LS3P designed the new Bachelor Quarters at Naval Station, Norfolk, Virginia to provide market-style housing for 900 sailors, with all the comforts of an off-base apartment complex in close proximity to ships and on-shore responsibilities. The design for this $72,670,000, 247,000 sf multi-story barracks was complete June 2015 with the entire project turned over to the Navy June 2016.

Creating a residential atmosphere in the middle of a bustling military base was challenging, but the project provided opportunities for a variety of floor plans and amenities. The design emerged from a charette conducted in whole-team Integrated Project Delivery with all design disciplines, the contractor, and major subcontractors. The solution takes advantage of east-west building orientation and geothermal water source heat pump technology for optimum performance, energy usage, and operating cost. This is the first NAVFAC project to consider LEED, LCCA, and TOC in determining Best Value.

The project site near the wharf is bordered by industrial, administrative, and housing districts. The layout features sheltered courtyards to offer the most desirable lifestyle for sailors ashore. Parallel apartment wings connected by a central element create an ‘H’ shaped layout with two distinctive courtyards, creating an urban residential feel. The courtyards, enclosed within ATFP barriers, provide amenities which would otherwise be precluded by clear stand-off requirements. The courtyards also function as a central part of the stormwater management strategy.

As a primary strategy to help meet stringent Low Impact Density (LID) requirements, the team implemented an innovative stormwater management system. The team raised the entire footprint of the building and courtyards 3 feet above grade and used this additional height to create large exfiltration basins overlain by pervious pavement within the courtyards. The 6-foot-deep basins are filled with crushed stone down to the water table, satisfying stormwater management criteria for quantity and quality while mitigating flooding potential and satisfying the project’s entire LID component. The team implemented a number of Best Management Practices (BMP’s) to meet all stormwater requirements for the project, using pervious pavement wherever possible, and specifying that roof drains are not connected to storm drainage piping and, in most cases, flow across permeable pavers.