Benjamin P. Grogan and Jerry L. Dove Federal Building
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.