Project Name: Lehman College Nursing Education, Research and Practice Center (NERPC)

Company Name: Urbahn Architects

Project Location: The Bronx, New York United States

Project Information/Details: Marking the completion of Lehman College’s most significant capital project in its history, the new Nursing Education, Research and Practice Center (NERPC) officially opened its doors with a ceremonial ribbon cutting. The Lehman College leadership and students, elected officials, representatives of the owner City College of New York (CUNY), project manager the Dormitory Authority of New York (DASNY), Urbahn Architects, and contractor Citnalta Construction led the ceremonies. Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, New York State Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado, Senator Luis Sepúlveda, Senator Robert Jackson, and Assembly Members George Alvarez and Jeffrey Dinowitz as well as New York City Council Member Rafael Salamanca joined the event. New York State funded the project through the City University of New York (CUNY) Capital Improvement Program, with additional funding from the New York City Council and the Bronx Borough President’s Office. Nursing is one of the most popular majors at Lehman, and the department is expanding its offerings with a new doctor in nursing practice (DNP) program beginning in Fall 2020. The NERPC consolidates the functions of the department, which had been previously located in different venues, into one integrated and purpose-designed facility. “The opening of our new Nursing Education, Research, and Practice Center represents our commitment to our students, our community, and our city. In what can be considered a critical and important time in healthcare, offering students hands-on training is essential in preparing them as they go into practice, ensuring they can deliver the best possible care to their patients,” said Dr. Fernando Delgado, Lehman College President. “We celebrate this opening and look forward to developing and nurturing future generations of qualified and skilled nurses in our new facility.” “The new Nursing Center puts our students at the head of the class to prepare them for countless scenarios they’ll encounter everywhere from a hospital to a home,” said Dr. Eleanor ‘Nora’ Campbell, Chair of the Lehman College Nursing Department. “The new technology and overall environment of the building creates an amazing space for learning complicated issues and gives students hands-on experiences they can’t get anywhere else.” “The $95 million, 52,000-square foot NERPC houses classrooms, teaching and research laboratories, faculty offices, and support spaces for both undergraduate and graduate programs of the Department of Nursing. Urbahn and the engineering team designed the building and roofing to meet the sustainability and energy efficiency requirements of the New York City Climate Mobilization Act and New York City Local Laws 92 and 94,” shared Urbahn Architects Principal-in-Charge Natale V. Barranco, AIA, LEED AP. "The new, five-story building is located on the campus mall, between Davis Hall to the north and Carman Hall to the south. The site presented a stylistically challenging architectural context with nearby structures showcasing varied architectural styling. Nearby Davis Hall, constructed in 1934, was designed in the traditional gothic revival style prevalent on university campuses at that time. Carman Hall was constructed in 1971 and has a minimalist poured concrete façade again typical of its era. Urbahn Architects created a new contemporary morphology for the NERPC façade that references design elements of both adjacent buildings, while creating a new, contemporary identity,” explained Urbahn Associate Bridgette van Sloun, RA, CPHC, WELL AP. The new facility creates additional instruction and hands-on lab space to meet the growing need for healthcare workers. The Nursing Center will be the foundation for a rapid rise in enrollment to meet that need, especially for underserved communities in The Bronx and Westchester. The new center offers a simulated clinical environment for training students, equipped with: • Maternity, Pediatrics, ICU, and Medical Surgery Wards with 22 simulators • Wet and Dry Research Labs • Twenty-bed Nursing Skills Lab • Computer Labs • HyFlex Classrooms • Activities of Daily Living Apartment • Student Lounges and Social Spaces In addition to Principal-in-Charge Natale Barranco and Senior Associate, Bridgette van Sloun, Urbahn’s in-house design team also included Principal Architect Martin D. Stein, AIA, LEED AP; Associate and Project Manager Joseph Zappulla, CPHC and Associate and Designer Jonathan Ruiz. NERPC’s construction and design project team also included healthcare and laboratory design consultant HKS Architects, construction manager TDX Construction Corp., structural engineer LERA Consulting Structural Engineers, civil engineer Langan Engineering, MEP Engineer R.G. Vanderweil Engineers, excavation consultant FNA Engineering Services, environmental consultant YU & Associates, landscape architect Edgewater Design, lighting designer Domingo Gonzalez Associates, audio visual engineer Cerami Associates, Solar PV consultant Academy Energy Group, and elevator consultant AB Consulting. Building Architecture and Exterior Urbahn Architects developed the facade design and vocabulary to visually integrate NERPC with the adjacent Davis and Carman Halls. Davis Hall is clad in stone, while Carman Hall is composed primarily of exposed concrete with sections of aluminum storefront on the ground level. The NERPC façade incorporates concrete panels, stone, brick, and storefront. The exterior of the basement and the two stair towers is clad in brick to ground the building. On the first floor, a curtain wall storefront system echoes that of Carman Hall. Fiber-reinforced cement panels with punched windows create a rainscreen to enclose the 2nd and 3rd floors, referencing both the stone and concrete of the adjacent buildings. The building is designed to meet New York City Climate Mobilization Act and Local Laws 92 and 94, which require components of buildings’ exterior envelopes and roofs to contribute to overall energy efficiency. All windows have double insulated glazing. A solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation system has been installed on the reflective SBS membrane system roof. Approximately 22% of the roof’s area is covered by PV panels that generate a total of 43.2 kW of power for the building, a tenfold increase of the law’s requirement of 4kW. The site, which previously contained a one-story bookstore and a parking lot, presented significant design challenges. This portion of the Lehman campus was originally a part of the adjacent Jerome Park reservoir that was filled in with shot rock from the NYC subway construction in the early 1900s. The bearing strength of the soil is poor, and the depth of the bedrock varies between 20 to 60 feet over the site. During the initial phase of construction work, Citnalta’s construction crews installed over one hundred caissons with pile caps to support the foundation grade beams. The caissons are 10-inch reinforced steel cement with steel casing. Most of the campus buildings have elevated entries averaging five to six feet above grade. The first-floor elevation of Carman Hall is seven feet above grade, and it is surrounded by a sunken plaza. The design team carefully coordinated the elevation of NERPC with the surrounding elements to create a cohesive plan. The basement level matches the elevation of Carman Hall’s sunken