GENERAL BUILDING DATA:
Building Name: August Wilson Center for African American
Culture
Location and Site: Liberty Avenue and William
Penn, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Building Occupant Name: August Wilson Center
for African American Culture
Occupancy or Function Types: The building will
open in phases. The first phase to open will be gallery and display
space. A 500 seat performance theater will be opened second.
Size: 63,000 Square Feet
Number of Stories About Grade: Two
Dates of Construction: Start Date – August 2, 2007.
Expected Duration – 18 months.
Cost: The budget cost decided by the owner is 23
million dollars. The project has come in over budget and value engineering
is taking place in order to achieve a final cost that is acceptable
to the owner.
Project Delivery Method: The project began with
a GMP contract. However, it is currently structured as a CM agent
with approximately 23-24 prime contracts.
ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION:
Design and Functional Components: The program
consists of a central performing arts theater surrounded by lobby
and gallery space. There is space allocated for both permanent
and temporary exhibits. There is a café off of the ground
floor lobby. The second level also includes a multi-purpose room,
classrooms and an open office area for administrative activities
related to the center.
Major National Model Codes: IBC 2003 (confirmation
from architect pending)
Zoning: Commercial
Historical Requirements: None. The site is owned
by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Pittsburgh. Requirements
must be met during the demolition and site preparation in order
for the ownership to transfer to the August Wilson Center.
Building Envelope: The building features several
exterior wall systems. The foundation and basement is cast-in-place
concrete to grade. Above grade structural steel with concrete/steel
decking and 6” metal stud walls forms the building envelope.
The exterior of the building features several materials including
2” insulated aluminum panel, ACM (Aluminum Composite) panels,
ribbed metal panels, aluminum/glass curtain wall, and 8”
CMU cavity wall. These systems are integrated and used in various
combinations throughout the building. The walls are insulated
with R19 batt insulation, and surfaced with 5/8” sheathing
and waterproof membrane. The roof is an EPDM system over tapered
insulation to provide adequate drainage. Parapet walls are used
as necessary and capped with metal coping.
CONSTRUCTION:
Turner Construction Company is the primary construction management firm for this project. The delivery method was original GMP with a project budget of 23.5 million dollars. When the project came in over budget, the method was switched to CM Agent with Turner as the CM and 23-24 prime contracts between the August Wilson Center and the contractor. This switch occurred in the summer of 2007.
With a location in downtown Pittsburgh, the site had previously been occupied and it was therefore necessary to complete demolition prior to beginning new construction. The site was owned by the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). When excavation began, soil contamination was discovered and the agreement with the URA stated that it must be remedied before the land ownership would be transferred.
A set of permit review drawings was released October 2, 2007. Due to the late shift in delivery method, Turner had to pre-purchase materials for early bid packages, such as the steel. The estimated length of construction is 18 months.
ELECTRICAL:
The building runs on a 208Y/120V, 3 phase, 4 wire electrical system and is connected to the Duquesne Light system. Service enters the building on the south side of the building where two transformers are located. Each transformer supplies a main switchboard. One of these switchboards supplies predominantly mechanical and equipment loads while the second switchboard supplies mainly lighting and other end-user loads.
Dimming equipment is necessary to accommodate theatre equipment and is also used for some of the general purpose spaces. The most unique part of the system is a motorized orchestra pit lift. However, this piece of equipment is slated to be added at a later time.
A 200KW diesel generator provides emergency power to certain parts of the system through two automatic transfer switches.
LIGHTING:
The building’s lighting system is faced with the challenge of responding to the building’s unique architectural form and varying materials. With open plenum ceiling that have open grids and vertical metal baffles, indirect lighting is not an option. Black acoustical blanket on the ceiling means the reflectance is very low.
Regular arrays of round downlights light the upper and lower lobbies. Accent and interest is provided by varying lighting in the adjacent spaces that connect to the lobby and by highlighting the oval shaped drum of the theater that protrudes through the entire building.
In the gallery spaces track lighting is used to provide a very flexible solution. Dimming systems are used in spaces such as the education room and meeting room to provide variable light levels. Motorized blackout shades are used to address the large amounts of daylight that will enter the spaces through the Liberty Avenue Façade.
The exterior lighting design is focused on accenting special elements rather than washing the entire façade. The building glows from the inside due to the large expanses of clear glass. The corner sail is highlight from inside and from in-grade recessed fixtures.
MECHANICAL:
Building heating and cooling is handled by five air handling units that are housed on the roof of the structure. The units contain DX coiling coils and steam heating coils. One of these units is also connected to the backup emergency system.
Additional heating is provided by baseboard radiant steam heat in the second floor lobby and education and lecture room. Special humidification for the exhibit spaces is provided by in an in-duct steam to steam system.
A steam and water room in basement of the building houses plumbing equipment, heating coils and other water related mechanical equipment.
STRUCTURAL:
The foundation of the building is provided by 10 to 12 inch poured concrete foundation walls which rest on grade beams. Concrete piles are used to support the columns. The basement level is only a portion of the area of the first level. On grade floors are concrete slab on grade. Where the basement level exists, the first floor is a two way structural concrete slab that is 10 inches thick or a 15-20” thick one way slab.
W shape steel columns support the second floor and roof loads. The column arrangement is not regular due to the generally triangular shape of the overall building and the oval shape of the theater core. The triangular system is a moment frame construction while the inner oval shape of the theater is a braced frame construction. Bent beams are used to make the curved theater walls.
FIRE PROTECTION:
With only two stories, the building does not require active fire protection throughout. Fire protection is provided around egress stairwells and elevators. It does however, utilize a sprinkler system throughout. A separate water service for the sprinkler system enters the building from the south where a main control system is located. A dry system is used to protect the two exhibit spaces while a wet system is used for the remainder of the building.
TRANSPORTATION:
The transportation system includes three elevators, one of which is a large elevator that can be used to move equipment. Only two of these elevators service the basement. The larger elevator connects through to the basement and two exhibit spaces.
The building has three standard egress stairwells one of which connects the basement. A grand staircase connects the two lobbies while two staircases provide direct pedestrian access to the balcony seating in the theatre.
A service entrance to the building is located on the south side of the structure and comes off of William Penn Place. This entrance provides a two bay loading dock with access to the stage area of the main theatre.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS:
The building communication systems consist of standard ethernet, and phone systems with a few items related to projectors and audio systems. The theatrical communication and audio systems will not be considered for this report. The main control and distribution panels are located in room 111 on the south side of the building. This is where service from Verizon enters the building below grade from the street. A secondary control station, room 211, is located directly above room 111.
The voice and data network runs throughout the building. This system will provide internet connectivity as well as phone lines to the various building spaces. This is especially relevant for the open office area. Various types of outlet boxes are used depending on the constraints of mounting locations. Everything from wall to floor to ceiling boxes are used, with various numbers of both voice and data jacks mounted together.
The overall audio and video system includes a regular array of speakers located through the lobbies of the building. Separate audio systems are in place for the café, education/lecture room, and meeting room. Audio system control for the lobbies is provided by an AV rack in the gift shop. Video projection systems are used in the café, gift shop, and education and lecture room, with two projectors in each space.
The security system consists of cameras located throughout the buildings lobbies and hallways. These are mostly in the first level of the main lobby with a few on the second level and some at the building entrances. Many of the building’s doors are operated with electronic card swipes. Some also have audio alarms.
