U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters Project

Design Update

May 2011 - The Clark Design/Build team has completed the complex design of the United States Coast Guard Headquarters, the first phase of the Saint Elizabeths Campus for the Department of Homeland Security.

While the design of the United States Coast Guard Headquarters complex is now complete, coordination with adjacent buildings and infrastructure will be an ongoing process as the next phase of the Saint Elizabeths West Campus is developed and implemented. The Clark Design/Build team supports these other projects in a number of ways. Adjacent buildings require extensive coordination during construction in order to help preserve and protect historic buildings and landscape features. Coordination often requires flexibility when sequencing work, especially when buildings are near or immediately adjacent to other buildings. Until all building projects are complete ongoing coordination will be required to support the revitalization and redevelopment of the Saint Elizabeths West Campus.

Inside the United States Coast Guard Headquarters complex the Clark Design/Build team continues to work with our partners at GSA in facilitating a number of interior design activities. GSA is procuring furniture and interior signage that will be coordinated with the current interior design. GSA is also leading the effort in design of the information technology, electronic security, and audio/visual systems in the building. The Clark Design/Build team continues to support GSA as they lead these important design efforts.

Separately, design of the main access road is proceeding. This road leads to the United States Coast Guard Headquarters complex, gatehouses four, five, and six, and remote inspection facility. In addition to linking the campus with the surrounding community, the project team is ensuring the access road meets a number of important aesthetic objectives and becomes an attractive asset to the campus. The design of the access road will be complete summer 2011.

January 2011 - The Clark Design/Build team has completed the complex design of the United States Coast Guard Headquarters, the first phase of the Saint Elizabeths Campus for the Department of Homeland Security. The completed design documentation is being used to plan and construct major building elements such as the foundations and the concrete framed super structure seen in the photographs on this web site, and soon the building exterior, finishes, and Sitework.

Inside the United States Coast Guard Headquarters complex the Clark Design/Build team is working with our partners at GSA to help facilitate a number of interior design activities. At this time GSA is working to develop plans for procuring furniture and interior signage all of which require coordination with the current interior design. GSA is also leading the effort to design the information technology, electronic security, and audio/visual systems in the building. The Clark Design/Build team continues to support GSA as they lead these important design efforts.

Finally, the design is proceeding for the main access road leading to the United States Coast Guard Headquarters complex, gatehouses four, five, and six, and the remote inspection facility. In addition to linking the campus with the surrounding community, the project team is working to ensure the access road meets a number of important aesthetic objectives and becomes an attractive asset to the campus. The design of the access road will be complete summer 2011.

November 2010 - For the past year the Clark Design/Build team has been working to complete the design for the United States Coast Guard Headquarters complex, the first phase of the Saint Elizabeths campus for the Department of Home Land Security. The design for the building is now substantially complete. The completed design documentation is being used to plan and construct major building elements such as the foundations and the concrete framed super structure seen in the photographs on this web site.

This fall the structural design for the building achieved several import design milestones. Deep foundation structures known as caissons where designed to help anchor the building to the hillside and retain soils around the building. The design of large foundation mat slabs was completed and coordinated with plumbing and electrical systems that run underneath the building. The design of the concrete framed superstructure was coordinated with the architectural features of the building and more fully integrated with the exterior detailing. The construction of these structural elements is now underway.

On the exterior of the building the design was further advanced and finalized with the creation of large scale mock-ups. Mock-ups of key exterior wall features were constructed to test the design and verify a number of important features. Since the exterior of the building incorporates a complex and subtle mixture of stone, brick, glass, and zinc metal panels, the mock-ups help the design team refine and finalize the overall exterior aesthetic. Since the exterior of the building also protects the interior from adverse weather the performance of the exterior mock-ups were physically tested. Conditions seen in severe weather events, such as a major storm, are modeled in real life to assure the building interiors will remain dry and keep out water during a severe storm event. With the successful completion of this testing the exterior wall finishes and details are now complete and the construction team is on schedule to build the exterior walls.

On the inside of the building the interior design is complete and fully detailed documents have been prepared describing how to construct the building interiors. Several interior features, such as building signage, interior furniture, information technology systems, electronic security systems, and audio/visual conference systems are still being designed by other members of the project team and will be integrated into the project design when complete. These additional interior features combined with the overall interior design will provide state of the art support infrastructure necessary to advance the Coast Guard’s critical role within the Department of Homeland Security.

The site design is fully developed, and major elements for the site are being constructed at this time. Storm water management is a central concern for all new buildings in the Washington DC metro region and the storm water management design for the site has been completed and fully integrated into the landscape design for the site. A large pond will be used to control storm water during major storm events and special wet land areas around the perimeter of the pond will be used to clean the water before it is recycled for site irrigation. The design of the environmentally sustainable green roof over the entire building complex is complete and represents one of the most ambitious green roofs ever attempted in the United States.

