Merchants Ice Building Adaptive Reuse Design

Title: Merchants Ice Building Adaptive Reuse Design

Award Category: Exterior Wall

Project Address/Location

1305 E Houston Street
Suite 201
San Antonio, Texas 78205
United States

Submitted By: Erik Murray

Company Info

Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.

711 Navarro Suite 750

San Antonio, Texas 78205
United States

2103035366

[email protected]

Project Description and Background: The Merchants Ice building is located at 1305 East Houston Street in San Antonio, Texas. The Merchants Ice property was developed between 1909 and 1946. The original building is four stories tall and was constructed using lift slab construction with exterior mass masonry walls. Subsequent additions also included mass masonry walls with various generations of clay tile brick. Because the primary function of the facility was providing cold storage prior to the widespread use of modern refrigeration, all exterior walls were insulated with cork and blocks of ice were shipped by rail from the northern United States to chill perishable foods. In 1999, the building was closed. After a couple decades of being abandoned it was adapted for reuse as Class A office space.

Scope: The Merchants Ice facility was renovated from a cold storage facility into Class A office space with a rooftop pool. WJE assessed the existing mass masonry walls and then served as the engineer-of-record for the preservation of these historic walls. In addition to restoring the mass masonry walls, WJE also analyzed the hygrothermal performance of these exterior walls and designed the air/water barrier to be installed on the interior face of the walls to prevent moisture buildup within the mass masonry wall.

Solution: As part of the assessment, WJE mechanically sounded 100 percent of the exterior wall surface of the Merchants Ice facility. This revealed numerous locations of unsound masonry and mortar, especially on the north facade where the masonry walls experienced freeze-thaw damage over time. The repair design included localized installation of helical ties, select replacement of brick masonry units that matched the existing facade, and complete repointing of the entire facade. To ensure optimal performance of the exterior mass masonry walls WJE developed hygrothermal models of the various wall types around the facility. Walls varied from three- to five-wythes thick and included various finishes on the interior faces. After analyzing the performance of each wall type through various seasons (i.e., typical temperatures and exposure conditions), WJE was able to select a vapor retarder to apply on the interior face of the mass masonry walls to prevent bulk water from driving through the mass masonry and reaching the vulnerable finishes and/or insulation to be installed inside, yet with enough vapor permeance to allow for slow drying of the interior wythes when they do become saturated.

Value: The mass masonry exterior walls at Merchants Ice are three- to five-wythes thick. These walls not only provide the enclosure system, but in many locations also serve as the structural wall. Because this is largely an antiquated fashion of enclosing new buildings, many design professionals and contractors do not have a good grasp on the hygrothermal performance of these types of walls. By developing hygrothermal models for the various wall types and exposure conditions, WJE was able to determine what vapor barrier options included just the right vapor permeance to prevent bulk water from reaching vulnerable insulation and finish materials, but still allow for vapor to slowly evaporate to the building interior when interior wythes of brick become saturated.

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