Building Statistics

General Building Data

Primary Project Team

Architecture

The Hunter’s Point South Intermediate School & High School is a new, 5 story public school for grades 5 through 12. Located in the PS 287 Queens School District, Hunter’s Point will house roughly 1,000 students. The building will contain 26 classrooms, 8 special education classrooms, several laboratories, library, full size gymnasium, cafeteria, kitchen, auditorium, and most architecturally significant, a nearly 4000sf roof terrace.
          As part of the Hunters Point South Project (a redevelopment of the Queens area) this building will be architecturally modern, as to blend in with the new developing community. A large cantilever hovering over the roof terrace, polygonal depressions in the building, and trapezoidal shaped windows make this building architecturally interesting. Blending grey brick, slate veneer, perforated steel panels, orange aluminum composite panels, and glass curtain walls adds to the aesthetics of the building.

Zoning

Hunter’s Point South School is located in zone M1-4. This zone is designated as a light manufacturing zone, which allows light industrial and public access structures. Hunter’s Point South School does not have any historical significance, and thus has no special zoning requirements.

Major Codes

• New York State codes:
• 2008 New York City Building Code
• 2007 Building Code
• 2007 Mechanical Code
• 2007 Plumbing Code
• 2007 Fire Code
• 2007 Conservation Construction Code
• 2007 Fuel Gas Code

• 2005 National Electric Code (NEC2005)

Façade

The building façade consists of multiple materials. On the upper floors, grey Manganese Ironspot smooth modular brick over 6” lightweight CMU was used. The first floor, with a 2” honed finished slate stone veneer, is supported by a 6” CMU wall along the north, south, and west facades.
Curtain wall glazing and windows are aluminum framed with a 1” preassembled clear annealed float glass system (comprised of a 1/8” annealed exterior sheet, 60mil polyvinyl Butyral interlayer, and 1/8” interior sheet with low-e coating). On the first and second floors, an Insulated Translucent Sandwich Panel System (ISTSPS) was used. This system allows for 15% light transmission, and has a NFRC certified U factor of 0.28. Surrounding the curtain walls are 4mm thick aluminum composite panels with cupral 913 fluoropolymer finish.

Roofing

The roof structure for this building consists of concrete on metal deck (preformed aluminum deck in some places), finished with 24”x24”x2” thick concrete paver with 4” rigid insulation. For weather resistant covering, there is a 215mil fabric reinforced, rubberized asphalt membrane.

Sustainability

Hunter’s Point South School, a LEED Silver building, follows the NYC Green Schools Guide in lieu of the USGBC approach. Some notable sustainability features of this building include (but not limited to) the following:

• Occupancy Sensor controlled lighting
• Self-adjusting ventilation systems
• Solar shading
• Use of local materials (within 500 mile radius)
• Use of recycled materials

Primary Engineering Systems

Lighting

The typical lighting system in this building consists of primarily fluorescent lighting. This is a combination of 32W linear fluorescents and 32W compact fluorescents (CFL’s). In addition to these, there are a few other sources which include: incandescent, halogen, metal halide, ceramic metal halide, and LED.

There are multiple control zones used in this building, most of which are organized by space type/classification. All instruction spaces, which include IS/HS classrooms, art rooms and project rooms, are all to be controlled by a timer/occupancy sensor with manual override switch. The gym, library, auxiliary exercise, IS/HS café and student locker rooms, are all to be controlled by a timer with key override switch. The general/principal office and custodian office are to be controlled by occupancy sensor with manual override switch. All public toilets and restrooms are a timer, with no manual override switch. The lighting in the stair wells are given two zones – one for normal lights, and one for emergency lights. The emergency lights are on a timer with key override switch, whereas the normal lights are operated solely on a timer with no manual override switch. All mechanical, electrical and plumbing spaces are to be operated by a wall switch. All other interior spaces that do not fall into the previously mentioned categories are controlled with a timer/occupancy sensor or a wall switch. The following areas are all controlled by a timer/photo sensor: main entrance exterior (emergency lights), exit door exterior (emergency lights), exterior sidewalk lights and exterior roof terrace lights. The roof exterior lighting is controlled simply by a wall switch. The fire rescue area, which includes the emergency lighting, is controlled by a timer/occupancy sensor with override switch. All of the exit signs located throughout the building remains on at all times.

