Rhino

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Fallswood Condominium

Owner

The Fallswood Condominium Complex

Location

Rockville, MD
United States

Project Information

375,000 SF / 200 units
Phased construction in occupied environment
Completed ahead of schedule

Sector

The overarching objective in this project was to quickly replace a non-functioning and antiquated fire alarm system to satisfy Montgomery County’s life safety mandate in this two-tower, 13-story residential condominium complex with three-level parking garage.

As Owner’s Representative, Rhino conducted a conditions and life cycle assessment of the antiquated fire alarm since spare parts were no longer available, provided life safety code consulting, devised and negotiated a phased approach within the County time frame mandate and Owner’s financial limitations/budget, vetted vendor proposals, provided construction project management as well as commissioning and witness testing. An challenge was coordinating / obtaining access to individual units for construction as well as minimizing disruption to residents and maintaining good communication among all parties (i.e., Owner, Property Manager, and condo owners/occupants).

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Augusta Health – Conditions Assessment

Owner

Augusta Health

Location

Fisherville, VA
United States

Project Information

700,000 SF
Multiple Hospital and Medical Building Usage
atrium, special care pavilions, operating rooms

Sector

Augusta Health is required to comply with Joint Commission accreditation requirements and Life Safety code inspection. Rhino FPE was selected by the Owner to provide a conditions assessment of six buildings (A, B, C, D, Cancer Center, and Medical Office Building) in support of this effort. Our assessment encompassed a code compliance review as well as evaluation of construction and the fire protection and life safety features of each building.

Several challenges made the survey, evaluation, and analysis a complex task. Among the challenges: Multiple buildings constructed/renovated with differing codes, several use classifications, inter-connected buildings, and special building features or use characteristics (atrium, special care pavilions, operating rooms, etc.). Rhino developed a Conditions Deficiency Report detailing our findings as well as a prioritized list of recommendations with cost estimates for correction.

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Veach-Baley Federal Building – Fire Alarm Replacement

Owner

U.S. General Services
Administration

Location

Asheville, NC
United States

Project Information

107,870 SF
Design / Build Project
cost savings of $1 million

Sector

Rhino PE provided design team management as well as fire alarm and safety engineering/design for the replacement of the fire alarm system in this 6-story fully operational office building constructed in 1929. The building is currently occupied by several U.S. government agencies.

The previous fire alarm no longer functioned, which necessitated a 24/7/365 manual fire watch. Rhino devised measures for a temporary firm alarm system that not only offered enhanced life safety to building occupants, but also provided GSA with a cost savings in excess of $1 million by quickly eliminating the need for fire watch manpower. Upon completion and acceptance of the temporary solution, we designed and implemented the new fire alarm system on a rolling, floor-by-floor basis to minimize disruption to tenants. An additional challenge was implementing the new fire alarm system without sacrifice to historic building features.

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Battle Building – UVA Children’s Hospital

Owner

University of Virginia

Location

Charlottesville, VA
United States

Project Information

182,261 SF
3 story Atrium
Multiple Hospital and Medical Building Usage

Sector

Rhino FPE served as Fire Protection Engineer of Record for the new Battle Building, The multiple features of this high-rise hospital /medical facility required several interrelated fire protection systems including atria smoke control, stair pressurization, smoke compartment design, fire alarm with voice communication capabilities, seismic design, and multiple types of fire suppression systems (dry-type, pre-action, window sprinkler protection, wet-type, standpipe, and secondary on-site fire pump and tank water supply.

A challenge in the project was the narrow and long shape of the atrium. Rhino developed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model using Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) to validate the design for the atrium smoke control system that was developed with prescriptive correlations. The ceiling configuration required special design for the smoke exhaust outlets to prevent plug-holing.

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Washington Aqueduct

Owner

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Location

Washington, DC
United States

Project Information

69 Buildings on 4 Campuses
1.5 million SF
National Historic Landmark

Sector

The Washington Aqueduct produces drinking water for approximately one million people in Washington, DC and parts of Northern Virginia. It was commissioned by Congress in 1852, built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, began operating in 1859, and has been in continuous use ever since. Today, the Aqueduct encompasses 69 buildings on four (4) campuses.

Rhino was engaged to conduct surveys of all 69 buildings for compliance with UFC fire and life safety requirements, and to serve as Fire Protection Designer of Record for new fire alarm systems in 10 historically significant buildings. This effort was subsequently increased to 18 buildings based on our survey findings, and included fire suppression modifications to several buildings. Each building is completely protected by an automatic fire alarm and mass notification system. The fire alarm systems are connected to the Operator’s Control desk on each campus via a fiber optic communication loop.