Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Design

This 48,000-square-foot Class A and Class B office building has ground-floor retail space and two floors of office space above. The developer and the architect selected Erdman Anthony to design facilities solutions that would be highly flexible, functional, and energy efficient to accommodate future tenant build-outs.

To meet developer’s economic and operational objectives for the building, the design for the ground0floor retail space needed to provide adequate flexibility for a variety of prospective tenants, including balancing high-utility-demand tenants, such as restaurants and spas, with more basic retail users.

The HVAC systems needed to accommodate ground-floor retail tenants while maximizing the leasable areas on the upper floors. Fresh air and exhaust were a special consideration, as large ductwork is often needed. To address this issue, a storefront louver band was provided around the perimeter, with louvers hidden behind the awning above each window. This maximized the available area for future tenants’ fresh air and exhaust systems while sacrificing no leasable area on the upper floors.

Distributed overhead and under-slab plumbing utilities provided another necessary level of flexibility while maximizing cost and future disruptions during build-outs. Shafts to the roof were added in several locations, to allow restaurants to be anywhere on the ground floor.

The sustainable and innovative features designed for the offices spaces included energy-efficient variable air volume (VAV) systems and central energy management system. VAV ductwork was distributed throughout the building so that future tenants could connect terminal units and downstream ductwork to suit their needs. Plumbing wet stacks and exhaust risers were provided for future plumbing fixtures and general exhaust needs. Power distribution was configured for sub-metering, to allow each tenant’s energy use to be tracked separately.