Transit Oriented

Situated on “The Hill,” Fairfax County’s highest elevation, and in walking distance to the Greensboro Metro station on the Silver Line of the Washington area’s subway system, The Boro is a new, mixed-use, transit-oriented, urban-style community within Tysons, VA.  Totaling 4.25 million square feet on 18.1 acres, the development integrates a mix of residential, office, retail, and entertainment buildings along with 4.23 acres of community green spaces.   

SK&A provided structural engineering services for a two-level upscale, luxury movie theater, and a new 20-story class “A” office tower.  The Showplace Icon theater (94,800 sf) includes 14 state-of-the-art screens and upscale dining options.  The Boro Tower (345,000 sf) includes ground level retail (8,260 sf) and five levels of below grade parking for 1,200 spaces.  The building also features a glass curtain wall and up to 10-foot ceiling heights.    

Part of a 3.3 million sf mixed-use development situated along Washington DC’s Southwest Waterfront, The Wharf Parcel 3A also known as 800 Maine, is an 11-story, 233,000 sf Class “A” office building.  The office building is constructed atop a shared two-level underground garage occupying the entire project site.  The superstructure and underground garage are concrete-frame with conventionally reinforced floor slabs, reinforced concrete columns (typically 30-ft. apart), concrete shear walls, and select post-tensioned concrete components.

The building is also located in a section of the site where WMATA’s Yellow Line metro tunnel and air intake shaft conflict with the western side of the building’s columns and foundations.  To bridge over the existing WMATA structures, a solution was executed using underground concrete transfer girders over the tunnel and a two-story elevated steel truss between levels 2 to 4, which spans 90 feet. 

The SK&A team’s structural ingenuity and close collaboration with the owner, architect, and design builder ultimately delivered a visually appealing and structurally sound building, with WMATA’s structures intact and operational during construction.

Designed by the renowned architectural firm of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and local architectural firm, Hickok Cole, the International Spy Museum is a new contemporary building featuring museum exhibition, office, retail, classrooms, and event spaces, a glass atrium at the western side, a new 1st floor (exterior plaza and interior lobby and retail space), and a rooftop terrace.  The total height of the building is approximately 130 feet above the 1st floor and is adjacent to the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel.

The west side of the building is an open atrium space that cantilevers west of the property line and hangs a dramatic glass veil structure.  The atrium platforms, monumental stairs, and their supporting structural elements all consist of custom fabricated, architecturally exposed, structural steel elements.  These elements have surface preparation levels, paint, and lighting patterns that provide a dramatic showcase finish for the entire atrium. 

The building structure above the 1st floor is composed of composite steel framing with concrete-on-metal deck and steel columns.  Below the 1st floor, the existing building’s conventionally reinforced concrete structure and foundations were strengthened to accommodate the new seven-story vertical expansion.  The existing concrete columns were jacketed and new concrete shear walls were introduced in the existing building structure.  Foundations were either enlarged and/or strengthened with micropiles.

Watch this video about the design & construction of the museum.

View photos from the museum's opening night.

SK&A has provided structural engineering services for Phases One and Two of the transformative, new mixed-use waterfront redevelopment, The Wharf.  Located on the historic Washington Channel, adjacent to the L’Enfant Plaza and the Waterfront Metro Stations, the development integrates residential, office, retail, hotel, cultural facilities, and multiple public spaces along a total of 27 acres.

Phase I

SK&A provided structural services for three of five total parcels in Phase 1 of the project, as well as the two-level underground garage that supports all of the parcels in Phase 1.  The parcels consist of:

• Parcel 3 – is divided into two sections: 
  • 800 Maine (Parcel 3A) includes an office building (200,000 sf) with 20,000 sf of ground floor retail;  
  • Intercontinental Hotel (Parcel 3B) includes a 12-story hotel (238,000 sf) with 268 rooms, restaurants, bars, ballrooms and other meeting/event spaces, a spa, and retail space.  
• Incanto Apartments (Parcel 4) – consists of a 12-story mixed-use residential building, evenly divided between apartments and condominiums (310,000 sf).  A 50,000 sf health club and 25,000 sf of retail space will also be included in this structure.
• Hyatt House and Canopy by Hilton (Parcel 5) – includes two hotels housed in a single building (250,000 sf).

Phase II

Similar to Phase I, SK&A also provided structural services for parcels 6, 7, 8 and 10 within Phase II of the project.  These parcels consist of:

• 670 Maine and 680 Maine (Parcels 6&7) – includes two trophy office buildings with an extensive ground floor area for retail or additional office spaces.  Combined, these parcels include approximately 430,000 sf of office, 45,000 sf of retail, and 4,000 sf of back-of-house space. 
• The Tides Apartments and Pendry Hotel (Parcel 8) – features both apartments and hotel rooms atop 26,000 sf of retail space. There are 255 apartment units and 131 hotel keys along with amenities such as outdoor courtyards, collaborative event spaces, and a rooftop bar.  
• DCX Office Building (Parcel 10) – is a boutique office building with retail on the ground floor.  Parcel 10 includes approximately 50,000 sf of office, 20,000 sf of retail and 1,800 sf of back-of-house space.

