Student Success Center
@ Rowan Campus Burlington County
Building Statistics
Part 1
Project Team
General Building Information
Building Codes
Architecture
The Student Success Center at Rowan College Burlington County Campus is a two story, centrally located building that will bring students together. Mostly for educational use, there are lounges, private study areas, testing rooms, and a bookstore. The building also fits in with the rest of the surrounding campus architecture. Being centrally located and containing all these elements, this building is definitely a great addition to the Burlington County Campus.
Façade and Roofing
The façade consists of primarily of fiberglass reinforced concrete cladding. The exterior wall of the first floor is mostly the fiberglass reinforced concrete cladding in the vertical orientation and is a white color. From the second floor to the roof of the exterior, the cladding is in the horizontal orientation and is terra cotta color. There is a decent size curtain wall that can be found on the north side of the building and in a small section on the south side. There are two types of roofing depending on the area of the building. The east and west sloped roofs are prefinished standing seam metal roofing system with 6” insulation and a metal deck below. The center atrium section roofing is a membrane assembly that is on top of the 6” insulation and metal deck.
Site and Zoning
The Student Success Center is located on the Burlington County Rowan Campus. This campus is in Mount Laurel, New Jersey off Route 38 and close to the NJ Turnpike. When approaching the campus from the south, this building will be the first one that students will come across. It is located towards the southern center of campus.
This area of campus is in the Planned Unit Development Zone, but this may change due to expansion.
Sustainability and History
No major sustaiability features mentioned. No history requirements.
Primary Engineering
Systems
Building Statistics
Part 2
Construction
Mechanical
The Student Success Center started construction in August 2016 and was finished in August 2017. This project was on a tight schedule since it was planned to be open in fall of 2017. It was a design-bid-build project and it was located in the southern center of the Burlington County Rowan Campus. The building was originally contracted at roughly $23 million but after the total project was completed, it was closer to $25 million. The existing site was not too difficult to handle. Little grading was required due to the relatively small elevation change. There is an existing parking lot adjacent to the Student Success Center, along the southwest and southeast sides of the building. The construction manager’s field office trailer will be in this parking lot. Parking and material/tool sheds can be accessible from these lots.
The Student Success Center receives all its hot water/chilled water from a central plant located on the Burlington County Campus. Heat exchangers, pumps, and expansion tanks are located in the building to handle the distribution of water within the Student Success Center. In terms of air distribution, there are three main air handling units that service the majority of the building. Each air handling unit services a different section of the building, the smallest is used in the kitchen and dining area on the first floor. It supplies roughly 16,000 cfm, the two larger supply about 50,000 cfm each. One handles the west two floors of the building and the other handles the east. The air is distributed by a variable air volume system (VAV). Two smaller systems provide air to the stairways and mechanical/electrical rooms. A ductless split system is used for the service rooms and fan coil units are used in the stairways.
All the equipment is located on the mezzanine above the second floor of the building. There is plenty of space and room for improvement/service. The air handling unit servicing the east wing is located on the east mezzanine and the west unit on the west mezzanine. The heat exchangers, pumps, and expansion tanks are also located on this mezzanine.
Structural
The primary lateral system in the Student Success Center is a steel moment frame system. The gravity system is a steel framing system that typically has wide flange shaped beams. The east wing is primarily supported by W14x34 and the west wing is supported mostly by W14x53. There are also four brace frames found along portions of the exterior walls that support the lateral system. The building has shallow foundations with typical grade beam strip footings. The spread footings are located underneath the columns and mostly range from 7’x 7’ to 10’x 10’. The first floor is 5” reinforced slab on grade, normal weight concrete with 4000 psi. The second floor is composed of steel framing with a 1.5” deep, 18 GA metal deck and the concrete being 2.5” thick and lightweight concrete with 4000 psi. The mezzanine is similar to the second floor framing and decking. The roof is metal deck that is 1.5” deep and 20 GA, but without concrete. This deck is primarily supported by six different types of K series joists.
Electrical
The main switchboard in this building is rated for roughly 960,000 VA and is 480/277 V. It is located in the main electrical room on the first floor. It services seven distribution panels from this switchboard each being 480/277 V. There are many branch panels that are supplied from these panels and most are 208/120 V. Only three of these branch panels are 408/277 V, they service larger areas such as the atrium and open office. Most of the higher voltage panels are located in the main electrical and mechanical rooms on the first floor.
Lighting
Most of the luminaires used in the Student Success Center are recessed LED lights. These LEDs are typically 2x4 due to some of the large spaces in the building. The atrium in the center of the building is one of the main sources for daylighting but it also has lighting located at the highest level. These lights are surface mounted scoop type uplights. The dining area has high performance linear recessed LEDs. There are about thirty five zones for lighting control for the first and second floor. All confined rooms contain controls for daylight dimming.
Additional Engineering
Systems
Fire Protection
Telecommunications
The Student Success Center is sprinklered and is a wet pipe sprinkler system. The sprinklers are installed in suspended ceilings in the center of the acoustical panels. The sprinklers system is designed to operate at a maximum pressure of 175 psig. The sprinkler system is split up into two zones. Zone 1 is primarily on the first floor and served by a 2” pipe. Zone 2 is primarily on the second floor, partially on the first floor and covers the mezzanine. The water supply is connected to an alarm valve so when water is dispersed through the sprinkler heads, it will cause the alarm to sound.
Due to the large number of spaces, communication lines were installed. The office spaces and classrooms have data outlets to provide communication access. All offices have two sets of two CAT6 data wires, and the classrooms typically have more than two. These sets of wires are ran with ¾” conduit and six inches above the ceiling. The open spaces typically have wireless access points that are mounted above the ceiling.
Transportation
The buildings estimated occupancy load is about 1,700. In terms of egress, there are three main stairways in the building located towards the exterior of the building. There is also an open stairway in the atrium that connects the first and second floor. The only other form of transportation in the building is an elevator located in the eastern wing by the south stairway.
Note: While great efforts have been taken to provide accurate and complete information on the pages of CPEP, please be aware that the information contained herewith is considered a work‐in progress for this thesis project. Modifications and changes related to the original building designs and construction methodologies for this senior thesis project are solely the interpretation of Kyle Tarves. Changes and discrepancies in no way imply that the original design contained errors or was flawed. Differing assumptions, code references, requirements, and methodologies have been incorporated into this thesis project; therefore, investigation results may vary from the original design.