Project Brief

KeRi designed the HVAC work for WeWork's tenant improvements on the third and fourth floors of two Denver buildings, 1550 Wewatta Street and 2420 17th Street.

The two buildings work differently, so the designs do too. At 1550 Wewatta the floors run on base building air, and the work reorganises it: VAV boxes and fan powered boxes laid out to the new plan with a thermostat at each, existing ductwork replaced with internally lined duct, and the outside air, return, and exhaust boxes rebalanced around the new occupancy. That floor also carries smoke control work. Smoke exhaust was extended to both halves of the floor inside a two hour rated enclosure and tied back to the building's fire fighters smoke control station, with the new dampers sized for five air changes per hour to the Denver Fire Code.

At 2420 17th Street the floors are served by variable refrigerant flow. Fan coils were relocated and added to suit the new plan, the refrigerant piping was taken out and rerun from the VRF units to relocated heat recovery boxes and on to the fan coils, and the units were set into the pockets between secondary beams so they would fit the ceiling. Outside air comes in through a mixing box at each unit with its own volume and louvered dampers.

MEP Engineering Scope

What We Engineered

HVAC design across the two buildings:

• VAV and fan powered box layout with individual thermostats
• Internally lined ductwork, flat seam and paint ready in public view
• Smoke exhaust extension, rated enclosure, and smoke control station tie-in
• Variable refrigerant flow fan coils, heat recovery boxes, and refrigerant piping
• Outside air mixing boxes with volume and automatic louvered dampers
• Rebalancing of the existing outside air, return, and exhaust systems

Scope by Building

The Challenge

Two occupied Denver office buildings were being fitted out to the same tenant standard, but they run on entirely different air systems, one on base building VAV, the other on variable refrigerant flow. At 1550 Wewatta the floor plate is also part of the building's smoke control strategy, so the ceiling could not simply be reorganised around the new plan.

Our Solution

KeRi designed to each building rather than imposing one solution. At 1550 Wewatta the VAV and fan powered boxes were relaid to the plan and the existing air, return, and exhaust boxes rebalanced, with the smoke exhaust extended across the floor in a rated enclosure and tied back to the fire fighters smoke control station at five air changes per hour. At 2420 17th Street the VRF fan coils and heat recovery boxes were relocated with new refrigerant piping, set into the beam pockets so they fit the ceiling that was there.