plaza. A monumental entry plaza facing Campus Walk incorporates stairs and a ramp leading to both the first floor of NERPC and to the adjacent sunken plaza below. The designers incorporated linear lights into the undersides of stair handrails to add a dramatic lighting effect to the plaza and the entrance/Landscape architect Edgewater Designs has created a buffer of landscape material, including flowering trees and ground covers to soften the perimeter of the pavers and poured concrete surfaces of the access corridor and the sunken plaza. Building Interiors “Program development for NERPC was a six-month long collaborative effort between Urbahn Architects and Lehman College. The parameters set during the programming phase dictated the design of the five-story building, with integrated educational and public spaces. The building is designed to promote collaboration, with casual gathering areas to support learning beyond the classroom,” explained Urbahn’s Associate Joseph Zappulla, CPHC, who participated in the project’s conceptual design phase. The cellar level is completely below grade and contains mechanical spaces housing air handling and heat recovery units, plumbing infrastructure, and telecommunications equipment. The basement level is dedicated to hands-on nursing simulation (SIM), physical assessment, and nursing skills labs. HKS, a global leader in healthcare design, with a growing focus on interprofessional education and health sciences, designed the high-fidelity simulation suite, skills training labs, and graduate research labs. “The high-fidelity simulation suite offers targeted clinical scenarios in a variety of immersive environments, utilizing a fully integrated simulation system and manikins from Laerdal Medical. The goal of immersive learning environments is to promote student success and improve local health outcomes,” said HKS Vice President and Senior Designer Jennifer McKeel, AIA, LEED AP, LSSYB. SIM is the centerpiece of the lab space. It emulates a clinical environment, in which students will train for real-world situations ranging from labor and delivery, pediatrics and trauma treatment to adult intensive care and emergencies such as heart attacks. High-tech manikins are used to simulate relevant symptoms, and faculty has the ability to remotely monitor each student’s interaction with the simulated patients. Other labs include clinic-like settings for skills instruction, and a model apartment for home health care instruction. Mock patient beds are outfitted exactly as they would be in a clinical setting, including the use of compressed air to simulate oxygen and other medical gasses. This level is open to the sunken plaza along the south façade, while being fully below grade to the north, along the access corridor. On the first floor, full-height glass along the north wall creates a welcoming entry into the building. According to Van Sloun, “The interior design employs biophilic concepts and materials to create a psychologically nurturing environment.” Interior finishes utilize natural materials and tones to create an earthy, soothing atmosphere, and this concept is most prevalent in the public spaces near the entry. A wood panel feature wall faces the entrance. In an adjacent space, the student lounge is enclosed in a “glass box” that provides unobstructed views of the campus walk and athletic field. In the lounge, recessed seating nooks with upholstered benches is framed with wood paneling that matches that of the entry. Wood ceiling panels, some perforated for acoustical properties, extend through the lobby and lounge. An architectural stair, with wood treads, glass rails, and wood handrail, connects the lobby and the nursing suite in the lower level. A second student lounge with banquet seating and vending machines is also located on this level. This floor also contains two 35-seat classrooms and a computer lab/learning and testing center, with a movable partition that can be opened to create one large room, if required during testing for a contiguous space for proctoring. Terrazzo flooring provides a durable decorative element in the main circulation spaces, while vinyl composition tile (VCT) is used in the instructional spaces. The second floor contains six 25-seat classrooms and a faculty suite with private offices, desks for adjunct professors, and doctoral student workstations. Wet and dry research labs for use by the faculty are integrated into the area. All classrooms feature either smartboards or interactive projection screens, depending on the classrooms’ sizes. All classrooms are set up for HyFlex learning to allow for virtual and hybrid education. Corridors run east-west. Classrooms on both the first and second floors are located within the saw-tooth massing configuration on the south side of the corridor to maximize light penetration into the instructional spaces. This floor features and art installation by artist Nancy Blum, titled “Lotus Pond.” Faculty spaces, including offices, a work room, a lounge and small conference areas for meetings with students occupy the third floor. The Department Chair’s office suite, including a large, 750-square foot conference room large enough to accommodate the entire staff, sits located directly above the building entrance at the northeast corner. Interior glazing throughout the suite allows for natural light to permeate into the corridor. Wall finishes throughout the building are gypsum board painted in earth tones and soft colors to create a confortable ambiance. All spaces with the exception of the first-floor entrance lobby and student lounge have standard acoustic tile ceilings and VCT flooring. NERPC has two stair towers. One, located in the southeast corner, extends from the basement to the roof. The second, intended to make an architectural statement and extending from the cellar to the third floor, protrudes out from the north façade and is encased in full glass between the first and third floors, offering a full view of Davis Hall from within the stairwell. The elevator bank is located in the center of the building. Building Infrastructure An existing utility tunnel spans the Davis and Carman Halls, at the level of NERPC’s cellar. The new building foundation bridges over the tunnel, so that no new loads are applied to its structure. Some of NERPC’s utilities, including heating and cooling, fire alarm, and fiber optics for both IT and building automation systems, tie into the central utilities in the tunnel. The basement floor is designed as a flat slab to maximize the clear height in the cellar to accommodate the mechanical equipment. A structure steel frame extends from the basement to the roof. MEP systems were designed with sustainability goals in mind. The HVAC system for the NERCP is a variable air volume (VAV) with hot water reheat. According to David Pinto, PE, LEED AP, Mnaging Principal at R.G. Vanderweil Engineers, “The air handling unit located in the basement mechanical room includes two air tunnels and incorporates an energy recovery wheel, steam heating coils and chilled-water cooling coils. Air handling capacity is 50,000 cfm, with cooling capacity is 120 tons, 240 gpm chilled water.” Water conservation components include low flow urinals and water closets as well as 0.5 gpm lavatory faucets. Energy efficient LED lighting fixtures are specified for all spaces. Recessed fixtures are used in the suspended ceilings in both classrooms and offices and architectural pendent fixtures in the entrance lobby and student lounge. Cove fixtures wash the walls of the circulation spaces with light.