The project design team, under the guidance of the General Services Administration and the Department of Homeland Security, will remain engaged in the project as it is constructed providing support to the individuals and organizations charged with constructing the building. Through the continued involvement of the project design team the accumulation of years of planning and design work will be successfully realized in the completed building.

August 2010 - The design for the United States Coast Guard Headquarters complex, the first phase of the Saint Elizabeths campus for the Department of Homeland Security, has significantly advanced this summer. Major elements for the site are currently being constructed and the design for those elements has developed to support the project team. Storm water management is a central concern for all new buildings in the Washington DC metro region and the storm water management design for the site has been completed and fully integrated into the landscape design for the site. A large pond will be used to control storm water during major storm events, and special wet land areas around the perimeter of the pond will be used to clean the water before it is recycled for site irrigation. The design of the environmentally sustainable green roof over the entire building complex is sufficiently along and represents one of the most ambitious green roofs ever attempted in the United States.

The design for the building achieved several design milestones this summer the first of which is the foundation design. Due to the complex site topography and unique soils the foundation design has evolved to address a number of structural design considerations. Foundation structures have been designed to provide a solid base for the building structure and the floors above. To reduce the visual impact of the building, extensive terraces and retaining walls have been designed so the building steps down the hillside and better disguises the building from view once the landscape is restored.

For those areas of the building that will be visible to the surrounding community a number of key steps have been taken to refine the design of the exterior facades incorporating a mixture of stone, brick, glass, and zinc metal - all materials which are found in the historical buildings on campus. The brick and stone material palette are refined in preparation for the construction of exterior wall mock ups that will be used to test the overall visual aesthetics and the technical performance of the exterior wall systems. All of the exterior wall details are nearly complete and were refined under the guidance of many technical professionals and with input from the Commission of Fine Arts staff. These steps are all occurring now so preparations can be made to start constructing the exterior walls of the building early next year.

Finally, inside the building the design team has been busy completing the documents that will describe how to construct the office and support spaces for the US Coast Guard. These spaces will provide state of the art support infrastructure necessary to advance the Coast Guard's critical role within the Department of Homeland Security. Once complete, these design documents will be used to instruct a wide range of companies that will be engaged to build and finish these spaces.

The project design team, under the guidance of the General Services Administration and the Department of Homeland Security, continues to actively engage a broad number of stakeholders who have provided valuable input. These stakeholders include the organizations that will occupy the building when it is complete, and a number of other groups invested in the reinvention of the Saint Elizabeths West Campus in the Anacostia community. This rich and diverse feedback has helped us refine the building design in numerous ways, both large and small, and is helping the project team create a better building.

First Quarter - 2010 The United States Coast Guard Headquarters complex, the first phase of the Saint Elizabeths campus for the Department of Homeland Security, is progressing with several important advancements in the development and evolution of the building design. An important milestone was achieved when the Consulting Parties guiding the redevelopment of the Saint Elizabeths campus, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) and the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), approved the overall exterior design of the building.

From an environmental stewardship perspective the design team has been actively investigating how to further reduce energy consumption and improve the environmental quality of the building and nearby landscape for both the building occupants and members of the surrounding community. The project design team is also actively engaging a number of project stakeholders to include their input as the building design is refined and prepared for construction.

As part of the overall planning process for the Saint Elizabeths campus the project design team has been busy improving or refining the design of the exterior building facades and general planning for the campus. Design input was provided to the project team from the Consulting Parties with an eye towards producing a landmark building that will both blend into the surrounding landscape and create a signature building. Building materials were carefully refined to compliment materials in nearby historic structures so there is consistency between the new and the old. The visual impact of the parking garages was virtually eliminated by partially depressing the garages into the ground with the remainder disguised by extensive landscape plantings along the walls and roofs.

Less visible, but just as important, the project team continues to seek every available opportunity for improving the energy efficiency of the building. These activities include refining the design of the building heating and cooling systems to provide a comfortable indoor environment using less electricity. The selection of indoor light fixtures is being reviewed in order to find ways of providing the same amount of indoor light while consuming less electricity. However, not all the team's environmental efforts are focused on reducing energy consumption, as the project team is also seeking opportunities to include locally sourced building materials, recycled building products, and products manufactured locally in an effort to further reduce the environmental impact of the building and benefit the overall region. These are just a few of the activities the design team is currently engaged in to improve the environment and create a high performance building.

Finally for this update, the project design team is actively engaging a broad number of stakeholders who have valuable input to provide as the building design is further developed. These stakeholders include the people and organizations that will occupy this building when it is complete to a number of other groups, such as historical and community organizations invested in the reinvention of the St. Elizabeths West Campus in the Anacostia community. This rich and diverse feedback helps to refine the building design in numerous ways and creates a better building.