Fiterman Hall

Fiterman Hall, the 14-story Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) mixed-use building, is located one block from the World Trade Center site. On September 11th, it survived the initial attack, only to be irreparably damaged when 7 World Trade Center fell late that afternoon. As a result, Fiterman Hall stood badly damaged and contaminated. Because of this contamination, it was necessary to fully abate and deconstruct the original building to its foundations; this was completed at the end of 2009. The existing foundation was re-used and, with the new design, Hunter Roberts added 50 caissons to the foundation in order to provide additional stabilization. Steel was topped out in March 2011. The entire structure contains 4,400 tons of steel, and the building’s exterior wall is a blend of precast panels with architectural brick and curtain wall. In addition, there are two massive ornamental stairs, which are visible from the street: Ornamental South Stair – Floors 4 through 9 (South Atrium) and Ornamental North Stair – Floors 5 through 14 (North Atrium). Fiterman houses a first floor art gallery, 54 classrooms, 31 computer laboratories, 20 conference rooms, offices, library spaces, 12 soundproof music practice rooms, 13 art studios, a choral and ensemble room, and assembly rooms. The scope included a 1,500-ton chiller plant with three 750-ton Trane centrifugal R-141a machines (one unit is a standby). Hunter Roberts installed the chillers, chilled water and condenser water pumps, and two new three cell evaporative cooling towers.