Arthur M. Blank Hospital

Title: Arthur M. Blank Hospital

Award Category: Commissioning

Project Address/Location

2220 N Druid Hills Road NE

Atlanta, Georgia 30329
United States

Submitted By: Edward Lehman

Company Info

Wiss Janney Elstner Associates, Inc.

2055 Sugarloaf Circle, Suite 250

Duluth, Georgia 30097
United States

(678) 358-1897

[email protected]

Project Description and Background: The new Arthur M. Blank Hospital complex is a nineteen-story building with five floors of diagnostic and treatment space with a 446-bed patient tower above it. The hospital is connected by a 10-story structure with roof-top terrace to the new 16-story medical office building. It is also connected by tunnel to a new two-story central utility plant (CUP). The overall construction cost for the 2 million square foot facility is approximately $2 billion dollars. It is largest single health care project in the history of the state of Georgia. The design and construction of the CUP was reviewed by WJE but specifically excluded from the building enclosure commissioning scope. Both tower buildings sit on an entirely new campus assembled from various parcels in a northern Atlanta suburb. The campus includes twenty acres of walking trails and greenspace. Each concrete-framed building includes large areas of below- and above-grade waterproofing using both sheet-adhered and fluid-applied systems. Both high-rise buildings are clad with a combination of unitized curtain wall and insulated metal panels. The primary roofing system includes an enhanced 30-year single ply assembly. The hospital tower roof is designed to accommodate three separate steel-framed helipads. There is also an elaborate, multi-story expansion joint between the new hospital and clinic buildings. The design phase started in early 2019. Construction began during the pandemic in late 2020 and the facility opened to the public in late September 2024. There were separate general contractors for the construction of the hospital and medical office building. Many of the same building enclosure subcontractors worked on both towers.

Scope: WJE’s professional services consisted of building enclosure consulting with a focus on quality assurance during the design phase directly for the architect followed by building enclosure commissioning for the owner at both high-rise buildings. Additionally, WJE’s scope included assisting the project team in obtaining enhanced sustainability credits as part of the overall commissioning efforts to achieve LEED certification. The design phase scope of services consisted of multiple iterations of enclosure design document and subcontractor bidding scope reviews. The construction phase services largely included periodic reviews of the installed work at the site and field performance testing of the numerous complex enclosure conditions. To complete this work, WJE assembled specific internal teams to provide various commissioning tasks separate from the field performance testing for each new building structure. There were also several internal subject matter experts within WJE included on this project for their vast experience in metal panel, waterproofing, roofing and curtain wall assemblies. Multiple staff members from various WJE offices were coordinated for these services and helped contribute to the success of this project.

Solution: The commissioning process was applied to each of the major enclosure components with emphasis on the quality of both the design and construction. Commissioning plans were developed for both the hospital and medical office building towers. These plans were periodically updated throughout the design and construction processes and used to inform on the final reports. Prior to the design document reviews, WJE was provided with the exterior requirements and building criteria established by code constraints, computer modeling, and the owner’s program. Some of these requirements resulted in the use of an insulated metal panel (IMP) system applied directly to the light-gauge metal in-fill framing. The IMP wall cladding is heavily reliant on flashings and the installation of critical seals to maintain an air and watertight assembly. The single ply roof assembly was also enhanced from standard thickness membrane to a thicker and more robust assembly with improved detailing. For each of these building enclosure systems, key transition details were developed by the architect and reviewed by WJE during the design phases. During the preconstruction phase, various iterations of the more complicated submittals were reviewed with the WJE subject-matter experts. Those review comments were carried over to a series of pre-installation meetings. Multiple mock-ups were also constructed onsite. There were two identical small-scale mock-up structures constructed with different colored cladding to determine the overall schemes of the buildings. The multiple mock-ups were also performance tested for air-infiltration and water leakage. As the construction phase commenced, the contractor and installing subcontractors worked to quickly assemble portions for the building enclosures for collaborative group reviews by the architect and WJE. Site visits from the architect, design engineers and WJE were conducted on a regular basis each month. Concerns identified during these site visits were entered into an online action item list that was maintained through the course of the project. This allowed the contractors and subcontractors to address the action items in a timely manner and streamlined the close out of issues by the reviewing entity. For this specific project, the team decided to forego project-specific laboratory testing and rely on the historical test data of established cladding and fenestration systems as submitted for record purposes. This decision placed more emphasis on the execution of field performance testing. A field-testing process was developed in the commissioning plan and executed with a focus on verifying the quality of the installed enclosure systems. Field performance testing for each building focused on air-infiltration, water leakage, and sealant adhesion performance at various stages of completion. WJE used a team of additional internal staff, separate from the commissioning team, to conduct the testing at the buildings. The written WJE commissioning report and supporting documentation has been completed and is being submitted for the enhanced building enclosure commissioning credits. The final commissioning reports also include maintenance schedules and training data for enclosure systems. Subsequent site visits with the owner for final warranty reviews are scheduled to be conducted eleven months after the dates of substantial completion for each building.

Value: WJE’s experience and capabilities helped the project team construct a high-performance building with an integrated exterior enclosure that meets the owner's requirements for performance, energy efficiency, and durability while maintaining the desired aesthetics. Our experienced commissioning professionals provided technical guidance during all phases of the building enclosure commissioning process. By engaging us, the client received a valuable partner in the complex construction process of this large facility. One specific area where WJE brought substantial value to the project was during evaluation of proposed material substitutions. The limited availability of specified and approved materials during the construction phase become a factor as the pandemic impacted the supply chains for several commonly used enclosure materials. WJE was able to assist the architect and construction team with timely vetting of proposed material substitutions. In most cases, the WJE subject-matter experts provided valuable insights regarding alternate material solutions during these reviews. With this being an historical project, WJE was humbled to be included in the project team and to help deliver a facility that will have long-term benefits for the state of Georgia, city of Atlanta and surrounding communities. This facility and its campus will have the ability to affect the lives of millions of families through attending to the health of their children.

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