Michael W. Reilly Jr.
Mechanical
Option

Nassau Community College
Life Sciences Building

Garden City, NY

Building Statistics
Building Name
Nassau Community College Life Sciences Building
Location
Garden City, NY
Building Occupant
Nassau Community College
Occupancy Types
Laboratory/Classrooms/Office
Size
72,400 SF
Number of Stories
3 Stories, Basement, Penthouse
Dates of Construction
March 2010 - January 2012
Delivery Method
Single Prime Contract
Cost
$30 Million
Project Team
Owner
Nassau Community College
One Education Drive
Garden City, NY 11530
Construction Manager
Jacobs Project Management Co.
1225 Franklin Avenue Suite 325
Garden City, NY 11530
Architect
Cannon Design
360 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Structural Engineer
Cannon Design
2170 Whitehaven Road
Grand Island, NY 14072
Mechanical Engineer
Cannon Design
2170 Whitehaven Road
Grand Island, NY 14072
Electrical Engineer
Cannon Design
360 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Plumbing/Fire Protection Engineer

AMA Consulting Engineers, P.C.
47 Hillside Avenue
Manhasset, NY 11030

AV Consultant
CMS Innovative Consultants
8 Fletcher Place
Melville, NY 11747
Site/Civil Engineer
Dvirka & Bartilucci Consulting Engineers
330 Crossways Park Drive
Woodbury, NY 11797
Landscape Architect
Michael Michel, ASLA
9 Village Square
Glen Cove, NY 11542
Code Consultant
Code Consultants, Inc.
215 W40th Street
New York, NY 10018
IT/Security Consultant

TM Technology Partners, Inc.
250 W39th Street
New York, NY 10018

Acoustical Consultant
Cerami & Associates, Inc.
404 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
 

Architecture

The Life Sciences Building was designed to easily connect to the greater campus with spaces to accommodate the overall student population with computer labs, general lecture halls, large group study space and impromptu meeting space with faculty. Furthermore, the building contains main entry points welcoming students from the southern campus side and northern courtyard side as well as an evenly distributed vertical circulation throughout the building.

The areas accessible for the general student population are located on the first (Ground) floor. Level 2 is home to the Chemistry Department’s laboratories, lab support spaces and faculty offices. The first of the two laboratory levels houses the labs. This is done in order to optimize code restrictions for maximum chemical storage. The upper (Third) floor contains the Nursing Skills practice ‘labs’ and the majority of the Nursing faculty offices. The segregation of Chemical and Nursing Departments allow for the separation the general student population. The separation allows for a higher level of safety when transporting chemicals for the Chemistry Department and presents the Nursing Department with the ability for create a stronger identity and grow.

The majority of the chemical storages spaces are located in the partial basement along with some of the mechanical equipment. The basement is secured with restricted access only for department faculty and authorizes personnel. Chemicals as well as furnishings, equipment and office products are received through a small receiving area located at street level along the Western perimeter road. Waste and Recycling dumpsters are located across from the receiving area. The dumpsters are hidden by concrete walls, which are covered with digitally printed graphics.

Applicable Codes:

  • New York State
    • Building Code (2007)
    • Mechanical Code (2007)
    • Plumbing Code (2007)
    • Fire Code (2007)
    • Energy Conservation Construction Code (2007)
  • National Electric Code
  • NFPA-70
  • Nassau County Fire Prevention Ordinance (NCFPO)
  • Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Note: No zoning requirements or historical exceptions.

Building Enclosure

Building Façade: Nassau Community College Life Sciences Building’s building façade is a curtain wall system comprised of copper rainscreen panels, porcelain stone tile and clear, low-e, insulated glass. Certain areas of glass contain a shadow box to block visibility to interior spaces while maintaining continuity with the façade. The copper panels and glass are oriented in rectangular grid-like pattern around all vertical exteriors of the 3 floors. The porcelain stone tile is located at the main entrance to the building facing the campus. A visual image of the building façade can be found in Figure 1 below.

