Building:   Islip, NY
Client:   United States General Services Administration
Architect:   Richard Meier and The Spector Group of North Hills
Structure Type:   Steel Structure
Project Category:   City State Federal Buildings
Photos:   Click photos to enlarge

Ysrael A. Seinuk Area of Specialization:

Structures in Severe Wind and Seismic Environments Structures with Waterfront Considerations Blast Resistant Design (anti-terrorism) Advanced Technology Facilities Criminal Justice Facilities Bridges and Pedestrian Bridges

Project Awards

2001 Special Award for Architectural Concrete Achievement New York Concrete Industry Board

2000 Design Awards Honor US General Services Administration  Public Buildings Service

Project Description
The Federal Courthouse in Islip Long Island is a 12 story, 870,000 gross square foot facility, which includes 23 courtrooms, one special proceedings courtroom, 13 District courts, four Magistrate and five Bankruptcy courtrooms. In addition there are spaces for 25 judges chambers, a law library, offices for Federal agencies and a cafeteria. The building is 235 ft. tall and is one of the tallest structures on Long Island.

Considering the mixed usage, the building needed to have a structure which is adaptable to long span and short span situations with a variety of possible loading situations, while conveying a sense of security to its users. The building is organized linearly in the east west direction. Courtrooms occupy the southerly 2/3rd of the building and the judge’s portion occupies the northerly 1/3rd, both traversing the entire east west length. The public lobbies for all the courtroom floors are located upon the south side of the building, look out onto the Atlantic Ocean, and are supported by a major cantilevered structure formed with a truss system at the 3rd level and extending 20 feet from the nearest column line.

The basic structural system is composed of steel framing supporting a concrete on composite metal deck floor slab. The total slab thickness is 5.5 inches and is connected to the steel framing via 3/4 inch diameter shear studs forming a composite steel and concrete framing system. All steel framing is high strength grade 50 steel.

Typical courtroom dimensions are 40 feet wide. Twenty-one inch deep steel framing span the width of the courtrooms. In order to achieve the 15-foot ceiling heights required by Federal guidelines within courtroom, the structure is closely coordinated with the architecture and the Mechanical systems, thereby avoiding increased floor heights and additional costs. The courtrooms ceilings are coffered between the floor beams and in order to achieve 14-foot slab spans, a 5.5-inch slab 100 % cellular deck was utilized. The cellular deck served to act as a conduit for the power and communication lines required and to strengthen the slab system. Ductwork for the courtrooms enters from the sides of the courtroom and travels parallel to the framing, never passing below the beams. Consequently the ceiling is constructed tight to the underside of the framing.

The areas adjacent to the courtrooms, which house support spaces and offices, did not require the tall floor-to-floor heights as in the neighboring courtrooms. Consequently mechanical mezzanines were places above theses spaces, which service the adjacent courtrooms. The girders supporting the framing of the courtroom ceilings were located in the courtroom walls and were lowered below the filler beams thereby permitting the duct work to pass above the girders and to travel parallel to the floor framing. This permitted the ceilings to be constructed tight to the underside of the steel framing since ductwork did not pass below the steel.

The buildings lateral force resisting system was engineered to resist both wind and earthquake forces. The lateral system is mostly composed of steel diagonal bracing forming Chevron braces and eccentrically braced frames to resist both wind and seismic forces. The lateral systems braces are typically located within the walls of the courtrooms, oriented to avoid doorways. The east west dimension of the building is almost 600 feet in length consequently an expansion joint was required to divide the building in two parts. Steel tube members cross the joint and are supported upon seats with Teflon pads thereby permitting the free movement across the joint.

The entrance rotunda is 175 feet tall and devoid of floors, having tapered round walls that are structured out of a huge steel space frame. At the ground floor level of the rotunda major areas of glass walls are introduced resulting in the entire 175 atrium being supported on only a handful of columns. The atrium is a 12-story high space clad mostly in glass and traversed with bridges on both the north and south faces. The bridges not only connect each side of the building but serve as the main support system for the facade of the atrium. Each bridge forms a horizontal truss resisting wind loads imposed upon the glass walls. In addition the plate girders of the bridge support the gravity weight of bridge itself and the adjacent glass facade.