Education facilities fall into a wide range of categories with unique uses, ranging from student housing to classrooms, and large underground assembly spaces. MRCE has supported development of urban campuses for private and public schools and universities. Design-build delivery is a popular approach for developing education facilities. Our ability to work within a multidisciplinary project team has led to successful collaborations with architects specializing in education facilities. MRCE has supported many design-build projects, adapting builder specialty methods to subsurface conditions and project needs.
New York Law School’s $190 million expansion and renovation of the TriBeCa campus comprises 216,000 square feet of new construction and 150,000 square feet of renovations to three existing adjacent buildings.
MRCE investigated subsurface conditions and designed foundations for the new structures. The development design included a perimeter slurry wall for temporary excavation support and permanent foundation. The 60-foot deep basement was constructed using top-down methods.
SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences & Master Plan
Construction of the University at Buffalo’s new state-of-the art School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (UB-SMBS) required excavation in variable ground to a depth of more than 40 feet adjacent to Buffalo’s Metro subway and Allen Street Station. The new medical facility required large floor spans and heavy column loads in order to build over the Metro Station entrance building.
To navigate these challenges, MRCE:
Designed temporary and permanent excavation support structures including a secant pile wall to avoid underpinning, and limit movement of the Metro Station.
Designed a combination of economic shallow foundations bearing on natural soil and deep micropile foundations socketed in rock to accommodate the heavy column loads.
Collaborated with the design team and contractor to develop practical solutions to mitigate construction difficulties introduced by a stratified soil profile with interlayered sensitive fine grained sand, silt and clay below the water table.
Supported excavation and subgrade work, and inspection approvals through a frigid Buffalo winter.
Utilized MRCE instrumentation and monitoring data to guide construction and remedial measures where soil behavior was uncertain, or unanticipated conditions were encountered.