Story

***THIS PROJECT IS SUBMITTED UNDER SPECIALTY CATEGORY FOR RAINSCREEN CLADDING*** The building, one of the first office-to-residential conversions in the district, was originally home to the Peace Corps office since 1965. After recently undergoing major renovations to become the Elle Apartments, this project became a major landmark in the city’s goal to reimagine downtown as a vibrant mixed-use community. This building, especially its expansive, striking façade, became the face of this restoration and was highly visible to government officials, the media, and DC residents alike. PCC’s scope of work involved the entirety of the UHPC and ACM main building façade, the roof/penthouse fiber cement panels, entrance canopy ACM, and ground floor soffit panels. Over 600 UHPC panels were engineered, sized, and released per exact field dimensions taken from building scans. These panels, released early due to extensive lead times from Germany, were calculated to fit between precise trim extrusions and newly installed windows with very little tolerance. Each panel was fitted with multiple rows of attachment rails that needed to align perfectly with the corresponding rail grid installed on the face of the building. Due to the varying sizes of each individual panel, the rail spacing was unique for each individual condition, requiring extreme attention to detail during all aspects of installation. The small 5/16” joints, changing substrate depths, and old uneven slab levels further proved this installation to be a challenging feat. Adding to these constraints, the bottom-to-top install requirement of these heavy UHPC panels, some as large as 600lbs, left no room for replacement or readjustment without full-column system removal. The large panel height, exceeding 10ft at many conditions, resulted in the labor team adopting a two-level swing stage scaffolding system. This quick adapting allowed the installers to support the entirety of these large panels as they were lifted over and onto the attachment rail system. With no access for cranes or material hoists, this was done fully by hand and manpower alone. Adapting to new unforeseen challenges, the installation was completed efficiently and safely without incident. Despite the obstacles, PCC and its install team managed to create a seamless envelope worthy of the building’s groundbreaking historical status.