JULY 16, 2012

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enr.com
BILL CHARTS NEW U.S. TRANSPO POLICIES
FIRMS FINDING HEALTH-CARE SILVER LINING
GAO DETAILS RUNAWAY EXPENSES FOR BRAC
COLUMBIA FACULTY NIXES ENGINEERING DEAN
WEATHERING
STORMS
DARING FACADE REDESIGN,
TEAM SOLIDARITY, DIGITAL-
MODEL HANDOFFS RESCUE
BROOKLYN SPORTS VILLAGE
FANCY FOOTWORK
IN BROOKLYN
stead of the original 10, at a cost of $4.9
billion, not the original $2.5 billion.
Atlantic Yards has been about
navigating [economic] turmoil and
change, says MaryAnne Gilmartin, an
executive vice president at the villages
developer, Forest City Ratner Cos.
FCRC is jumping through hoops
to stay in the game. It added partners,
switched architects, redesigned ele-
ments and stretched out construction.
To help cope with changes, including
an arena-facade redesign, FCRC teams
are using high-tech tools (see p. 20).
And to build the residential towers
economically, the developer is diving
into the high-tech factory-modular
building business (see p. 24). If its plans
crystallize, Atlantic Yards
will be home to the worlds
tallest modular building.
F
ifteen years ago, the 22-acre plot for the $4.9-billion Atlantic Yards sports
village in Brooklyn, N.Y., was an eyesore. Drug dealers, gangs and prostitutes
populated the neighborhood. Many buildings were vacant. Blighted Brook-
lyn was a more tting moniker than the familiar Brownstone Brooklyn.
Now, crime is down, and land values are way up. Pedestrians are pushing stroll-
ers, not drugs. Brooklyn is on the map, thanks in large part to developer Bruce C.
Ratner. In the late 1980s, he went where no Manhattan developer dared to goto
Brooklyn. First came an ofce campus called MetroTech Center (ENR 2/10/92
p. 26). Other commercial projects, which border the Atlantic Yards site, followed.
The urban pioneers stake in the New York City borough, population 2.5 million,
did not prepare him for the controversy over his most ambitious project: a public-
private village set over a railyard next to the citys third-largest transit hub (ENR
3/8/04 p. 29). Foes of the Atlantic Yards plan, unveiled in 2003, often refer to Ratner
by the rst syllable of his name and remain outraged by the developments scale,
density and architecture. Their lawsuits delayed Ratners plan but failed to stop it.
Critics are especially appalled by the villages centerpiece: a 675,000-sq-ft arena
for the National Basketball Associations Brooklyn Nets, owned in part by Ratner.
Barclays Center is set to open with a Jay-Z concert on Sept. 28, ve years later than
rst planned. Ratners latest recession-altered plan also calls for six million sq ft of
residential space, 247,000 sq ft of retail space and 336,000 sq ft of ofce space in 16
buildings, plus eight acres of open space. Build-out is expected to take 25 years in-
enr.com July 16, 2012

ENR

19
IN BETTER SHAPE
Under public pressure,
the developer enhanced
the form of a scaled-back
Barclays Center arena.
COVER STORY SPORTS VILLAGES
Complex arena facade survives giant hiccup p.20 For economys sake, developer plans record-tall modular building p. 24
BY NADINE M. POST
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Sanna. It saved us a lot of money, he
adds, declining to be more specic.
The total cost of the facade redesign is
$54 million. We had to make the invest-
ment for public reasons, says Sanna.
After SHoP joined, the team re-
grouped to get the arena nished for a
Jay-Z concert on Sept. 28 and the Brook-
lyn Nets upcoming season. As it turned
out, the job was not yet out of the woods.
Last December, the facade fabricator,
ASI Ltd., Indianapolis, defaulted nan-
cially. Only a third of the jobs 564 pre-
weathered megapanels were done, none
of the 239 halo panels were made and
none of the 216 canopy units detailed.
On Dec. 23, we got a call that ASIs
bank had shut the plant and locked the
doors, says Gus Yogmour, senior bond
claims counsel for ASIs surety, Ohio
Farmers Insurance Co.
