300 Redstone Gateway

Summarize the project's program, features and achievements?

This new building serves as a central conference and nationwide collaboration hub for the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This new location enables the agency to consolidate its workforce in one location and provides a more secure environment. This three-story building features 200,000 square feet of class A office space and a 15,000-square-foot warehouse. The facility includes a combination of private and open office areas, collaborative spaces, a large training room, a dining area, fitness center and conference room for the commander.

Please communicate any engineering complexities or unique features of the panel design for this project?

Thicker panels were used on the perimeter of the building to accommodate the large window to panel width ratio – there are areas where 26-foot-wide windows are placed in the 30-foot nominal width panels. The central lobby is flanked by a 38-foot-wide curtain wall on both the east and west entrances. To accomplish this, 42-foot-wide spandrel panels were used, each with their own 38-foot-wide window. The spandrels also had return legs at the bottom to create the soffit and align with the sidewall panels at the entrances. Not only did this panel configuration pose its own design challenges, but the fact they also support two girders at the approximate third points of the length added complexity to the reinforcement and connection requirements. All the panels and connections to the foundation or framing systems accounted for blast-resistant design.

What is the potential for this project's impact on the community and/or environment?

The center's Commander Col. Sebastien Joly said, "This facility allows us to consolidate 16 different leases into one, finally all co-located and meeting all force protection requirements and safety requirements for the very first time. This facility marks the next chapter in an amazing history (of the agency) and we look forward to continuing to expand our reach and impact supporting the warfighter and our national defense. Building Strong, Army Strong."