Project Name: Colin L. Powell K-8 Academy

Company Name: Stantec

Project Location: Fort Washington, Maryland United States

Project Information/Details: One of the nation’s largest school districts, Prince George’s County Public School System (PGCPS), recently opened its sixth new school as part of its “Blueprint Schools” program. The Colin L. Powell K-8 Academy opened to students on November 27, 2023, and held its ribbon cutting on February 21, 2024. The additional five schools—Sonia Sotomayor Middle School at Adelphi, Drew-Freeman Middle School, Hyattsville Middle School, Kenmoor Middle School, and Walker Mill Middle School—opened in September 2023. The program was delivered as a 30-year public-private partnership by the Prince George’s County Education & Community Partners consortium comprised of: Developer: Fengate Asset Management and Gilbane Development Company Design-Builder: Gilbane Building Company Architect: Stantec Facility Services Provider: Honeywell Delivering a first-of-its-kind project Stantec, a global leader in integrated design, brought the pioneering Blueprint Schools program to life by implementing a design prototype that addresses aging and overcrowded facilities for each of the schools, ultimately getting more than 8,000 students into new classrooms a mere 2.5 years after reaching financial close. This innovative bundled delivery model, the first of its kind in the US, brought design equity to PGCPS and advanced local economic inclusion goals through diverse and local business utilization. Nearly 30 percent of total eligible costs were awarded to minority-owned businesses and community-based small businesses, while additional savings are expected to be realized by PGCPS in deferred maintenance and construction costs. As part of their role on the consortium, Honeywell will assume physical maintenance of the six schools for 30 years, keeping the facilities in prime condition to foster and enhance the learning environment. Cohesive design on a fast-track schedule With the students’ well-being and safety at the core of the overall design, the new multi-story school buildings provide an inspiring environment to enhance learning for more than 1,200 students each. The schools feature grade-specific academic wings, STEM or STEAM labs, media labs, production studios, performance stages, indoor gymnasiums, and music, band, and dance rooms. “Our design of these innovative learning environments reflects the needs of a diverse student population in Maryland. We were able to create engaging education spaces that feel connected, yet each offer their own unique aesthetic,” Michael Scarani, project lead for Stantec. “By delivering in half the typical time, we were able to meet the district’s ambitious goals to get its students into new, modern classrooms and help PGCPS address each of its communities’ space needs.” All schools are designed to meet LEED Silver Equivalent standards. Sustainability elements include tubular skylights and large windows to increase natural daylight, biophilic design principles, and ventilation systems to reduce the spread of virus. Each school features an outdoor environmental classroom with a canopy, student desks, and planting beds. Stantec is ranked as a top 10 design firm by Engineering News-Record and Architectural Record and has ranked as the #1 A/E firm by Building Design + Construction for 11 consecutive years. Learn more about how Stantec designs for the future generation of learners.

