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Construction

The Southwest Student Housing building is a dormitory building to be constructed near the campus of Arizona State University, along Apache Boulevard. The Romani Group Inc. provided the estimate for this building as an Agency CM. The overall estimated cost is approximately $38,000,000 (the cost per square foot comes out to about $135). The project was scheduled to begin in March of 2010 but encountered delays due to financial reasons. The proposed schedule estimates 9 months of project planning and preconstruction, and another 8 months to fully construct the project.

Structural

The structural system for the SW housing building is sleek and simple: 3 8" thick, 25'x25' concrete cores spaced evenly through the length of the building. The cores take the entire gravity load of the building, and provide the building's lateral force resisting system. Skanska designed these cores, with initial concept developed by the Thornton-Termohlen Group. The concrete cores are slipformed up to their full height before the floors are constructed. Once the cores are complete, each of the structural steel and metal deck floors (with lightweight concrete topping) is constructed on the ground and lifted into place via strand jacks at the corners of the cores.

Electrical

The electrical system comes with some careful planning. The interior partition walls arrive on site fully assembled, pre-plumbed and pre-wired so that the electrical system can be connected the moment the floor is lifted into place and secured to the core. Each floor will have one main panel, and subs at every individual "apartment" unit.

Lighting

The SW housing building is a conventional dormitory building aimed at cost-effective construction. As a result, the aim of the lighting is simplicity and utilitarianism. In every unit, the ceiling structure is exposed, so the lighting has to accommodate for the potential of dark ceilings. The entire lighting system will be modular, and will be slid into place under each floor as it is getting constructed on the ground. T8's will be used in conventional fixtures to light the majority of the spaces.

Mechanical

The mechanical system, like the lighting system, will be modular. Each module will be slid into place along the corridor of the floor plan as each floor is assembled on the ground. These modules have been designed by Limbach Company and supplied by WSP Flack & Kurtz. The mechanical system will consist of air handling units and fan coil units dispersed on each floor, with the water chiller located on the first floor of the building. All vents and pipes to bring air and water to each floor will run up along the cores and branch out at the ceiling of each floor and into the individual units.

Transportation

The long, thin floor plan of this building creates the need for vertical transportation in every concrete core. The central core contains four traction elevators that open onto a lobby at the first floor. The two end cores in the building have stairwells running the entire length. All the cores are connected via a 6' corridor that runs through the majority of the building length.

Fire Protection

The fire protection for the SW housing building is primarily passive. Each floor has a 3-1/4" lightweight concrete topping with no spray-on fireproofing, yielding a 2-hour fire rating. The stairwells are located within the concrete cores, which have an inherent 3-hour fire rating. The active system for the building consists of sprinklers spread throughout each floor.