Building Name:  University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) Building 7 Student Housing
Location: 6801 Preinkert Drive College Park, MD 20742
Building Occupant: University of Maryland
Occupancy: Residential
Size: 133,000 square feet
Height: 94 feet
Construction Dates: July 2008-Janurary 2010
Building Cost: $23.5 million
Delivery Method: Design-Bid-Build with a CM-at-Risk

Architecture

The University of Maryland College Park Dorm Building 7 (Building 7) is the final stage of the south campus master plan at the University of Maryland. Building 7 is the corner stone of the south campus entrance for all to take part of as they approach the campus. Building 7 is a nine story residential dorm in the shape of an unsymmetrical-U that compliments the adjacent two existing dorm buildings in architectural styles with its shape and material usage. This nine story-133,000 square feet residential building, houses 370 bedrooms, study lounges, seminar spaces and resident life offices. Building 7 is designed to reach a LEED Gold rating by utilizing many advanced strategies to reduce its carbon footprint.  It is to be built on an existing parking lot and replaces all vehicular spaces with bicycle parking. Along with the help of the floor plan natural ventilation and light is maximized to the units.

Building 7 has an average floor to floor height of 10 feet on each floor with an average floor area of 12,000-15,500 square feet per floor depending on shifts in the vertical plane. The terrace level houses the building’s electrical room and storage space for the overall building along with 7 units that vary between 2-4 bedrooms each. The terrace level is open to the courtyard in the center of the U-shape that houses plant life and areas for sitting. The first level housing a recycling area and loading areas for waste removal, the seminar room, resident life offices and 9 units, along with the main entry lobby. Floors two through eight are all similar to each other with the exception of the exterior walls protruding out further than others on the different floors. Each of these floors contains 12 units that have between 2-4 bedrooms. All nine of the floors contain a student study lounge so as to create a private area for students can go interact and learn. The layout of each floor is such that all of the rooms have an exterior view of the surrounding campus with a central corridor running the length of the building. The roof level houses the mechanical equipment along with the elevator and stair towers.

The units that make up the living spaces of Building 7 vary with the number of bedrooms due to how the geometry of the floor plan varies at different locations. Each unit has a common living area for congregating. Off of the common area is the kitchen that is supplied with the necessary equipment to prepare full meals. These two areas are centered in each unit with two bedrooms and a full bathroom on each opposite side. The zoning for Building 7 is based on the University of Maryland College Park Design Guide and also the Prince George’s County Planning Board’s ordinances. Building 7 is located in a dense residential district within College Park. The site and surrounding location is not restricted by any historical presence or setting.

Building Envelope

The façade and building envelope is comprised of light gage studs with a brick masonry veneer exterior around the entire building. There is rigid insulation on the exterior of the studs between the veneer with a 1.5 inch air cavity. The walls are filled with batt insulation and covered in drywall. The windows are fixed casement aluminum windows with cast stone sills to accent them. In the regions where the wall sections are pulled away from the primary facade, the wall system is composed of composite metal panel and cast stone veneer panels. The roof system is a EPDM classification which is a fully adhered system comprised of a waterproof membrane that is bonded to rigid insulation by mechanical and chemical means with appropriate flashing at the base of the parapets and where the brick meets the top of the parapet.

Building Systems of UMCP Dorm Building 7

Structural System

There are two different structural systems used throughout Building 7. The first system is a reinforced concrete on the lower two floors. The lower two floors is the Hambro Floor System. The overall depth of the members is 16” deep typically with a 5” thick concrete slab reinforced with 6x6-W4.0xW4.0 welded wire fabric. The second system that is on the upper 6 floors is a light gage stud design for both the gravity bearing walls and also for the shear walls on those levels. The floor system for the upper floors is also the Hambro Floor System. The overall depth of the members is 16” deep typically with a 3” thick concrete slab reinforced with 6x6-W2.9xW2.9 welded wire fabric.

