State University of New York Stony Brook

State University of New York at Stony Brook

Location Stony Brook, NY

Category EducationHealth Care

Focus Area Energy/Sustainable DesignRehabilitation Planning

Hospital Building Enclosure Rehabilitation and Walkway Redesign

Stony Brook University Hospital Curtain Wall Rehabilitation

Constructed in the late 1970s, Stony Brook University Hospital is a 624-bed facility that serves as Suffolk County’s only Level One trauma and tertiary care facility. Patient rooms are contained in two hexagonal, twelve-story glazed curtain wall towers perched on two-story columns atop an expansive, tiered base structure that contains the hospital support facilities. The patient towers connect to the adjacent Health Sciences Building, an equally distinctive structure clad in concrete, via two three-story curtain wall pedestrian bridges. Another unusual architectural feature of the building is the exterior elevator shafts, which are clad in spray-applied concrete. Hoffmann Architects + Engineers has been working with Stony Brook Medicine since 2011 developing a comprehensive rehabilitation strategy for the exterior envelope of the patient towers, including the main glass curtain wall, pedestrian bridges, and the elevator shaft cladding. Our design professionals conducted a comprehensive investigation of the existing facade systems, developed contract documents for the replacement, and provided interim services addressing emergency conditions and repairs when required. Construction was phased to accommodate ongoing hospital operations.

Campus Thoroughfare Reconstruction

The main connector between SUNY Stony Brook’s east and west campuses is a vehicular underpass below Nicolls Road with an elevated pedestrian walkway that ends at the second floor plaza of the Health Sciences Center. The pedestrian walkway deck, built during the development of the medical campus in the 1970s, was exhibiting severe corrosion and deterioration, and the walkway and adjacent areas were closed to public access and traffic due to safety concerns. Additionally, the existing walkway system did not provide universal barrier-free access. Hoffmann Architects + Engineers provided design and contract administration services for the comprehensive rehabilitation of the connector, including a complete replacement of the pedestrian walkway structure from new cast-in-place concrete foundations to paving surfaces, railing, lighting, stairways, and immediately adjacent landscaping. Our design professionals provided a long-lasting, low-maintenance walkway system that met all of SUNY Stony Brook’s design needs and code requirements, including ADA compliance.

Pedestrian walkway, SUNY Stony Brook Hospital

Structural Engineering Consultation

PRES Energy was tasked with designing and constructing energy efficiency upgrades across the Stony Brook University Hospital complex by the New York Power Authority. As part of this effort, mechanical upgrades included installation of two rooftop air handling units on the north and south penthouses atop the bed towers. Hoffmann’s design professionals undertook an investigation to confirm the feasibility of installing these new units on the existing structure and subsequently designed structural retrofits to the penthouse framing to allow for the installation. Hoffmann also provided additional structural design services associated with the mechanical upgrades, including design of duct penetrations and crane supports. With Hoffmann’s expertise in building enclosure rehabilitation, our team also detailed penetrations and tie-ins to the existing roofing membranes and siding assemblies and assisted during construction administration.

Building Enclosure Consultation

As part of the NYPA-led energy efficiency upgrades at the hospital, PRES Energy identified approximately 5,500 linear feet of metal panel soffits around the base podium buildings as a significant source of energy loss for the facility. The project’s goal was to replace multiple types of existing panels (including original 1970s weathering steel and later aluminum retrofits) with uniform, new soffit assemblies that provide a minimum insulating value of R-11 and provide a comprehensive air barrier to minimize energy loss across the building enclosure. The soffits span between existing curtain wall glazing or opaque wall finishes and the floor slab above and have a complex panel profile that expresses the form of the supporting steel framing behind the soffit. Unique details include punch-through steel stair stringers for exterior plaza stairs and terminations into rounded building walls. Our design professionals developed construction documents for the replacement soffits to include new insulation, an air barrier, and supporting subframing behind a uniform panel profile, improving both the appearance of the facade and its energy performance.

Curtain wall replacement underway in the continuously occupied patient towers at SUNY Stony Brook

Curtain wall replacement underway in the continuously occupied patient towers at SUNY Stony Brook