For the Phase II parcels, two garages, Garage 2 & Garage 3, support the multiple buildings that sit above grade.  SK&A provided the structural design for Garage 2 , which supports Parcels 6, 7 and 8 with two levels below grade (105,000 sf plus 15,000 sf of retail located at the P1 Level).  

Located within the vibrant Arlington corridor,  The Liberty Center development is divided between Liberty Center South and Liberty Center North.  The complex features four office buildings, four residential buildings, an extended-stay Residence Inn hotel, ground level retail (70,000 sf) and structured below-grade parking.  The development is certified at the Gold level under the LEED-ND (Neighborhood Development) program. 

A large mixed-use, residential, retail, and commercial development at the intersection of Wisconsin and Western Avenues in Chevy Chase, MD.  The project contains a 15-story, 433-unit residential tower (480,000 sf), a new community center, a full-size Whole Foods grocery store, a 10-story office building, a new Bloomingdale’s department store, and two separate street-level retail buildings—all underlain by three levels of underground parking for 1,800 cars.  The residential tower is of post-tensioned concrete with a glass and masonry exterior.

Wisconsin Place was developed through a partnership of three national developers.  The components of the project were subdivided by a complex system of horizontal and vertical phasing lines, requiring challenging coordination between the various development and design teams.  SK&A served as the Structural Engineer of Record for the entire development and provided all structural inspection and testing required in accordance with the Montgomery County Complex Structures Agreement.

This massive, mixed-use complex encompasses 5.9 million square feet of commercial, residential, and retail construction in 10 high-rise buildings with structured parking for 12,000 cars. The privately-developed project accesses the Tysons Corner Metro-rail station via an elevated pedestrian bridge. Specific buildings within the development’s larger master plan include:

• Tysons II Office Building F, PricewaterhouseCoopers Offices: Located at 1800 Tysons Boulevard, this world-class 320,000 sf, 15-story office tower was awarded the NAIOP 2005 Award of Merit for Best High-Rise Building.  The tower is dramatically elevated on five foot deep cantilever girders, supported on stainless steel bearings atop elongated columns.  Other dramatic structural features include a 36-foot long cantilevered restaurant that "floats" above the landscaped courtyard below, as well as folded concrete plate features at the roof and lower canopy levels.  A separate 275,000 sf, nine-story pre-cast concrete parking structure for 840 cars connects to Building E’s existing parking structure via elevated bridges.
• Tysons II Office Building H: The latest installation for the Corporate Office Centre is a 17-story, 476,000 sf office building eaturing a two-story, light-filled lobby and retail center with an iconic staircase and dramatic water feature, as well as other amenities, such as a conference center, fitness center, and café. The building’s 15 floors of office space sit above the two-story glass-enclosed lobby and retail center.  The third floor, directly above the podium, is cut back to the inner column line creating a strong reveal in the building’s form and providing a large external terrace for tenants.  The scheme also incorporates a pre-cast concrete garage on 11-levels for 1,185 cars as well as a 450-foot long enclosed pedestrian sky bridge that skewers through the building lobby and connects an existing parking garage across Tysons Boulevard to the new parking structure.

Built on top of the former Mid-Pike Plaza commercial site, this 28-acre urban mixed-use development is located off of Rockville Pike near to the White Flint metro.  At full build-out will include 3.4 million sf of construction, comprised of high-rise, mid-rise, low-rise, and podium structures designed by three separate architectural firms to promote distinctive designs and architectural styles.

The complex features: 1.1 million sf of office space, 1.7 million sf of residential, a 90,000 sf hotel, 430,000 sf of retail and 4,000 parking spaces.  Project phasing is programmed into twelve blocks starting with Phase 1 that features 150,000 sf of retail, an iPic theater, 490 residential units and 80,000 sf of office.

Located on Rockville Pike, across from the White Flint Mall, this project is an urban residential, mixed-use development with structured parking, extensive retail, a grocery store, and health club.

The complex includes a 645,000 sf, 24-story residential condominium building (the tallest in Montgomery County), and a four-story, podium-type residential rental building, totaling 440 dwelling units.  The project also contains 640,000 sf of structured parking in five levels of underground parking under the entire complex, and one level of elevated parking for 1,559 cars over the grocery store.  

The gross floor area of retail is 160,000 sf.  There are also two levels of above-grade and two levels of below-grade retail space under the high-rise tower, two levels of above-grade retail under the low-rise residential construction, and an independent two-story retail building and 60,000 sf Whole Foods grocery store.

Located next to the Prince George’s Plaza Metro station, this residential complex consists of seven four- and five-story, wood-framed apartment buildings containing a total of 264 rental units with elevators.  Two of the seven buildings were constructed above subway tunnels serving the adjacent green line Metro station.

The buildings feature eight different layouts (some with lofts) and a six-story pre-cast concrete parking garage.  Amenities include a two-story 7,000 sf clubhouse with an outdoor pool, fitness center, billiards room, business center and cyber cafe.