General Building Data
Building Name
Location
Building Occupant Name
Occupant Type
Size
Number of Stories
Overall Project Cost
Project Delivery Method
Southeast Luxury Hotel
Southeast U.S.
Cannot be disclosed due to confidentiality
Mixed-Use Hotel
580,000 SF
16 Levels
Approximately $292 Million
Design-Bid-Build
This 516 room hotel in Southeast U.S. will be a mixed-use resort with amenities such as meeting rooms, ballrooms, restaurants, a pool, a spa, fitness center and amenity deck for sports. Most of the amenities are located in the podium first three levels and on the roofs as seen in the building section below. There are guest rooms on the other levels that make up the tower. Construction began at the end of 2017 and will continue until approximately the fall of 2019.
Architecture
The architectural design is very modern and has floor to ceiling windows with white shading and other accents. One section of the tower is higher than the other, allowing for roof spaces on each side for amenities at different levels. There is also space on the garage roof for the sports courts, as seen in the function diagram below. For the applicable codes, the building follows the 5th edition of the Florida Building Code (2014) and NFPA Life Safety Code (2015). It will also follow the hotel’s standards. The hotel is part of a zoning overlay district for tourist and commercial development. It is located in a resort community development district. There are no historical requirements for this project as it is a new structure.
Building Enclosure
An aluminum composite wall panel encloses the main podium levels on the exterior. Within the wall panels are a combination of glazed aluminum curtain walls and window walls. There are also glazed aluminum swing doors to fit in well with the rest of the enclosure. 2 and 3-coat stucco also covers parts of the facade. On the higher tower levels there is a combination of stucco and the glazed aluminum window wall. To accomodate for the high percentage of glass on the facade, the designers utilized many shades to limit the direct sunlight exposure. Also, the glazing is split between regular glazing and spandrel glazing.
There is Thermoplastic Polyolefin (TPO) roofing, which is a single ply membrane that is heat reflective and energy efficient. The roofing also has a tapered polyisocyanurate insulation and self-adhesive sheet weather barrier to keep out precipitation and lower the heat transfer into the building.
Project Team
Owner
General Contractor
Architect
MEP/FP Engineer
Civil Engineer
Structural Engineer
Interior Designer
Landscape Architect
Cannot be disclosed due to confidentiality
PCL Construction
Morris Architects
EXP U.S. Services
Kimley Horn
Huitt-Zollars
Bilkey Llinas Design
Innovations Design Group
Cannot be disclosed due to confidentiality
http://www.pcl.com/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.morrisarchitects.com/
Sustainability Features
In order to maintain sustainability, the project will be designed to the 2014 Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation. Also, it will be designed to meet the 2010 ASHRAE Standards 62.1 and 90.1. It is not trying to obtain LEED or any other sustainability certificates. There is a building automation system to help control the energy use of different mechanical and electrical systems from occupancy schedules and different setpoints. The shades on the different roof levels will help lower the solar heat gain through the roof and will make the space more comfortable for the guests.
Primary Engineering Systems
Construction
This luxury mixed-use hotel is a new construction project managed by PCL Construction Services, Inc. Construction began in December 2017 and is planned to be completed in December 2019 so that it can open in early 2020. The project is design-bid-build and a $292 million contract.
As seen in the site photo on the right, there is a lot of free space around the construction site for the materials and different trailers. There is also a large open space for parking since at peak times there may be as many as 200 workers on site. After the foundations were poured, the pouring of the tower slabs started. As each level is completed, other trades come in to install their equipment. So far, up to level 7 is poured, and most of plumbing piping is installed on those levels. Some of the main HVAC piping will be put in after the plumbing.
Electrical
There are four electrical branches within the system: normal, emergency, legally required and optional standby power systems that follow the 2011 National Electrical Code. Egress lighting, fire alarm and anything else required for life safety are on the emergency system. Any system that could cause hazards or hamper rescue operations is on the legally required standby system, such as communication systems, ventilation, elevators, and smoke removal systems. Optional standby systems include those that that owner would like to have on emergency power. Switchboards, panel boards, transformers, generators, and transfer switches are the major components of the system.
