Courtney Melvin | Construction
Adviser: Mr. Ray Sowers
.png)
Building Statistics Part 1
General Building Information
The Nova
Mid- Atlantic Region
LCOR
Mixed Use/ Multifamily Apartments
705,152 SF
20 stories above grade, 3 stories below grade
February 2016- January 2019
$120 million
Design-Bid-Build/ GMP Contract
Building Name
Location
Building Occupant Name
Occupancy or function types
Size
Number of stories
Dates of construction
Overall Project Cost
Project Delivery Method
Project Team
Owner
MEP Engineer
General Contractor
Civil Engineer
Architect
_edited.jpg)
Landscape Architect
Structural Engineer
.png){kind=small}
Interior Designers
Architecture
The Nova is a two tower high-end residential apartment building that contains 451 apartment units spanning the above grade floors one through twenty. The two towers are connected up to the third floor amenity space. The amenities on the first floor consist of a sports simulator, bike room, and pet spa. There are monumental stairs which lead up to the third floor amenity spaces. These include an exercise center, game room, and an outdoor pool and courtyard. There is a twentieth floor club room in the South Tower which contains a full size kitchen, bar, seating areas, and wine lockers. The stairs from this space lead up to the rooftop seating area with grilles as shown in Figure 1. The top three floors in the North Tower are the “penthouse suites” that contain luxury upgrades and bigger floor plans. The twentieth floor apartments have access to a private rooftop area.
Figure 1. Rendering of the South Tower Rooftop Grille Area
Zoning
Residential Amenities: A-2 & A-3
Residential Units: R-2
Business Center: B
Parking Garage: S-2
Major national model codes
Building: VA. USBC 2012, 2012 ICC IBC with USBC amendments
Fire Safety: 2012 ICC International Fire Code
Plumbing: 2012 ICC International Plumbing Code
Mechanical: 2012 ICC International Mechanical Code
Electrical: 2011 National Electric Code with USBC amendments
Historical Requirements
There are no historical requirements.
Building Enclosure
Building Façades
The building façade consists of brick, aluminum curtain wall, aluminum window system, cast stone, corrugated metal panels, and metal and glass canopies. These materials can be seen in Figure 2. There are balconies beginning on the sixth floor that span up the building for certain apartments. These balconies have either aluminum or glass railings.
Figure 2. South Elevation
Roofing
A big portion of the roof on The Nova is green roof. There is both extensive and intensive vegetative roofing system which has a layer of fluid applied waterproofing underneath the vegetation. The layers of the system consist of a protection board, root barrier, drain board, rigid board insulation, protection fabric/ water retention mat, and a growth medium. There are several areas where roof pavers are installed on the building for occupant use. The pavers sit on a paver pedestal on top of a waterproofing membrane. A typical section of green roof is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Typical Waterproofing System
Sustainability Features
The Nova will achieve LEED Gold by the end of construction. The sustainability features include green roofs, electric car chargers, View Glass to reduce the heat and cooling loads, low- emitting paint and flooring, regional materials, and recycled content. View glass is a smart glass which lets in a certain amount of light through the windows depending on the time or the sun’s angle. It is also able to be overridden by the user depending on their preference.
There is over 12,000 SF of green roof spanning 5 different areas of the building. There are also 3 electric car chargers to encourage the use of electric cars.
Figure 4. Rendering of the 3rd Floor Courtyard Area including Green Roofs
Building Statistics Part 2
Construction
Demolition of an existing ten story office building needed to be completed before construction began. This building had a two story underground parking garage in which the east side of the SOE was saved and used as part of The Nova’s SOE. Since excavation for the 3 levels of parking needed to be 28.5 feet below grade, another 10 feet of tiebacks were added under the existing portion. Soldier beams and tiebacks were used to support the remaining sides. There were two tower cranes present while concrete was being poured located on the Southeast and Northwest corners of the building footprint. Two material hoists were constructed on the west sides of both the North and South Towers until elevators were up and running. The units that contained access to the hoists will lag behind other units until the 6th floor, at which time interior finishes will be caught up with the other units for turnover.
The main mechanical system is located on the high roofs on both the North and South Tower. The main systems include a variable refrigerant flow (VRF), 2 RTU’s using 100% outdoor air system, and a garage ventilation fan. The garage intake is located in the courtyard and spans through all floors of the garage. Each apartment has their own VRF system with rooftop condensing units.
Mechanical
Structural
The structure began with a spread footing foundation. Like most buildings in the Mid-Atlantic region, cast-in-place concrete was used for the rest of the structure. Mild steel reinforcement was used from floors G3 to 3 and in all of the columns, while post tension slabs were used from floor 4 through 20. The G3 slab-on-grade is required to be 4500 psi concrete, 5” thick, and reinforced with 6x6-W2.0xW2.0 W.W.F. on 10 mil polyethylene vapor barriers. This system sits on 6” of washed crushed stone. The slabs from floors 4-20 are 7” thick and required to have a strength of 5000 psi with a two-way bottom mesh reinforcement #4@24” O.C. each way. Rebar was used on these floors along with the PT, typically 2- #5 top and bottom around the perimeter.
The main electrical room is on the G2 level on the east side of the building. Inside the room are two 480/277V switchboards that connect to a copper busway which runs to the roof for the mechanical systems. There are three 208/120V switchboards which connect to two busways that span the two towers for residential use. These busways taps off at electrical rooms located on every other floor and service apartment unit panelboards. There is a 400 kW generator located on the first floor. The power for this building is provided by Dominion Virginia Power.
Electrical
Lighting
To help achieve LEED Gold, almost all lights in the building are LEED or Energy Star rated. Step lights are located in the residential hallways to increase the light and for aesthetics. Each apartment has light fixtures in the kitchen and bathroom(s). There are pendant lights above the islands and under cabinet lights above the countertops. There is an option in every apartment to hang a light in the living room area as well. The residents can choose a light fixture if they wish and have it installed in this space. The lighting in the amenity spaces complements the casework and themes in each area.
In the garage levels there is a dry sprinkler system since these levels are not heated and a dry system cannot work in temperatures under 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Throughout the rest of the building wet system is used throughout. The wet system is used in these areas since it is reliable and have low maintenance.
Fire Protection
Transportation
There are a total of four staircases, two in each tower, spanning from level G3 to the Roof. Stair A is located in the North Tower and exits through the North Lobby on the first floor. Stair B is Located in the North Tower and provides egress to the garage or directly outside on the first floor. Both of these stairs do not provide access to the second floor because of the townhouse units present in the North Tower. These seven apartments are two stories and can only enter/exit from the first floor. Stairs C and D are located in the South Tower with Stair D exiting through the South Lobby and Stair C exiting directly to the outside on the first floor. There is also a monumental staircase in the main lobby that connects to the third floor amenity spaces. There are three elevators in the South Tower and two in the North Tower which also run from G3 to the Roof Level.
The main telecommunication room is located on level G1 in the northeast corner. There is a secondary telecom room located on level 2 in the southwest corner of the building. This room also acts as an electrical room and contains 120/208V ad 480/277V copper busways.
Telecommunications
Access Control
Since The Nova is a residential building, security is very important. To enter the parking garage, a key card is necessary to open the door. These doors automatically shut after each vehicle enters the garage. Each door that leads into a lobby requires a key card to open the door, but the main lobby doors have a call button so guests can enter the building. The elevators require card identification to go to the desired floor. Each resident is only allowed access to his/her floor and garage and amenity space levels. In each stair, there is key card access to each floor, and each resident will have access to any floor. Each resident has one key card to enter the garage, elevators, stairs, and their apartment.