concerned in supporting are bookshelves and mechanical units on the upper floors. Live loads shouldn’t be overwhelming to the structure either since the public library doesn’t expect there to be an abundant number of occupants in the space at any one period of time.

Fire Protection

Although a library isn’t a likely place for a major fire to occur, the new Rockville Library’s fire protection system is capable of handling any emergency if one was to occur. Sprinkler heads are positioned in even grids throughout every room in the building in correspondence with local fire codes. Viking Microsoft sprinkler heads with recessed excursion panels are placed within the ceiling grid of all areas of the library. These sprinklers distribute water in case of a fire using a basic wet pipe system through most areas of the building. On the lowest building level a quick response system is put into place by integrating smoke detectors with sprinkler heads to prepare the sprinklers for a possible emergency situation. Water is dispersed into the sprinkler pipes where they await for the heads to be activated by heat indication at which point they release onto the fire. Standpipes are also present in the stairwells of the building making this project completely consistent with all local fire codes.

Telecommunications

The main point of telecommunications will be present in a room located off the entrance foyer. Telephone and date conduit will be distributed from this point to individual outlets. Under the specifications the owner will furnish HUB equipment for the data system and the CAT 5E copper cabling that will be present for most of the system. System flexibility will be the main emphasis of the communication system distribution. Floor boxes and underfloor raceways will be utilized in the open library space along with cable trays leading to the corridor ceiling spaces. 4" PVC conduit will be provided to run the telephone cabling system and the video network cable television system. FIBERNET fiber optic cables will also run through cable trays above the ceiling grid to set up the computer lab areas. This wiring system will ensure the library runs as a state of the art learning facility and provides sufficient office communication abilities.

Transportation

Since the Rockville Library project isn't considered to be large in size, being only 3 stories and about 100,000 ft^2, the necessity for a major indoor transportation system wasn’t needed. Instead the main concern was making sure every area of the library was accessible to all library patrons and aesthetically intriguing. First, it was important for the building to be completely handicap accessible so a pair of elevators were installed in the southwest lobby corner. These elevators are standard under-the-car single cylinder hydraulic elevators capable of carrying 3500-4500 lbs. of load and able to travel at 125 feet per minute. Two additional stairwells are located at the east and west ends of the building and are accessible from the exterior to free up building traffic from the main lobby. The main focus of transportation through the building is at the central area of the front lobby where a 2-story elliptical stairwell rises as one of the aesthetic centerpieces of the building. This staircase is visible from the exterior and is one of the features of the building that makes people want to experience the library's unique atmosphere.

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