Normal power will have three incoming services. Two of them will be serving the hotel at 480Y/277V, 3 phase, 4 wire, and 3,000 amps. The other one that serves the central energy plant (CEP) will by 480Y/277V, 3 phase, 4 wire, and 4,000 amps. Then, the normal power is distributed at 480V with cable to electrical rooms. Within each electrical room, there will be a 480V:208Y/120V, 3 phase, 4 wire transformer to serve guest room lighting and receptacle panels. Each guestroom will have two 120V, 20 amp circuits for lighting and receptacle outlets. The bathroom is on a dedicated circuit. To serve the HVAC unit in the rooms, there will be a 277V circuit.
An emergency feeder will be 480Y/277V, 3 phase, 4 wire, 400 amps. Two three phase, four wire, 800 amp feeders will be for the legally required and optional emergency branches. The diesel generator will individually serve the emergency, legally required, and optional standby branches. Another branch will be dedicated to the building fire pump. It is a 1250 kW diesel generator. The voltage will also be transformed down to 120V at the electrical rooms for the emergency branches.
Lighting
EXP also did all of the lighting design for this project. The electrical engineers did the back of house spaces and the front of house lighting was done by the lighting designers in the firm. The back of house areas are circulation spaces, offices, meeting rooms, toilet rooms, locker rooms, kitchens, and any equipment rooms. In these areas, LED troffers, strips, and downlights are used. Wall mounted fluorescent vaporlumes can be found in elevator machine rooms and LED vaporlumes are used in interior wet locations. Illumination levels for the project are based off of the suggestions from the Illuminating Engineering Society. Other lighting considerations were based off of the IESNA Lighting Handbook, 10th Edition. To control the lighting, the exterior lights will be phased with parking lot and landscape lighting coming on at dusk; the landscape lights will turn off at a determined time and the parking lot lights will stay on until dusk. An emergency lighting control unit will turn on power to the emergency lighting in case of a normal power loss. Lighting in the ballrooms, restaurants, lounge, bar, and meeting rooms will have dimming equipment.
The front of house lighting will be a mixture of step lights, floodlight luminaires, aimable luminaires, pendant mounted fixtures, track light fixtures, cove mounted fluorescent strips, and in grade uplight luminaires. Fixtures are strategically chosen to meet the desired mood of the space. For example, the reception area will appear very bright with decorative pendants throughout the space. The lounge will have warm accent lights throughout the room near the seats. In the bar, warm colored lights integrated into the wall will create an intimate feeling. General lighting, decorative chandeliers, wall brackets and accent lighting will have separate dimmers for lighting control.
Bar Lighting Concept Image
Lobby Lighting Concept Image
Mechanical
Overall, the mechanical system a chilled water system with two chillers and two cooling towers. There are no boilers because the heating season is so short; all heat needed is produced by electric resistive heat. There is a central energy plant located in the parking garage with the main refrigeration equipment. Each chiller has a dedicated condenser pump and cooling tower. There is a heat exchanger that removes heat from the condenser water to pre-heat the domestic water. The chilled water loop supplies the terminals units with chilled water to cool the air. A pressure de-couple heat exchanger to separates the pressures between the podium levels and the guestroom tower levels.
Guestrooms have fan coil units to control the space temperature. They are two-pipe fan coils because there is just chilled water. To ventilate the guestroom and corridor spaces, there are dedicated outdoor air units (DOAS) with hot gas reheat. There are six DOAS units on the roof. Serving the public spaces are air handling units, some constant volume and some variable. The air handling units serving the ballroom have a desiccant wheel to help handle the high latent load. There are 30 air handling units without the desiccant wheel and 11 with one.
Exhaust is needed for bathrooms, elevator lobbies, laundry, and housekeeping. The guestroom exhaust ducts have vertical distribution through vertical shafts in the hallway. These shafts also house the supply ducts for the outside air. Vertical distribution helps reduce overall ductwork and save space in the ceiling cavity. There are fire and smoke dampers where necessary to maintain the appropriate fire rating.