The Penthouse is made up of corrugated anodized aluminum and painted, frameless metal powder coated louvers in the color pewter to relate to the copper panels. The aluminum is oriented in horizontal bands around the Penthouse exterior, which allows for the blending of the mechanical louvers.

Roofing
: The third floor roof is an EPDM over extruded polystyrene with a surrounding parapet, which maintains the copper material with copper coping. The Penthouse roof is similar to the third floor roof with the EPDM, but it is over a tapered rigid insulation, which is on top of fiberglass board.

Canopy
: Nassau Community College Life Sciences Building contains a series of canopies over a few of the building’s entrances. The canopy is clear anodized aluminum over the main and stair entries. The canopy is cantilevered and connected to the building’s braced frame with steel tubes. The canopy over the courtyard entrance is a continuous piece of painted welded steel, which is self-supporting.


Figure 1: Extior Rendering of the Life Sciences Building displaying the
architectural features described in the section above.

Sustainability

Nassau Community College Life Sciences Building has a LEED registered project checklist with the USGBC with a possible 69 points, which would give a Platinum certification. The project team and owner have a goal of at least LEED Gold certification.

There have been several design implementations that allow for the high point potential. The building footprint is less than 50% of the site area. Highly reflective concrete pavement has been specified on the exterior in order to reduce heat island effect. The Life Sciences Building will use 20% less water through efficient plumbing fixtures and enhanced commissioning will be used through Nassau Community College. Green power is being investigated through the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) to determine if there is the potential to use alternative power sources. Furthermore, through the construction process, recycled content and materials as well as certified wood has been specified.

Mechanical

The Life Sciences Building receives conditioned air from three air handlers located in the Penthouse. One of the air handlers is a 100 percent outdoor air unit due to the nature of the chemistry laboratories that it serves. The supply air to the laboratory spaces is exhausted through a laboratory exhaust system. Three large exhaust fans operate as one unit, which pulls contaminated air from the laboratories. Because this air handler is a 100 percent outdoor air unit, a heat recovery run-around loop transfers sensible heat from the exhaust fans to the air handler to either pre-heat or pre-cool the incoming outdoor air. All three air handlers are part of a variable air volume (VAV) system with terminal reheat coils.

The Life Sciences Building as well as the Nassau Community College campus is served by a campus-wide high temperature hot water and chilled water system. The high temperature hot water creates building hot water through several heat exchangers for the perimeter radiation, fan coils, cabinet unit heaters and air handler pre-heat coils. The 100 percent outdoor air unit’s pre-heat coil uses a glycol system, which is heated via heat exchanger by the high temperature hot water system. A primary/secondary system is utilized with the chilled water and high temperature hot water systems. Booster pumps have been designed for the chilled water system in the event that there is a decrease in pressure in the primary line. The majority of the heat exchangers and pumps are located along with the service entrance in the basement mechanical equipment room.

The Central Utility Plant that serves Nassau Community College is operated by Suez Energy and is comprised of a boiler and chiller plant. This 60 MW cogeneration facility produces 250 psig steam, 270°F high temperature hot water and 42°F chilled water that are distributed to the various surrounding facilities such as Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC), Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Long Island Marriott Hotel. Figure 1 below is a diagram provided by Parsons Brinckerhoff’s report that shows the location of the Central Utility Plant in red as well as the steam loads in blue stars and the high temperature hot water loads in yellow stars. Nassau Community College is denoted by the dotted yellow circle. Nassau Community College uses 50.6% of the high temperature hot water and chilled water produced by the Central Utility Plant compared to all buildings tapped into the high temperature hot water service.

