Sacred Heart University, Martire Business & Communication Center

SGH designed the three-story structure with a partially below-grade level to meet the town’s height restrictions. Highlights of our structural design include:

• Steel framing with braced frames in stair/elevator cores for flexibility
• Parking below a hardscaped plaza constructed as a two-way, cast-in-place concrete slab designed for 3 ft of soil and a fire truck
• Copper-clad grand arch, seeming to float over the building, supported by a steel exoskeleton thermally isolated from conditioned space
• Wood-clad ellipse formed by steel angles hung from the lecture hall roof
• A grand stair with standard treads and double-height treads serving as stadium seating looking out into the atrium
• Customized framing to support three conical skylights above the atrium
• Bolted relieving angles with thermal isolation and slip-critical connections providing for continuous air/vapor barriers and adjustability
• Thermally-isolated, stainless steel framing for a cantilevered glass canopy

Highlights of our building enclosure consulting services include the following:

• Evaluated durability considering the 100-year service life
• Developed concepts for cladding details
• Observed performance testing of as-built building enclosure systems and developed remedial details as necessary
• Metal stud parapet designed to cantilever off the roof allowed for a continuous air and vapor barrier under the parapet