The Calvert Street Parking Garage in historic downtown Annapolis, Maryland, is a 168,000-SF parking structure owned by the Department of General Services of the State of Maryland. Morris & Ritchie Associates was the Concept Design Consultant on the project, Coakley Williams Construction provided design-build services, Cagley and Associates was the Engineer of Record, and Hayes, Seay, Mattern and Mattern (HSMM) was the Architect of Record. Shockey utilized the drafting and engineering services of FDG, Inc. for design and detailing of the precast.
Design of the Calvert Street Parking Structure called for four bays of four levels of elevated precast framing, consisting of two ramped bays and two flat bays, providing 727 parking spaces. Exterior aesthetics were of paramount concern to the owner throughout the duration of the project given the close proximity of the new structure to several historical brick-clad buildings of the State Capitol complex. Shockey met this desired intent by providing a structural gray precast frame surrounded by a separate facade of architectural precast, utilizing a mix of highly articulated thin-brick and architectural precast elements. The architectural facade was essentially self-supporting with required lateral support provided by tieback to the structural frame. In order to ensure a successful project, the design team had to be vigilant in detailing the numerous interface/offset conditions and connection schemes such that requirements for constructability and access proved conducive with aesthetic requirements.
Shockey’s Winchester plant produced 554 pieces of structural precast for the project, including double tees, beams, columns, spandrels, vertical ramp walls, shear walls, flat slabs, and stair/elevator core walls. The 223 elements of the architectural facade were provided by Shockey’s former Fredericksburg architectural plant, and consisted of spandrels, wall panels, cornices, coping, and column covers.
The design of the facade specified two colors of thin brick to be used in either standard running or Flemish bond coursing at specific locations along the exterior elevations. Layout and detailing of the horizontal and vertical coursing of brick required that the design and production team ensure proper alignment of brick between precast elements. The presence of several highly articulated, ornate cornice and sill details of architectural precast also presented a challenge to design and production teams. In order to accent the precast facade, decorative steel columns, channels, beams, grilles, and glazing were field-installed.
Erection of the structure was extremely difficult due to limited access in only the interior footprint of the structure. The architectural facade had to be erected in conjunction with the structural components of the parking structure. The access plan had to be changed to eliminate ramp construction, and the last phase of construction was moved to the top of Bladen Street out of the footprint. This change saved time and expense for the general contractor, and resulted in a shorter and more continuous erection process. Erection of the structure was completed on schedule in approximately 12 weeks.
Project Timeline:
July 2005 – December 2005: Design
December 2005 – February 2007: Construction
January 9, 2006- May 16, 2006: Production Winchester
January 3, 2006- May 17, 2006: Production Fredericksburg Precast
April 3, 2006: Erection Start
July 21, 2006: Erection Complete
January 10, 2007: Open to Public
Construction Team
Owner: State of Maryland Department of General Services Baltimore, MD
General Contractor: Coakley-Williams Construction, Inc. Gaithersburg, MD
Architect: Desman and Associates
Engineer of Record: Cagley & Associates, Rockville, MD
Architect of Record: Hayes, Seay, Mattern & Mattern (HSMM) Washington, D.C.
Precaster: The Shockey Precast Group
Precast Specialty Engineer: The Shockey Precast Group
Download this Case study as a pdf file: Calvert Street PS Case Study
