Camden NOMA

Location: 
Washington, D.C.
Client: 
Camden Property Trust
Architect: 
WDG Architecture, PLLC
Size: 
416,000 Square Feet
Year Completed: 
2013

Camden NoMA is a 14-floor, 321-unit residential building with three levels of below-grade parking, a landscaped courtyard, main lobby area, management offices, common areas, and an exercise room.

Apartments range from studios to two bedrooms with a den, featuring unique floor plans that range from 462 square feet to 1,360 square feet.

The building's exterior is composed of masonry, thermoplastic core metal panels, an exterior insulation and finishing system, storefront glazing system, and aluminum windows. On the rooftop, Clark constructed a pool, a deck, various landscape features, and outdoor seating and cooking areas. The scope of work also included telecommunication, cable television, and security system installation.

Self Perform Work

Clark Concrete performed the concrete scope of work for Camden NoMa. The residential building consists of 332,000 pounds of post tensioned cabling, 1,600 tons of steel reinforcing, and 20,000 cubic yards of cast in place concrete. The building was constructed adjacent to two existing commercial buildings.

One of the key structural features of the project is a series of Bonded Post Tensioned Girders (PT Girders) situated throughout three floors, transferring the building loads down to the mat foundation. Over 17,000 pounds of bonded post-tensioned cabling were placed for the PT Girders. The Girders were "staged stressed" at different levels per the structural engineer's requirements in lieu of all of the tendons being stressed during one operation. Upon final stressing, all girders were capped and grouted for close-in. Final stage stressing operations were completed four months after the PT Girders were initially cast-in-place.  

Another key structural component of the building is the sloping and rotating columns, many of which sloped and spanned two floors. These columns were so crucial to the integrity and the design of the building that they sloped up to two feet from floor to floor. In addition to the sloping and rotating columns, the second floor was constructed using a double lift of deck framing. Instead of being one story high, the framing was two stories high to accommodate the large amount of office space on the ground floor.

Camden NoMa also contains cast-in-place architectural site walls with a natural limestone and rough slate finish within the courtyard. The architectural walls' complex design features radius walls with varying sizes and shapes that intersect throughout the courtyard. Mock-up panels make the design and finish of the architectural walls easier to construct with the complex finish and number of inserts. Another key element of the site walls is the recessed LED lighting that illuminate the walls and add an important architectural feature.

Clark Concrete completed the 25,000 square foot slab per floor in a two pour sequence. An "early day" concrete strip mix was used to during concrete operations to increase the time needed to strip the floors as well as begin unbonded post-tensioned stressing operations early. As a result, Clark Concrete was able to maintain and improve the schedule with this particular concrete and pouring sequence.