Building Statistics

General Building Data   Building Name Army National Guard Readiness Center Addition   Location 111 S. George Mason Dr. Arlington Hall, Arlington, VA   Building Occupant Army National Guard   Building Function Joint Headquarters Administrative Building   Size 251,000 Square Feet   Number of Stories 5 Stories above grade, 2 stories below grade and a mechanical penthouse   Duration of Construction December 2009-January 2011   Contract Value $100 Million   Project Delivery Method Design-Bid-Build with Lump Sum   Owner Army National Guard General Contractor Tompkins Builders, Inc. Architects/Engineers DMJM H&N I AECOM Architects/Engineers CH2M Hill

Architecture

Design & Functional Components:

The Army National Guard Readiness Center Addition is an eight story Joint Headquarters Administrative building addition. The building is comprised of a Plaza component, which consists of 3 larger levels below grade level, and a triangular shaped Tower component, which consists of 5 levels above ground and a mechanical penthouse. The larger levels below grade, will house special administrative areas within sensitive compartmented information facilities (SCIFs) as well as an auditorium, fitness center, and telecommunication center. The 5 story tower will house general office space, several conference rooms and a library. The addition embraces many of the same features of the existing facility and will include a one story bridge connecting the existing facility with the new building. Physical security features have also been incorporated into the design including maximum standoff distances, internal bracing to prevent progressive collapse, blast walls, berms, and bollards. The roof above the three below grade levels that are larger than the tower is an intensive green roof that acts as a large plaza for the tower which can be seen in figure 1. One of the most unique architectural features of the Army National Guard Addition is the steel tricorn that tops off the southern point of the triangular tower. This was added as a bid option for aesthetic features only. This facility is expected to achieve a LEED Silver certification rating.

Building Enclosure:

The facade of the Army National Guard Readiness Center addition is compromised of a unique combination of batter and ribbed precast concrete panels as well as a glazed aluminum curtain wall system. The curtain wall panels are constructed with aluminum and combinations of clear glass, fritted glass, and spandrel glass. Specific glass details have not yet been established. The curtain wall is attached to the edge of a concrete slab on metal decking floor system. The glazing, metal walls panels and frames were designed to act as one unified system to ensure hazard mitigation is effective and compliant with Force Protection Building classification and Department of Defense Building requirements.

There are two roofing systems used on this project, the main roofing of the tower and the green canopy at the plaza level. The main roofing system is rigid insulation topped with ballast over a single-ply waterproofing membrane. The roofing material has not yet been finalized but is expected to have an Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) equal to or greater than 78 to meet LEED standards. The flashing will be the same membrane as the single-ply membrane material. The parapet wall sheathing will be a glass-mat gypsum wall sheathing. The intensive green roof area is designed to sustain a wide variety of plant species including shrubs and small trees. This roofing includes a rubberized membrane that contains an inert clay filler and crumb rubber that enables the product to be resistant to acids from fertilizers. It will also contain polyester fabric reinforcing sheet, reinforced flashing membrane, a fiberglass root barrier protection course, a water retention mat, and filter fabric below an appropriate thickness of soil to sustain the growth of approved vegetation.

Primary Systems

Secondary Systems

Transportation:

There are two elevator pits in the new Army National Guard facility. Altogether there will be six (6) machine room less (MRL) elevators. Three of the elevators will be gear less service elevators (cars 4-6) and the other three will be passenger elevators (cars 1-3). All elevators will service every floor and car 5 will also service the penthouse level. Each elevator runs 350 feet per minute. The passenger cars have a platform size of 6'-8" wide by 5'-5" deep and the service elevators are 5'-8" wide by 7'-10 1/2" deep.

There are three stairwells in the building, two of which extend from the lowest level all the way to level 5T. The third set of stairs only reaches the three underground floors.  Stair Number 2 is the main stairwell.  It is centrally located on the plaza levels and in the tower levels it is along the southern point of the triangular.  It also is a unique architectural feature with its triangular shape, complete glass enclosure and topped off by the steel tricorn above the building.  This stair is to be constructed of structural steel and must by completed in conjunction with the cast-in-place concrete construction.  This requires a great amount of coordination between subcontractors and the GC.

Telecommunication:

The Army National Guard Readiness Center houses administrative and resource functions that provide liaison and support to the National Guard in all 50 states and territories, and to the federal government.  This requires multiple communication systems that are extremely secure and therefore there are at least two IT/Telecommunication rooms on each floor.  There will be 100% access flooring in all IT/Telecommunication rooms, conference rooms, and offices spaces to simplify coordination and removes items from the already cramped ceiling spaces.  All telecommunication systems will be fed through floor boxes installed in the access flooring system. 

Fire Protection:

Water service is available from two existing hydrants located on the west side of the building along George Mason Drive and at the northeast corner between the new and existing facility.  The hydrants provide 1520 Gallon per minute flow rate.  The building was designed for both light hazard areas, which require 0.10 GPM over 3,000 sq ft, and ordinary hazard areas which require 0.20 GPM over 3,000 sq ft.  Most of the building is sprinkled with an automatic wet-pipe system with concealed sprinklers and vertical sprinkler risers in the stairwells.  FM 200 system, which is a clean system, is used in the main server room where extremely sensitive electrical equipment is stored that would be easily damaged by water.  The FM 200 system is a colorless, non-toxic gas stored in two 300 gallon cylinders, which will release into the room and extinguish the fire within 10 seconds of detection.  All stairwells and elevator cores are two-hour fire rated as well as the provided areas of refuge.  The corridors, mechanical rooms, electrical rooms and IT/Telecommunication rooms are al 1 hour fire-rated.  The building is also fitted with a digital, addressable fire-alarm system whish will have manual stations, heat detectors, duet smoke detectors, verified automatic alarm operations, automatic sprinkler system water flow, fire extinguishing systems, and fire standpipe system.

Security System:

Due to the sensitive nature of this building advanced security systems were a necessary part or the design of the Army National Guard Readiness Center Addition.  Part of this system includes intrusion detection.  This protection will detect intrusion through protected areas throughout the building as well as through the building envelope.   It also covers surge protection to sensitive equipment, card key access to secure areas and controllers, annunciators, pull boxes and other system components.