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Statistics

Building name: Rosslyn West – West Tower

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Location and site: 1788 N. Pierce, Arlington, VA, 22209

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Building Occupant: Aubrey at the Highlands

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Total Square Feet: 413,810

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Number of stories above grade and total levels: 24 Stories Above Grade, 29 Total Levels (5-Story Underground Parking Garage)

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Owner/Developer: Penzance

General Contractor: Whiting-Turner

Architect: Studios Architecture

Structural Engineer: Ehlert Bryan Consulting Structural Engineers

Civil Engineer: Bowman Consulting Group, Ltd.

Landscape Engineer: Lee and Associates Inc.

HVAC and Plumbing: Magnolia

Electrical: Power Design, Inc.

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Dates of Construction: 10/22/2018 - 8/18/2021

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100% Design Development Cost:  $88,517,197

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Project Delivery Method:  Design-Bid-Build

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Building Architecture:

The new mixed-use structure will be a major component of the West Rosslyn Development Project backed by the public/private partnership of Arlington County and developers such as Penzance.  The building will function as retail space in the first story that may be accessed by the public, second story as an amenity space to the residents of the apartments in the story heights above. Floor plans from floor to floor vary slightly but mainly focus on one to two-bedroom apartments up to the penthouse level which houses larger units and a rooftop pool.  The structure itself functions as monumental piece being place atop Wilson Boulevard as the areas begins to plateau providing a sense of arrival and views in all directions from Northern Virginia to Washington D.C.  With views also overlooking the adjacent Highlands park, the West Tower acts a dynamic sculptural element with the façade constantly changing due to slight variations in the exposed floor slab.  The Highlands park is exposed to double height townhouse units and public bicycle storage created a feeling of safety and community as family dwellings are close by. 

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Codes Used Within Project

Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code

2012 ICC International Building Code

2012 ICC International Plumbing Code

2012 ICC International Mechanical Code

2012 ICC International Fire Code

2012 ICC International Fuel Gas Code

2011 NFPA 70 International Electric Code

2012 ICC International Energy Conservation Code

ASCE 7-10

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Zoning

Arlington County, VA Zoning Ordinance (2018 Referenced)

https://building.arlingtonva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2016/06/ACZO.pdf

  • Building may follow special regulations based on the Western Rosslyn coordinated redevelopment district exceptions

  • WRAPS Program – Created majority of building/design program

  • Height: 9.5.C

    • 240’ to building roof

    • 263’ to mechanical penthouse

  • Allowable GFA: 1,183,110 SF

  • Lot Coverage/ Open Space: 3.2 & 7.13.3.B

    • Max. Lot coverage: N/A

    • Required open space: None

  • Off-street Parking: 14.3.7.A & 14.3.3.F

  • Trash/Loading: 14.3.8.B-D & 14.3.3.C.3

    • Residential: 1 per 200 Units

    • Retail: 1 per 15,000 SF or more

  • Structure-free zone: 5’ Below Sidewalk

  • Retail Façade Glass %: 65% Transparent from 2’-10’ along Wilson Boulevard

  • Retail Interior Clear Height: 15’ Floor to ceiling height for retail along Wilson Boulevard and N. Pierce Street

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Building Enclosure

The primary building façade is metal stud system with punched openings.  These window openings incorporate a rain screen system for thermal protection and glare.  The studs use a GRFC cladding system to support and brace the architectural façade which consists of thin slatted precast concrete panels that may varying in shape and color.

 

The total roofing system must meet a minimum insulation of value of R-20.  This is achieved by a fluid applied air and water barrier topped by a compatible protection membrane. Then a drainage board is place above the membrane and rigid insulation.  A filter fabric is to cover the rigid insulation board then flexible leveling shims art placed to minimize any unwanted slope.  2’X2’ precast concrete architectural pavers are then the final roofing finish either placed directly on the leveling shims or atop an adjustable pedestal system to satisfy the architectural design.

