The complex centralized and consolidated more than a dozen FBI offices scattered throughout the Miami area. The building had to comply with a variety of design objectives, including 2030 Zero Environmental Footprint project goals, USGBC LEED© Platinum standards, the government’s P100 standards, the GSA’s Design Excellence Program, and the Level 4 Interagency Security Committee criteria.
Our relationships with Gensler and Hensel Phelps were critical in our winning the project. We strengthened these relationships with active ideas and structural studies in multiple team workshops during the cost submittal stage.
The entire design of the office building was driven by the unitized façade system, which gives the building its architectural character.
The structural grid was so unusual that civilians driving near the construction site continually called the contractor to report what they perceived as “poor construction work.”
To ensure the performance of the complex façade over the life of the building, we carefully evaluated and controlled slab tip deflections around the entire structure, limiting differential deflections, including creep, to just 3/8 of an inch.
Our structural team leveraged digital workflow in a number of important ways within the project BIM, including our creation of custom column wireframe objects, adaptive components, custom tags, and custom families. We used live detailing throughout the project and created new model objects for davits, bent plates, cables, and other items.
Roofs on all three buildings were designed to hold photovoltaic panels. Our team designed custom supports for the panels on the Annex Building to simplify the long-term maintenance of the roof and significantly reduce the number of roof penetrations.
In summary, we designed a highly resilient structure despite non-grid geometry with curving perimeter and sloping columns, which were driven by the faceted façade system that provides the building its unique architectural character.
We responded with industry-leading digital workflow, including integrated management of the building geometry, a highly optimized and simplified design approach, and careful, construction-focused detailing of every structural element to make them resilient, yet easily constructible.
The challenge for the Bagby Reconstruction project was to do more than just design an update to Bagby street; it was about how to improve the quality of life in an urban neighborhood. On the edge of downtown Houston, this project presented a number of opportunities to redesign the street, improve the impact of traffic, and enhance the overall surroundings. The Walter P Moore team of transportation, traffic, civil, and water resources engineering worked closely with officials and provided a solution that led to a whole host of improvements.
Bagby Street – Before
Here is what Bagby Street looks like today. The reconstruction project is the first Greenroads® Project in Texas, and it is was the highest-scoring project in the world at the time of its certification.
The challenge was to restore the balance - from an auto-centric to a pedestrian-focused neighborhood that is walkable, bikeable, and driveable.
By changing the neighborhood focus to accommodating pedestrians, seating/social gathering spaces increased by 38% and overall pedestrian areas increased by 276%.
There was a 43% decrease in pedestrian crossing distance from 42 to 24 feet on average. The project also increased lighting levels 5 times by adding LED lighting.
The project saved 300 tons of CO2 by using 25% fly ash in the concrete and filtering 33% of the storm water through rain gardens.
By filtering runoff through rain gardens, 75% of bacteria, 73% of phosphorus, 93% of grease and oil, and 85% of total suspended solids were removed, improving overall water quality.
The added streetscape showed a 218% increase in tree canopy and a 12°F decrease in surface temperatures.
With 15% more on-street parking, the block-by-block destination points increased, creating a thriving night life.
As a result of the improvements, area development showed a 25% increase in rental rates and $25 million in additional private development.
The Bagby Reconstruction project was awarded a Greenroads Silver Certification and scored 45 points — at the time, the highest score amongst all 8 projects worldwide.
The seventh-busiest airport in North America, San Francisco International (SFO) is also one of the most challenging for controllers responsible for safely guiding more than 1,000 aircraft daily on four runways. Over the last decade, the FAA has warned that SFO's main control tower, built in the 1980s, would not withstand a major earthquake. The older tower would also not accommodate the current technology needed to support operations.
The new tower design gives SFO operations officials confidence that the heart of their aviation management capabilities will remain operational through even the most extreme earthquake.
Walter P Moore’s structural design uses vertical post-tensioning that provides overturning resistance and a self-centering capability, even under a magnitude 8 earthquake. The design also employs a Tuned Mass Damper below the controller level to ensure comfort for the controllers.
The new tower is optimally located, complies with the latest earthquake codes, and features a circular cab that is column-free for 235 degrees. The cab provides unobstructed views of all four runways via an innovative design that offset the controller cab from the tower core and pulled columns away from the windows.
The tower relies on an innovative vertical post-tensioned system of concrete shear walls strengthened with embedded steel tendons to self-right the structure during a major seismic event, ensuring that air traffic controllers remain fully operational even after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake. This is crucial, as the airport is just 2.6 miles from the San Andreas Fault.
The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) has named the new Air Traffic Control Tower at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) the 2016 Grand Conceptor award-winner, signifying “the year’s most outstanding engineering achievement” in its 49th annual Engineering Excellence Awards on April 19, 2016.
Click here to view the ACEC Award Video.
Home to Aggie football since 1905, Texas A&M University's historic Kyle Field has experienced five major expansions over the last 100 years. The most recent project, representing the most extensive redevelopment of a collegiate athletic facility in history, expands the stadium to 102,733 seats.
Kyle Field is a colossal facility composed of numerous independent but interconnected structures erected over five different eras. The existing structures were built using varying structural systems and construction methods, had incompatible floor elevations, and inconsistent structural grid systems. Age, disrepair, and strength limitations hindered the stadium's structural performance.
The first phase of construction renovated and expanded the east side of the stadium, introduced an immense south end zone seating structure and vertical circulation towers, and unveiled a 7,700-square foot LED scoreboard, the largest in all of college sports at the time of its installation. The scoreboard is supported by cantilevered structural steel columns that extend more than 70 feet above the top of the upper seating bowl cantilever.
The second phase of construction replaced the entire west side of the stadium with structurally complex grandstands and incorporate a redesigned façade that architecturally unites old, new and renovated sections of the stadium.
The Hall of Champions, a 270-ft long by 100-ft wide and 50-ft tall football-shaped, column-free space, lies beneath the west stands.
*Click here to view a ONE BILLION PIXEL panoramic image of the seating bowl during the opening game at Kyle Field.
*Click here to view a video graphic created by Populous for the opening of Kyle Field.
Located in Houston’s old Fourth Ward, the historic Bethel Church was severely damaged by fire in 2005. Dating to the 1880s, services were held there until 1997. In 2009, the City of Houston purchased the abandoned facility and asked Walter P Moore to assess its structural condition. The first step was to protect the structure from collapse while the team worked with the community to establish a plan and develop a design. The final plan was to preserve as much of the historically significant structure as possible and convert it into a community park.
Due to the collapsed framing and debris from the 2005 fire, access to the site to evaluate the masonry walls, including a large crack in the 50-ft brick veneer, was nearly impossible.
Emergency shoring and bracing were designed and installed within 24 hours to secure the structure and protect nearby residents.
Understanding the appropriate masonry strength was fundamental to the design.
Reinforced backup walls and a galvanized steel frame support the historic structure.
Strengthening techniques, such as new or repaired reinforced backup walls, coatings, and a galvanized steel frame reminiscent of the original gabled roof, combined with exposed masonry walls adds to the overall appearance.
Bethel is more than a new park; it’s a link to Houston’s past and a beacon for the Fourth Ward.