The surety was committed
to picking up the slack. But the
COMPLEXITY ON THE FACE OF IT
sidiaries, Atlantic Yards LLC and Brook-
lyn Arena LLC, had gained state
approval of the public-private Atlantic
Yards master plan by Gehry Partners,
based on starchitect Frank Gehrys
iconic architecture.
But in 2008, the Gehry arena was over
budget, reportedly priced at $1 billion.
The recession was in full swing and FCRC
could not get nancing.
To cut costs, FCRC decided to switch
architects and start from scratch, says
Robert P. Sanna, director of construction
and design development for the Brook-
lyn-based developer.
SHoP was aware that its redesign was
going to be highly scrutinized. The New
York City architectural community and
the villages foes had felt double-crossed
when Ratner tossed the Gehry design.
Despite all the warning signs, SHoP
took the job. We felt by joining the team,
we could have a positive impact on the
project and the city of New York, says
Jonathan L. Mallie, a SHoP principal.
So instead of relaxing over that July 4
Yet SHoP, formed in 1996, had never
done any part of an arena or so expansive
a facade. And it would be enhancing the
work of a veteran arena firmEllerbe
Becket Architects & Engineers PC (EB).
As facade-design architect working
directly for Forest City Ratner Cos.
(FCRC), SHoP would have to jump on a
moving train and interface with EBthe
architect-of-recordand the rest of the
arenas design-build team, formed a year
earlier. By July 2009, the 675,000-sq-ft
Opportunity knocked for SHoP Architects on July 2, 2009.
On that Thursday, Bruce C. Ratner, the beleaguered devel-
oper of the controversial Atlantic Yards sports village planned
for Brooklyn, N.Y., made an offer that any architect would be
crazy to turn down but almost as crazy to accept.
Ratner wanted SHoP to put a better face on a critically
panned redesign for his $825-million Barclays Center arena
the centerpiece of the 22-acre transit-oriented development.
And he wanted a sketch from SHoP in only five days.
The offer was loaded with other challenges and sensitivi-
ties. Ratner had knocked on SHoPs door precisely because
he was under pressure to improve the arenas architecture.
project was well into design development,
on course for a fall 2012 opening. That
meant SHoPs hands were tied, though
loosely, in terms of its enclosure redesign.
We were told, You cant change the
Ellerbe Becket program, which worked
so well, or the form, which t so well on
the site, says Christopher Sharples, one
of the founding principals of SHoP, New
York City. It was a heavy lift, he adds.
SHoP had been watching the trou-
bled project from afar: Two FCRC sub-
weekend, four SHoP partners huddled to
come up with some ideas. On Monday,
July 6, SHoP showed Ratner a sketch of
an arena contoured by a latticework sys-
tem of pre-weathered steel panels.
SHoP spent the summer of 2009
studying the skin and its impact on the
structure, interfacing with the projects
local structural engineer, Thornton To-
masetti (TT). In early September, when
FCRC unveiled SHoPs scheme, it wasnt
excoriated or widely praised. One critic
likened the arena to a giant bottle opener.
The arena has three systems of 12,000
pre-weathered panels, with no two alike.
Panels cover 85% of the arenas surface.
A lower band wraps the exterior wall
at the suite levels. A halo surrounds the
arena at the roof. There is also an en-
trance canopy over the public plaza. The
canopy, which cantilevers 85 ft beyond the
main entrance, has an opening in it the
size of a basketball court. The inner sur-
enr.com July 16, 2012 ENR 21 20 ENR July 16, 2012 enr.com
face of the opening is clad with video
boards and latticework. The canopys sof-
t is completely clad with the latticework.
Awkward Position
However, SHoP wasnt the only rm in
an awkward position. In late 2008, FCRC
approached EB with a dubious offer it
didnt refuse. Bruce Ratner said, I liter-
ally want you to take Conseco Field and
place it on our site, says Stephen J.
Duethman, the project manager in Kansas
City, Mo., for EB, which, as a result of a
merger, operates under AECOMs name.
That strategy was not possible, he
adds. But, in 2009, EB did as little as pos-
sible to modify its Indianapolis arena so
that it would t into a tight urban site.
Then, FCRC and its arena design-build
contractor, Hunt Construction Group,
developed a guaranteed maximum price.
