Electrical, Fire Protection/Detection, Mechanical, Structural

To keep pace with the growth of Crown Point’s sprawling community, St. Anthony is providing outpatient services in a convenient location. The building houses:

• Sports Medicine Institute
• State-of-the-art diagnostic imaging, including general radiology, CT and MRI
• Laboratory services
• Outpatient physical, speech and occupational therapies
• Express Care
• Physician offices

 

Various suites within the building were designed as shell and core spaces which posed a challenge for sizing the base building systems. In addition, unique occupancies required different mechanical and electrical systems to satisfy the particular heating/cooling and electrical needs of the equipment installed. The project was very dynamic during construction with multiple user changes requiring constant engineering revisions to ensure the construction schedule was maintained.

 

This was a greenfield site which involved early planning to determine site utility requirements. KJWW worked closely with the civil engineers and architects to ensure the site had adequate utility service for both the current building design as well as future buildings planned for the site. KJWW coordinated new electrical, gas and water services directly with the local utilities and designed all site lighting for the project.

 

Structural challenges included providing an efficient lateral system that worked with the architecture of the building. Braced frames are usually the preferred lateral system for steel buildings, providing a stiff system with less material than moment frames. The location of exterior wall window openings, and the fact that the interior spaces were not designed yet for the core and shell package, made it difficult to locate braced frames in the building. Through careful coordination with Design Organization and some atypical braced frame geometries, braced frames were placed at locations in the building that did not interfere with the many windows or the future use of the interior space. In addition, a few moment frames were utilized in the stair towers at the front entrances of the buildings.