Overview
Stainless steel is versatile and timeless, popular among designers. It can be made as small as a timepiece component, or as large as a rocket body. Whether for private house or civil project, stainless steel is the kind of material that can’t be neglected. This week let us resume our exploration into the world of stainless steel through the case of stainless steel application in Federal Center South Building 1202.
Federal Center South Building 1202
Federal Center South Building 1202 is a 209,000-sq-ft low-rise mansion located in the south of Seattle, Washington, USA. It was completed in 2012 with a total cost of $72 million.
Home to 736 employees per design occupancy (Charles et al., 2014), Federal Center South Building 1202 serves as the Northwest District Regional Headquarters for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), transforming a previously 4.6-acre brownfield site into a biophilic and collaborative workspace.
The Background Information
Federal Center South Building 1202 is a government project, a result co-produced by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) Design Excellence program.
- • ARRA was enacted to improve the infrastructure of United States and create more jobs.
- • GSA’s Design Excellence program was launched to choose creative and innovative design teams who will push boundaries of federal buildings in the United States.
The project site was adversely situated on the banks of the Duwamish Waterway, a heavily industrialized urban estuary. Its predecessors such as Ford Motor Co., the U.S. Department of Defense, Boeing or the most recent WWII-era Building 1202 all contributed to the carbon footprint which made it appear notoriously on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund list (Architect Magazine 2013).
The situation was rectified when GSA started out on the “redevelopment” of the existing World War II-era warehouse (or Building 1202). To transform the building’s image, GSA targeted to replace it with a new reusable and sustainable federal workspace in response to the letter ARRA’s stipulations for eco-conscious improvement of national infrastructure.
Unlike conventional design-bid-build approach, the project was initiated by GSA under a design-build contract which means the stimulus funds can be released from ARRA immediately, twice to three times faster. Three teams participated in the unfunded design competition that spanned 18 weeks, each taking huge risks to secure a rare fully funded project under a struggling economic climate at the end of 2009. With the tight timeframe demanded by the stimulus money, the project was completed and ploughed into using before the end of 2012.
The Design of Federal Center South Building 1202
Federal Center South Building 1202 boasts the top 1% of U.S. energy-efficient office buildings and wins a lot of awards, such as “Top 10 LEED Projects of 2013” by Interiors & Sources, “Washington Civic Design Awards” by AIA, “Construction Award-Public building $50 million-$100 million” by AGC, to name just a few. It is a highly performance-oriented design delivery with the key goals as below listed to meet.
• Energy Efficiency. A comprehensive list of energy performance criteria ranging from lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation, daylight, thermal storage, solar control, to a rainwater reuse system was specified.
• Safety Goal. The design was required to confirm with Anti-terrorism/Force protection specifications. It means the building will stand unwaveringly even when some elements are compromised.
• Sustainable Goal. The building was required to achieve a minimum of LEED Gold certification.
• Timber Reclamation. Reuse of the materials from the USACE’s existing on-site warehouse was encouraged.
The design/construction team met all the requirements with a beautiful “oxbow” design, integrated with holistic energy efficient systems for high-performance, and sustainable working environment within the budget and timeline.
The Oxbow design, emblematic of USACE’s mission of “Building Strong”, implies the bend of the nearby Duwamish Waterway and arouses the memory of artist Thomas Cole’s 19th-century notion of sublime in "The Oxbow" vis-a-vis westward exp expansion (The Architecture MasterPrize 2025). Apart from the aesthetic appeal and cultural symbol, the oxbow design can also optimize daylight penetration. On the other side, the downward- and upward-facing ends can reduce solar heat produced from the sunlight harshest angles for optimal energy performance.
The central “commons”, or the atrium serves as the social heart of the federal building, creating a sense of community. Proudly the waste from the demolition of the existing warehouse, such as roughly 200,000 board feet of structural timber and 100,000 feet of decking has been recycled for the construction of the new eco-friendly wood-timber atrium.
Stainless Steel Façade of Federal Center South Building 1202
As Federal Center South Building 1202 is meant to be high-performance and sustainable, an initial investment on stainless steel material rather than aluminum is surely a pragmatic solution. Stainless steel material, if chosen appropriately for the designed purpose, can last long the life of the building with minimum maintenance, which can be justified by the case of the Empire State Building in New York.
Federal Center South Building 1202 is clad in stainless steel tiles which can reflect light from tile to tile, adding details and texture to the building façade. Stainless steel can also provide load bearing support to echo "Building Strong". Meanwhile, stainless steel exterior complements the adjacent historic 1930s Albert Kahn-designed 1201 building.
Stainless Steel at CIVMATS
If you are looking for stainless steel tiles like Federal Center South Building 1202, welcome to CIVMATS China. Our stainless steel coils can be readily split into small flat pieces per your requirement.
Apart from flat stainless steel materials like sheet plate strip coil, CIVMATS also have stainless steel long products like bar, wire, rope, tube pipe for your varied options. Whether you are looking for flat or long stainless steel materials from China, CIVMATS aim to be your best choice. Choose CIVMATS, choose reliability.
