Barton Hall - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, New York
Barton Hall is a four-story, 55,000-square foot, 200-bed dormitory for freshmen that is also a prototype for future dormitory projects.  The project was a fast-track, design-build project, and the Contractor broke ground within only a few weeks after the final foundation system was selected.  Through careful design and detailing, the building looks like many other nineteenth-century buildings on campus; however, it is thoroughly modern inside.  The building is framed by reinforced, load-bearing concrete masonry walls supporting 10-inch-deep precast concrete planks with a 2-inch concrete topping.  Barton Hall is built into a sloping hillside, and the grade changes two full stories between the front and the rear of the building.   Through the use of geosynthetic fabrics commonly used in the construction of segmental retaining walls, RBA “reinforced” the earthen backfill placed against the basement walls.  This innovative feature greatly reduced the lateral pressures exerted on the building by the backfill, resulting in significant cost savings to the owner.  The bearing walls are supported by concrete grade beams founded on steel bearing piles driven up to 70 feet to bedrock.  When it was determined that placing fill to construct the second floor on grade would have resulted in unacceptable floor settlements, portions of the second floor were designed as supported floors over a crawl space.  To achieve a column-free space above the student lounge, 15-inch-deep planks spanning 45 feet were used at the roof of the courtyard.  The steeply-pitched roof is framed with lightgauge roof trusses bearing directly on the roof plank.