Building Statistics | seniorthesis

The Data Center consists of a modern white metal panel system. The windows are framed by silver aluminum and are a storefront system. These features can be seen above in Figure 1. It is being built for several reasons. The first being that the University needed to consolidate the data storage to one site. The second is to provide the similar Data center in Hershey a backup location for their Data Storage.

Major Codes:

2009 International Building Code (IBC)

2009 International Energy Code

2009 International Fire Code

2009 international Fuel Gas Code

2009 International Mechanical Code

2009 International Plumbing Code

2009 International Urban-Wildland Interface Code

Zoning:

The University Park Data Center falls into the College Township Zoning laws. It is in its own sub district under University Planned District (UPD 8). This building is in classification II-B. The bullets below are major zoning laws required of the Data Center.

Allowable Stories: 3

Automatic Fire Suppression System: Yes

Building Area: Unlimited

Building Height: 55ft

Historical Requirements for Building:

Penn State was founded in 1855 and since then there has been an effort to keep the buildings innovative but still fit in with each other. The University Park Data Center’s site is at the corner of University Drive and Tower Road. The surrounding buildings are primarily agricultural structures. The architectural features of the Data Center are picked specifically to help it blend with it environment. There are also many requirements that Penn State places on new construction on campus. The first requirement was that at least 15% of the businesses and subcontractors needed to be 15% MWBE, Minority and Women Owned Businesses. Second the steel used on the project must come from a manufacturer in the United States. The final requirement Penn State places on all its project is that the building must be LEED Certified. The University Park Data Center is not only shooting for a LEED Certification but it is trying to reach LEED Silver accreditation.

Building Enclosure:

Façade:

The exterior wall material is metal wall panel system. After the metal Panel System the wall system proceeds as follows: ¾” Hat Channel, 3” Rigid Insulation, Air / Vapor Barrier, 5/8” Exterior Sheathing, and finally 5/8” GWB on Metal Studs. After the second story of the Data Center the roof has a large parapet wall is a similar metal panel system except for this one being stainless steel and perforated. The windows are surrounded by an aluminum storefront system and the glass is glazed differently between interior and exterior faces of the window. The typical wall section can be found in figure 2.

Figure 2: Typical Wall Detail (Holder Construction)

Roofing:
The roof has a top layer membrane that is fully adhered to the board and insulation beneath it. The Overlayment Board is ½” thick, and the Rigid Insulation is 6” thick. Underneath the insulation the vapor barrier must adhere to meet FM 1-90 specification. The typical roof section can be found in figure 3.

Figure 3: Typical Roof Detail (Holder Construction)

Sustainability Features:

This project is going to be LEED Silver accredited. Many aspects of this project have a LEED focus to them. While the building does not utilize popular green initiatives like a green roof, it does focus on the energy usage of the systems and fixture in the building. Some aspects being incorporated are individual lighting control for 90% of the occupant spaces, using advanced energy metering, and installing buildings energy meters that can read total energy consumption. During construction there is also a focus on LEED as the team is using bicycle facilities, managing the rainwater, and reducing the outdoor waste using no irrigation.

Building Statistics Part 2:

Construction:

The main delivery system for the Data Center is CM at Risk with a Cost + Fee GMP. The CM that won this job is Holder Construction. Construction is scheduled to take place between the months of April 2015 and June 2016. The site of the project is located at the intersection of University Drive and Tower Road on the north end of Penn State’s campus.

Electrical:

The University Park Data Center uses two 1.75 MW main feeds from the existing substation. The Data Center also uses a fully redundant backup system consisting of 2 statics Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS), and two 2 MW Generators with 48 hours of fuel storage capacity.

Lighting:

The Data Center does not capture a lot of natural liught due to the limited number of windows used on the exterior. The lighting in the office area is achieved by using different models of the same type of light. All the lighting fixtures in the Data center are Light Emitting Diodes (LED).

Mechanical:

This project utilizes three different mechanical systems for the different areas of use in the building. The “White Space” uses 5 Munter’s Indirect Evaporative Cooling rooftop units. IDEC units utilize two steams of air, the conditioned air and outside air. The outside air stream is used to cool the conditioned air during about 85% of the year. The “Research” area uses a 150 ton Chiller. Finally the Office space uses standard packaged rooftop air units for that space’s cooling.

Structural:

Due to the site location and soil conditions it was determined the best foundation system would be a 3’ mat-slab that spans the entire footprint of the building. Moving up the building the Data Center is mostly comprised of structural steel. The average span of the beams is approximately 20’, however the largest span comes in at 43’.

Fire Protection:

There are two systems in place for fire protection. First in the “White Space” the system is a Pre-action (dry pipe) sprinkler system. The second system is in the “Office Space” and is a wet pipe sprinkler system. The sprinkler system is concealed in the drop ceiling with sprinklers installed in the pendent position. In areas with no drop ceilings the heads will be on exposed piping.

Telecommunications:

There are three controls systems in the Data Center, the first being Building Automation System (BAS). The BAS system controls all the mechanical systems in the building to help provide adequate heating and cooling. The second controls system is the Electrical Power Management System (EPMS) this system controls and monitors the power usage of the building as a whole. The third and final control system in the Data Center is a Data Center Information Management system. This controls system monitors all the information that the data center gathers and stores. All three of these systems are integrated together and can be read on the same screen for a very user friendly interface.

Conveying:

There are two elevators in the University Park Data Center, a standard elevator in the "Office Area," and a frieght elevator in the "White Space." The "Office Area" elevator is a Holeless Hydrulic Passanger Elevator with a capacity of 2500 pounds. This elevator stops at all floors and moves at a speed of 100 feet per minute. The "White Space" elevator is a Geared Basement Traction Machine elevator with a capacity of 7000 pounds and a travel speed of 100 feet per minute.

Donald Rossi

University Park Data Center

State College, PA

Construction Management

Penn State Senior Thesis

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