[EB] inhaled the Gehry building, ren-
dering it smaller and more compact, says
COVER STORY SPORTS VILLAGES
ARENA
B5
ATLANTIC AVENUE
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PACIFIC STREET
Arena
B4
B6 B7 B8
B9
B10
B11 B12 B13 B14 B15
B3
B2
SITE 5
TO
ATLANTIC
TERMINAL
Office Open Space Phase 1 Phase 2 SOURCE: FOREST CITY RATNER COS. NOTE: B17 NOT SHOWN. Residential
B1
ATLANTIC YARDS
ARENA
B5
ATLANTIC AVENUE
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B10
B11 B12 B13 B14 B15
B3
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SITE 5
TO
ATLANTIC
TERMINAL
Office Open Space Phase 1 Phase 2 SOURCE: FOREST CITY RATNER COS. NOTE: B17 NOT SHOWN. Residential
B1
PATTERNS Arenas redesigned exterior (facing page) contains 12,000 unique pre-weathered steel panels. Entrance canopy has
an opening the size of a basketball court (top left). The steel-framed canopy, added during the redesign, cantilevers 85 ft from
the building, thanks to box trusses with 100-ft backspans (top right). The arena is one of 17 buildings planned for Atlantic Yards.
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APP PROTOTYPE
Virtual tracking system
application (right),
developed so that
remote building team
could monitor the panels
pre-weathering stages
(far right), updated the
arenas building informa-
tion model (above).
ed the nal form, it switched to CATIA,
a multiplatform CAD/CAM software
suite developed by Dassault Systemes.
Hunt awarded the $32.4-million exte-
rior-wall contract to ASI in February
2010. Soon thereafter, SHoP Construc-
tion became a subcontractor to ASI to
detail the pre-weathered steel panels.
SHoP also developed a 3D model that
would enable ASI to fabricate the panels
using computer-numerically-controlled
equipment, without creating its own BIM.
If we could sequence and control in-
formation [digitally], the facade contrac-
tor didnt care how many unique panels
there were, Mallie says.
Rely On It
TTs use of BIM facilitated the entire job,
starting with the structure. For the work,
TT gave the steel fabricator its Tekla
Structures model and said, Rely on it,
says Scarangello.
We used TTs unconnected model,
says Chet McPhatter, chief operating
ofcer for the Lynchburg, Va.-based fab-
ricator Banker Steel Co. This is very rare
on a project of this type and is a viable
option if the engineer is good at detailing.
On the arena in general, thanks to the
model-sharing, the approval process was
pre-weathering patina line,
whi ch produces rust. The
3,000-panel-capacity line has
racks that resemble a dry clean-
ers line.
SHoP had learned that ASI was de-
veloping an electronic tracking system
for each panel, using plastic tags with bar
codes. Jumping off that, SHoP Con-
struction generated a virtual tracking
application using a custom iPhone inter-
face to provide real-time updates to the
remote building team as panels were fab-
ricated.
On the factory oor, using the iPhones
camera, workers would scan tags as panels
went through each weathering stage:
water-jetting, surface preparation, bend-
ing, dipping and rinsing, and hanging.
We dont know of any other tracking
system that uploads to the model and pro-
vides a visual interface, says Mallie.
Mallie considers the app a prototype,
for it was used only before ASI shut down.
He says there is a strong possibility a
similar app may be adapted for SHoPs
second Ratner project: a 32-story Atlantic
Yards residential tower overlooking the
arena. That is, if Ratners mod-
ular high-rise scheme, not yet a
slam dunk, goes forward.
geometric complexity and engineering
of the curtain wall made that a daunting
task. Yogmour says it was the most com-
plex exterior wall he had ever seen.
FCRC and Hunt had required a full-
payment performance bond for the orig-
inal $32.4-million contract. By Jan. 8, the
surety had bought out the banks position
and reopened the plant. We had tried to
re-let the contract, but we could not nd
anyone who could do it in a timely man-
ner, says Yogmour. There was too great
a learning curve.
Instead, the surety hired 190 of ASIs
employees, offering incentives to nish
the job. Before restarting work, the surety
also hired a rust expert to make sure the
panels left on the line during the shut-
down were properly treated. The surety
also retained Fasano Acchione & Associ-
ates LLC to manage the job.
To help make up lost time, the surety
leased a second, more sophisticated cut-
ting machine. On May 5, the team com-
pleted all the enclosure units. The halo
and canopy are set to be done next month.
