ATRIUM ON COMMONWEALTH

Title: ATRIUM ON COMMONWEALTH

Award Category: Building Enclosure

Project Address/Location

1070 COMMONWEALTH AVENUE
STE: 2320, SGH
BOSTON, MA 02215
United States

Submitted By: CHRISTOPHER GREY

Company Info

SIMPSON GUMPERTZ & HEGER

800 BOYLSTON STREET
STE: 2320, SGH
Boston, MA 02199
United States

7742307410

[email protected]

Project Description and Background: The Atrium on Commonwealth Avenue is a 4-story, concrete building constructed in the early 20th Century as home to the Packard Motor Car Company in Boston. The building served this original purpose for decades until car showrooms began moving into less-expensive and less-crowded suburban regions during the mid-20th Century. The Packard building was converted to residential apartments during that transition, serving as one of the early examples of many adaptive reuse projects in Boston. The facade underwent a renovation in the 1980s with EIFS cladding, and after that point, it remained unchanged for decades. Our work began in 2019 with an initial condition assessment and make-safe work, and our efforts grew into parking garage and roof replacement projects, followed by a $100,000,000 multi-year, phased reclad coordinated with an interior gut renovation that required a coordinated effort between many firms involved throughout the project. SGH acted as the prime consultant for the project, managing several sub-consultants through the assessment, design, and construction phases. Challenges throughout the project included working with an undocumented existing building with limited existing drawings, working with and managing the lidar scanning data for holding control working points, meeting current energy code standards in Massachusetts without reducing occupied space and encroaching on property lines, significant unforeseen conditions that required additional structural repairs, coordinating with occupied commercial spaces at the first floor, which remained occupied during construction, and coordinating across many firms contractually engaged by different parties including an owner/contractor arrangement.

Scope: The project spans between 2019 and 2026 and involved the following scope: -2019-2020 - Condition Assessment: The building owner requested that SGH perform a condition assessment of the garage, facade, balconies, and roofing to develop rehabilitation options to extend the useful life of the building. Our objective was to document the condition of the garage, facade, balconies, roofing systems, and pool structures to identify deterioration and distress, and to prepare and evaluate alternatives to repair current deterioration and extend the useful life of the structure. As part of our assessment work, we also performed make-safe work across the enclosure, removing any fall hazards present, and shoring any unsafe conditions observed at the time of the assessment. We performed a field investigation that consisted of a visual, infrared, and hands-on assessment of the enclosure and structural components, including exploratory openings and concrete testing, including petrographic examination, chloride content testing, and carbonation testing. -2020-2021 - Option Evaluations: We developed rehabilitation alternatives for the Owner that included localized repairs, a full building reclad, or a new building. We then worked with the Owner and local contractors to review these options, provide order-of-magnitude pricing estimates, and assist the Owner in selecting an option and a phasing approach. As part of this phase, we provided a deliverable to the Owner in the form of a matrix that identifies the various materials, system performance, weights, NFPA triggers, insulation options, service life expectancy, comparative costs, glazing costs, and notes regarding constructability of the various systems. -2020-2021 - Roof Replacement and Garage Repairs: We performed design, bidding, and construction administration services for roof replacement and garage repairs. -2021-2026+-Facade Reclad: We performed design, bidding, and construction administration services for the facade recladding. SGH was the prime consultant, and we engaged the services of a local Architect to provide aesthetic design services and coordinated with the interior design architect and mechanical engineer, who were engaged directly with the building Owner, who was also acting as the General Contractor. The project utilized a design-assist approach with a local enclosure contractor to identify potential cost-saving measures and procure long lead time products early. Throughout construction administration, there were significant unforeseen conditions throughout the building that required re-designs of both the base structure and the new enclosure systems. The project was separated into three phases, the first of which was completed mid-2024, Phase 2 is ongoing through 2025, and Phase 3 is in the contract award phase for 2026.

Solution: Roof Replacement: Remove and replace the existing low-sloped membrane roof systems with a new single-ply PVC membrane roofing system, including a self-adhered vapor retarder, rigid insulation, and cover board. Mechanical systems were also replaced in kind, and we worked with the mechanical engineer to raise the new units to provide higher flashing heights. A roof anchor fall protection and facade access system was installed at locations where the structure allowed it. At roof edge and parapet conditions where the roof would interface with the future reclad, we detailed the roofing to tie into the existing walls and reconstructed new code-compliant parapets that provided us the ability to not disrupt the new roof during the future reclad. Garage Repairs: Garage repairs generally consisted of localized concrete repairs and the installation of a new vehicular traffic-bearing coating system on the trafficable elements and an acrylic coating on all other surfaces in the garages. Typical concrete repairs across the garage included topside, underside, and full-depth slab reconstruction at elevated parking deck beams and slabs, full-depth slab-on-grade reconstruction, concrete slab on metal deck reconstruction, and localized spall and crack repairs on concrete structural elements. Supplemental steel reinforcement was required at localized areas where concrete repairs were executed, including the installation of mechanical couplers and sacrificial galvanic anodes. Facade Reclad: The facade reclad included the removal of the existing enclosure systems, which included EIFS, brick veneer, miscellaneous structural steel elements, punched windows back to the cast-in-place concrete structural frame, and reconstructing a new enclosure. The new enclosure consisted of light gage metal framing, gypsum sheathing, a self-adhered air, vapor, and water barrier, exterior insulation, and composite metal panels. Fenestrations generally included punched windows fabricated with a flanged curtain wall system and sliding and terrace doors that led to balconies that were resurfaced with a new pedestrian-bearing coating system and outfitted with new railing systems. New louvers were glazed into the punched curtain wall assemblies, which allowed the team to re-direct mechanical vents to the louvers instead of requiring additional penetrations through the walls. A new main entry was designed, including a new canopy and aluminum framed storefront systems across the first-floor commercial spaces, which remained occupied during construction. Challenges included working with an undocumented existing building with limited existing drawings, working with and managing the lidar scanning data for holding control working points, meeting current energy code standards in Massachusetts without reducing occupied space and encroaching on property lines, significant unforeseen conditions that required additional structural repairs, coordinating with occupied commercial spaces at the first floor, which remained occupied during construction, and coordinating across many firms contractually engaged by different parties including an owner/contractor arrangement.

Value: Due to the size of this project, a single consultant cannot be credited. All consultants needed to work collaboratively with each other, the Owner, and the contractors to execute this complex project. The value we brought to the project was being able to handle most of the issues that were raised in-house. Our structural and enclosure groups worked collaboratively through all phases of the project to identify, discuss, present options, and execute the work together. At the onset of the project in the condition assessment phase, our role was to assist with making the structure and enclosure systems safe as the primary goal and then present options for repairs. While a reclad was the likely approach at the onset of our work, we made sure that we vetted other options that the Owner could consider and guided the discussion with pros and cons for each of those options. Once the direction for repairs was selected, SGH acted as the prime consultant for the project, and we engaged the services of a local design architect and landscape architect for aesthetic design and decisions while SGH developed the drawings and specified the technical performance requirements of the project. We also engaged with a local lidar scanning company to assist with documenting the existing building components throughout the design phase to assist with developing working points. Mechanical and interior design were engaged directly through the Owner; however, we collaborated closely with those groups through the design and construction phases.

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