Washington, DC

Community of Hope Family Health and Birth Center

Scope/Solutions
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Project Summary

Scope/Solutions

With growing demands for medical and emotional wellness services, the Community of Hope sought to expand their Family Health and Birth Center and undertook a fundraising campaign to relocate and expand the facility. The new three-story center is the district’s only free-standing birth center and includes fourteen medical exam rooms, mental health consultation rooms, a multipurpose room, classrooms and offices, birthing suites, and a pharmacy. SGH served as the structural engineer of record for the project.

SGH provided structural engineering services for the project that included:

Renovating an existing two-story structure constructed with concrete masonry bearing walls and steel framing
Demolishing a portion of the exterior walls to integrate a new two-story, steel-framed horizontal extension with new foundations
Constructing a new third-floor, steel-framed vertical addition supported on the existing two-story structure
Installing screen walls around rooftop mechanical units.
Creating a new foundation pit and openings in the existing floors for new elevators
Relocating an existing stair into a new opening in the second floor and infilling the existing floor opening
Evaluating the structure’s ability to support new birthing tubs, cores through existing floor slabs for plumbing, and ceiling-mounted equipment, and designing strengthening as required
Creating new window openings in exterior load bearing walls
Evaluating existing spandrel beams to support new cladding systems