To date, there is no claim from Hunt.
Its a good story, says Yogmour.
Over the summer of 2009, SHoP ex-
ported 20 examples of the rain-screen
walls form iterations to TT, using the
50% faster than normal, says McPhatter.
Hunt already had bid the foundation
and steel packages, when FCRC intro-
duced the new facade scheme. The new
steel had to be added.
BIM-sharing allowed Banker to
quickly add the facade steel to the mill
order and the steel package. It just took
a lot of work, says McPhatter.
On the west side of the building, the
halo extends about 20 ft above the roof
surface and 20 ft away from the face. To
support these, TT cantilevered roof col-
umns beyond the roof. A system of hori-
zontal girts spanning between trussed
vertical frames supports the lattice and
attaches back to the cantilevered columns.
The canopy is supported by a network
of steel trusses. Pairs of cantilevered trusses
are laced together to create box trusses
north and south of the canopy opening.
To achieve the long cantilever, the
backspans of the box trusses12.5 ft deep
at supports and 9 ft, 10 in. deep at the
tipsextend 100 ft into the arena, above
the west entrance, to engage the arena
bowls primary columns. Another box truss
spans 120 ft across the west tip of the struc-
ture. At the east side of the opening, three
cross-trusses skewed in plan frame out the
east face of the opening.
projects 3D model. The ability to exe-
cute the complex design quickly is a result
of using technology embraced previously
by all team members, says Thomas Z.
Scarangello, TTs chairman and CEO.
In a very short time, SHoP was able
to gure out the building, adds Scarang-
ello. With building information models
(BIMs), we were looking into each oth-
ers heads in a deep way, very quickly.
Thats in part because SHoP also is
committed to virtual design and construc-
tion (VDC) tools. From the very begin-
ning, we understood the power of technol-
ogy to manage complexity, says Mallie.
In 2007, aiming to better control its
designs, SHoP formed SHoP Construc-
tion Services. Mallie also is the managing
director of the spin-off, which offers con-
struction management and VDC services.
For the arena facade, SHoP Architects
hired SHoP Construction for construct-
ibility reviews, automated quantity take-
offs for exterior materials and model in-
tegration with EBs and TTs building
systems.
To develop the surface geometry to
study initial forms, the architect used soft-
ware called Rhinoceros, a stand-alone 3D
modeling tool developed by Robert Mc-
Neel & Associates. When SHoP identi-
To limit fieldwork, Banker
added SHoP Constructions fa-
cade connections to its shop
drawings and installations.
Automation
After SHoP Architects nalized the ock-
ing pattern, SHoP Construction developed
initial panel prototypes in the model.
Then, it used CATIA to unfold the
12,000 panels of different shapes and sizes,
followed by SigmaNESTs CAD/CAM
fabrication and cutting software to nest
panels based on the installation schedule.
Using CATIA, SHoP Construction
then developed a workow that allowed
for the automatic generation of the 12,000
fabrication tickets. Each ticket has an au-
tomatically populated chart containing
bending information for each panel.
SHoP also developed tickets for the
rails that support the panels. Using the
model, SHoP coordinated the fabricators
steel-panel support system that connects
panels to the base-building enclosure.
Panels have been delivered to the site
grouped into megapanels. SHoP also pro-
vided a megapanel sequencing model.
Color-coded elements are automatically
linked to Hunts project schedule.
In its shop, ASI developed a 60-day
COVER STORY SPORTS VILLAGES ATLANTIC YARDS
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DRAMATIC CANTILEVER Crews work on the 85-ft cantile-
ver for the arenas entrance canopy, added after the struc-
tural-steel and foundation packages had been released.
Thanks to shared BIM, the structural engineer was able to
quickly add the extra steel to the base-building structure
and the steel fabricator was able to adjust the mill order.
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In addition, the design team is
developing production-level
models and drawings for about
60% to 70% of B2-modular, to
confirm dimensions and mini-
mize area lost to risers and walls.
To maximize the value of design-level
modeling work, the model is structured
so that fabricators will not have to build a
fabrication model from scratch for detail-
ing, says SHoP. Also, when complete
production-level documentation is
provided for a scope of work, the subcon-
tractor does not need to generate shop
drawings, says Jonathan L. Mallie, a prin-
cipal of both SHoPs.
