William D. Cox

Construction Management

1099 New York Avenue

Washington, D.C.

Revised Thesis Proposal (1/28/2008)

This proposal serves as an revision to the plans I had outlined in the previous submission. Revisions include a deletion of Analysis IV, a modification to my MEP Coordination with Building Information Modeling Analysis, and a more in depth description of my breadth topics.

Thesis Proposal (12/17/2007)

This proposal serves as an outline for the issues I plan research and the analyses I plan to conduct in the spring semester. The four topic areas that will be explored include sustainability, MEP coordination with Building Information Modeling (BIM), the constructability of the east façade, and the scheduling impact from changing the completion date of the Main Lobby.

Analysis I

With energy conservation on everyone’s mind, building green has become a popular method in the industry as of late. As a competitive developer, Tishman Speyer is always looking to be at the forefront of the construction market with each of their high profile projects. I will investigate the current LEED status of the project and develop a outline that will include which aspects of the project can be altered to earn a LEED Silver Rating.

This analysis will feature both breadths for my research. Breadth work will be done in the Mechanical and Structural fields. A redesign of the mechanical system will be looked at as well as structural a close look at the implications for adding a green roof.

Mechanical Breadth

Typically on a project, the largest portion of LEED points comes from the mechanical system. As my Mechanical Breadth, I will redesign the building’s mechanical system to further comply with LEED requirements. This will include performing all of the necessary design calculations and sizing new equipment according to building loads. To perform this analysis for my project, I would begin by researching the common components that are used on sustainable projects through literature and survey, determine which ones would be integrated the best and appropriately size them for the building. In addition I will perform an assemblies estimate to provide cost differential information.

Structural Breadth

Currently, the roof of the building is designed to be accessible to the public. In light of this, the addition of a green roof becomes another valid LEED option. If vegetation were to be incorporated into a certain percentage of the roof area, the rating for the building would be higher. Of course changing the composition of the system would require investigation into the structural integrity of the current roof structure in order to ensure the new system can still be supported. As my structural breadth, I will determine how a green roof would alter the loading on the roof then compare it to the maximum load allowed. If the weight of the green roof exceeds that load, then I would have to calculate if a new slab thickness, additional reinforcement, or change in column stress would prove to be sufficient.

Analysis II

During core construction of the building it was discovered that although the MEP systems had been coordinated on the drawings, there was still difficulty with fitting all the components into the physical space. A redesign of the plenum space was required to ensure that each system fit. The same problem has been noticed in the lobby area as well. In an effort to remediate this issue, I will be looking at the different methods of MEP coordination that are currently employed by professionals and comparing them to methods that are utilizing BIM.

Analysis III

Below the east façade is a public alley that has to remain accessible for the duration of the entire project. This presents a sequencing problem with the trades since a swing station must be used in lieu of stick-built scaffolding. If the scaffolding were used, multiple trades could be working simultaneously as opposed to in succession of each other. I will be investigating both alternative façade and staging systems in this analysis.