Fairfield, CT
Sacred Heart University, Martire Business & Communication Center
Scope/Solutions
The Frank and Marisa Martire Business & Communications Center is home to the College of Business and Department of Communications and Media Studies. The design highlights its innovative facilities, including a striking lecture hall and gathering space, an active trading floor, multimedia classrooms, a motion picture and animation lab, two television studios, and a radio station. SGH designed the structure and consulted on the enclosure for the building with a 100-year service life.
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
Photo by Tracy Deer-Mirek
Photo by Brad Prestbo
Photo by Tracy Deer-Mirek
Photo by Tracy Deer-Mirek
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Project Summary
2015
Completion Date
Award
Winner
Solutions
New Construction
Services
Building Enclosures | Structures
Markets
Education
Client(s)
Sasaki Associates, Inc.
Specialized Capabilities
Building Design
Key team members
Additional Projects
Northeast
Emerson College, Little Building
The college undertook a project to replicate the street-facing facades and coupled that with a major renovation and modernization, extending the useful life of the residence hall for many years. SGH consulted on the facade replacement and renovation.
Northeast
University of Massachusetts, John W. Olver Design Building
A steel- or concrete-framed structure would be the conventional choice for this building’s size and use, but the new Design Building features a mass timber superstructure to maximize renewable materials. SGH was the engineer of record for this project.