Mechanical and Electrical Design

The Forum Building is a historic seven -story 375,000-square-foot building consisting of office space, the Forum Auditorium, the State Library, and associated archival space. The building is currently designated as a National Historic Landmark.

The primary focus of this project was fully renovating 180,000 square feet of office space comprising Floors 2 through 5 to house the Department of Education.

The project scope included the replacement of the entire building’s HVAC system and electrical system infrastructure. Revit 3D software was utilized to model the MEP systems.

Erdman Anthony’s HVAC design services included all equipment, piping, ductwork, controls, and associated appurtenance for heating, cooling, and ventilating the entire building including the second-through-fifth-floor offices, the auditorium, and the library. The HVAC design is flexible and adaptable to differing environments, and also included the demolition and replacement of the existing window air-conditioning units and steam heating system with a new chiller and heat plant consisting of two 265-ton chillers and two 3,700-MBH steam-to-water heat exchangers to provide central chilled and heating water for the entire building.

The electrical power design services included electrical distribution equipment, wiring, and devices for the renovated portion of the building, including replacement of the existing area of protection panels, distribution panels, buss ducts, and branch circuits. The existing electrical switchgear was replaced with a 12.47-kV main-tie-main configuration double-ended 480-V and 208-V load centers, and the existing emergency generator and other associated emergency power components were replaced by a 400-kW diesel generator with load bank to provide power to life safety, standby, and fire pump systems.