IMEG provided structural engineering design for the Market Square, a 1.3 million-sf mixed-use complex that curves around the U.S. Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. The award-winning project includes two buildings comprised of office, residential, retail, and parking. A total of 26 massive five-story, solid limestone columns (each six feet in diameter and weighing 102 tons) line the crescent-shaped buildings, which are clad in granite, limestone, brick, and precast. The buildings occupy two city blocks with five levels below-grade (parking and retail) and 13 levels above-grade (office and residential) and abut city streets on three sides.

The presence of an underground transit tunnel and station on one side required the preparation of a special excavation design and documentation package to gain the transit authority’s approval for the 55-foot excavation plan. IMEG’s completion of this package within one month and thorough documentation, which prompted quick approval, were instrumental in keeping the project on schedule.

IMEG’s structural engineering of Market Square, one of the first buildings in the country to utilize a hybrid post-tensioned flat plate structural system, earned a regional engineering design award from the American Consulting Engineers Council. Market Square also received the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Washington Legacy Award in 2016 for its transformational impact on the
community for more than two decades by exemplifying excellence in urban design.