NRL Building 101
Window Replacement

Building 101 at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, located in Southwest, Washington, DC, houses the laboratory’s Plasma Physics Division. The window replacement project addressed the building’s original fenestration: single-pane glass set in steel framing dating to the building’s original construction, which had reached the end of its service life. As an occupied, mission-critical federal facility, the project demanded an enclosure approach that left no margin for air or water infiltration, replacing the aged assemblies with new aluminum-framed window systems across the building’s elevations.

SK&A served the design-build team as both Structural Engineer of Record (SER) and Building Enclosure Commissioning Authority (BECxA). In its SER role, SK&A conducted a pre-construction condition assessment of the existing window openings, identifying corrosion-related concrete deterioration requiring repair prior to window replacement. As BECxA, SK&A provided comprehensive commissioning services, including development of the Owner’s Project Requirements and BECx Plan, submittal and shop drawing review, development of field quality-control checklists, periodic construction observations, and witnessing of field performance testing—including AAMA 502/503 air- and water-leakage testing of the installed windows and ASTM C1193 sealant adhesion testing—culminating in the final Building Enclosure Commissioning Report.