The Stable Lofts was an existing 3-story masonry building built in 1867. The building started as the historic E. Hart Stable, transformed into a motorcar showroom and most recently served as an art gallery. The building is now a 7-story, mixed-use apartment building with a roof deck and 5,000 SF of ground floor retail.
The 41 units are each served mechanically with condensing gas-fired split systems. A VRF system was designed for the common areas. The indoor air handling units are located in closets that are accessible from the corridor to allow easy access for maintenance and limit the need to access the entire apartment for service. These closets also house the gas-fired condensing water heaters, one for each unit. Ductwork from the closet is distributed above the ceiling to the occupied space, along with the intake and flues for the condensing appliances.
The existing building consisted of exterior clay-brick masonry bearing walls, wood roof trusses, wood joist floor framing, heavy timber girders and cast iron columns. The key structural aspects of the project included temporary/permanent structural bracing, structural demolition and a vertical expansion. 3 separate building permits were required for each challenge of this project.
Bala’s Structural Group engineered new foundations and a structural steel frame to be built within the existing building structure to temporarily brace the existing clay-brick masonry walls and allow structural demolition of the existing 2nd and 3rd floors and roof structure. Structural demolition of the existing floor levels was required to permit new floor levels at different elevations and for the vertical expansion of the steel framed structural to 7 stories.
Historic