The Kennedy Krieger Institute is one of the world’s premier institutions “dedicated to improving the lives of children and young adults with pediatric developmental disabilities” located in Baltimore, MD. Century Engineering provided survey, civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services for this new, five-story facility which provides office and administrative space to support the mission of the Kennedy Krieger Institute.
The site was a paved parking lot once containing eight row houses. The goal was to construct the largest building possible on this site. To accomplish this, the building extends out to the property lines on all four sides. Milliman Street and a 10-foot-wide alley that traverses the site were purchased from the City to become part of this footprint.
The concrete and steel framed superstructure was designed for maximum flexibility to serve both current and future program space needs. After substantial completion of the contract documents for the office building, the project was expanded to include a 20-foot-deep partial basement level. This late modification was required to provide space for a 7T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine by Philips Medical Systems, one of only a few such instruments of this imaging power located in the U.S. Contained within a 16-inch thick steel plate shell that confines the magnetic field, it will be used for medical research of childhood diseases. The MRI equipment is supported on inflatable airbags designed to prevent outside vibration from affecting the MRI’s operation.
The building’s 160-ton cooling load was met by two gas fired VAV rooftop units with a nominal cooling capacity of 80 tons each. These rooftop units each contain a gas fired heat exchanger with a fully modulating burner to accommodate the building’s 1800 MBH heating demand, with Variable Frequency Drive motors (VFD) provided for both the evaporator supply air fans and the economizer exhaust air fans. Field installed controls allow these VFD exhaust fans to control overall building pressurization. The rooftop unit controllers incorporate BACnet communications to facilitate their interface with the building’s automatic temperature control system by Johnson Controls. This Direct Digital Control system incorporates web-based graphics, a point monitoring system, and the capability for remote monitoring and control.
The Kennedy Krieger Institute
Baltimore, MD
The Kennedy Krieger Institute
Baltimore, MD
