Breaking down the mahogany-walled lawyer’s office stereotype with an exposed structure
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| Photo: Mark Menjivar |
Phipps Cavazos LLC Attorneys represents major companies in civil trials, arbitrations, appeals and other proceedings throughout Texas and the United States. A few years back, one of its attorneys, Martin J. Phipps approached San Antonio-based architectural firm Durand-Hollis Rupe (DHR) Architects Inc. with the hope of designing a new office for the firm on the Museum Reach of San Antonio’s famed riverwalk. From a design standpoint, Phipps wanted to break down the mahogany-walled lawyer’s office stereotype while still paying homage to the manufacturing heritage of the city.
Robert Moritz, associate at DHR, and his team were up for the challenge, and was both energized and impressed with Phipps’ maverick attitude and hard-driving nature. Phipps’ determination to inhabit this up-and-coming part of the city led DHR to recommend he build on a small 1/2-acre site, with great views of the river, downtown and next door to the future sculpture garden for the San Antonio Museum of Art.
This determination produced a 30,000-squarefoot building that has different uses of metal, a storefront within a structural steel frame, several green initiatives and even a three-story-plus roof entertainment and deck. Fishbeck Welding Inc., New Braunfels, Texas, was the building’s structural steel frame fabricator, and Garden Ornamental Design, Floresville, Texas, was its erector. Prosteel Erectors II, Glendale, Ariz. was the building erector.
“In recognition of our client’s love for the Texas Hill Country-told with an industrial palette-the exterior of the new building has been designed with a combination of earth, light and industry,” says Moritz. “It is clad in locally sourced limestone, weathering steel panels and glazing protected by perforated metal screens. Inside, we envisioned a flexible and sunlit space for his employees. The work place is oriented to maximize views and daylight. The interior consists of polished concrete floors, walls of exterior materials brought inside, unconcealed steel structure and exposed building systems. This industrial aesthetic helps to reflect the youth and energy of the firm.”
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| Photo: Mark Menjivar |
Exposed Structure is Integral
All of the building’s structure is not only exposed, but an integral part of its design. This includes the columns on the building’s west-facing street elevation which support the large overhang for shading on the fourth floor, to the columns being the support points for the perforated steel decking from Epic Metals Corp., Rankin, Pa., which were used as shade devices for the windows. From the earliest conceptual drawings, the building was drawn in structural steel. It was originally imagined as three bays deep; office bays along the long elevations with a shallower corridor bay in the center.
“A steel structure at the front elevation is outside of the building envelope and supports the large front overhang and connects to the conceptual floor construction,” Moritz says. “This floor structure was conceived as being constructed of wood glulams with a wide-span acoustic structural deck. This perforated steel decking was applied to the structure to provide shading for the offices along that western elevation. Early budget and engineering evaluation determined that structural steel was the method to pursue, without the introduction of engineered wood. This proved more economical and helped the building become a ‘symphony of steel.'”
A Symphony of Steel
John D. Campbell, senior project manager at the general contractor, GW Mitchell Construction, San Antonio, agrees that steel is the facility’s primary component and is highlighted throughout the building. “Striking columns remain exposed on all floors,” he says. “The steel package was immense, and due to size and length had to be procured from across the nation.” GW Mitchell Construction superintendent Joel McLeod feels the Corten steel cladding, fabricated and installed by Turner Roofing of San Antonio, on the building and its exposed structural steel columns, beams, joists and galvanized form deck exemplify the beauty of steel in construction.
Metal provided a flexible structural system with a lower profile and lower cost than other methods. “In addition, the structural steel connections and erection details provided the ‘industrial and hand-built’ requirements of the owner’s vision,” Moritz says. “Metal, in many different forms, was used for everything from the structure to the cladding, roofing, signage, lighting and furniture. All of the signage in the building and on-site is cut out of plate steel. This includes the accessible parking signage and the bicycle racks. The front pedestrian gate to the site is a large piece of 1/2-inch-thick plate steel with the building name plasma cut with a CNC machine for accuracy. It is hung on a rail with a simple trolley.”
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| Photo: Mark Menjivar |
The building’s major entry points at both streets are clad in weathering steel panels from Nucor Building Systems, Waterloo, Ind., which were fabricated and installed by Turner Roofing, to accentuate the entrances. At those entries the weathering steel clads not only the exterior but the interior space. Since the building tells the story of how it came to be, the steel plane crosses the envelope from exterior to interior showing the change in the material. This gives the impression that this was a result of its exposure to the elements.
The lobby is three stories tall, with two steel catwalks along one side of it. On the second floor the catwalk allows access to a large conference room with a customized wood panel wall that slides out of the conference room onto the catwalk to provide a small breakout space when one function occurs in the room. On the third floor, the catwalk leads to the premier corner office with views down the San Antonio River. The light fixture in the lobby is built out of two W beams left lying on the site in order to rust. Vintage lighting fixtures were attached simply to these beams and then suspended from the ceiling. Aluminum window frames were supplied by Tubelite Inc., Walker, Mich.
While not LEED accredited, the building does make significant use of daylighting and shading devices to help keep energy costs down. Over 50 percent of the roof has a white paver system with a high reflectivity that keeps the third floor cooler. “On the west elevation the floor-to-ceiling glass has Epic Metals’ 12-inch-deep acoustical steel deck used as sun screening, screening 52 percent of the sunlight along that elevation,” Moritz says. “In addition, all runoff from the roof is channeled into the rain garden along the street elevation of the building, allowing it time to be re-absorbed into the earth prior to reaching the storm sewer. Finally, the roof of the building is oriented to the south-southwest.”
Sidebar: The Phipps Building, San Antonio
Completed: May 2014
Total square feet: 30,000 square feet
Building owner: EMET LLC
Architects: Durand-Hollis Rupe Architects, San Antonio
General contractor: GW Mitchell Construction, San Antonio
Erector: Prosteel Erectors II, Glendale, Ariz.
Structural steel frame fabricator: Fishbeck Welding Inc., New Braunfels, Texas
Structural steel frame erecter: Garden Ornamental Design, Floresville, Texas
Metal panel fabricator/installer: Turner Roofing, San Antonio, www.turnerroofingcompany.com
Acoustical metal deck: Epic Metals Corp., Rankin, Pa., www.epicmetals.com
Aluminum window frames: Tubelite Inc., Walker, Mich., www.tubeliteinc.com
Glass flooring: Jockimo Glass, Aliso Viejo, Calif., www.jockimo.com
Standing seam metal roof: Berridge Manufacturing Co., San Antonio,
www.berridge.com
Steel panels: Nucor Building Systems, Waterloo, Ind., www.nucorbuildingsystems.com
Sidebar: The Phipps Building by the Numbers
76 tons of reinforcing steel
400 squares of reinforcing wire mesh
170 tons of structural steel
29 tons of joists
320 squares of metal deck
37 squares of Epic Metals’ deck was used as sunscreen material
20 tons of miscellaneous steel shapes
8,000 square feet of welded wire mesh for fencing and guardrails
90 squares of roofing and trim
100 squares of Corten siding
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| Photo: Mark Menjivar |