Electrical

This buildings electrical distribution system is a simple radial system in that there is a single entry point into the building, and everything else branches out radially from there. The main service entry point for this building is in the main electric closet located on the (plan) North wall of the building. “Main Switchboard #1 (MS1)” is the center point of this radial system.
It is from MS1 that all other loads in the building are connected. The two side-by-side electric rooms on each floor serve as the main means of routing conduit and wire. One room is dedicated to panelboards that only connect to normal power, and the other contains panelboards connected to the emergency generator. Each room contains its own riser shaft for wire and conduit. This keeps the normal power and emergency power wiring separate.
The generator, located on the roof of the building in the emergency generator room, provides power to the critical building loads in the event of a power outage. Some of these loads include: emergency/egress lighting, two (2) elevators, telecom equipment, and the fire and jockey pump which are critical to the operation of the schools sprinkler system.

Structural

A geotecnical survey performed by Langan Engineering shows soil types ranging from silty sand to clay. Bedrock, consisting of Gneiss, starts at 40 feet below grade. The base floor of the building is a 12-inch, 4000 psi reinforced concrete slab on grade which is supported by grade and strap beams, steel H-piles, and 14" caissons.

The floor system in this building is 3 1/4" thick 3500 psi lightweight conrete on a 3" deep composite galvanized metal deck (18 gauge). All cast-in-place concrete slabs are reinforced with #4 gauge rebar, spaced 12" on-center.

Mechanical

Conditioned air is delivered via six air handling units (AHU's) located on the roof of the building. The first 3 units (1, 2, and 3), are variable air volume (VAV) AHU's that service the corridors, non-public spaces, office, and classrooms. The additional 3 units (3, 4, and 5), are constant air volume (CAV) AHU's that serve the gymnasium, cafeteria/kitchen, and auditorium. All of the air handling units utilize preheat coils and cooling coils with a 35% and 30% propylene glycol-water mixture, respectively.

Additional Systems

Tele/Data

There are vertically stacked telecommunication closets on each floor. These rooms are located at the rear of the elevators on each floor, and hold the primary ladder trays allowing for the vertical circulation of the system through the building. An “LON data enclose,” “LDF data rack,” and “IDF system backboard” in each floors telecom closet serves as the main termination point for horizontal tele/data runs. The main radial point for these is the “LON Cabinet,” “Main Data Rack,” and “MFD,” all located in the first floor telecommunication closet.

Video Surveillance

Located in the main telecom closet on the first floor is the “Video Surveillance Equipment cabinet” and the “Main Data Rack (MDR)” that serve as the main radial point for the video security system. Located in the other telecom closets on the 2-5th floors serve as the main horizontal termination points for the dome enclosed PTZ surveillance cameras. These cameras are strategically located at the interior and exterior of all entrances to the building, as well as in the main corridors of the building.

Auxiliary Alarm

Stacked panels in the telecom closets on each floor serve the auxiliary indicator panels, low voltage push buttons, the general office auxiliary momentary program signal push buttons, and remote A/V signaling devices for the auxiliary alarm system.

Intrusion Alarm

Stacked panels in the telecom closets on each floor serve the intrusion alarm control panels, wide angle passive infrared motion detectors, long range passive infrared motion detectors, intrusion alarm siren/strobes, magnetic door contacts, and remote keypads.

Fire Rescue Intercom

The stacked electrical closets serve as the vertical circulation for the fire rescue intercom system. There are three (3) master intercom stations located in the 3rd and 4th floor principal’s office, as well as the custodian’s office on the first floor. Staff intercom stations are located in rooms 213, 317, 417/419, and 517.

Audiovisual

Junction boxes located in each telecom closet provides connections to the building’s clock and sound system. This system serves the administrative control stations, microphone cables, loudspeaker/clock cables, privacy/call-in switches, AM/FM antennas, analog clocks, and the local sound system (which includes 2 loudspeakers and 1 microphone).

Fire Protection

This system contains both upright and concealed sprinkler heads, with a wet standpipe. Two 8" pipes leading into the building serve as the main water feed, and terminate in the Fire Pump/Plumbing/Lab Support Room on the first floor - all piping for this system is served from this room. The 1000 gpm split case pump initially pressures the system, while multiple centrifugal jockey pumps sustain the pressure in the system.

Transportation

The vertical circulation needs of this building are accomplished with four stairwells and two elevators. There is one stairwell located at the North entrance, one at the South entrance vestibule, and another in the East of the building. The North stairwell extends to the roof where the mechanical penthouse is located. There is another (smaller) stairwell that connects only the gymnasium on the first floor, and the excercise facility on the second floor. The two elevators are located in the center of the building at the intersection of the two major hallways.

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