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Sustainability Features

Although sustainability is an area that peaks the interest of many architects and engineers in present day, the focus of the West Tower was to follow the program developed by Arlington County.  However, preliminary design and subsequent construction documents have reached a score achieving LEED Silver.  The majority of these points have been created from the site itself with features established by Arlington County, such as the storm water requirement which must be dispersed and dealt with on site.  Some small features will be incorporated into the building itself as a part of the exterior amenities in the from of outdoor gardens on the second floor and rooftop.

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Construction

The West Rosslyn Area Planning Study (WRAPS) is a complete redevelopment of the West Rosslyn area proposed by Arlington County officials with funding coming from private and public investors.  The West Tower of the WRAPS program is funded by Penzance who directly employs Whiting-Turner General Contractors, this in turn creates a Design-Build project delivery method.  Whiting-Turner contracts the structural, electrical, mechanical and plumbing engineers on the project to meet Penzance’s design wants and needs.  Under each contract sub-contractors are hired by Whiting-Turner to perform construction tasks

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Electrical

The west tower is one building of three mounted on a common parking garage podium.  All towers share a single main electrical room located in the garage. The utility feeding this complex is a networked transformer system. Transformers are used to transformer the power from medium voltage utility distribution to a lower voltage that the building can use. It this case it is transformed down to 480volt – 3phase system due to the height and large footprint of the building.  The utility service comes from the vaults to main distribution switchboards in the main electrical room.  There are three different switchboards, one serving the house (public space) distribution, one serving the residential distribution (apartment units) and one for retail (future tenants renting out space on the ground floor).  The house distribution service has panels approximately every 10 floors to service public space lighting, receptacles, equipment and mechanical/plumbing loads. The largest part of this distribution is located on the roof to serve all the mechanical A/C equipment.  Part of the house distribution is the emergency system powered by a 350kw natural gas generator. Automatic transfer switches are used to reroute the distribution to the generator upon loss of power.  The residential distribution is not metered at the switchboard. Bus duct is used to run up thru the 23 levels to step-down transformers to convert to 120/208volt power. Ever few levels have a meter center to meter all the apartment unit power demand.

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Lighting

Lighting system were designed around the current energy conservation codes and is also a LEED project that has requirements to be met to achieve certification. LED lights were used to keep energy demand down.  Lighting control systems such as relay panels are used in large amenity areas to comply with the many lighting control requirements for those areas.  Occupancy/vacancy sensors and daylight harvesting controls were used in all other spaces.

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Mechanical

The West Rosslyn – West tower is primarily service by a water source heat pump as well as some supplemental electric heaters in specialty locations throughout the building.A dedicated internal mechanical area on the 23rd floor of the building houses the three open loop cooling towers, three heating water pumps and three boilers, two cooling tower fans are located directly above on the roof of the structure along with exhaust fans for building pressurization and circulation.Supply air is treated by a constant air volume roof top unit is typically supplied through ceiling diffusers with louvered exhaust systems within sidewall adjacent to the exterior façade.

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Structural

The primary structural system is an. 8” two-way post-tensioned slab with banded tendons above the column line in the North-South direction and distributed tendons in the East-West direction.  The post-tensioned slab is supported by reinforced concrete columns varying in size, shape and concrete compressive strength dependent on the story and geometric location within the building.  A combination of two reinforced concrete shear cores and one reinforced concrete shear wall in the East-West direction create the building lateral force resisting system.  The building is supported by 5-story underground parking garage utilizing a 9” two-way flat plate concrete slab supported by reinforced concrete columns that bear on spread footings

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Fire Protection

Fire code regulations designate the West Rosslyn – West Tower as type 1A construction but with parameters set forth by Arlington County Officials it may be reduced to type 1B construction. This creates minimum fire rating of structural systems and architectural assemblies to be 2 hours.Stairwells throughout the height of the building are pressured to create areas of refuge for buildings occupants. Corridors, residential units and retail units are fully sprinklered with wet pipe fully supervised automatic sprinkler system and an automatic fire alarm throughout tied to an approved station.

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West Rosslyn West Tower
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NEWS FEED
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