There is a building automation system (BAS) to help monitor space conditions and identify if any adjustments need to be made to the mechanical equipment. Different sequences of operation control which pieces of equipment are on at what time. There are a few energy saving sequences utilized in the building such as the cold bypass on the condenser water loop, condenser water reset temperature, and chiller evaporator overflow. Different sensors throughout the mechanical system report back to the BAS to begin these sequences.
Structural
A combination of steel frames and post tensioned concrete make up the structural system in this project. The footprint of the guestroom tower and all of the tower levels (section A1 and A2 on the key plan to the right) have post tensioned concrete while the rest of the main floors have a typical steel frame system. Depending on the loads in different areas of the main levels, there are different types of steel framing such as brace framing or moment connections. Most of the steel beams are W-shaped. There are also steel columns and joists of varying sizes in sections B, C, D, and G of the building. For areas A1 and A2, the post tensioned slab is 8” thick. The prestressing steel shall be stress relieved and have a minimum ultimate strength of 270 ksi. There are post-tensioned concrete beams in the tower levels and concrete columns.
Slab on grade will be concrete with steel reinforcing. Much of the project is founded on 24” diameter augered cast-in-place piles. The piles are either 60 or 40 feet in length and can handle a force of 350 and 220 kips respectively. Every pile is spaces 6 feet on-center from the next. Another portion of the project has spread footings that are designed for a total load of 5,000 pounds per square foot. Under the slab, there will be a subgrade that is properly compacted with a vapor barrier. At every column line in each direction, the slab on grade will have construction joints or crack control joints.
Additional Engineering and Engineering Support Systems
Fire Protection
All parts of the building will be protected with sprinkler systems in order to follow the applicable codes; NFPA 14 and Florida Fire Prevention Code - 5th Edition (2014). Wet pipe systems will be used everywhere except for special protection needs. The only exception is that electrical rooms and vaults with 2 hour rated enclosures that comply with NFPA do not need sprinkler protection. To calculate the hydraulic demand, the Hazen-Williams method was used with a safety factor of 10%. There are different minimum flow rates depending on the hazard type, so Light Hazard Occupancy has a minimum of 0.10 gpm per square foot, Ordinary Hazard Group 1 has a minimum of 0.15 gpm per square foot, and Ordinary Hazard Group 2 has a 0.20 gpm per square foot minimum. Piping for the wet sprinkler system will be black steel. Pipes smaller than 2" will be Schedule 40 with threaded joints and either Schedule 10 with welded or rolled groove couplings or Schedule 40 with welded, threaded, or cut groove couplings for pipes larger than 2”. For areas with high visibility and quality of finishes, concealed sprinklers will be used. Suspended ceilings will have recessed sprinklers, and pendent or upright sprinklers will be in locations without ceilings.
Any areas where freezing may occur will have a dry sprinkler system. Some of these areas include exterior canopies, the loading dock, parking garage and receiving area. The minimum flow per square foot for each occupancy type is the same as the wet sprinkler system, but the demand is based off of the most remote 1950 square feet instead of 1500 square feet for the wet system. Dry sprinklers will have galvanized steel pipes.
The water for the fire protection system will be supplied from the municipal water system in ductile iron piping. Inside the building, there will be Schedule 10 piping to carry the water. Outside of the building, there will be a double check valve backflow preventer at each building water entrance. A fire alarm system will control the sprinkler system. There will be a fire department connection sized to meet the demand of the system and an electrically driven fire pump to meet the pressure and flow demand of the standpipe. Exit stairways with the highest occupied floor above 75 feet will have a Class I Automatic Standpipe.
Transportation
There are two elevators that serves the seven levels of the parking garage that is Area G in the building. Next to the parking garage, there is a housekeeping area with three service elevators. There are five elevators with an elevator lobby on every floor of the tower of the building.