Project Name: The New Oder Bridge

Company Name: Mammoet

Project Location: Slubice, Poland

Project Information/Details: Built more than 100 years ago, and connecting Western and Eastern Europe, the Oder Bridge on the German-Polish border in Küstrin has since been seen as a symbol of Europe coming together. Over time, as bridges get used by heavy transport, they need replacing, and for such a historic railway bridge a special replacement was designed which was to be carried out with minimal disruption to the rail network. The new Oder Bridge is an innovation – a network arch bridge with carbon hangers: its sleek, light and soft design, a fitting symbol of innovation, openness and connection. The 2,100t, 180m long bridge will help to increase line capacity and shorten travel times by allowing a maximum permissible speed of 120km/h. Mammoet has plenty of experience in large-scale bridge launches, and the specialist heavy-lift equipment to move them as complete structures. This allows parallel work in the preparation phase and saves time. This is why it was approached to install the bridge safely and with minimum disruption. Depth-defying challenge The bridge was assembled on the German side of the Oder and then moved, by Mammoet, as a whole structure across the river to its final installation position. Koen Brouwers, Project Manager at Mammoet, said: “Most bridges are floated into place using a combination of Mammoet Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMTs), launching plates and a pontoon. However, the use of a pontoon here was not possible due to the shallow, and changing, water levels of the river. Using a large crane, capable of positioning loads with a long reach, was also not feasible due to the weight and length of the bridge.” Mammoet’s engineers therefore came up with a solution that avoided the use of both crane and pontoon. This solution allowed work to happen regardless of the water level and made the operation more flexible, safer, and efficient. After first jacking the bridge to 2m and positioning the SPMTs underneath, it was transported to the edge of the river where it was positioned over the first of five temporary supports. The bridge was then launched using a combination of specially designed launching plates and strand jacks that pulled the structure horizontally until it reached the next temporary support. This process continued until the bridge reached the opposite side of the river. The SPMTs on the rear of the bridge were then removed and skid shoes were installed to slide the bridge into its final position. At this point, the bridge was taken over by climbing jacks, which allowed the temporary supports to be removed and the bridge to be lowered down to its final resting height. Around 45 truckloads of specialist heavy equipment were mobilized for this project, including 96 axle lines of SPMTs, 26 launching plates, 10 climbing jacks and 2 strand jacks. Plate spinning One of the key considerations for any bridge launch is the risk of deformation of its structure during the launch process, and this posed a big challenge for the engineering team. To solve this, temporary supports with hydraulic cylinders were used at the quay edges and in the water, as well as modified launching plates. Jack van der Vloet, Lead Engineer at Mammoet, said: “It’s a big bridge and wind loads had to be considered. It has a large deflection, so the launching plates had to be modified. Typically, they swivel in two directions; however, in this case they had to swivel 360 degrees. This always gave us full control of the operation.” The entire skidding equipment had to be customized to execute the operation technically. This meant that all launching plates were retrofitted with a spherical bearing so that they could be moved in all directions. During the launch the weight on each tower and cylinder was controlled to ensure a smooth and safe operation. Due to the bridge’s size, all the available launching plates that Mammoet Europe had in stock had to be used. This was a technical and logistical challenge, but one easily handled thanks to its size and network. New method for success Infrastructure projects are crucial to support growing populations and economies, and as cities get busier these projects become more challenging. Mammoet’s experience in large-scale bridge projects, and technical capabilities to move bridges as a complete structure, allows parallel work in the preparation phase and time and disruption savings. Uwe Richter, Senior Sales Manager at Mammoet, said: “It is very important to involve Mammoet at an early stage to support the preparation phase with technical and feasibility studies. This way, we can investigate the different execution options and decide on the best solution with the customer.” Compared to other bridge projects where cranes or pontoons are used, Mammoet used a different method with modified launching plates. This smart solution can now be adapted for other bridge projects, where using a crane or pontoon is not possible or inefficient.