The project: Heming is a luxury mixed-use development in the Scott’s Run neighborhood of Mclean, VA. The 481,000-sf, 28-story tower includes housing (410 apartments including 53 workforce dwelling units and 11 larger two-story apartments), 37,700-sf of retail space, 530 parking spaces, and a multilevel public plaza called The Levels.

Project highlights: The building showcases a “glass box” lounge, clubroom, game room, coworking spaces, bike room, pet spa, private penthouse dining room, and fitness center, as well as an outdoor pool deck with cabanas, multiple seating areas and bar-becue stations, a community garden, and an outdoor club room.

Design approach: Structural engineers collaborated with various team members for the design of the project. The 24-sto-ry residential tower, comprised of post-tensioned concrete construction, sits atop a four-story, mild reinforced concrete podium and two levels of underground parking. A pedestrian bridge spans the multi-level plaza to provide a direct path from the residential tower to the pool and retail space. The engineers coordinated closely with the landscape architects to create a low-profile bridge that allowed for the wood wrap and guard-rails to integrate seamlessly with the landscape.

Challenge: Maximize spans.  Solution: Thin, seven-inch post-tensioned slabs were used for the residential floors by pull-ing the exterior columns in from the face of the building. These thinner slabs not only reduced the cost to the owner, but also reduced the amount of embodied carbon in the entire building.

Challenge: Design of Heming’s glass box space, a complex and eye-catching feature.  Solution: The corners of the space are framed out by three-story clear-space columns that support outriggers for cladding. To make the perimeter columns work with the glazing, structural engineers coordinated with the curtain wall manufacturer and cold form manufacturer so the sections and shapes would fit in the architect’s desired profile.

Challenge: Interior tenant space fit-outs.  Solution: Structural engineers coordinated with the architects to determine embed plate locations for elements such as lights and gym equipment.

Challenge: Incorporating the slope of the site.  Solution: The design team integrated the slope into an outdoor terraced plaza to create a multilevel promenade surrounded by retail spaces accessible at each level.

Challenge: Level Three’s change in elevation and additional heavy loading of the overbuilt for the pool and landscaping. Solution: The complex framing includes slab folds for mild reinforced and post-tensioned slabs.

Outcome: The proactive and close collaboration of IMEG structural engineers and all project team members ensured that project challenges were solved quickly and without impact to the construction schedule while also staying true to the architect’s design and aesthetic. Heming is on target to achieve LEED Gold certification and FitWell certification; the building is also the first residential project in the region to obtain the Wiredscore certification, recognizing it as a best-in-class, digitally connected building.