Plumbing
Plumbing consists of sanitary and vent, stormwater, natural gas, and domestic water systems. All plumbing is designed in accordance with the 2014 Florida Plumbing Code.
All waste from plumbing fixtures collect into the sanitary sewer system and drain by gravity. It drains to connection points that are no further than five feet away from the building tower. Other than the hotel tower units, that sanitary and vent system is designed as a conventional waste and vent system. A cast iron sovent waste system seen in the image on the right is in the hotel tower units. The special fittings don’t need a separate vent system. At the top of the sovent stack, the vent connects and there are clean-outs every 3 floors. Kitchen waste will have its own dedicated grease waste system.
Stormwater drainage will be on flat roofs that will go to points of connection on site. For secondary drainage, there are either scuppers or piped secondary drainage that discharges above ground. 5” per hour rainfall rate is used to size the storm drainage piping.
Domestic water will come into the building at a point of connection within five feet of the building and will have a RPZ type backflow preventer and a master meter connected to the building automation system (BAS). Variable frequency drives control the pumps that send pressurized water to the entire facility. The building will be split into three different pressure zones; one on the 1st and 2nd floors, one from the 3rd floor to the 8th floor, and another from the 9th to 16th floor. A branch will go to each hotel unit with PEX piping routed to each fixture. Three tankless water heaters will supply the domestic hot water for the guest rooms. To supply the common areas, there are two tank type condensing style water heaters. Water heaters are located in the plumbing equipment room. Hot water will be maintained at 140 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent Legionella, and mixing valves will be used to lower the water temperature when it is ready for distribution.
Natural gas will have a meter and regulator provided by the Natural Gas Purveyor. 2 psi is the maximum pressure allowed in the natural gas piping. Gas shut off valves will be at every connection and emergency stops will be in the CEP Domestic Water Heater Room. Gas will need to be delivered to all gas fired equipment. Gas piping should be Schedule 40 steel with screwed or press fittings. For underground piping, it needs to be Schedule 40 black steel with cathodic protection.
Fire Alarm
There are a fire alarm control panel, remote annunciator, detection appliances, notification appliances and connections to ancillary systems within the fire alarm system. In the Fire Command Center, there will be a fire alarm control panel and the remote annunciator will be in the security office. The system is a digital and addressable voice evacuation system. The fire alarm system will be designed to meet NFPA 72, NFPA 101 and Florida Building Code. Fire alarm devices will be connected to the generator and also have integral batteries. Manual pull stations, smoke detectors, duct smoke detectors, heat detectors, flow switches and tamper switches are the different initiating devices in the project. There are visual, audio, and combination notification devices. Firefighters communication system, magnetic door holders, connections to HVAC equipment, and connections to lighting or AV equipment are the different ancillary equipment for the fire alarm system.
Special Systems
Swimming pools will have low voltage underwater lighting. Any receptacle within 20 feet of a pool will be on a ground fault interrupter protected circuits. Gas will be provided to the pool water heater. The pool water will be properly filtered and chlorinated for the health of the users.
Telecommunications
EXP is also the designer for the telecommunications system in the building. Around the pool area, there are about 30 wall mounted speakers. There are also two wall mounted voice outlets in that area. In the garage, there are two entry station and two exit station floor mounted voice outlets. There are also wall mounted voice outlets in the garage. Level one has five telecom rooms, level two has three, and the rest of the levels have one per floor. Every guestroom will have a wireless access point that is ceiling mounted. Spa areas have ceiling mounted speakers and the spa lobby will have security cameras. There will also be wall mounted voice outlets throughout the spa.
The rooftop lounge has security cameras at the bar and ceiling mounted speakers and wireless access points. All elevator lobbies have security cameras and wall mounted voice outlets to serve analog phones. In the guest room corridors, there are also security cameras. Meeting rooms have card reader access. They also have wireless access points, floor mounted voice outlets, floor mounted data outlets, and ceiling mounted speakers. There are also connections for audio/visual screens. Ballrooms have ceiling speakers, wireless access points, and floor mounted voice and data outlets.