Further, the SHoP model is designed
to incorporate the extraction of bills of
material. And detailed instructions can be
created to help clarify work scopes for each
of the subcontractors in the fac-
tory or the eld, says Mallie.
The teams BIM-VDC
MAD ABOUT HIGH-RISE MODULAR
The high-rise modular approach is the
brainchild of Bruce C. Ratner, FCRCs
chairman and CEO. His scheme was born
of a need to nd a more economical way
to deliver 6,430 units of affordable and
market-rate rental housing, comprising
six million sq ft in 14 buildings.
If modular works for the rst resi-
dential building, it can work for all of
them, says Gilmartin. Starting a new
factory, a new business, makes sense for
Atlantic Yards.
High-rise modular may be untested,
but its parts are based on tried-and-true
modular components. Even Forest City
Enterprises Inc., FCRCs Cleveland-
based parent company, dipped into mod-
ular housing in the 1960s, with nearly
60,000 low-rent units for the elderly.
Modular buildings, which were often as-
sociated with poor-quality and mundane
architecture, are coming back into favor,
thanks to production efciencies.
Ratners high-rise scheme would be
unorthodox anywhere. It is radical for the
Big Apple, where innovation is not easy.
By the developers estimate, the mod-
ular version of the 322-ft-tall tower, which
stacks 350 self-supporting living units in
a site-erected, structural-steel-braced
frame, would move 60% of the work from
the eld to the factory oor. FCRC also
gures the building would cost 20% less
than a conventional twin and slice four to
six months off an 18-month schedule.
The savings would come from concur-
The developer of the residential towers for the $4.9-billion
Atlantic Yards sports village in Brooklyn, N.Y., is hedging its
bets. In case negotiations with the building trades dont work
out for the first tower, planned as the worlds tallest modular
building, Forest City Ratner Cos. is poised to construct the
32-story high-rise the conventional way.
The Brooklyn-based developer is so hyped on modular that
even if the high-rise plan does not fly, it intends to set up
shop as a third-party modular building fabricator. We think
[modular] can be explosive for the business, says Robert P.
Sanna, FCRC director of construction and design develop-
ment. FCRC subsidiaries, Atlantic Yards LLC and Brooklyn
Arena LLC, are developing the 22-acre village, including a
675,000-sq-ft arena (see p. 20).
rent factory and site construction, lower
factory labor costs and efciencies associ-
ated with factory production, such as a
controlled climate.
The [actual] efciencies are captured
only by doing it, says MaryAnne Gilmar-
tin, director of commercial and residen-
tial development for FCRC, the towers
developer. We think this gets cheaper
over time, she adds.
Consequently, in advance of filing
plans, FCRC has been meeting with city
building ofcials to smooth permitting and
approvals issues. It also is in talks with the
local Building and Construction Trades
Council, which represents union locals.
We need an agreement with labor
before we can get a bank loan, and [we]
are working on both, says Gilmartin.
We are all optimistic, but if we run into
a problem, we will build conventionally.
FCRC expects to start the first of
three buildings in phase one by years end.
The other two are planned to follow, each
six to nine months apart.
For the rst tower, FCRC formed a
design team that includes architect-of-
record SHoP Architects and multidisci-
plinary engineer-of-record Arup, both
New York City. The teams initial charge
for the rst building, called B2 Bklyn, was
to design a conventional tower.
The next assignment was to design a
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modular twin, indistinguishable
in look and quality. For that, the
B2 team expanded to include
XSite Modular, a Brooklyn-based
design-build consulting and man-
agement rm, formed last year. XSite and
FCRC also are partners in a 100,000-sq-ft
factory they are setting up a few miles
from the Atlantic Yards site. XSite will
manage and operate the plant.
The B2-modular design requires col-
laboration and coordination that would
have been cost-prohibitive without build-
ing information modeling, says the team.
BIM is used to both model and clash-
check thousands of small elements that
have to t into tight spaces.
With the architects construction man-
agement arm, SHoP Construction Ser-
vices, as BIM integrator, the B2-modular
team has developed a process that also
relies on virtual design and construction
(VDC) tools for scheduling and pricing.
