Vertical Facility on Constrained Footprint

A major supplier of semiconductor manufacturing tools wanted to expand their research and development facilities, but had extremely limited available space on their existing campus. With existing structures, adjacent bay lands, and a challenging soil composition, SSOE engineered a phased delivery of a vertical solution that accommodated all constraints.

Sandy Soil Mitigation
The combination of sandy soil and a seismically sensitive area made structural engineering for a vertically stacked building very challenging. The traditional approach to piles and platforms would have suffered from settling and vibration issues almost immediately. Instead, SSOE’s team developed an approach using micro piles and platforms. By using smaller and more numerous piles and platforms we were able to distribute the building loads more uniformly and protect against both seismic shifts and settling.

Design Precision and Specification Development
The existing production could not be shut down during construction, which required timely and precise tie-in locations via hot-taps on many of the wet systems, and closely coordinated tie-ins for air-side during short shutdown windows. The vertical nature of the utility areas required precise routing and coordination through existing yard. As a result of this need for precision, SSOE developed highly accurate project standards and specifications for the client.

Phased Execution
Existing structures in the project space required repeated demolition-construction cycles. This required SSOE to work closely with the General Contractor (GC) to develop a complex project phasing. SSOE developed modeling baselines and a BIM environment in order to manage and coordinate between trades, the GC, and the design team. The result allowed construction partners to seamlessly integrate each new building segment with the one before, while keeping the project on time and within budget.