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Converting the 110,000-sq.-ft. building once used for metal fabrication and warehousing into an office was a key issue on the Alberici Corp. project in Overland, Mo.
The rectangular structure's immense size was a problem, said John Guenther, principal and project designer for St. Louis-based Mackey Mitchell Associates, the project architect. The approximately 500-ft.-long, 300-ft.-wide structure housed about 3.5 acres of space under roof, and 28 ft. separated the concrete floor slab and the underside of the roof trusses.
"We kind of referred to this as a cathedral of steel," Guenther said.
Ingenuity came into play to make the massive structure appropriately scaled for an office.
The building's width was composed of one 90-ft. bay on the south and three 70-ft. bays on the north, and parking bays need to be a minimum of 60 ft. long. The two northern bays were slated for parking, and a deck was inserted midway vertically for additional spaces.
As a result, the 330 parking spaces are under roof.
"Not only is that a nice amenity, but it reduces the heat-island effect," Guenther added. "We don't have a black asphalt parking lot baking in the 100-degree St. Louis summer heat and reradiating it out to the sky."
The roof and walls for the other 70-ft. bay was removed to create courtyard, and the 90-ft. south bay houses all the office space. Like the parking garage, a floor was inserted in the office area about 14 ft. above the floor slab to create a mezzanine level.
The southwest-facing facade was another design issue to tackle.
"That's a tough sun angle to deal with when you want to have windows because the sun, as it's setting, comes down and goes directly into your windows," Guenther said. The solar intensity can become unbearable, and the solar penetration adds to cooling requirements.
The team reoriented the building but without picking it up and moving. A facade addition that features seven sawtooths was added and angled so that windows face directly south for ideal solar exposure. Sunshades over the window heads block the sun during the hot months, manually operable windows allow occupants to control their comfort level and low-emissivity glazing provides low solar heat gain while bringing in the light.
Thomas Taylor, vice president of subsidiary Alberici Group, the general service provider to the companies that Alberici Corp. operates, said feedback from the 210 employees in the building has been positive.
About 90 percent of employees have a direct view of the outdoors from their work stations, and they're able to tend plants in a garden adjacent to the cafeteria.
"I think they like the openness of the open-office environment and the bright, daylit conditions," Taylor added.
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