Electrical

The Life Sciences Building electrical service begins with 13.8 kV service entering the basement to two double ended 1500 kVA substations, which step-down the voltage to 480Y/277V, 3 phase power. For redundancy, both substations are interconnected by a 4000A, 480/277V busduct. One substation also connects to the normal lugs of the three automatic transfer switches. There is an automatic transfer switch that serves the building emergency, optional and standby systems. The second substation connects to an 800A, 480/277V busduct that runs from the first to the third floors. The 800A busduct connects to the 208/120V step-down transformer on each floor as well as the 480/277V panels that distribute power throughout their respective floors.

A 500 kW/625 kVA emergency diesel generator will provide 480/277V, 3 phase power to the fire protection system, emergency light, penthouse and critical laboratory loads. Three emergency step-down transformers are located on each of the first, second and third floors to provide emergency power to the 208/120V lighting.

Lighting

The Life Sciences Building uses a variety of luminaries in the building. The typical fixture is a 1’x4’, which is utilized in the general classrooms, chemistry and nursing laboratories and offices. There is a photo controller located on the exterior of the penthouse facing north that is used to control the dimming ballasts for the exterior classrooms through lighting control panels on each floor. There are also occupancy sensors in the classrooms that are binary controls that help save energy during unoccupied periods.

Structural

The Life Sciences Building uses an all steel structure with a composite metal deck and concrete slab. The typical concrete slab is 6¼”, 3000 psi concrete. The sizes of the structural beams used throughout the building range from W12 to a W27 with the majority of beams being a W24x55. The building’s lateral forces are resisted by a moment frame on the western and eastern exterior walls and a braced frame on the northern and southern exterior walls. The foundation is a combination of a slab-on-grade for the western wing of the Life Sciences Building and spread and wall footings for the remaining building.

Construction

The project delivery method is a Single-Prime contract with Jacobs Project Management Co. as the construction manager. Construction of the Life Sciences Building began in March of 2010 and is scheduled to be complete in January of 2012 with a total cost of $30 million.

Plumbing/Fire Protection

The Life Sciences Building plumbing system begins with a 3” cold water service entrance through a meter and RPZ. A 1½” cold water line is supplied to two indirect-fired, domestic water heaters that supply the building with potable hot water. In the basement, there is a 6” house trap for the sanitary sewage system as well as a sewage ejector pit, a sump pump pit and a silt interceptor pit.

The fire protection system has an 8” fire service entrance with a double check detector assembly before it reaches a 60 HP, 1000 GPM fire pump. There is a 6” standpipe rising to the mechanical penthouse and two 4” standpipes rising to the third floors. All standpipes are located within the stairwells.

Telecommunication/Audio-Visual/Security

The Life Sciences Building telecommunication system is a series of CAT-6 cables distributed from the main telecommunication room in the basement to a telecommunication room on each floor for individual floor distribution. The CAT-6 cables end at wall-mounted outlets that are designated as telephone or Ethernet connections. There are also WIFI access points mounted in the ceiling throughout the building.

The audio-visual system contains a combination of projectors and speaker system integrated into each general classroom, computer room, chemistry laboratory and nursing laboratories. The projectors are ceiling mounted and the rooms are equipped with manual shades.

The security for the Life Sciences Building is comprised of a series of cameras strategically placed throughout the building as well as magnetic swipe card access to specific rooms of the building. Security cameras are placed at each entrance to the building, at the ends of the corridors and in the stairwells. Students do not need to have swipe access to the building, but it is necessary for entrance into each general classroom or laboratory. Swipe access blocks off the entire basement, which is where hazardous chemicals are stored.

User Note: While great efforts have been taken to provide accurate and complete information on the pages of CPEP, please be aware that the information contained herewith is considered a work‐inprogress for this thesis project. Modifications and changes related to the original building designs and construction methodologies for this senior thesis project are solely the interpretation of Michael W. Reilly Jr.. Changes and discrepancies in no way imply that the original design contained errors or was flawed. Differing assumptions, code references, requirements, and methodologies have been incorporated into this thesis project; therefore, investigation results may vary from the original design.

This page was last updated on September 13, 2010, by Michael W. Reilly Jr. and is hosted by the AE Department © 2010