The primary lateral system for Building 7 is shear walls. On each floor there are 16 shear walls spanning both directions of the building, 9 in the north-south direction and 7 in the east-west direction. The lower two stories shear walls are 10” thick reinforced concrete with 10#5’s on each end for flexure and for shear reinforcement there is #5@12” each way, each face. All concrete shear walls are 6ksi normal weight concrete. The upper floors shear walls are to be light gage studs with maximum stud spacing of 16” O.C. they are also have a minimum G90 galvanized coating and have a minimum gage of 16 for the studs while the tracks are permitted to have a 20 gage minimum.

The foundation system is composed of reinforced concrete grade beams 24”x30” with 3#8’s on the top and bottom with number #4 stirrups placed every 14”. The deep foundation is auger cast grout piles 16” in diameter. These piles are to be 65’ below elevation and are to be able to carry at 65 ton allowable load capacity. The pile configurations range from 2-4 per piles per cap. The slab on grade for the foundation is 4” thick normal weight concrete reinforced with 6x6-1.4xW1.4 welded wire fabric. All foundation concrete is 4ksi except for the SOG which is 3.5ksi.

Mechanical System

Building 7’s mechanical system is for a residential space requirements with small areas using office requirements where needed. The corridors of Building 7 utilize two rooftop packaged heat pumps that supply heating cooling and ventilation to the corridors. Apartments and community areas utilize split system closet type heat pump units that provide heating and cooling only. Ventilation to these areas is not mechanically supplied but instead there is natural ventilation by the means of operable windows. The reason for this is to help gain LEED points. The exterior walls were also carefully designed to limit the amount of heat loss and gain through them, to better control the inside environment.

Electrical System

Building 7’s electrical system is powered by PEPCO and they design as well as install the primary underground cables to the pad mounted transformer. The secondary cables to the building distribution system will be handled by the utility company. The service voltage will be 480/277-volt, 3-phase, 4-wire, and 60 hertz. The main distribution switchboard (SWBD) is rated at 2500 amperes, 480/277V, 3-phase, and 4-wire. This switchboard will include a manually operated insulated case stationary main circuit breaker with an adjustable solid state trip unit

Lighting System

The lighting system primarily uses fluorescent lighting fixtures throughout the building. The corridors are lighted by 2x2 277V parabolic fluorescent fixture with electronic ballast with a 32 watt lamp. The seminar room uses the same style fixture except it is a 2x4 and has a dimmer ballast. The apartment units are comprised of 8” compact fluorescent downlights with electronic ballasts in the common living areas and surface mounted fluorescent with a contoured acrylic diffuser, both of these fixtures run on 120V. The entrance lobby is accented with 8” fluorescent downlight wallwashers and 8” recessed fluorescent fixtures.

Construction Management

The construction of Building 7 started on July 21, 2008 and is expected to be finished in January 2010. The construction manager for the project is Whiting-Turner Contracting; they are taking on the role of CM at Risk. The total cost of the project is at $23.5 million with and estimated structural system cost of 3.98 million at the current time. Due to the size of the site, the construction team was permitted to set-up their trailer complex nearby on an existing parking lot. This area provides more space for field offices and a staging site. A Tower crane will most likely be employed as it would avoid any coordination and traffic maintenance around the site. No other details can be given at this time due to the early stages of construction.

Transportation System

The elevator core is located on the north side of the building on the left. The elevator core consists of 2 square elevators opposite to each other, thus each having their own vertical shaft. They run from the terrace level clear to the ninth level of the building. There are 2 stairwells, one on each end of the U-shape. The shape of the stairwell is rectangular and has ample room to allow for landings at each level and the intermediate level. The landings are sized according to ADA and IBC for a refuge area for the handicap.

Fire Protection System

The fire protection system for Building 7 contains a fully automatic sprinkler system that is a wet system layout. The sprinkler heads are concealed and located 8 feet above the floor. The stairwells hold a 6” and a 4” standpipe to supply the sprinklers and fire hoses located on the corresponding floor. There also is a fire department siamese connection at each floor along with a fire pump located on the first floor.
The overall building is designed as a type II-A Protected Construction per IBC 2006 and the fully automatic sprinklers are designed per NFPA 13. The exterior wall assembles are rated for 1hr while interior walls are rated for between 1-2hrs depending on the location. The floors and structural steel are rated at 1-1.5hrs.