Project Brief

P.S. 17 Henry D. Woodworth School shares its building on North 5th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with M.S. 577. The NYC School Construction Authority's accessibility and certificate of occupancy project for the building added a new elevator and rebuilt its restrooms and drinking fountains for ADA access. KeRi was the mechanical and plumbing engineer on the design team, carrying the work through the 50 percent, 100 percent and Department of Buildings compliance submissions.

The plumbing design covers 19 toilet rooms across the first through fifth floors, from large student restrooms to single staff toilets, with accessible layouts, new fixtures, lavatories with thermostatic mixing valves, and new bathroom risers in place of the existing piping. Two new bathrooms and a nurse's station were added on the second floor, the drinking fountains were replaced with ADA-accessible units, and a sump pump was designed for the new elevator pit. The existing domestic water booster pump was relocated, and the building's gas piping was investigated, painted and tagged.

The mechanical work follows the new layouts: steam convectors, a ceiling-mounted steam unit heater and new steam and condensate risers where walls moved, toilet exhaust ductwork extended to the rebuilt rooms with combination fire and smoke dampers at rated walls, and a ductless split air conditioning unit that holds the new elevator machine room between 55°F and 95°F. The ductwork was coordinated with a separate SCA fan replacement project in the same building.

MEP Engineering Scope

What We Engineered

Mechanical and plumbing design for the accessibility upgrade:

• Accessible layouts and new fixtures for 19 toilet rooms on five floors
• Two new bathrooms and a nurse's station on the second floor
• New bathroom risers and ADA-accessible drinking fountains
• Elevator pit sump pump and relocated domestic water booster pump
• Steam convectors, unit heater and risers reworked for the new layouts
• Toilet exhaust with fire and smoke dampers, and elevator machine room cooling

The Challenge

Two schools sharing one older building needed accessible restrooms on every floor and a new elevator, with piping, heating and exhaust rerouted around new walls while another SCA project was replacing the building's fans.

Our Solution

KeRi redesigned the plumbing for 19 toilet rooms with new risers and accessible fixtures, moved steam heating and exhaust to suit the new layouts, and added the sump pump and machine room cooling the new elevator needs.