COVER STORY SPORTS VILLAGES
FACTORYFIRST
Under a plan for a modular
32-story apartment tower
(facing page, foreground),
living units would be pre-
assembled in the factory
from modules (left). Each
unit is based on a steel-tube
chasis. Mechanical systems
and finishes would be added
before modules are shipped
to the field, then stacked and
mated. Most mating is done
from module roofs (right) to
avoid disturbing living units.
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each apartment back to the main electri-
cal-meter room in the core. Wiring for
the home running to the meter room
would be coiled up and shipped with the
modules. It is the building equivalent of
plug-and-play, says Farnsworth.
XSite has developed a novel factory-
oor production plan. Unlike an auto as-
sembly line, there would be teams, called
group work cells, each assigned to a verti-
cal line of identical apartments.
In the factory, crews are essentially
building a complete product over and
over again on the rst oor, rather than
20 or 30 stories in the air, says Amy
Marks, XSites president. That is not only
safer than high-rise eld construction, it
engenders team spirit, says Marks.
On-site, workers would stack nished
modules into a full-height steel frame,
braced for lateral load resistance. The
frame would be erected two to three levels
ahead of the modules. Module roofs
would be connected horizontally and act
as oor diaphragms, distributing lateral
loads back to braced frames.
FCRC is so optimistic about its B2-
modular scheme that it has had the team
complete construction documents.
After residential buildings, the next
step may be modular ofce towers. Sanna
says, Once we crack the office code,
there are endless possibilities.
workow is designed to meet the needs of
preconstruction coordination, quantity
extraction, scope delineation and record
drawings.
The same approach is taken to as-
semble the model as is taken to assemble
the building. Subassemblies are modeled
and inserted into a module. Modules are
modeled and assembled into units. Units
are assembled into suboor groups, and
suboor groups are assembled into the
federated model or apartment building.
A federated model, hosted by a web-
based cloud application so that different
team members can see it, allows users to
input different-discipline design models
for coordination and clash detection.
The goal is to complete as much of
each module in the factory as possible.
We dont want workers in the eld mess-
ing up the units, says David Farnsworth,
an Arup principal.
All building systems were selected to
minimize field mating. On site, about
95% of structural connections and 90%
of mechanical-electrical-plumbing (MEP)
connections can be done from the roofs
of the modules, says Farnsworth.
The team is about to build prototype
modules. As designed, only 17 of the 930
modules are exactly the same.
Each modules frame is a tubular-steel
chassis, which would be delivered assem-
bled to the factory. Chassis range from 20
ft to 45 ft long and are up to 14 ft, 10 in.
wide. Floor-to-oor heights are 9 ft, 11 in.
Structurally efcient tubes minimize
the depth of the oor-to-ceiling sandwich
and are stable in all directions, says Farn-
sworth. That minimizes distortion of the
modules during shipping, eliminating the
need for extra strapping.
Each module has both a oor structure
and a roof structure. Floors are designed
without concrete to minimize weight and
keep modules to within available crane
capacities. Module corner columns are
designed to support the weight of the
modules placed above them. To minimize
deection, the long sides of the modules
are framed with Vierendeel trusses rein-
forced with light-gauge-metal strapping.
In the design, MEP risers are located
in architecturally inconspicuous places.
The main hallway is intended to be n-
ished in the eld, so most risers have been
located to be accessed from either there
or from the back of closets, where access
panels are not an architectural issue.
The plan for pipe-connecting pieces
is to measure, cut and bundle them up so
they can be sent to the site and placed in
a closet or hall for installation.
Modules would be wired in the factory,
with a single point of connection between
modules and a single connection from
COVER STORY SPORTS VILLAGES ATLANTIC YARDS ATLANTIC YARDS
26

ENR

July 16, 2012 enr.com

1 Subassembly links
2 Living unit groups 3 Floor groups
4 Central project model 5 Documents
6 Work-cell files 7 Quantity takeoff database link
8 Module files 9 Subassembly files
10 Fabrication parts, assemblies
11 Federated model 12 Group-work-cell keyed plan
13 Bill of materials 14 Shop drawings
15 Visual work instructions 16 Fabrication tickets
VIRTUAL WORKFLOW The virtual design and construction integrator for the
modular high-rise created a VDC workflow for preconstruction coordination,
quantity extraction, scope delineation and record drawings.
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