With a goal of increasing student enrollment in the College of Engineering, Texas A&M needed a facility devoted to supporting their vision. Starting with an aging building, originally constructed in 1972, this project included a renovation to all 320,000 SF of existing building as well as a 200,000 SF addition.

Home to a design center, labs for experiential learning, classrooms, lecture halls, office spaces, conference rooms, and several interconnected atria, the complex promotes student collaboration through multidisciplinary interaction and transparent learning environments.

Henderson Engineers completed fire protection engineering and code consultation services for this state-of-the-art renovation and addition. For the first phase of design, our team provided a code study and written summary of the building, fire and life safety code requirements for the atrium spaces, and initial smoke control design criteria calculations. Our services included coordination and discussions for several code compliant options for the atria and associated communicating spaces.

The next phase of the design included general code and smoke control system consultations for the design of the atrium spaces and the associated smoke control system. The design criteria for the smoke control system was based upon the prescriptive requirements of the adopted Building and Life Safety Codes and NFPA 92. Additionally, our highly skilled team of fire protection engineers assisted with an engineering judgment for a specific field condition relating to fire/smoke dampers that could not be installed in the floor plane. The dampers were installed about 36” above the floor and the engineering judgment allowed the exposed sections of duct between the floor and the dampers to be protected with a 2-hour fire wrap.

A space the whole Texas A&M community can enjoy, the Engineering Education Complex is the largest and most inventive building on campus. Our fire and life safety team is proud to have contributed to the design of this innovative facility, giving all who enter the complex a renewed focus on the experience this state-of-the-art education complex has to offer.

Location

College Station, TX

Project Size

Approx. 530,000 SF

Services

Code Consulting, Fire & Life Safety



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